Audience ResearchPOP MUSIC By Nicole Tomlinson

Pop Artists

Here is a varied selection of pop artists in the music industry today, some older than others and there are also both genders that sing pop.

What is pop music?Pop music has evolved over time and will continue to change, however, pop music is still noticeable to this day. The easiest way to identify pop music is usually the successful and popular songs in the pop music charts. As you seen on the previous slide there are a varied selection of pop singers from artists that have been in the industry for many years such as Katy Perry to younger singers such as Demi Lovato that are only just starting out in their career.Pop music and artists can be represented by the use of bright colours from what they wear, to music videos, to mastheads and colour schemes on music magazines. The bright colours are very popular in the pop industry as it originates from pop art.

1. This is Demi Lovato who is currently a new pop star. In this album cover the image is very pale apart from her highlighted lips to match the name title, this emphasizes the pop culture of bright colours standing out. She is also young and pretty (a stereotypical pop star) and has a large fan base of teenage girls as they love her music and most likely aspire to be her and want to look like her.

2.This is Katy Perry another great example of a huge pop star, in fact she is seen as the princess of pop. This cover reflects the genre of music she sings with bright contrasting colours of pink and blue. She too is very, beautiful, has very popular songs and is loved by unlimited fans, once again a large percentage of her fans are teenage girls who idolize her, a lot of Katy’s songs are about her experiences growing up, which is why a lot of teenage girls like her because they can relate to her songs, however, boys also like her music and are attracted to her looks.

Age/GenderPop music is aimed at ages from 13 and onwards, as the music is usually appropriate to listen to and is about life experiences, the most common is love or teenage crushes therefore teenage audiences are going to be able to relate with the songs, where as adults might find this a little cheesy, you will also find that most pop artists are young themselves like their fans, showing not that much of an age gap this means that they could share similar interests and the fans could also be more attracted to the singers or even want to be just like them more than an older artist.

Pop music and pop magazines are bought more by girls than boys, this could be for many reasons but a few reasons are that• The colour schemes include a lot of pink, and most boys will detract from colours

such as pink as they feel it is a more stereotypical colour for girls.• The majority of pop singers are girls and will sing about songs from their point of

view and girls may understand the songs better than boys.• Boys want to listen to guy songs more rather than girl songs all the time.

Social classWorking class are more likely to buy the pop magazines as they will be influenced by the media more and will be inspired by the pop stars popularity and how much money they have, they will aspire to be like them, doing so by buying their magazine and reading about the celebrities life, where as, if it was a higher class person they wouldn’t aspire to be like the pop stars as much as they would feel more financially supported and content with their own job.

As the target market for buying pop magazines is ages 13+ the social class could be varied.At this age it could be classed as unemployed people, but because they are at a young age they would more than likely get their parents to pay for them or because they are a teenager they could be employed for a weekend job.

WealthThe people that sell pop magazines have to think about the teenage audience from every angle when it comes to price. The audience are of ages 13+ so they are a younger audience, as they are younger, they probably don’t have a job or if they do it will probably be a weekend job which means they wont get a higher wage or be able to afford a high priced magazine.

As this is a younger target market it is often that they will get their parents to buy the magazine for them, this means that the price for the magazine can be a higher price but can’t be too expensive as parents may not be willing to pay a lot of money.After finding out who my audience is I have decided that when I create my pop music magazine, I will think about my price carefully.

Knowing that they may consider to buy a higher price magazine the magazine needs to consist of interesting information, pictures and gifts. I think the price of my magazine will be around £4.99 each.

InterestsA younger audience is obviously interested in the pop stars and they will look up to the pop stars therefore they will want to know everything about them. Including personal information and gossip, they want to know info about more than ne celebrity so that they feel as though they are in on their personal life. Also include more info and interviews on a variety of pop stars because its more than likely they will like them all if its pop.

Girls are also interested in fashion they will want to know what everyone is wearing at the moment, what looks good and what the stars are all wearing and their opinions on clothing, therefore including images and an article on personal preferences of clothing would definitely interest young girls into buying the magazine

Make up is also a big interest for girls, once, again, what looks good, what their favorite pop stars use, and they especially like it if it comes free in a magazine, the magazine is most likely to be bought more when there are free gifts inside there magazine

Being a teenage girl, they are starting to know what they like and don’t who they like and who not, there interests grow and when they like a singer, they will buy products to do with who they like, that’s why a lot of teenagers have posters of their favorite singer/ band so free posters in a magazine they like would help sell the magazine.

Examples of a pop magazine

Here are four examples of pop magazines, WE LOVE POP and TOP of the POPS are two types of branded pop magazines and are also the most popular pop magazines that people buy. As you can see they are all set up similar with a mid shot, cover image of a well known singer, surrounded by subheadings and images. If you look closely every magazine is advertising some sort of fashion item for girls which clearly informs us that this magazine is for girls. They all have bright feminine colors such as pink , purple and yellow. Another thing that leads us to believe they are aimed at girls is the make up they are selling with the magazine or the make up that they are talking about within the magazine. Each magazine has its name clearly printed, however one thing I have noticed is that on some of the top of the pops magazines the masthead is covers or hidden slightly behind the singers but it doesn’t matter as this magazine is very well knows and any fan or audience will know what it is straight away.