Indie folk genre and target audience

Indie Folk genre and Target Audience.By Erin Kennedy

Indie Folk The genre emerged in the 1990s. By the independent rock community influenced by

folk from the 50s/60s&70s and classic country music. Combines catchy melodies of indie rock and acoustic

sounds folk music. Often related to ‘freak folk’ and ‘new weird America’.

Target audienceThe target audience varies depending on genre: For males, it is an older age range, around 17-23 For females, it is a much younger range, around 13-25

The genre is possibly more popular with women because it is more mellow and calm. Also because the majority of songs are about love, heartbreak or nature.

Examples of artists and bands Birdy Bon Iver Gabrielle Aplin Daughter Noah and the whale William Fitzsimmons Mumford and sons Blind pilot.

Instruments Acoustic guitars Violins Banjos Double bass Piano Ukulele (5 year time – Noah and the whale.

What the artists wear Natural clothes Dress to match the setting Sometimes formal dress code – buttoned shirts and

waste coats. Most of the women wear dresses

Conventions and codes Most of the men have beards and shaggy hair – they

do not try for perfection. Ambient lighting – calm relaxed atmosphere – related

to the music its associated with. Outside photo shoots, vintage filter or soft lighting –

band in the photo but no strict hierarchy order to show its a laid back genre.

Indie Folk publishing, distribution and promotion

By Erin Kennedy

Consumption of indie folk music

In this decade there a many ways of listening to music. Some old way and some new..

Radio CD’s Vinyl Live gigs Spotify and other streaming sites Ipods/phones/mp3 players/ tablets

Record labels that publish indie folk albums: Jagjaguwar – Bon Iver Mercury records - Rise records Glassnote records Island records – Bombay bicycle club 4AD – Bon Iver

Radio stations that play indie folk music:

Radio 1 (play a mixture of genres and thus it plays indie folk sometimes, usually only the more popular or well known ones – also a lot of the British indie folk artists and bands).

Spotify has many playlists for indie folk and contain most if not all indie folk albums and singles.

Various websites/online radio stations are indie folk or have a category of it:

o http://www.folkradio.co.uk/o http://www.iheart.com/original/Indie-Folk/

Websites that promote indie folk music: http://www.indiemuse.com/category/folk/ - this is technically an

independent music website however it has sub categories and one is indie folk – this website updates on news and upcoming stuff.

http://www.forfolksake.com/ - another website about all the artists, up and coming events/releases and all about the genre. Technically it is a folk based website but there are many indie folk artists on there.