Audience Research-Target Audience for Friendly Fires.

Friendly Fires are originally from St Albans, Hertfordshire and are currently signed up to XL Recordings. Xl recordings also deals with bands such as The Prodigy, Mia, Cajun Dance Party, Dizzee Rascal, The White Stripes and Radiohead. All these bands have a similar sound to them, and produce music such as techno, electro, punk and drum and bass. The majority of the bands Xl Recordings manage are new, young and fresh including Friendly Fires. This is a huge influence on their current target audience, which is generally young (16-24) and interested in social events such as gigs, concerts and festivals. These bands are advertised world wide in magazines such as NME, Kerrang and The Rolling Stones which specifies the genre.
The band was formed at a very young age, 14, when the members were still at school. This attracts young children today around the age of 14 when their interest is music and their intentions are to form a band. Knowing that successful bands such as 'Friendly Fires' have achieved this it is something for young hopeful band members to idolise and admire. The band then progressed and altered when all three boys began university. The name changed from First Day Back to the existing Friendly Fires. The band members are Ed Mac, 24, lead vocals and guitar; Jack Savidge, 24, drums; and Edd Gibson, 23, synthesiser.
(Quote from Wikipedia)
In late 2007, they became the first unsigned band to appear on Channel 4's Transmission Programme. Their single Paris achieved 'Single of The Week' in The Guardian newspaper, NME magazine, and also on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show. They have toured extensively, with past performances taking place throughout the UK, Europe, Japan, Canada, Mexico and the USA. In May 2008 their song "On Board" was featured in North American television commercials for Nintendo's Wii Fit. "On Board" is also featured in the trailer for the upcoming PlayStation 3 game Gran Turismo 5. "White Diamonds" is featured in one of the episodes in the second season of the American television series Gossip Girl. "Jump in the Pool" is the theme tune to BBC1's Final Score for the 2009/10 Football Season, aired on Saturday afternoons.
The album was certified gold in the UK; the band was nominated for a Best Breakthrough Award at The South Bank Show Awards and for ‘Best Dancefloor Filler’ at the NME Awards. They were also second on the bill on the NME Awards Tour 2009.
On 21 July 2009, the band was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
All this states that the bands precise target audience, and the selection of people the band aims their songs at are teenage and young adults, both male and female as the song lyrics deal with issues which are specific to this generation.
So therefore the target audience for Friendly Fires is the younger generation both males and females predominately males, due to current research, magazines such as NME, Kerrang and Rolling Stones are all more popular to the male population. The age boundaries are from 16-30.

Audience Questionaire.
For my audience research I designed a questionnaire and handed them out to 20 people aged between 16 and 24 as i believe this is the age boundary to the type of people who listen to Friendly Fires, and having researched on website and magazines my hypothesis was correct. Boys and girls between 16 and 30 listen and are fans of the band Friendly Fires. I decided to do a questionnaire also to back this up, I included questions which would identify the genre of this band, and other genres and artists. The audience were to select there favourite genre, artist, song, and why they like listening to this type of music. I asked people in college between the ages of 16 and 18. And i asked friends and family members between 18 and 24. I also believe this is the correct age boundary because all three members of the band are 23 and 24 so if they enjoy playing the music, people their age are expectedly going to enjoy listening to it.

1.What type of music do you prefer listening to?

Pop
R&B
Dance
Indie
Heavy Metal

2.What is the first thing you listening for in a song?
The Lyrics
The Beat
The Music Video

3.What lyrics appeal to you?

Relationships, Sex, Romance
Lifestyle
Family and Friends
Religion and political views

4.Who do you prefer?
Friendly Fires
Metalica
Lady gaga
DJ ...

5.What is your environment where you prefer listening to your favourite genre of music?
Dance club (rave)
Alone in your room
In the car/radio
Club (socialising)


Tally.
For qestion one there was a variety of answers, mainly pop and indie.
For question two the majority said the lyrics, a few saying the beat and only one saying the music video.
For question three 4 people saidd love, sex, romance but the rest said lifestyle. i asked them to be more specific and they said, going out, having fun, meeting people and getting drunk and partying.
For question four 2 people said Lady GaGa the rest said Friendly fires, many had never heard of Metalica which is a heavy metal band, and no one liked dg music.
For the final question, all possible answers were chosen, 6 saying in a dance club when they are drunk, 4 saying in their room alone, 3 saying in the car and on the radio, 7 said in a club where you socialise, given examples of Welly Club in Hull and Piper Club in Hull.

Looking at my results i can say that the majority of the 16-2 year olds i asked prefer listening to indie music like Friendly Fires in clubs like Welly and Piper, but when they hear the music, they enjoy listening to the lyrics as they are more meaningful and relevent to their lifestyle and era today.
Knowing these facts and figures i put into perspective the band and song i had chosen and realised that for my task to construct a music video promo and digipack i will have to use techniques to appeal to this audience of 16-23 year olds as they are the ones listening to the style of music andd enjoying it.

I chose 4 people, two boys and two girls, to listen to the song Friendly Fires- Photobooth and tell me what and why they like about it?

1.I like the lyrics. They talk about a young couples relationship, the ups and the downs, the beat is very up fast, you can dance to it, or just sit and chill with it playing in the background. I love Friendly Fires as there songs are always unique but meaningful with a catchy beat.
(Katy Booker, female, 17)

2.The song is very catchy it has a real good beat to it, i love dancing to this in clubs. The lyrics are meaningful but not too depressing just relevant to most young people today.
(Lee Green, male, 22)

3.I absolutely love Friendly Fires, and this song isn’t one of my favourites as the lyrics are a bit bland but the beat is catchy, its just real relaxing but every time you hear it makes you happy, and i can relate as i have had so many sessions in a photobooth with my ex boyfriends.
(Sophie Olivia, female, 20)

4.Class song, every time this is played in a club or bar i always feel like moving, real chilled out and great lyrics. Friendly fires are class.
(Tom Snowdon, male, 18)

Looking at this and reading the comments i can straight away recognise that most people around the age of 16-23 male and female all love the band and enjoy this song. They al mention how catchy the beat is and meaningful the lyrics are. This shows that the target audience is pretty self explanotory, so i will be able to link these comments and opinions in with my task.