Audience Research

1. Audience Research
Freddie Fullman

2. Audience - AGE
What do different ages prefer when listening to music.
I struggled to find statistics about people from the ages of
16-25 and punk rock isn’t included at all in any of the the
statistics I found which suggests that it is a very niche
demographic and because of this it might prove difficult to
find statistics for my specific audience. Despite this, Classic
Rock and Rock ‘n’ Roll are included in these statistics and I
can infer that a similar audience would listen to punk rock
music. According to these statistics 26% of young people
listen to classic rock and 28% of young people listen to Rock
‘n’ Roll in the UK which is fairly high but as I said it isn’t
necessarily my demographic.
According to a study by ‘NYMAGAZINE’ these are the
subgenres that people identify with within the punk
genre from the ages of 16-24. This is great information as
I can analyze the styles of each subgenre and include a
few of them in my work. This will make my magazine
unique and appeal to my target audience by making them
feel included.

3. Audience - GENDER
According to various sources, a higher proportion of men listen to
punk music when compared to women. As stated by this figure, 56%
of the people who listen to ‘Punk rock’ are men music whereas 43%
of punk rock listeners are female. Because of this my gender
demographic will be predominantly male.
The UK men's clothing market grew by 4.1 per cent in 2015 to reach £14.1bn (up from £13.5bn
in 2014). This growth compares to an increase of 3.7 per cent in womenswear, according to
Mintel. Mintel also predicts that the menswear market will grow by 22.5 per cent between
2015 and 2020 to £17.3bn.
In addition:
59% of men have purchased clothes online in the last 12 months (Mintel’s British Lifestyles
2016). $440bn (£298bn) worth of sales in menswear globally in 2014. $40bn (£27bn) further
sales predicted in the menswear apparel market reaching $480bn (£325bn) by 2019
(Euromonitor, 2015).27% of male shoppers show a preference for purchasing British clothes,
shoes and accessories (Mintel, 2015)

4. Audience – PSYCHOGRAPHIC
“Today, the Sex Pistols style continues to be a source of inspiration for ready-to-wear designers
like ‘Comme des Garcons’ Rei Kawakubo, Balenciaga's and Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci”.
“Researchers examined endorsements made by 163 music celebrities who were popular with
teens. They used Teen Choice Award nominations as a way to measure the celebrities’
popularity among adolescents. And many of these celebrities endorsed snack foods and non-
alcoholic beverages. Subsequently, the researchers found that 71 percent of the beverage
endorsements promoted sugar-sweetened drinks. Also, 81 percent of the endorsed foods were
low in healthy nutrients. In other words, celebrities are encouraging teens to eat food that
doesn’t support their physical or mental development”.

5. Audience – GEODEMOGRAPHIC

6. Audience - GEODEMOGRAPHIC
According to this study, 15.1% of the UK population listen to punk music. The UK
population consists of 66.65 million people therefor 15.1% values at 10,006014
people.
I initially thought England would be my main demographic in the UK but surprisingly
Belfast listen to the most punk music at 22% of their population: “If we start off with
the punk genre, this is unsurprisingly the most popular in Belfast. The home of Stiff
Little Fingers and other rebellious bands, this city revolted through punk and it’s still
popular to this day. Less predictably, cities like Newcastle and Aberdeen are also
popular cities for this genre”.
Although my main demographic is the UK another possible audience could be Poland
because according to a study from the same site (referenced in my bibliography), 9%
of Polish people listen to punk music. This isn’t as high as the UK but it’s still a large
number.

7. Audience – PRIMARY RESEARCH
I conducted an interview with a person within my target audiences age demographic. I
asked relevant questions that I think will help my project a lot.
• Would you say that punk music is dying? :
• Are there any punk bands from the 70’s/80’s that you recommend? :
• Are you aware of the socio-political implications of the punk movement?
Aka what the punk movement was founded upon? :
• Would you be interested in a section of my punk fanzine if it included
online stores that you can purchase punk fashion? (yes or no answer) :
• Do you think music has changed due to capitalism and globalisation? (yes
or no answer- expand if you can) :

8. Interview answers.
Courtney Chatten
Question 1:
Me: “Would you say that punk music is dying?”
Courtney: “I think there has recently been an uprise of it with bands like ‘The Idles’ and
‘Cabbage’ coming into the field and recent politics influencing more punk attitudes but I don’t
think it will ever become mainstream again”.
Question 2:
Me: “Are there any punk bands you recommend?”
Courtney:
Question 3:
Me: “Would you be interested in a section of my punk fanzine if it included online stores that
you can purchase punk fashion? (briefly explain your answer)”
Courtney: “yes, punk fashion isn’t very accessible anywhere without making DIY projects. This
can be fun but it would be good to see if there are any alternatives”.

9. Other Audience Categories
• “Heavy metal fans also made higher estimates than nonfans of consensus among
young people for sexual, drug‐related, occult, and antisocial behaviours and
attitudes” which suggests that my psychographic anti-authority and anti-
establishment. Punk rock artists reference these things in their music which
suggests they are ‘emulators/wannabes’. “which include the colour black; heavy
accessories; boots; clothing that is tattered and manipulated; piercings; tattoos;
unnatural hair colours; facial hair; band logos; and jeans, T-shirts, and hooded
sweatshirts”.

10. Bibliography

11. Bibliography
Courtney Chatten (2020) Target Audience Interviews (09/10/20)
Christine Hall Hansen. (Volume 35). Constructing personality and social
reality through music. Available:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08838159109364129. Last
accessed 8th Oct 2020.
https://www.newportacademy.com/resources/empowering-
teens/celebrities-influence/
No author specified. (19th April 2013). The New Punks Poll. Available:
https://nymag.com/news/features/punk-poll-2013-4/. Last accessed Friday
October.