Audience

The genre of music that my chosen song belongs to does not lie within what it considered "mainstream", in that it is not played on most, if any, radio stations. The only stations that would play it are ones like Xfm that play generally alternative music, and even then it would only be played by certain DJs, for example John Kennedy on Xfm who has an evening/late show that plays music from artists a lot of people wouldn't have heard of. The kinds of people who listen to this kind of radio station/DJ are likely to be in their late teens to mid twenties. This is the same kind of age group that is my target audience for this music video. This is because music taste is something that develops and changes with age and those in their late teens often go through a period where they are exposed to lots of different kinds of music by friends, the radio, the internet and from live events like festivals. As they share their tastes and finds with each other they will discover that they like certain genres and go on to find artists who make that kind of music.

They may come across this artist by chance from their exploration into trip hop, electronic or ambient music (all of which are part of the song). It is perfectly possible that someone younger than their late teens, for example a 13 year old will hear the song and take a liking to it. I do not think, however, that this will happen at this age as much as it happens in older teenagers. Another reason for younger people not taking a liking to it is the dark and unusual nature of the song coupled with the singer being Swedish and not having many discernible lyrics to sing along with. Not being in the mainstream also makes the song more of an acquired taste rather than something that anyone could listen to and instantly like. Having said that I have chosen the most upbeat song from this artist, which is likely to increase the accessibility of the song as it has a fast pace and more positive sounding effects from the synthesiser. This will mean that it is easier to listen to some other songs from the genre and is less likely to put some audience members off the video because of the songs.

In terms of gender, I don't think that it appeals to one more than the other. It could be said that the female singer attracts a male audience, but the type of male that is attracted to listen to a certain artist just because they are female would not find this song appealing as it is in no way sexual like a lot of pop and R&B singers and the song does not provide any kind of instant gratification that listening to a song by a female pop artist may bring to them. The song may appeal to women, however, due to the themes hidden within the song and the empowerment that it appears to bring to the artist. I do not think that gender plays a large role in the target audience of this song as the target audience is more likely to be invested in the music itself, which is far more dependent on age, as I have previously explained.

To comply with my target audience, the visuals in the music video must have a strong relationship with the song and reinforce the genre. It must also not depend too much on a narrative as the audience must find their own narrative in the lyrics of the song rather than have one dictated to them.