TARGET AUDIENCE RESEARCH USING QUALITATIVE METHOD (FOCUS GROUPS)

Based on my research into Hip Hop I want to target males different from the mainstream audience associated with this genre. I want to target males who are not consistently associated with the genre but have a major interest in it. This category will mainly consist of ethnic minorities such as (British) Asian and (British) Black males. The stereotypical audience profile

The genre is stereotyped to be associated with males of AfricanAmerican ethnicity.

Aged between 16-24 years of age

In social classes they are among the working class

Interests

Black culture Going out Music

Disc Jockeys (DJs) B-Boys

Dress Sense

Baggy Jeans

Baseball caps (usually worn backwards)

Large T-shirts

Gold Jewellery

Latest Trainers

Why do they listen to hip hop? They listen to it as it reflects the black prospective of life; it deals with problems and aspects which the audience can relate to. It also inspires them into achieving more in life. How often do they listen to Hip Hop? They listen to the music very frequently, as it can be a way to relax. What they would like in magazines? They would like the magazines to contain current artist who refer to the genre, interviews, exclusive news, concerts and current trends. My Target Audience

General background Name - Atif Age - 17 Ethnicity . British Asian Lives in Small Heath, West Midlands Currently is a student, but plans to study at University

1. Is a passionate fan of music, has been to one concert before but thinks ticket prices are too expensive really.

2. He uses Napster to download music onto his phone so he can

constantly listen to it. 3. Listens to music everyday for personal enjoyment, and relaxation I just love it

4. Atif is mainly interested in urban trends and keeping up to date with the style. He loves music, especially Hip Hop, but doesnt like the fact that only African-American artist are highly decorated in Hip Hop music magazine. Feelings about Music Magazines He does not buy them and does not really consider them for gaining knowledge of what is going on in the music industry. He does think they are visually attractive, but they do not contain topics that will interest him. They do not seem to have much information that he can relate to as a British Asian male interested in Hip Hop.

General e Background Name- Jay Age- 17 Ethnicity- British Asian Lives Yardley, Birmingham Currently is a student at college but plans to go to university

1. Jay is also a passionate fan of music and has been to loads of concerts and does not mind the price of tickets as he believes they are relatively cheap. 2. He uses ITunes to obtain all the music tracks he wants on his computer and his phone. 3. Jay listens to music every day as to him it is a sense of escapism from reality. It makes me feel as if nothing else matters its just me and my music 4. He is mainly interested in the lyrics of the song as they have normally meanings that he can relate to. Also he uses them for inspiration as one of his hobbies is making songs that are related to the genre of Hip Hop. Feelings about Music Magazines He also does not really buy music magazine and does not really know much about them. He also has finds them visually attractive but does not think they target a significant multi cultural audience which ,in his opinion, they should as Hip Hop is not only listened to or does not only have an effect on African-Americans.

General Background Name- Hadayfa Age-17 Ethnicity- Black British Lives in Yew Tree, Birmingham Currently student at college but plans to go to university

1. Hadayfa loves music and has not been to many concerts but he does like going to them as he enjoys the atmosphere. 2. He also uses ITunes to download music tracks he likes onto his phone and computer so he can listen to them constantly.

3. He also listens to music everyday I just dont think I can go one full day without listening to my music 4. He, like Jay, is also mainly interested in lyrics of the song as he also tends to find meaning in them that he can relate to himself. He also uses them for inspiration as he also makes songs that are related to the Hip Hop genre. Feeling about Music Magazines Hadayfa does not buy music magazine and does not know much about them. He too also finds them visually attractive. However, he does not have major concerns with African-American ethnicities dominating the pages of Hip Hop music magazines but does generally believe that magazines should reflect the multi-cultural audience the genre of Hip Hop has. It should also include British Hip Hop artist, an example he gave was Tinie Tempah, as they are becoming more significant in this genre.

General Background Name- Ethan Age-16 Ethnicity- Black British Lives in Spark Hill, Birmingham Currently student at college but plans to go to university

Ethan is a passionate fan of music. He has not been to a concert but he would like to go to experience his favourite (NAS) artist live. He listens to music everyday just like Atif, Jay and Hadayfa. It is part of my everyday life He uses Waptrick to download music tracks he likes onto his phone and computer so he can listen to them constantly. His main interest is the artists in Hip Hop as he finds their personality and their image and message intriguing. This is because these three elements of

the artist influence a lot of people around him and himself as they want to be like these artists. Feelings about Music Magazines He does not buy magazines and does not know much about them. However, he would start purchasing them if they appeared to be more targeted to him and had a multi-cultural appeal as he believes it would only be a fair reflection of the reality that African-Americans are not the only ethnicity that Hip Hop appeals to. For this task, I asked Atif, Jay , Hadayfa and Ethan, who are all within my target audience and have an active interest in this genre, what they would like in a hip hop magazine. I then summarised there results to see what would be best suited for my target audience in the magazine. Front Cover This should be dominated by one main image which should most likely be of a British Black and British Asian Hip Hop artist together. This will be to show that British Black and British Asian Hip Hop artist are popular among the target audience. Also it will show that there are successful artist in Hip Hop that are from other ethnicities other than African-American. Also the sell/cover lines should relate to things that would interest the target audience such as stories about famous Hip Hop artist, fashion and exclusive news. The colours should be bright and possibly quite Vibrant as the music itself is quite vibrant. Language should not be too formal because Hip Hop has its own language which is informal. This includes such words as Hala, dope and swagger. Contents Page There should be more than one image. This is because these images show what the articles in the magazine are about and makes it visually interesting. There should be one dominant Image that is related to the main article and other images related to the other articles in the magazine. This page should demonstrate the variety t of category the magazine has. They should all be separated into relevant groups and numbered so they can be easily found. Text should mainly be just the variety of category and their page numbers.

Language should once again be more informal than formal and should correspond to the genre. For example the dopest track. Double Page Spread One full page should be given to one main image. This image should be quite big to reflect the model/models in the image as being significant to the article. The other page should be the article .The article should be an interview with two rising stars (one British Black and one British Asian male). This will give fans the impression they are getting know more about the particular artist as they read through the article through the questions being asked progressively. The language should reflect the artist that is being mentioned, if it is an interview. The language would tend to be more informal as its speech; also the language should show its Hip hop language via terms used. The language should also be direct and allow readers to follow it easily by understanding it.