Target Audience of Artist/Band – with evidence

AS research work illustrated that Identifying and understanding the artists/bands target audience is crucial for creating successful production pieces later on in the coursework. At AS we solely focused on Magazines and how they are used to promote the artist/band to their target audience. The magazines have their own specific genre and by looking at these specific magazine titles within the Indie/Rock genre we can understand the general gender and age of the consumers. To understand the relationship between the magazine and consumers, the website http://www.nrs.co.uk/ provides statistics on the buying habits of magazine buyers. My research showed the following:

The tables above shows the two most noticeable magazines that the Arctic Monkeys have featured on the front cover in the past. The statistics show that the majority of readers are male and are predominantly aged 15-44. I will not focus all of my planning on the younger males group just because they represent a much larger percentage of the total consumers, as there is still a wide audience that I could target in the market aged 45+.
Demographics are data that represents the characteristics of a population and can be used in my research to strengthen my understanding of the Arctic Monkeys current target audience. The table below shows the demographics of the national readership for both Q and NME magazine.

The statistics show that the larger % of readers fall into the ABC1 category, which suggests that my target audience are likely to have a high disposable income. The largest category is C1, which is where the arctic monkeys were before they become established as a successful band. Their style of music is in correlation to the C1 category as the band consists of junior professionals. Below are examples of magazines where Arctic Monkeys have featured on the front cover.

Other than looking at statistical data about the national readership and demographics associated with the Arctic Monkeys I have decided to look at some opinions and feedback on some of their previous music tracks and music videos.

http://www.nme.com/news/arctic-monkeys/26735

The hyperlink above has been taken from NME and it announces the inclusion of Dizzee Rascal in their song ‘Temptation Greets You like Your Naughty Friend’. The inclusion of rap into their Indie/Rock genre was received differently by various fans but it did reach 2nd in the UK singles chart. This example shows the new direction the band were looking to diversify but as the screenshot of YouTube below shows that the release had mixed reviews.

Social Networking is a huge commercial source for advertising, and it allows fans and followers to express their interest and opinions. MySpace and Facebook are arguably two of the biggest social networks and below are screenshots of their homepages and fan profiles.

Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/ArcticMonkeys

MySpace link: http://www.myspace.com/arcticmonkeys

The Arctic Monkeys have 489,415 fans on the social network Facebook and 183,314 fans on MySpace, however there are more unofficial groups within these networks that other fans have chosen to follow. I have learnt from looking at these web pages that the Arctic Monkeys are global and their MySpace website shows tour venues that are all over the world. There is a mass market for this band and I will look to exploit this market with all three of my production pieces. Both of the screenshots confirm that the majority of fans are within the 15-44 age brackets, so my music video, Digipak and advert for the band should demonstrate an understanding of the target audience. The two social networks promote the music of the band and there are links to the Arctic Monkeys official website where fans can purchase gig tickets and merchandise. The MySpace page is very modern, which may appeal to the younger generations and finally the use of black and white is very effective, and I may consider using this within elements of my production pieces.