Case Study Essay: Audience

Audiences are becoming increasingly powerful in shaping the media output. With reference to your case study, how far is this true?

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• Provide a brief outline of your case study

• Evaluate the roles of audiences in the creation of media products from your case study

• Support your answer with reference to a range of examples from the three media platforms

Firstly, my case study is based on research on the genre of music, specifically, British pop artists. The three that I have chosen are, JLS, Pixie Lott and. For each of these I have researched how they operate on all platforms; print, e-media and broadcast. Each are very different in the way they approach their target audiences as they appeal would be different according the gender, age and ethnicity of their mainstream target audience.

To begin with, JLS who are a recently new boy band have become very successful with the amount of awards such as Mobo and Brit Awards. They have certainly appealed to mainly female audiences from 8years to 25 years of age which is a big scale. Initially they auditioned for X factor which is potentially the biggest reality TV shows in the country. Through this broadcasting they were able to appeal to millions of viewers. X factor is a prime example of UGC, where the audience votes, according to these votes, eliminations occur which shape up the show as a whole.  This represents the power of the audience which enabled JLS to have a successful career. Audience power in this case generated a massive positive future for the band JLS.

Secondly, analysing JLS as an independent band, the way the audience is enhancing the success of the band is by buying their products such as action figures, books, iPhone App, songs, and posters. In an involuntary way, by the audience participating in the consumption of all products, they enable the band to have greater income, developing their success and producing more creative songs and albums as a way of repaying them with entertainment. In my opinion, ideally the audience are the creators of success for any artist.

Lastly, JLS’ majority audience view is through E-media for example, their own website, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. All are very interactive for their fans for example rating, commenting, make videos and becoming a member on their website. This creates a huge wide spread of interacting with the band. All the comments are reviewed which can provide an adequate opinion for the band in order to release the song through broadcasting. In this case, the audience have ‘supplementary’ power to the way their songs is released through the media which doesn’t necessarily mean they are shaping the media.

My second text focuses on a solo British artist named Pixie Lott. Again, she is young and new to the music business which creates a sense of greater interactions by the audience as they want to see how successful and whether she brings good entertainment to them. The beginnings of her career allow the audience to somewhat judge and make opinions about her music.  

As Pixie Lott is a new artist in the last two years, the audience are the biggest judges as they create opinions through her website, YouTube and Facebook groups. As an artist your ‘fans’ create a positive image for you therefore an audience through concerts and other events, allows the artist to feel confident about their success. 

Through my research I found that Pixie Lott was a guest judge in the sixth series of X Factor when Danni Minogue left. Not only did this bring big publicity for an X Factor audience, it also promoted the success of Pixie Lott as an artist of herself and the gratification of escapism that she brings with her music. Her target audience of females aged 14-25 can acknowledge this and use their ‘power’ to develop her future in music. 

As a music artist, the invasion of privacy through print such a magazines become a negative effect on the power of audiences. As audiences watch more television and read more, they start to develop their own views which may be false creating a negative image for an artist. This is known as the cultivation theory where too much information being received by audiences can affect the opinions created for Pixie Lott. From my knowledge, there hasn’t been any recent ‘shock’ story on Pixie Lott which is a positive aspect for her and audiences.

My third artist is Jay Sean also a male singer songwriter who has been in the music business for 17 years now. He has been and upcoming artist with songs featuring big American artists. He attracts the audience in several countries other than Britain such as America, Europe and Japan. This is a great positive to his career but also to the amount of interest being taken from around the world by a variety of audiences. More power through the media is generated with a large audience of females aged 12-25 which are populated in different countries. Jay Sean sometimes brings a sense of escapism because his songs are always meaningful therefore allow a greater audience to relate to it, increasing the interest creating more power in the way he produces his future songs to keep the interest.

Lastly, an important point that has developed in the media is the increasing amount of minority backgrounds succeeding in both the media and music industry. Jay Sean is an example of an ethnic minority where he has become successful in enabling the media to shape around new talent from a different background. He has allowed the media to broaden their horizons when researching and interviewing such artists. In this way, Jay Sean has developed the power of the media to publicise more than the norm.

In conclusion, through these three artists they all have different ways in they way the address the media and how the media enforces them to create more music with the use of their fans and different audiences. Yes the media is becoming powerful however with music artists, it is their decision to how they produce music but also considering the vast amount of opinions from their audiences.