Primary Research; Interviews

Audience Research - Interview

to further understand about people and what and why they liked indie music , i decided to ask some friends who are very fond of indie music a few questions that could allow me to have a clearer sense of what to do for the music video.

when watching a music video

what do you care most about?

the scene / theme of the video .. If it relates to the song/ words well enough!

i see why would you want the lyrics to relate to the narrative?

Because then it would make some sense to me... Defining the song further.. Otherwise it wouldn't have meaning.. Or a purpose for having actuall a video for the lyrics

so then , give me an example of a music video you really like and what you like about it?

Jamie T sticks and stones merely because it is very down to earth! And shows life in reality.. And clearly relates back to the lyrics within the city life.. I like the changing imagery and constant movement and variations of camera work... It is not like a glossy American video ..

Indie Fan Culture - Secondary Research

http://www.cracked.com/funny-1677-indie-music/

Article link is above.

The article talks about different indie terms and festivals. 

It quotes 

‘having a friend mention a band to you and being able to respond with "seen em live" is the crowning achievement for indie music fans. To an indie, it feels like 100 orgasms covered in chocolate set to a Radiohead soundtrack. You would have to attend far too many small shows to gain the clout you get from going to one festival.’

This quote shows how most indie fans are about the music and the live experience of music rather than the entire product that goes with the aritst.

Secondary Audience Research - Bastille Fans vs One Direction Fans

‘Bastille’ an Indie band

In the video it shows fans waiting outside a show Bastille have just done. The fans shout the lead singers name and then as he appropraches they say ‘You sounded so great’…. This shows how the fans are not so much obssesed with the way they look. They are more obssessed with the music being produced. The fans waiting are all females aged around 11-19 showing us the target market to Bastille as a band. Juxtapose these fans with One Direction Fans (video below) and this shows how One Direction fans are more obsessed with the band because of their looks rather than their music.

One direction are a pop band 

Secondary Audience Research - Lana Del Rey Fans

An article By Luke Winkie Tue, June 10 2014

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2014/06/lana_del_rey_fandom_is_exactly_the_same_as_pro_wrestling_fandom.php?page=2

In this article Luke Winkie juxtaposes Lana Del Rey fans and WWE (Wrestling Fans). He talks about how little children believe everything about WWE is real and to do with real life… He then goes on to similary juxtapose these ‘children’ fans with Lana Del Rey fans talking about how her fans also believe that she really is some dark mythical goddess. Luke splits up the different type of Lana Del Rey’s fans as ‘Marks’ and ‘Smarks’.

The Marks are the ignorant ones who believe she reall is this alter ego living in a dark twisted world.

The Smarks are the clever ones who know Lana is simply and entertainer and ‘Lana Del Rey’ is her character.

The article shows how Lana Del Rey has image and brand/character through the use of her music and videos so powerful and real… that fans truly belive that she is this woman who is obssessed with death. 

Secondary Research- Youtube/ Fan Pages/ Official Websites

Indie Music Fest- Bringing People Together

Secondary Audience Research- Interview Of A Band Member From 'Coast'

Secondary Audience Research/ Music Video Analysis

This video here is a perfect example of the support indie audiences show. Many decide to show their dedication to this genre of music by creating animated clips or films; like the one above. Here we have a shout of for support to the indie genre; the self made video is a bit 'weird' and 'funky' like the genre they support. It shows the extent that the fan will go to in order to protect their music genre

Qualitative Date; Interview Questions

1. Do you like indie music?
2. Who’s your favourite artist?
3. In your opinion what type of group (fanbase) does/do your artist/artists reach out to?
4. Do you follow any social sites (insta, twitter etc) of your favourite artist?
5. How do you find out about new tracks/albums/videos?
6. Do you feel as if the fashion you wear is influenced by the music you listen to? (self-identity­)
7. How do you get your sources for your music?
8. Do you watch music channels?
9. Do you ever visit fan-ran websites related to “insert favourite artist here”?
10. Do you ever read music magazines?
11. On a scale of 1-10 how much does music mean to you? Why?
12. How do you support your favourite artist? Gigs? Merc ?
13. What does the term ‘fanbase’ mean to you?
14. Favourite music video?
15. Does the music video affect your opinion of the song?

These are the questions we came up with for our interviews; however in practise many questions were skipped, reworded or added according to the interviewee 

Qualitative Data

Qualitative Data; Interview Review

On the 29^th of October, our group went out to central London to interview individuals to find out about relationships they have with their music. We started off at Leicester Square, which is where we did most of our interviews. At this location we also witnessed a performance by a busker and had the opportunity to interview him. After finishing in this location, we also attempted to find some interviewees at Piccadilly Circus and China town - however this proved to be quite difficult, as many people refused to take part in the interview due to being in a rush. In our opinion the day was quite productive, as out of the five interviews we conducted, three were successful. The remaining two interviews gave us an insight on real musicians’ opinions.

Improvements

If I had to do this again, I would keep the microphone a little further away from the interviewee’s face during filming to avoid them feeling crowded and intimidated.

Some people were in a rush or not wanting to the get interviewed; many foreigners were unable to answer and/or understand questions fully. We had expected that people will be willing to participate – however because we had high expectations that weren’t met, next time we would keep in mind the variety of different responses we might get from people if we ask them to be interviewed. With this we would also expect more refusals and rejections and prepare ourselves for it.

Another problem was the issue of approaching people to ask them questions- once again we had high expectations, this time of ourselves - we had not expected to feel as uncomfortable around strangers as we did.

Next time the equipment had to be checked properly. The mic and headphones weren’t plugged in correctly at the time of some interviews, which resulted in sound not being recorded properly – the audio was not loud enough. Luckily we had the external camera mic, which came in useful as backup equipment.