For my market research, I decided that I would ask 10 different people between the ages of 13-20 years old, as this is my target audience. Even though 10 seems like a small number, I was then going to upload my questionnaires to the online survey website Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com). I have successfully managed to get all of my 10 questionnaires back completed with answers ready for me to analyse.
However, unfortunately my second idea of using Media 2.0 failed this time as I didn't get any or enough responses back for me to analyse completely. Although, this isn't a complete fail as I did still try and get some responses back, and it may have proved that my questionnaires were quite long and detailed that it put people off from answering.
For the questionnaires that I did receive back, here are my results analysed:
1. On a scale of 1-10, how important is music to you? (10 being the highest)
30% of the audience answered it as a 10, and the remaining 70% rated it a 10. This states the obvious that for this age, music is an almost essential part of their lives and tells me straight away that there must be an underlying reason for music being so powerful in a young persons life. I asked this question to find out the rate that people have for music at different ages, and I wasn't surprised to find this result.
2. What is your favourite genre of music?
This question is open, so it allows people to decide out of a variety of different genres or add their own if they have something different. People that answered differently gave me answers such as 'metal', 'country', 'pop rock', 'alternative', as well as one answering 'I don't have one' and another answered 'various'. These answers were not included on my selection of answers as these are not the most popular of genres, however, it was interesting for me to see that some of the less well-known and some of the hybrid genres such as 'pop rock' are just as popular among my target audience. The remaining answers were for either the genre of R&B or Pop - which doesn't surprise me again because these are the most cultural and heard of genres of this time. I originally asked this question to see how popular my own music genre would be, and now I am certain I can reach to my target audience with what I want to do.
3. Why do you like this genre?
I asked this question primarily to find out why they rated music in their lives as high 9's and 10's, and what it is about their own genres that they like. Here are some of the answers and the genres they were talking about:
Metal - 'the vocals, the guitars, heaviness'
Various - 'because it depends on my mood or what I'm doing'
Pop Rock - 'upbeat'
Country - 'the songs have meaning and important messages'
Pop - 'because it's such as big genre and can be interpreted in so many ways' 'relatable'
R&B - 'relateable lyrics and narratives' 'my personal taste in music, grew up listening to' 'relatable'
Alternative - 'because the lyrics are interesting as well as sound'
The most common reasons are linking the lyrics and the meaning of the songs to their genres, and people most like their genres of music because they can 'relate' to the meanings of lyrics and narratives. I like this response because it is exactly the type of message I want to provoke and I want my audience to be able to listen/watch my music video and be inspired by the lyrics/message.
4. On a scale of 1-10, how important are music videos to you? (10 being the highest)
This question provoked quite a unique reaction from everyone, with 10% rating them a 9, 20% rating them an 8, 20% saying a 5, 40% giving them a 7 and the remaining 10% rating them a 1. The majority of people rated them a 7 on a scale of 1-10, which shows that they aren't as popular as listening to music in general, but they are still good enough to be over half way. What shocked me was that one person rated them a 1, even though they believed music was a 10. However, this is only one person out of 10 that I asked and understandably music videos are not everyone's priority.
5. Do you enjoy watching music videos?
I wanted to find out whether entertainment and enjoyment was one of the reasons why people watched music videos, and a whole 90% agreed that they do like watching them. The remaining 10% that said no was the same 10% that didn't think music videos were very important, which is therefore understandable.
6. When music videos are released, how quick are you to watch them?
50% of the audience believed that they watched music videos within 3-5 days of release, and with 30% saying that they watched music videos within 0-2 of them being released, 'if they like the artist'. This is quite incredible as a scale of showing you how music videos are looked at and how the audience must know about their release if they are so quick to watch them. Between the remaining 20%, one person said that they never watch music videos, and the other answered within 6+ days of release, which does show me that for some people this isn't the same. What this highlights to me the most is the advertisement is crucial for the audience to know the release date of music videos in order for them to watch them and create a hype. But this also tells me that within less than a day of releasing my music video, people would have watched and judged it and if it isn't good enough, word of mouth will make it apparent.
7. Describe below what makes a good music video to you.
This was another open question that I included for people to have the opportunity to give detail. The answers that I received were:
'a video that interprets the lyrics well'
'a strong narrative'
'when lyrics are relative to the music video or theme'
'a thought provoking message or style'
'strong narrative that relates to the lyrics of the song'
'SFX, interesting visuals, captures narrative of song'
'good mix of performance and narrative - there needs to be a lot of energy'
'telling a story or message behind the song'
'the message'
'the artist performing and they're passionate about it'
There are a lot of different responses for this question, but in general I think my target audience are most impressed by music videos that interpret and connect with the idea behind the song as well, which is something I am going to do.
8. How often do you normally watch music videos?
20% said that they rarely watched music videos, 10% said they sometimes do, whilst 50% watched them frequently and 20% watched them 'always'. This again proves to me that not only is music a great source of entertainment, but lots of my target audience are watching music videos more than frequently so they are clearly popular.
9. Why do you watch music videos?
The answers that I received for this question were as follows:
'entertainment, supporting artists, influence'
'because of band intrigue'
'for entertainment'
'to see the identity of a song'
'to see the artist and their creativity'
'interesting'
'to see if I can discover the meaning of the song'
'because I need a break from homework'
'for the music'
'because I like the artist, see locations around the world'
Again, there was a majority answer that people like watching music videos for entertainment, and one of them actually answered with the phrase 'a break from homework' which suggests the theory of escape and losing yourself in the music. Other answers gave the impression that people like supporting their favourite bands/artists by watching their videos, and they also like to be 'influenced' or to 'identify' and 'discover' for themselves.
10. How do you view music videos?
Music Channels: IIIIII
YouTube: IIIIIIIIII
Social Networking Sites:
Other:
It was surprising to me that no-one watches music videos on social networking sites, even though sites like these are very popular with this generation. Instead, 13-20 year olds are predominantly watching music videos on sites like YouTube and music channels on TV. This shows me that my target audience do not have a wide range of sources they view music videos through, which tells me that I must produce mine for there if I want it to be successful.
11. What technology do you view music videos on?
Television: IIIIIII
Laptop/Computer: IIIIIIII
Mobile Phone: IIIII
Ipod: IIII
Other:'Ipad' 'Ipad'
By 1 point, more people watch music videos on their laptop or computer rather than on their television, but the scoring for both is exceedingly high and shows me the technology that my audience is familar with. A few people also watch music videos on their mobile phones and ipods, as well as some adding a category of 'Ipad' where 20% watched them on there too. Technology is a large part of society today, especially teenagers and young adults, therefore I must make sure my music video is versatile and can be viewed on many platforms for it to work.
12. Put in order (1 being highest) of which of the following you like seeing in music videos:
SFX (special effects)
Live Performances
Narrative/Story
The Band/Artist
Synchronisation of rhythm of song
The reason for this was to find out what they rated the highest which my target audience believed was the narrative/story of the video. This didn't surprise me as I have already realised from the previous answers that they like watching videos for entertainment and this is clearly the reason why. The lowest scoring component of this question were Live performances and SFX (special effects), which shows me these are the least important aspects I need to worry about including in mine.
13. If a music video were to involve a narrative/story, would you prefer it to be complex or understandable?
This links with the previous question and how most people didn't believe special effects were as interesting as 70% of people believed that having an understandable storyline and narrative is much better than complex. Clearly, I can see my target audience like to be amazed by the narrative itself - which should be something relatable and interesting - rather than the effects.
14. Do you watch music channels? & 15. If yes, what music channels do you watch?
80% of the people I asked do watch music channels on television, and the most popular channels they watched were MTV, KISS and 4Music.
16. Why do you like these music channels?
Some of the reasons for my target audience watching these channels were to keep up to date with the charts and because they showed a large variety of music. It's nice to see that my chosen target audience likes to support music in the charts, but then shows me the type of music they like listening to is popular and mainstream.
17. Do you prefer music channels for just 1 genre of music or that contains music from all different genres?
80% of the people I asked said they prefer watching music channels that feature a wide range of genres, and only 20% like sticking to the music channels that show their favourite. I think this relates the question above and how mainstream music channels like MTV and 4Music are so successful.
18. Would you be interested in watching a music video that left you inspired/motivated?
90% of my target audience said that they would watch a music video with this idea, which tells me I have done the right thing in choosing for my own project. Even though this result is not 100%, it is better than nothing and is well above average.
19. Do you enjoy watching music videos that involve real life events/news stories?
60% said that they do enjoy watching real life inspired music videos, and the remaining 40% disagreed. This shows me that my idea of including themes of 'Olympic Fever' will work well but I think the fact I will not show any news stories or Olympic coverage is a good idea.
20. How many of the following music videos have you watched?
"Wavin' Flag" by K'NAAN, Will.i.am and David Guetta
"Do They Know It's Christmas Time" by Band Aid
"Sing" by Gary Barlow ft. The Commonwealth Band and The Millitary Wives
"Anywhere In The World" by Katy B and Mark Ronson
The majority of people had watched at least 2 of these music videos, with some people watching even all 3 or 4 of them. This is quite impressive as some of these music videos are not well known about as they relate to sports/stories that people may not be interested in or know about - e.g. "Wavin' Flag" was a World Cup song, but not many people who don't watch football would know that.
My final question was something that was again left completely down to the person answering it, and the reason I asked what their favourite music video was is so I could collect them all and watch all of their favourite music videos to see if any stand out or inspire me further. The question to this part is featured on my next blog post with all the videos that people suggested.
Why have I done this?
This questionnaire was a very useful way of me getting into the minds of the audience I am promoting my product to, and was essential for me to be successful. I now know what types of aspects to include, what priorities things should be in my music video and the reason my target audience would want to watch my own.
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