Analysis of the audiences of three other similar artists

The Drums

The Drums are an American indie pop band from Brooklyn, New York, forming in 2006. The members of the band stem from the short-lived band Elkland, before becoming bored with electronic music. The members of The Drums are Jonathan Pierce (vocals), Jacob Graham (guitar), Connor Hanwick (drums); while Tom Haslow currently is playing the guitar during the band’s tour after the departure of former guitarist Adam Kessler left the band a few months ago. The band is currently on the Moshi Moshi/Island in the UK.

The Drums are fairly new to the mainstream music scene breaking onto the scene in 2010, and were tipped by many music journalists as a band to watch out for. The band were one of 15 artists that were shortlisted in the BBC Sound of 2010, appearing at number 5. This list complies of the best up and coming bands of that year. They were also topped NME’s top tips for year in 2010. The band are yet to have a song in the top 40 though, with their highest entry their most known song ‘Let’s go Surfing’ at number 63. Being a new band in the limelight of the mainstream audience however they are expected to move up higher up the charts with years to come.

The Drums are far more energetic live than on record, with Jonathan Pierce and Jacob Graham’s interacting with the crowd with their now infamous dancing and theatrics on stage. While the band keep to the music side of things mainly, rarely stopping to chat in-between songs. This makes their set more easier for the crowd to continually dance to, something which the target audience are known for, while small mosh-pits are made. Mosh-pits are mainly associated with Metal or Rock bands, yet the indie audience also ‘mosh’ these are just less violent and more dance-y than other genres.

The majority of the band's audience are the youth, mainly students. They are the type to spend their time going to gigs, listening to music with their friends, and trying to find out their latest favourite band. The audience are drawn to The Drums by the similarity to bands of the old 'indie' era, bands like The Smiths and Joy Division, along with the fast beat of some of their songs.

The Pigeon Detectives

The Pigeon Detectives are an English indie band from Rothwell, West Yorkshire, forming in 2002. The members of the band are Matt Bowman (vocals), Oliver Main (guitar), Ryan Wilson (guitar), Dave Best (bass), and Jimmi Naylor (drums). The band is signed up by the independent record label Dance to the Radio, whom helped to release their debut album.

2006 was a big year for the band, touring throughout the year and playing many festivals, building up a bigger fan base and slowly getting noticed. They performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2006, where they were tagged "the band most likely to leap to the main stage in 2007" in an NME review, although the year later they did still play the NME stage. They had supported the band Dirty Pretty Things who toured around the UK in spring 2006. Then in early November 2006 they again went on the road, this time supporting the band Kaiser Chiefs on a number of occasions around Europe. By 8^th July 2007 they had released their debut album Wait For Me, which has sold up to 227,000 copies. On this date they played on the Radio 1 NME Stage in front of thousands at T in the Park with the performance being televised and shown later that day on BBC3. In September 2007, it was announced that the band had been nominated for ‘Best New Act’ at the Q Awards, but they lost out to The Enemy. They went on to perform their biggest show ever at Oxegen in 2008, the year in which their second album Emergency was released, which was beamed around Europe on the world famous music channel MTV. Up to the end of 2008 the band sold over 500,000 copies of both albums together in the UK.

The target audience of The Pigeon Detectives consists of late teens and early 20somethings, yet they don’t really have distinctive dress code that many other target audiences of indie bands do. They would fit into the dress code of not noticing the difference as they dress like many other people and stick with the current fashion trend that is hitting the high streets. The way that The Pigeon Detectives appeal to their audience is with the catchy songs which include lyrics that the audience can relate to, while they also sing along to after listening to the song a few times. The lyrics may not be anything clever which will stand out in 10 or so years, but there is a kind of universal appeal that the audience can warm to and link their personal experiences to creating a link between the band and their fans, showing that they are not too different to one another. This relates to the theory of different ‘tribes’ of people and trying to find others that are the similar to themselves to feel ‘wanted’ and not different.

Black Kids

Black Kids are an American indie pop band from Jacksonville, Florida; forming in 2006. The band consists of siblings Reggie Youngblood (lead vocals and guitar) and Ali Youngblood (keyboards), Owen Holmes (bass guitar), Kevin Snow (drums), and Dawn Watley (keyboards). They are on the record label Almost Gold Recordings in the UK, while on Columbia Records in America. They only currently have released one album, yet are writing their second album at this current time.

Black Kids first came to the attention of the music press in August 2007, in both America and the UK, after a performance at the Athens Popfest in Athens. This led to a sudden interest from the music press, including such newspapers and magazines as NME, and The Guardian. In the very same month the band released their first demo EP, Wizard of Ahhhs; which in October received a review of 8.4 out of 10. In December the band then travelled to London for a small tour. The Rolling Stone magazine labelled them as one of ten "Artists to Watch" for 2008^, as well as the band being included in the BBC Sound of 2008 shortlist. The band played the summer festival circuit the next year, in both America and the UK, including Radio 1's Big Weekend, Glastonbury Festival, and T in the Park and Camp Bestival. Black Kids were then the headline in an international tour in America and around Europe from June to November. While on tour in the UK in early 2008, the band recorded their debut album, Partie Traumatic. The album was much more successful in the UK than in America, getting to number 5 in the charts compared to in America where it only managed to get to number 127.

As with the other two artists the target audience are aged around late teens and early 20 year olds, although Black Kids may have a few more younger fans than the others with a reviewer of a live show that they did having a “excessive number of 14 year old girls running to the front barrier”. With Black Kids rise to fame happening within 9 months after they were formed they do not really have a ‘hard-core’ set of fans that have been following them for 4 or 5 years before they are slowly noticed by music critics. This means that the audience is rather ‘mainstream’, with the exception of a few of course. The band members dress with the indie geek fashion; a majority of their fans however dress, like The Pigeon Detectives, with the current fashion that has captured the ideology of the youth. The lyrics are mainly to do with girls and relationships, relating with the worries of teenagers about the other gender. While for the older members of the audience they can relate to the experiences that are expressed from the, relating with the worries of teenagers about the other gender. While for the older members of the audience they can relate to the experiences that are expressed from the lyrics with experiences of their own.

What can be learnt about appealing to audiences from the audiences of these three artists?

From all three artists I can learn that the main way to appeal to the audience by making a catchy song which the audience can sing and dance along to. While at a young age teenagers want to be accepted by their peers and use music as a way of doing this; whether it is the way the band members dress that influences the dress sense of said person or the genre of music that the artist makes, these represent how they want people to see them and making friends with others that are the same as themselves.

Target audience for the band ‘We Can’t Dance'

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Location

The location of the music video is an important part as it must fit in with the genre of the song, while also help to represent the target audience, the band and the meaning of the song. The location must be somewhere where you expect to find the target audience, a place they were they hang out with their friends or some where they would visit. Seeing a certain group of people in a place where they do not fit nor where they would have no interest in going would sent mixed messages to the audience; although this could be part of the idea of the video to use people's views of one another and twisting them. The setting of the location must also go with the mood of the song; the mood and beat of We Can't Dance - I Don't Know is fast paced, while also upbeat and happy. This means that the location of the music video must use bright colours and lighting, while creating a positive vibe that is shown through the music video and felt by the audience.

The photos below are location shots of the streets that I could use for the middle verse of the song where the main character is running through the city to find the girl. The only trouble of using these locations would be the amount of traffic and people that would be going past and maybe disturbing the shoot. The buildings that are next to the streets are around 30 to 40 years old, holding that vintage 70's look that is similar to that of the target audience. The shots also show the conventional view into an old British city that is had compared to the modern view of London.

For the beginning of the music video I shall use Chapelfield Gardens as the location. I shall start by walking alongside the Chapelfield shopping mall before entering Chapelfield Gardens for the first verse and chorus. These are common locations in where the target audience use to hang out with their friends. With the location being a park with trees and flowers it has lots of brights colours that reflects the mood and vibe of the song. While Chapelfield is an iconic location in Norwich, with the gardens and shopping centre being very popular. Chapelfield Gardens has a band stand (shown in one of the pictures below) helping to promote music to unsigned and unknown bands. In the summer Chapelfield Gardens held a mini festival during the Lord Mayor's procession with unsigned bands, mainly who are based locally, playing. The Chapelfield mall is a relatively new to Norwich, giving a modern feel to Norwich and the music video.

Costume

The costume used in a music video is an important part of how the band represents themselves, their fans and creates a bond with their fans by being associated with the same style and having the same ideologies as one another, putting them in the same social 'tribe'. The way that people are dressed in a music video, especially the band members, reflects on how the target audience dresses too, or inspires their style as they want to be like their favourite band. Costume is also sometimes used in music videos to show an opinion on another social group, giving them a negative representation, for example the video below.


The Drums - Best Friend

With the target audience of We Can't Dance seen as 'Indie Kids' I have decided to use an normal ideology for how they dress. The main character will be shown as indie, making the audience reflect with him for being like them. I shall use the following pieces of clothing for the main character:


The shoes that would be wore by the main character are Plimsolls, like the ones that are shown in the picture to the right. . In the early months of 2008, the Plimsoll shoe within the UK became a major fashion statement, with many celebrities such as Pete Doherty and other stars influencing their comeback. They are generally worn with tight fitting jeans or jeans with turned up bottoms. Recently however, they have become part of hipster fashion.

Skinny Jeans are the most conventional view that people think of when they are asked or think what indie kids would wear after they were brought back into by indie revival bands in the early 2000's, most notably by The Strokes. By the end of the decade the fashion began to replace the baggy jeans of the 1990s and early 2000s. Among women, skinny jeans are most often worn tucked into boots or scrunched up over the wearer's footwear. Skinny jeans are becoming mainstream to men, as well. This style is often associated with the emo and scene styles, though hip-hop and rap artists, such as Lil' Wayne, are seen to be adopting this style as well. There have been many famous artists who have wore skinny jeans, for example Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson with skinny jeans being fashionable before in 1950s, 1970s and 1980s. 'Tapered' jeans became most notable with country music stars and helped with the birth of rock and roll in the 1950s. jeans and rock 'n' roll were inextricably linked to create the "bad boy" image that remains today. In the early 1960s they were worn by numerous rock bands, including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

In the last few years more and more people have started to wear shirts as a casual fashion, and not just for formal occasions. The shirts that are wore have a vintage look about them, like the shirt to the right, this is the type of clothing that the target audience wear. I have decided for the main character of the video to wear a shirt like this, with a cardigan over top. Mainly because this is the conventional view people have of the audience, while it fits into the narrative of the story with the main character having to take off his shirt.

Similair Music Videos.

These two music videos that have used superheroes in their music videos, but with two different meanings. Both have hidden meanings regarding life, like the way I am representing the relationship between a make and female in my music video.



Goodbye Mr A - The Hoosiers



Without Me - Eminem

Analyse of Africa Shox - Leftfield

Afrika Shox - Leftfield
Release Date - 6th September 1999
Genre - Electronica, Progressive House, Drum 'n' Bass, Reggae, and Intelligent Dance.

'Afrika Shox' is a song by Leftfield, the first single released from their album Rhythm and Stealth. The song featured vocals by Afrika Bambaataa, linking in with the name of the song. It was written by Neil Barnes, Paul Daley, Afrika Bambaataa and Nick Rapaccioli, while is produced by Leftfield and Nick Rapaccioli. The song reached 7th in the UK Singles Chart which was the highest position out of all Leftfield singles. The music video was directed by Chris Cunningham.

From an old alleyway comes a black skinned male, maybe a slave but is shown to be like some kind of space alien, who's apperance is skinny and weak making him look very vulnerable. He walks through crowded streets, bewildered and confused. He seems desperate, and no one seems to pay enough attention to assist the man as he looks and feels around for help. As the man bumbs into things, portions of his body start to break off and/or shatter like porcelain. This happens over and over again till he has lost both hands and a foot. Another black skinned man walks over, wearing tribial clothing and is the only other character in the music video that is not of white culture. The man ironically asks if the former needs a hand, giving off the vulnerable state that black people were in America during the slave period, up to the late 1970's and even to the present date. The unitity that they had with each other during these times is shown when the main character is helped by another black skinned male, while no white skinned person helps him when he desparate looked for it. The idea that white people have taken away the lifes of black people, for example taking them away from their families during the slave period, is shown in the music video with white people break-dancing, something which was invented by the black community before white people took it as their own just like everything else that the black people had.

The genre of the music video is mostly shown through the visuals, helping the video to be suitable with the music and with the targetauidence. The establishing shots show a police car driving down a busy street in New York flashing it's lights, this links to the Dance genre side of the music track. Location shots of New York in the USA are also used in the establishing shots. The USA/New York is where the House and Drum 'n' Bass music genres firstly orginated from. The lyrics also link to the music video to suggest the genre of music to the audience. When the main character walks past a wire fence the lyric 'Let's get electrified' is played impling the fence is an electric fence and towards the electronica genre of the song. While also representing New York as dystopic, while also being a futuristic city. The main character then walks in to an underground car park which connates the nature of the roots of the genres of the song, with the genres at the time of the song being made not mainstream with lower interest from

Structured Narrative for Music Video

After research we have decided to use inspiration from another music video for our own. The music video we used was for the song I Found Out by The Pigeon Detectives, using the idea of superheroes and the relationship between men and women. The superhero idea goes with the song title, You Don't Know, with people not knowing who is behind the mask, while also having a hidden meaning of finding out that someone you hold close isn't who you thought and 'not knowing' who they are.

The main narrative for the music video is a young male, who has just spilt up with his girlfriend, running across the city to try and find her and get back together with her. But when he gets there she is with someone else and completely ignores him.

There is the narrative structure for our music video:

• Starts with a close up of a foot tapping to the beat of the intro. The costume of the character is of the ideology that is held of how indie kids look like, with the character wearing skinny jeans, plimsolls and a shirt. The shot is unfocused until music kicks in.
• The camera scrolls up the body of the character, starting at his shoes up to the top of his shirt/neck. This shows the audience what he is wearing, creating a ideology of the character before he has even been seen.
• The character starts to walk after the first lyric "You better run, they're coming for you." Close ups are used mainly, while location is of Chapelfield Gardens.
• The character keeps looking at a picture of him and a female on his phone as he walks through a park. He opens up a contact on his phone, stares at it before going to press the call button and hesitating. Close up of phone and face are used in this shot.
• At the end of the chorus the first time it is played, "I've got the solution, to end this thing." the character undoes shirt to reveal superhero costume. Close up of the buttons of the character's shirt being undone, then removed with the logo of a superhero visible.
• The camera zooms out of the character to see the character in a full superhero costume.
• The character then starts running across to the other side of the city.
• During the last versus, the character catches up to the girl. Medium shot of the character slowing down.
• A close up of the girl smiling, fooling the audience into believing it's a happy ending.
• The girl is now in the arms of another man. Medium shot of both of them.
• Long shot of all the characters with main character's face visible, shocked/upset look on face.
• Medium shot of the main character, he is now wearing the clothes that he wore at the beginning of the video. Zooms/pans to show the new man wearing the superhero costume.
• The new couple then walk off. Leaving the main character on his own as the song fades out.