Research into Music Channels & Target Audiences

MTV is a very popular music channel, (acronyms stand for: Music television) it was launched in 1981 on august 1st, and owned my MTV networks (Viacom). It is originally based in New York city, to which its original objective was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJ’s.

Mtv is a very dominant music channel, due to the fact of the large percentage of the market share that they own in the music industry. Therefore, Mtv is very popular and appeals to a broad target audience which start from as young as 13 to people in their late 20’s. Mtv isn’t targeting a specific sex (male or female) because at these specific ages, most people experience that it is the most social time in their early life and find out who they are as a person. This enables them to interact and explore with activities they find interesting and most importantly, listen to music they enjoy.

As Mtv targets a broad musical audience, it is important for them to play music that appeal to them. Mtv had made the decision of playing mainstream music, solely to appeal and become popular with their audience also, the music is always high up in the charts as they need to keep up with their high reputation and provide audience satisfaction.

5 artists that play on MTV include

Beyonce

Katy Perry

Ne-yo

Tulisa

Rita Ora

All of these artists are mainstream and even though they are signed up to different record labels, they still have the same objective. Which is to sell records, and by being in the top 10 MTV charts, shows that these artists are selling thousands of records.

However, Mtv isn’t just a music channel, it also is a multinational brand with merchandise owning sister programs such as jersey shore, bevus and butthead, my super sweet sixteen, made and choose or loose. Mtv also have sister CHANNELS that include, MTV2, MTVu, MTV HITS, MTV jams, nickelodeon Nicktoons and comedy central.

The logo for mtv, is clear and simple and clearly indicates what channel it is. The M is big, black and bold which really stands out, and the white ‘TV’ inside of it is a clever way of putting the two together. The colours are opposites that make them stand out even more (white and black) and create brand awareness because the logo is incredibly memorable. The colour black connotates its status and is a standard colour which makes the logo simple to recognize and understand.

VH1

VH1 is a music channel, owned by Viacom and created and based in the United States. It was first released in 1985 on January 1st, just four years after MTV, VH1 acronym stands for ‘video hits 1’.

The target audience for VH1 is for over 16’s and for early 30’s. VH1 target an older, more challenging demographic, by playing the ‘softer side of popular music’, differing from MTV. They appeal to the older side of their audience by playing ‘top 20 video countdowns’ and ’20 cheesiest songs’ or ‘songs from the noughties’. This is the case, as they have to do something different with their playlists because MTV is an oligopoly in the music channel industry. The early 30’s target audience includes a gap in the market and allows VH1 to stay in close competition. Therefore, VH1 play similar mainstream music to MTV, however the new songs are not played on VH1 first, and appeal to their broad audiences with different playlists.

The most popular artists on VH1 are

1. Demi Lovato

2. Train

3. Owl city

4. Robbie Williams

5. Take that

These artists are both mainstream but unique too, brought out by the fact that they each hold their own genre.

The sister programs that VH1 have, are MTV, VH1 soul, VH1 classic. This is so that they can have a spread of the market share and appeal to their older demographic audience.

VH1 have a very colourful logo with colours like yellow, pink, green and blue,These popular colours link in with the popular music that VH1 play along with the different types of music played.. The sleek style of font shows that the program is cool and it’s demographic is middle-aged.

The colourful 4 sided box has connotations to VH1 having many sides to their music. Orange being more relaxed

Pink being more funky music

and blue meaning classical.

BOX

The box is a television channel mostly played in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The target audience for the box is 14 to late 20’s. This is because they cater to mainstream music like Mtv and therefore their demographic is wide. But because they mostly play in the UK, there is more uk artists such as skepta and dizzy rascal being played on this music channel.The type of music played on this music channel is mainstream music, but with a mixture of UK artists and Rnb Hip hop genres too. Artists such as

1. J cole

2. Wiley

3. Rita ora

4. Justin Bieber

5. Kayne west

are often played on VH1. Also, taking into account that VH1 stands for ‘video music one’ indicates that the channel is looking out more for the video itself, which can mean that performance based videos are popular with VH1. Sister channels for VH1 include 4music, Heat, Kerrang!, Kiss, Magic and smashhits. These sister channels are following the same object which is to attract their target audience, and each sister channel has a different audience that they are reaching out too.

The box logo is cleverly produced with the word BOX, in box shape. The white stencil inside the box shows the letter more clearly and stands out. The logo appeals to the target audience in the way in which it is easy to read, and unique. The black background over the white stencil can denotate a silhouette, this can signify that the box channel has its OWN shadow and Is unique who doesn’t follow anybody else.

SCUZZ

Scuzz is a british music television channel written and owned by the CSC media group, it realise in 2003 on 17th april and has gone to be one of the most highest-rated rock tv station on uk television.

Scuzz music channel is aimed at rock lovers that can be of any age from teenage to early 20’s depending on your chosen interests. Scuzz go on to state ‘ Our audience is musically knowledgeable, aware and responsive to content, an audience defined by passion and loyalty which makes them choose scuzz as their definitive guide to rock music on tv’. Scuzz make it obvious that they have a specific demographic for their target audience, which include being ‘Musically knowledgeable’, ‘aware and responsive’ and ‘whom have passion and loyalty to scuzz’. Therefore they haven’t put an age on their audience, but a defining set of characteristics.

Rock is the main genre played by scuzz channel, Daytime scuzz delivers pop-punk videos including acts like

1. Kiss

2. Metallica

3. Slipknot

4. Korn

5. Ozzy Ozbourne

 But as the sun sets (in the evening) Scuzz turns to the darker side playing heavy metal until the early hours of the morning. This is because the younger demographic will most likely be watching more tv in the day time and only the older defining demographic will be watching the darker side at night. Scuzz have a number of sister channels, which include, Bliss, Pop, Pop girl, Flava, the vault and true entertainment. This music channel is unique and put their own little twist on their show in the way in which they use their brand to help up and coming rock artists and show them for the first time, they also do competitions every week to help fans, win the merchandise.

The scuzz logo is very sharp cut, which connotates the dangerous attitude their main performers have. The sharp edges show strictness and have a feeling of dark danger and the grey colour shows a colourless feel which could mean there is no other emotions associated with scuzz.

KISS

Kiss Tv is a commercial music television channel who predominantly play mainstream hip-hop, dance and RnB genres. It was launched in 1998 on June the 26th and is owned by Box Television

The target audience for Kiss is from young teenagers (14) to mid 20’s(26). This is because the mainstream music channel plays RnB music which is one of the most popular music genres therefore it is easier to connect and reach out to a specific demographic because they know all the characteristics and conventions needed to appeal to their audience.This channel plays mainstream RnB, hiphop and dance music, and is firmly dedicated to these three genres. The reason for this is that they can still compete in the music market with other sister channels such as the box, more4, magic, kerrang!, heat, e4, fim4 and 4Seven. Artists such as

1. Drake

2. Rhianna

3. R Kelly

4. David Guetta

5. Flo rider

As kiss is a British television channel, it also has its own radio station due to its fantastic status and growth. Kiss is based on the format of the bauer owned London radio station, but originally started as a pirate radio station in London.

The kiss logo is purple, so that it can appeal to both male and female, the cut out rectangle has the word KISS in the slit of it showing that the word has come out of the rectangle. The blue shape looks like deformed lips, relating to the KISS name and therefore appeals to its target audience.

Questions:

1 Why do you think MTV is broken down into different channels?

I think MTV is broken down into different channels because the different genres can cater to different target audiences and equally share the market share in the most efficient way as each genre can concentrate on their target audience. Also, MTV have sister channels that are not related to music, for example Nicktoons and comedy central. This is an example of a lateral merge when merging with a brand/company with similarities to your field to become more popular and cater for other peoples needs.

2 Why do you think music channels are important when having a target audience?

Music channels need to do research into their target audience and base many big company decisions on what will appeal mostly to their target audience. This is why a target audience is so important; the music channel will base everything on how to please them.

Labels will tell their artists what to do, how to dress, what to speak about etc in order for them to appeal to their audience and therefore channels need to find the special audience that they want to target and base their music decisions on their preference.

3   Why do you think there are a variety of music channels?

There needs to be a large variety of music channels because everyone is different, and music channels need to cater to different peoples need in order to make money. There are different, genres, which have different sub genres and the list goes on, this is why there are so many different music channels. However the industry is an oligopoly as there are a few main music channels that dominate.

4 What have you learnt from analyzing music channels and how will it help you with your own production? I have realized that there is more to a ‘logo’ then what it shows, it is important to consider what it represents. Also I have learnt that researching and finding the ideal target audience is a very important decision to make, and this will help me with my own production

I Have also learnt that sister channels don’t have to relate to the genre of one channel  and also how important finding out the genre you want to play so that you can concentrate on one genre, and not lots of little sub-genres.

Research into Goodwin's Theory

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics 

This is alternative rock music which is only just a sub genre of rock, going by the characteristics this music video contains many for what a rock music video should include. The band members are viewed in the music video and they mostly have long hair and scruffy clothing to go with what a conventional rock star looks like. unpredictable things take places in these peoples lives as coming across energetic scenes that collides with the music is very effective to emphasize the actions that take place. going with the codes and conventions of a rock song the band also have a performance based act for most part of it as all members have their individual instruments and they are playing the song as if it were a live performance and this is really good for what appeals to the audience.

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals 

At the start where you see Dave Grohl in his car it is representing his life and showing how he is stuck and in life he isn't really getting anywhere. He realizes that just sitting isn't going to get him anywhere and the only way is if he gets up and does something about it and the lyrics saying 'learning to walk again' is representing how when he tries he is moving on instead of being stuck still. 

He also says in the lyrics, 'i think i found my way' represents how that if in life he tries to do something about his situation he can actually get up and find the right path which will lead him to a better situation then he already is. He also refers to saying 'I believe I have waited long enough' and this is important to say that he's waited and realized that he isn't going to get anywhere and once in the new situation that he worked for, he is basically saying hes waited long enough and after trying he has got to the place he wants to be. he also looks at his watch saying 'i believe i have waited long enough'. 

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals 

At 2:15 there is a moment in the local store where Dave Grohl hits the store owner with a salami at the same time to the drum being hit and this is so the pace of the music video matches up with of the music that is playing to make the video work with the song rather than both going at a separate paces and not combining with each other at any point. 

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). 

In this music video you see many close ups of Dave Grohl from the Foo fighters showing his facial expressions as they vary because fans know how crazy he can acts and it goes towards his expectations as his audience expect this level of humor and its good that they are included as fans enjoy seeing the artist. also the way he 

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking

When Dave enters the burger restaurant he looks at the woman over and she smiles at him and this is trying to show how the woman can be perceived as a sexual object as he looks at her like any other woman giving a smile and he thinks hes better than her because of the way he goes about it. he doesn't really value her but only smirks at her like shes any other woman.

6. There is often intertextual reference 

Dave Grohl swaps his usual scruffy hair for a tight nit due and sports intellectual spectacles to create a near enough duplication to Michael Douglass’s character in the 1993 film “Falling Down”. Walk supports humorous versions of the events matching the Joel Schumacher film. For example Dave Grohl channels the films frustrated “white male” sat in a traffic jam as an annoying kid stares at him from the back seat of the car in front, encountering signs such as “BIEBER is my copilot” and “ Thank you President Bush” Grohl just like Douglass’s character snaps and storms off. 

7. Whether the video is primarily performance based, narrative based or concept based and how elements of each is used in it. 

This music video is mainly narrative and performance based as the lyrics tell a story and the band performing their instruments is obviously the performance part of it 



What is a Music Video?

What is the purpose of a music video?

• A market tool to promote a artist/song - This can be the physical form of advertising the song as a video to go with a song makes it more interesting and this can be shared across the internet or TV and in favor the music video is there to carry the song to many people and making it more appealing through the video therefore picking up more views and also promoting the digital copy of the song with it to allow people to purchase a song through a music channel to promote the song.

• A short narrative or representation of the artist - As people who are part of a fan base for an individual artist, they always want to know more about the person and when they enjoy a new song that has been released they always expect a music video to tell the story of the song visually as much as music through audio. Also its good to represent the artist as it shows a close side of them to the fans and it keeps the songs more interesting for them.

• To attract a particular target audience - If a particular genre artist includes conventions expected by a particular target audience then by doing so they will be able to attract them because they have created a product that goes along with the actual song to be able to make it more appealing and once they achieve this they will be able to get hold of their target audience with the use of their music video.

• To identify an artist/group - A music video is great to help identify an artist or even members of a group as it shows them visually and allows for the audience to make connections between them and get a feel to the artist/s as it will show who does more of what in the group and sets up a personality for them.

• To buy into the artists lifestyle - Activities or events that take place in a music video can sell the artists lifestyle showing what they do or enjoy in their free time and this may influence the audience in a good or bad way as they might follow what the artist is doing as they most likely look up to them.

• To show the different generic conventions of a genre/music video - It is important to follow the codes and conventions of each genre as it gives it more and more potential to be able to make the song along with music video much more appealing to the target audience.

• For the audience to remember the music video - Once a connection has been made between the music video and the song, if either of them are listened to or seen again it will already make the viewer remember each one separately and it will bring back the interest to the audience of why they liked or enjoyed the music video and it will continue to keep the interest in it. 

• To make a song available to a wide audience - The music video allows for the song to be transferred on a variety of formats to make it more available, allowing it to be a larger product and if not making it more successful as more people can view it in more than one way and the product can sell in more ways appealing to each individual consumer in their way which allows it to become more appealing than one form of product.

• To show more about the artist - If the artist is hidden outside of making songs then including themselves in a music video shows their audience them more and it makes the publicity for the artist to grow as he is building a connection to his fans and audience through the music video making the video important to that bond.

The style of the music video

Music videos are split into 3 different categories, which are:

1. Performance- (singing/dancing)
2. Narrative- (telling the audience a story)
3. Concept- (selling the audience an idea/theme or ideology)

Some music videos contain a mixture of the different styles and some contain only one style

The codes and conventions of the music genre

The codes and conventions of music genres are all different to each other and this is because music genres have a different target audience they try to aim for them which is the way they can make a more successful.

Depending on the genre the music video will have different codes and conventions for its own target audience. Dance music will contain more of a night club setting where there will be a physical input to energetic music as dancers will be creating movement to a rhythm and dancing to the song. Rock or Metal music is always staging live performances with the band members actually taking part with their individual instruments and it will look as they are playing the song live, fast camera movements to go with the energetic music, dark colours in the scenes to go with the genre and this is what appeals to their target audience.

You can't justify codes and conventions to music videos in general but you can apply Goodwin and Dyers Theories to Them and see how the music video is correctly constructed around the piece of music the artist has created. So each genre will have its own handful of coded and conventions to go with it as long as the music video applies to the genre of music it is a part of.

A discussion of how the music video appeals to an audience

Korn ft Skrillex - Get Up

This is a metal genre song so i think this video appeals to its individual audiences as it includes very dark lighting which is usually the colour that represents metal and sets the mood for the type of music produced. They use a dark surrounding on stage with static lights which can literally hide the performers and thats what they want, they appeal to the gloomy scene where they come up here and there based on their role in the song.

 

Metal and rock genre music videos conventionally always view the instruments being played lively to add to the impact of the song. its appealing because people from the audience that play the instruments aspire to the band members who play the same instrument and its a thing they want to see their favourite band member taking part in a live performance.