HOW AUDIENCES ARE TARGETED

The music industry has a clever way of keeping us all in the loop and hooking us to particular artists. Once we have found a genre we like, from the extensive genres put before us by many of the main channels, we are further targeted by them adhering to particular characteristics of the band or genre.

 For example, one of my favourite bands is called Slipknot, a metal band. Their style involves wearing masks which are slightly 'scary' to some (not to me). They call their fan base 'maggots'. This small word is very powerful as it makes their fans feel part of a group that the band recognise and talk directly to. They use sites such as Facebook and Twitter to convey messages to the fans about current happenings, tours and general information on the band members. I follow all of the band members and the band myself and they often 'retweet' people in the fan base (including me!). This encourages the fans to keep checking their pages. They also have their own site which includes links to these networks and extra band information and tour dates. An online shop is also included so fans can buy official merchandise.

It is not just the internet sites that target audiences. Adverts such as posters still exist for CD covers, concerts, new releases etc. They are often found in public places and are sometimes taken in subliminally. They can also be found online, often featuring on websites such as Facebook or MTV's site as adverts. CD covers now often appear as 'album art' on Itunes and smartphones so are viewed when a song is played, linking the image with the artist.

From my research, audiences tend to use the media to consume music videos. Band websites and music sites such as MTV or Kerrang to gain the information once they have decided on their favourite artists. Social Networks are used as a sharing platform for this media and spread the word to other users, who may become fans themselves. The age group of 11-25 seem to be targeted the most by this industry as we are known to be the main users of social networks and the internet for personal reasons. We consume this media on our laptops, smartphones and tablets which as also mainly used by this age group. Looking at adverts for these Ipods and smartphones, I have found that young people are mainly used in the adverts, along with modern music that is often in the charts. This often occurs in their spare time as most teenagers lives are based around school, work or college. The sharing aspect is intensified as teenagers seem to mix with other people more often than adults with busy social lives and more free time. School is also a social area where they make friends seemingly much more frequently than adults do.