After receiving feedback from my peers I found that a majority of the people agreed to my set target audience of teenagers and young adults aged 15-24 as this age range is known to have the most interest in new/commercial and chart music and music videos (according to http://www.comscoredatamine.com/2012/03/vevo-and-spotify-go-head-to-head-in-the-nordics/, the younger age groups (15-24, 25-34 and 35-44) were more likely to visit VEVO to watch music videos), this is a fairly broad and general age range for this type of commercial hip-hop/RnB music video, especially one with parody-like components as a majority of individuals within this age range enjoy watching distinctive and humorous music videos.

Due to the fact that the song and artist is Beyoncé (a worldwide female role model, who makes music to empower and inspire females), the intended gender of my target audience was mainly female, that was until I research the backlash this song received from Beyoncé’s typical female audience, as a lot of female fans found the lyrics and content of the song degrading and condescending, however, the controversy caused by this song managed to draw and interest from a lot of male audiences and fans, this now means making a music video to this song would also attract more male audiences than I originally intended, although the majority of my target audience is still female, a smaller percentage of my target audience is male.

My target audience social class varies from C1 to E as my music video consists of street/youth-oriented references (scenery, costume, narrative) that mainly people of a middle and lower class group are known to appreciate, understand and relate to. The location of my target audience is based in the United Kingdom, this is mainly due to the fact that the locations, characters and general look of my music video would consists of a lot of British references and styles that people who live in Britain would recognize and appreciate.

Teenagers and young adults are usually fascinated with the latest in the music scene; this is due to how much music is involved within their daily routine (listening to earphones or radio whilst traveling, going out, watching music videos online or on television). My product should sell extremely well to this target audience if the individuals live this music orientated lifestyle of work/full time education, going out (clubs, bars and pubs), highly interactive with social media.

Audience Research

Finding out detailed information about the workings of your target audience, you can therefore observe and report, how advertise and sell to them. Using sources such as Websites, internet forum rooms, magazine articles and blogs, I was able to analyse exactly what my target audience look for within a music video, and how they find it.

Billboard Magazine

Billboard is one of the biggest music magazines/websites in the industry, they frequently write articles and reviews on the latest music videos. The consumers (buyers) of this magazine are

mainly teenagers and young adults aged 16- 26 (according to http://www.billboard.com/footer/biz ), This makes the reviews within this magazine relevant to my research as this age range matches the age range of my target audience, and as this magazine is one of the biggest in the industry, it must be express the opinion of many of the consumers.

This music video article was based on the critical responses to all the music videos released by Beyoncé for the ‘4’ album, and according to this article the most successful music video out of all the ones she released for this

Secondary Content Research

album was ‘Run The World Girls’, this could be due to a number of factors, such as, the media coverage and promotion was far greater with this track than others, this music video had a higher budget and most anticipation and it received the most airplay, but in comparison to the actual music video itself (as the article describes), the music video was visually more intriguing to its target audience, as the narrative was action pack and interesting, there was catchy dance routines and typical Beyoncé hairography, these are all elements I must take in consideration when producing my music video.

YouTube

YouTube is one of the best sources to finding information about an audience regarding music videos as its one of the most popular video websites on the internet. I looked at many different music videos related to my music video and analysed some of the comments left by viewers, this will allow me to understand what exactly my target audience like and dislike about these videos and how I can produce a successful music video.

Azealia Banks- 212

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Jv9fNPjgk

Beyoncé- Run the world girls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmMU_iwe6U

Nicki Minaj- Stupid Hoe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6j4f8cHBIM

There are a lot of blogs and articles online based on music videos, the majority of them compare music videos and list the best in the industry. Reading these articles has been helpful as most these sites contain public opinion through techniques such as polls and comments.

Reading these comments has helped me gain a better understanding of what exactly people like about music videos.

I conducted a questionnaire in order to receive feedback from individuals that match the description of my target audience, I aimed to find out their opinion on music videos, how they watch them and why they watch them.

Question Result 1 Result 2 Result 3 Result 4 Result 5 Results 6

Gender Male Male Female Male Female Female

Age 17 19 23 18 17 18

Occupation Full Time Student

Full Time Student

Store Manager

Full Time Student

Full Time Student

Full Time Student

Do You Watch Music Videos?

Yes Yes Occasionally

Yes Occasionally

Yes

Where Do You Usually Watch Music Videos?

YouTubeTelevision

YouTube Television YouTube Television YouTube

In Your Opinion, What Makes a Music Video Interesting?

Lots of Different shots and locations

A good storyline and cool props

I like music videos that have good choreography that matches the song

If they include the artist and express what the artist is all about

A good Narrative

I like Music videos with a good narrative.

If You are interested in a music video, do you share them and

Twitter and Facebook

Likes on YouTube

I Don’t Share My Interest

Facebook I Don’t Share My Interest

I Don’t Share My Interest

Primary Content Research

how?

Please List 3 of your favourite music videos?

Macklemore - Thrift shop

Empire Of the Sun- Walking on A Dream

Rudimental – Feel The Love

Eminem- Stan

Usher – Burn

Kanye West – Touch The Sky

Beyoncé – Single Ladies

Michael Jackson- Thriller

Pink – Stupid Girls

Selena Gomez- come and get it

Beyoncé – single ladies

TheSaturdays – what about us

Beyoncé – Single ladies

Justin Bieber – One lesslonely girl

The Killers – Mr. Brightside

David Guetta – Titanium

Rihanna – Only Girl In The World

Justin Timberlake-Rock Your Body

Please State Why These Are Your Favourite Music videos?

Their Different from other music videos

They have an interesting storyline and are iconic the artists

Their memorable, catchy and consistent, there is not a dull moment

They are fun and exciting, they make me enjoy the music more

They have great use of lighting and storyline.

The concepts of the music video are interesting and match the song in a none obvious way

What is Your Favourite Genre?

Indie/rock Hip Hop Pop/RnB Pop Pop Pop

Why Do You Prefer This Genre?

The Concepts are usually more unique and artistic compared to others

The music videos usually tell a story about the artist

They Play the most, which makes me watch them the most

Because I can relate to it

Because people my age enjoy this genre especially if artists are my age

You usually see more of the artist in these types of music videos

Do You prefer Music Videos That Are Funny Or Serious?

Both Serious Funny Funny Bit of both Funny

From this questionnaire, I can see that there is a link in the types of videos people enjoy and their gender, it seems that most males prefer music

videos that are based on interesting narratives and intense imagery (like Eminem’s Stan), whereas the female audience seem to appreciate a music video that features and glamorises the artist, features pop like themes such as, choreography and fashionable costume (like Beyoncé’s Single Ladies). It’s Also seems that interest in music video come with availability to watch them, e.g. full students are more interested in music videos then people who work full time as they have more opportunities to watch them in their daily schedules. The Majority of participants of this survey seem to enjoy music videos that are more humorous than serious; this result is good to me as I plan on making my music video funny.

As well as questionnaires, I decided to conduct some interviews with a few individuals that fit my target audience (interviews posted on a separate video). The results of these interviews were fairly similar to the questionnaire results.

Researching into other music videos advances my understanding of the audience I need to target my product to. (My competitors are other arte other commercial artists of the pop/hip-hop genre). Looking at other existing music videos of the same genre of my music video, I am able to compare them by looking at the similarities and differences they share.

At first I decided to look at other music videos by Beyoncé, to analyse her music video characteristics how she’s undertakes her genre.

Throughout most of the music videos in her career, Beyoncé has a common thread to feature herself singing and dancing directly to the camera, and sometimes the music video doesn’t feature a narrative (single ladies, Kitty Kat, Countdown, upgrade you), ad when it does, the narrative is usually centred around her (diva, run the world, ring the alarm, crazy in love), this is to resemble who Beyoncé is as an artist, as she is known as a glamorous beautiful women, who wears flashy outfits and has big hair, so in order to satisfy her audience her music videos must reflect her image.

Research into Competitors

Studio based music videos

Music videos with narratives based on Beyoncé

Projecting and promoting the image of the artist through music video seems to be a popular

technique with other artists of a similar genre. Artists like Rihanna, Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez are famous for having music videos that feature and promote their style and image, from costume and hair to dance moves. Their music videos share a similar style of being ostentatious (rapidly moving shots and many different angles, flashy effects and attention seeking gestures and dance routines.

Jennifer Lopez- Dance Again Beyoncé- 1+1

Rihanna- Umbrella Mariah Carey- My All

As part of my market research I looked at the most successful (most viewed and most airplay) related pop music videos from 2010-2012, (as these are the areas where this genre of music and music videos have altered to the more recent and modern day videos),as I would be able to analyse the key components of their success and compare them with mine.

The results of this research (according to the http://www.reelseo.com website) were, Lady Gaga-Telephone, Jennifer Lopez-On the floor ft. Pitbull and Nicki Minaj-Stupid Hoe, all these music videos are aimed to my target audience as my music video (individuals aged 15 to 28) and most of them were advertised in the same way and majority of the same websites and channels such as, YouTube, Vimeo, MTV, 4 music, VIVA. These results provide a positive outlook on my project, as the some of the key elements to the success of these videos are included in my own music video.

Evidence of similar styles within these artists music videos

A lot of these related music videos feature shots that are intended to familiarise the artists to the audience, such as close-ups, mid shots and long shots (to show full body movement), these are all factors I must include in my music videos to ensure that my music video suits the genre. Research into Market

After researching the market further to find out exactly where I should be advertising my music video, I found that the most popular television channel for music videos is MTV, as its globally available and successful, which is important as you want to reach out to as many of your target audience as possible, and not limit the availability of your music video. Another very popular music video channel is Viva, although the downside to using VIVA is that it’s a channel that’s only available in selected countries, the better alternative would be uploading the music video online, and the best website to upload a music video is YouTube’s Vevo, as this is a site exclusively to promote and share new and old music videos, and is proven to be more effective as a method of advertising and viewing than most Television channels.