Finding Indie: Genre and Audience research

Festival Posters

    Different festivals cater to different needs depending on the festival itself, and therefore are marketed in varied ways to appeal to those different audiences, offering different aspects of festival community and experience. 

 LATITUDE

    The latitude poster is completely selling the festival as an event and the location itself. The stylisitic writing and vintage frame with detailing is selling the style of the festival, a very 'arty' and calm atmosphere with good music, which would appeal to many people. The style of the poster has not changed much in 7 years is has been running, therefore is has become a brand and is recognisable and trustworthy to an audience or potential new customer.

 READING

     Reading is completely selling the musical acts by the plain background and the main focus on the headling acts, therefore they are selling the music only and the experience of the music, not the festival as a community. The colour scheme is simple and contrasts the red colouring of the logo so that is recogniseable, but the bold writing is so that the artists are the main focus of the advertisment due to the font being bolder and bigger than even the logo itself.

DOWNLOAD

    Download is very bold and brash and reflects the type of music playing at the festival, mainly Metal. The tattoo style border reflects people's interest in tattoos, body art and modification within the genre. The headlining acts are the main part of the poster with the names being as bold and strong, if not bolder than the logo of the festival itself, showing that they are also selling the music experience rather than the music and festival experience that Latitude sells. This also shows that the kind of person to attend Download is the kind of person who knows the genre well and can recognise the headlining acts.



The Rising Popularity of Festivals

    'UK fans spent £1.45bn on gigs in 2009 - up 4% from the previous year, according to songwriters' body PRS For Music.' said Ian Youngs, Music reporter, BBC News. Showing that there is a definite rise in the popularity of music festivals over the last few years. However, some may think that it is just a rising popularity in the industry itself, but as the statistics show 'Sales of CDs, records and digital downloads remained flat at £1.35bn in 2009.' Therefore, music festivals are shown to be much more popular and increasingly so, more so than the purchased or downloaded music. This is due to the fact that a lot of the consumption of music over the last 10 years has been digital and non-malleable, thus a consumer now wants to go back to the 'good days of music', as some would call, in the 1960s and 1970s - the days of Woodstock and giant festivals. So, therefore this revert and interest in festivals shows a throw-back or perhaps a progression into the modern music genre through old uses of it 40-50 years ago.

    The idealism of festivals has changed from something old to something remade and new. The notion of sleeping in a tent, wearing wellies walking in the mud and drinking beer all weekend is appealing to people as it a complete escape from the norm.

   It is chance for people to let go of the constraints of society, mobiles phones, laptops, worrying about money or your car and be relaxed, have a good time and be spontaneous for the weekend. Unlike a gig where it is a few hours long, at most, festivals are days long with your friends listening to music that you love so it is a completely different experience for somebody wanting to go to a festival rather than just seeing the band in concert.  

 

The sense of community is also different in the fact that the people there are all in the same situation with mostly the same views and opinions on the place and music they are attending, therefore conversation can be made with different people without even knowing them by sharing that and being in the experience together.

It gives an experience to lots of different people due to the vast audience festivals bring. Teenagers and young adults can see it as a chance to change their normal lives and do something they wouldn't usually do. Older people use it as a way of relaxing and people with families can enjoy it and have their children entertained in a relaxed and calm environment.

Music Festivals: Our Band

     

     After looking at lots of different music festivals, as a group, we came to the decision that 'Latitude festival' would best suit our band, Kankouran. The type of music at latitude is indie/folk/rock/acoustic which we thought does fit our band very nicely and they're music would fit with the atmosphere and genres that also play there. 

    Latitude festival isn't just about the music, it is about the whole experience, with live acts, comedy, dance, art and literature. This means that it attracts 'arty' type people who are interested in more than just jumping around the music, but appreciate it as an art form also. Which is different to a pop festival, which is more about the experience of partying hard and drinking a lot. 

   Latitude is also family friendly and is marketed towards all different age groups. The 'indie' scene is quite calm and about acoustic music and having a calming, good time. With the drug of choice at a festival like this being cannabis or something you smoke and the drink being cider, beer or lager. 

   At a pop festival the drug would perhaps be something heavier like ecstasy, speed or cocaine, something stimulating and the drink of choice would be spirits like Vodka or Malibu. Drink and drugs are part of festivals and vary between different festivals.

    The look of the poster reflects the audience demographic and the way in which the festival targets itself. The stylistic nature of the poster, with the vintage frame and detailing attracts the viewer - the type of person interested in vintage fashion, style and appearance. The green colour motif also reflects the festival as it connotes nature, which shows the audience it is a calm and natural place to be. The text and image of the coloured sheep show the 'arty' nature of the festival and show it to be a festival in which people who are interested in art and differently styled things would be attracted to this festival.

Audience and Genre Research

Our genre would be considered ‘Indie Pop’ ^[1] due to the Indie, acoustic feel to the song, but also it is ‘more melodic’ than Indie rock or other indie genres. It could also be considered to have ‘Indie Folk’ ^[2] influences because of the acoustic tone.

The choice of music, other than Kankouran, for our audience may be artists such as Bon Iver, Mumford and Sons, The Smiths, Ben Howard. These artists are all of a very similar genre and would be the kind of music that our audience would listen to. I think that they would stay within the indie genre and not be massively a consumer of popular culture due to the nature of indie music and it originating ‘in Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early-80s and the dominant UK independent band of the mid-80s, The Smiths. ^[1]

Our audience would consume independent magazines and be interested in magazines such as ‘Clash’ ^[3] and ‘NME’ ^[1] but would be mainly interested in consuming media online on ‘websites like Pitchfork Media, and various parts of Tumblr.’ ^[3]

The gender of our audience is likely to be male and female, but mainly male; due to the genre being more male dominated than female. This is due to the fact that it is more difficult for women to be accepted in ‘Rock’ and ‘Indie’ genres. ^[5] However, due to the revival of the ‘Hipster’ ^[3] sub-culture in the 1990s it has become more accepted in modern society. Due to our band being an all-male band with a female guest vocalist this does re-enforce the typical gender roles in Indie and Rock genres, however the featured vocalist Evelyn Burke ^[6] would attract more of a female audience.

The sexuality of our audience would be quite open minded, coming from the ‘Hipster’ sub-culture of the 1940s and the ‘relaxed sexual codes’. ^[4] Meaning that our audience could be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or transgender. However, I think that a majority of the audience for this genre of music is heterosexual males due to the male dominance in the genre.

            The habitat of our audience would be ‘urban middle class adults and older teenagers’ ^[3] interested in independent music, non-mainstream fashion and alternative lifestyles, usually from quite stable middle class families and therefore having middle class values and usually would be quite well educated. They would also be between 16 and 25 years old.

            Religion amongst our audience would be ‘alternative spirituality or atheism/agnosticism’ ^[3] which in-tern reflects the need for individuality and to move away from traditional and mainstream values. I think that the majority of our audience would against organized religion and the traditional Christian belief systems we still hold onto in Britain. Although it is not directly associated with religion I also think that our audience would be against the monarchy and royals of Britain, as personally I do not believe we need to have a royal family, and I think our audience and the genre has a similar viewpoint. I think politics would be a similar viewpoint with ‘liberal or independent political views’ ^[3] and socialist views against the capitalist western society idealism.

            Money amongst our audience would probably not be much of an issue, but the revival of the 1940s ‘Hipster’ sub-culture means that ‘self-imposed poverty’ ^[4] is a contributing aspect to young people interested in the ‘indie’ genre. ‘Self-imposed’ meaning that they are trying to be or look much poorer than they are to not conform to the commercialised society we live in and also shows individuality to shop online or in charity shops. Money for bands and artists would be different because they need money to function but they would also be ‘self-imposed’ to look much worse off than they actually are to be true to the ‘independent’ roots of the genre – showing they have not ‘sold-out’ to commercial or cooperate labels.

            Clothes for our audience consist of some mainstream and high-street fashion; such as Topshop or Topman, however it would also consist of charity shop clothes, vintage clothes and clothes from online boutiques or websites such as ‘eBay.co.uk’. The revival of the 1940s ‘Hipster’ subculture into the 1990s and again into modern day has meant that lots of different types of fashion and alternative clothing are worn amongst the genre. The 1940s/50s ‘Rock’n’Roll’ type clothes are worn, as well as the skinny jeans and denim jackets from the 1980s, which in themselves were a revival of the ‘Mod’ era of the 1960s. The 1990s saw a revival of the punk era of the 1970s and the ‘grunge’ style was created through that, which is being seen more today as it has been another 20 years since its last revival because it is usually every 20 years a style or era is revived by a new generation then altered or added to in some way.

            Drink and drugs would be used within the genre and our audience would drink alcohol such a ‘Budweiser’, ‘Bulmers’, ‘Magners’ and other beers and ciders. The drug of choice would probably be cannabis due to the ‘use of cannabis and other drugs, relaxed attitude, sarcastic humor’ ^[4] of the 1940s Hipster subculture.

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1 - ‘Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s, with its roots in Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s (Josef K and Orange Juice) and the dominant UK independent band of the mid-'80s, The Smiths. Indie pop was inspired by punk's DIY ethic and related ideologies, and it generated a thriving fanzine, label, and club and gig circuit. Indie pop differs from indie rock to the extent that it is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free.’

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indie_pop

2 - ‘Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s from singer/songwriters in the indie rock community showing heavy influences from folk music scenes of the 50s, 60s and early 70s, country music, and indie rock.

A few early artists included Lou Barlow, Jeff Buckley and Elliott Smith. The genre is commonly related to freak folk, psych folk, baroque pop and New Weird America. The genre saw a significant growth from the early 2000s to present, beginning with bands such as Bright Eyes, Iron & Wine, Beirut, Bon Iver, The Avett Brothers, Arthur & Yu, The Decemberists, Okkervil River, Manel, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Mumford & Sons, and others.’

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indie_folk

3 - ‘Hipster refers to a subculture of young, recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers that appeared in the 1990s. The subculture is associated with independent music, a varied non-mainstream fashion sensibility, liberal or independent political views, alternative spirituality or atheism/agnosticism and alternative lifestyles. Interests in media would include independent film, magazines such as Clash, and websites like Pitchfork Media, and various parts of Tumblr.’

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_(contemporary_subculture)

4 - Hipster or hepcat, as used in the 1940s, referred to aficionados of jazz, in particular bebop, which became popular in the early 1940s. The hipster adopted the lifestyle of the jazz musician, including some or all of the following: dress, slang, use of cannabis and other drugs, relaxed attitude, sarcastic humor, self-imposed poverty and relaxed sexual codes.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_(1940s_subculture)

5 - It’s a simple fact the music industry has been, and probably still is, a male dominated industry. Women with guitars prior to 1977 and even then were seen as a novelty; an angle; as something not entirely serious. Women were seen as adoring fans, as wholesome pop models, as singer songwriters.

-http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/womeninrockpart1.htm

6 - Songs written by Tarek Musa of Kankouran. Released 02 January 2012. Composition & Record Production by Tarek Musa with additional Vocals and Cello by Evelyn Burke

-http://kankouran.bandcamp.com/

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