APPLYING AUDIENCE THEORIES TO MY MUSIC CAMPAIGN

ENCODING AND DECODING Encoding and decoding was proposed by Stuart Hall as a way of

understanding multiple readings of media texts. Encoding is delivering an intended meaning to the audience Decoding is how the audience reacts to the text depending on

their own ideas of culture and social context Hall came up with three examples of decoding: Preferred reading- The audience accepts all of the intended

meanings Negotiated reading- The audience accepts some of the meanings

but not all, may involve contradictions to what they believe Oppositional reading- Audience understands the intended

meaning but completely rejects it

MUSIC CAMPAIGN We encoded the intended message of the music industry (creepy men) sucking the soul and talent out of the

artist (young girl) which was symbolized through the use of the television and her being tied up behind the TV.

Artists’ would decode this idea as a preferred meaning. This is probably due to them understanding this idea of the music industry tying to warp their image into something that will sell. This idea was further uncovered by Negus with his organic and synthetic ideals of artists, suggesting that in order for an artist to become successful they need to relate to either a down to earth, more about the music than the fame ideal or a highly sculptured image and striving for fame and fortune. However, some artists’ may have a negotiated reading of our narrative element, this would mean they might accept part of the intended meaning but not all of it. Artists’ such as Kanye West, for example who is one of the most famous musicians would have far more control over his work than that of our band (Cigarettes After Sex) therefore he might disagree with this. Therefore preferred meanings cannot be generalized to all artists’ due to their level of fame or selling records. It seems that the more records that are sold by the artist the more control they will have over their future products, if they do not it is likely they will move to a new record label that will give them the freedom. Yet, smaller artists do not have this luxury.

It is likely the music industry itself especially record labels would have an oppositional reading of our intended meaning. This is most likely due to the intended meaning taking a negative view of them. It opens up a huge issue that most artists are unable to speak about due to the record labels being needed in order for the artist to make money. Therefore, speaking out on this issue may lead the artist to get dropped by the label.

MUSIC CAMPAIGNAcross all three of our products, we received the

feedback from our target audience that it was clear “they are a band.” This meant that our encoded message (the boys being a band) was decoded as a preferred meaning by our target audience. This is exactly what we wanted the audience to find when we created the three products, as I found through my research into the Indie Rock genre that the bands tended to have ideals of brotherhood and togetherness which Negus identified as being of organic ideology. Therefore we wanted this to come across in our three products.

USES AND GRATIFICATION THEORY

This theory was produced by Lazarfeld, Blumler and Katz, it assumes that audiences aren’t passive and actively select the texts that they wish to consume to fulfill desires within their lives.

They came up with four examples of this: Diversion- This is the idea of escapism, consuming the text for

entertainment purposes Personal identity- This is the idea of identifying with characters and

situations to help clarify ones own sense of life and the views that go with it Personal relationships- This is the idea of companionship with the characters

or audience members through shared experience in media texts Surveillance- This is the idea of a want of knowledge about what is

happening in the world

MUSIC CAMPAIGN

It could be said that our music video provides the audience members with diversion. However, the harshness of the intended meaning suggests that it is not entertaining in the way of enjoyment

I think that artists would share in personal identity with the character (the young girl) of our music video. The idea that their images are changed and adapted just in order to make money would be a very relevant idea

I think that the idea of surveillance would link most with our target audience. I found that our target audience would be ages 25-30 years old. This is the generation of change, they seek change and redemption from what the previous generation has done before them. Yet, in order to find this change they need to know what is wrong first. This is where our music video comes in. The target audience consume the text and understand the intended meaning due to their level of maturity and views of the world. They wish to seek out texts with an intended meaning that will make them think and want to change that specific issue. Therefore this idea partly relates to the idea of personal relationships, the target audience wish to build a community and a following that will help change what is wrong with the world (in this case the music industry) this is done through their shared experiences watching the media text that is our music video.

USES AND GRATIFICATION THEORY RECIEVED

From the feedback I received, it seemed that the focus group enjoyed the music video through diversion. They gained enjoyment from the product, saying they loved the dance and band performance. However, the focus group was not actually our target audience as they were ages 16-18 years old rather than 25-30 years old. Therefore, I predict that if I had interviewed our target audience I think that the audience would understand the intended meaning more and therefore be more of a surveillance example rather than diversion. Due to what I found in my research (next slide). From the interview It was clear that the 16-18 year olds struggled slightly with the metaphor of the narrative element. This provided further evidence that we were right with our prediction for the age of the target audience

RESEARCH INTO FEATURES OF TARGET AUDIENCE

As can be seen from my blog. I predicted that the target audience would be into cinematography, editing and critically acclaimed films. Therefore our actual target audience would receive the gratification of personal relationships. The 25-30 year old males would share the experience of the product and be able to appreciate it with other audience members

PREFERRED, NEGOTIATE OR OPPOSITIONAL READINGS FROM THE FEEDBACK

From our first feedback session of our first draft of our music video the focus group seemed to take a negotiated reading of the intended reading. They understood the element of the young girl (artist) being exploited by the creepy men (music industry) yet they didn't’t understand that she was tied up rather than hiding. This therefore took a lot away from the narrative meaning. We later changed this by adding in shots of the girl being tied up to clear this up for audience members. The final feedback we received on the music video the audience took a preferred meaning. They understood the narrative line, as well as most agreeing with it. However due to the young age of our focus group, they were unaware of this narrative line being an issue. Therefore some didn't’t realize the symbolism behind the story line.

In our final feedback, the audience all took a preferred reading that the group were definitely a band. They got this idea from our three products (website, digipak and music video). This meant that we were successful in our encoding methods of creation.

CONCLUSION It is clear that our three products can be readily related to

audience theories. Our feedback , has followed these theories without us even realizing it.

I think from the use of the audience theories it is clear that the right message and look of our campaign on the whole has been interpreted as we wanted.

I think we could of improved on the findings of the audience theories by interviewing the actual target audience (male 25-30 years old). This would of given us accurate data.

However, overall I’m happy that even people that our younger than our target audience and female rather than male completely understood the intended meanings.