Taken from task blog:
Demographic, typical ages, location, social background, gender, spends, interests.
- Young people, aged 15-25 and 31-50 for more traditional Pop Punk e.g The Ramones The Undertones (1970)
- USA and UK main locations.
- Come from all social backgrounds, usually traditional public school background. Hence the appeal of anarchy and deviation from rules.
- Equally Male and Female.
- Mostly young people and therefore spends would be relatively low. In this genre it appears to be more popular to purchase entire albums as opposed to single tracks. The CDs would need to be a reasonable price valued between £6 to £8.
- The stereotype as the Pop Puck audience involves an affiliation with skateboarding. Darker colours appear to be the norm and dark green and red make frequent appearances in this particular genre. The theme of anarchy was always associated with the Punk scene whereas Pop Punk focuses more on having a good time and less on rule breaking and yet also includes the rebellious aspect associated with the Punk Movement.
We have an ideal target audience in mind, a demographic that we will aim to please both in aesthetics and acoustics. This audience is those who are interested in any of the three genres: Punk (Pop-Punk), Grunge and Alternative Rock, with a target age of between 16 - 25 (this is to appeal to a younger, more modern generation and as Punk itself has matured and become modernised over the years this has resulted in newer styles being created this is further more targeted at a younger demographic).
Throughout our research and planning I have learned that Punk is diverse, so much so that there is no perfect market or target to which you can aim your work and music at. Instead it is creativity and innovation that prevails. One thing that became clear in punk is that you can be a good band but it is when a unique style is created in the process that the band becomes great. No band can be what it is without its influences, without their idols but simply copying the styles and codes of these influences won't be as beneficial as what would be common in such genres as pop, it is when influence is mixed with creativity that a unique image is formed, which is essential in the punk genre especially.
The merging of codes and conventions, elements and styles of Grunge and Alternative Rock will allow for a larger audience to be target and make it easier to appeal to the audience as a whole as instead of only a small section from punk to appeal to, the range has been increased to across three genres, and with the correct balance of elements it may be very possible to appeal to members of all three genres.
As the band we are going to be using throughout our coursework fits these criteria it became clear that their style is very unique indeed. It had the mix of genres, elements of each working together without clashing and alienating or putting off any fans of the other genres. The music was modern, it had the primitive essence of punk (early punk) but it had a mature feel to it, this could be target at people our age especially.
While it is quite difficult to label the fashion of what the ideal audience of this music would be, that itself was the answer... There isn't an ideal fashion to which the fans would be labeled with or at least if there was it would be diverse, from hoodies and jeans, to dress shirts and shorts, from monochrome colours and dull to vibrant colours. Skater style elements would be prevalent (hoodies, jackets and jeans) as would more modernised styles especially with regards to hair and make up.
There is no defined audience of the Punk and Alternative Rock Genre and subculture, this subculture thrives on creativity and diversity, often creating trends both musically, with fashion and with such topics as anti-sexism, veganism, animal rights and rebellion.The range of political beliefs covers the full political spectrum, this in turn effects the audience and their designated demographics, essentially the concept behind punk is personal freedom. The ethics of the genre itself revolve around radical rejection of conformity, the concept ethic of Do It Yourself (DIY), direct action for political change and not selling out into mainstream society for personal success.
The band we are choosing to do our coursework on is a Post Punk band, with pop-punk, grunge and alternative rock elements. This means that there is a greater diversity in all aspects relevant to target distribution, style and ideologies resulting in a greater scope for both audience and direction for designing a unique and pertinent music video and respective webpage design and album cover. The various styles should appeal to admires of Pop punk, Grunge and Alternative Rock without the alienating of a new audience (such as those who simple like the sound or look of the band) as well.
Fashion:
With fashion many choose to outrage propriety, the common beliefs and so on, the unique combination of hairstyle, piercing, tattoos, merchandising and clothing. The band we have taken interest in is very Post Punk and so the stereotypical green mohawk, sleeveless punk rocker is not relevant to this sub genre of punk evolution. Typical fashion of this combination of genres results in a very varied array of fashion ranging from the hip-hop inspired baggy studded pants to the more "scene" skinny jeans, tight fitted dress shirts, hoodies and also consisting of an overlap with the typical fashion of skater punks, converse sneakers, print dyed attire typically hoodies and scarves, spiky hair being replaced lately with some more 'emo' typical hairstyles such as long bangs and a fringe and some more hardcore styled looks and shorter styles.
Audience Diversity:
As there is such a diversity to the genre of punk itself and the audience as a result is just as diverse. Punk in general appeals to a wide audience with many while sharing many similar beliefs numerous members have a wide range of their personal ideologies etc. this allows for a greater viewer range to target but my result in alienating some fans in turn.
Punk fans typically will be drawn to this style of band, the unique elements present in this band due to the merging and influence of multiple genres, styles and ideologies will attract fans of each of these respective admires; Indie and Alternative Rock fans, Hardcore Punk and Grunge inspired fans. This distribution of audience has both pros and cons, for instance it may be easier to target the audience as a whole but any focus or concentration that creates an unequal balance in the blend of genres (for instance if a band becomes more mainstreamed and loses its grunge influence) may alienate certain groups and as a result they will divert their attention elsewhere, so to saturate as much of the audience as possible their needs to be a balance, a diversity in the style and combination of genres that satisfies the full spectrum of fans.
The typical punk rocker usually being a working class white male teenager, but of course this is fluctuates across the various subcultures.
Target Age:
The typical age for Punk audience is primarily from 16-45 aged individual with many 30-45 year olds having grown up with the culture and have as such evolved with it. When Punk first emerged many lived and died by the genre in a matter of speaking and have grown up with the evolution and fall of the genre, this makes up the majority of the punk audience yet due to the modernisation of society and the norms that have spawned from this the music industry has evolved with it as a result, punk being no exception.
Target Gender:
The typical gender audience of this style of band is quite balanced between both males and females with males slightly taking the majority. This is possibly due to the diversity in style, theres a little piece for everyone to enjoy regardless of genre. Its also unique that these genres do not discriminate against a certain genre similarly to how other genres might, in fact Punk across all genres a large portion consists of homosexual or bisexual fans especially in the queercore subculture, it is also notable that Punk consistently promotes the idea of sexual equality regardless of sexual orientation.
Location of Emergence:
Initially emerging from the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. Today the genres have become wide spread spawning many sub genres each with their own relevant location of emergence.
Social Background:
There is again a diversity in the social background, again more the more prevalent and majority audience being the working and lower class as opposed to the wealthy and upper class. This is due to the many ideologies present within the punk genre in particular such as the common belief of environmentalism, freedom, equality and equal rights and having a very "anti establishment'' agenda, of course it varies from band to band and sub culture to subculture but in general Punk seems very orientated at representing social outcasts, the victims of society and so on
Once typically bands only earned a low income with very limited wealth in which to promote their music, now the artists under the Punk genre make a considerable fortune with regards to their disposable income (Viven Westwood being an example of someone who made a fortune creating punk fashion), this is evideent by the explosion of punk fashion sales and so on. The fans typically who would be lower to working class would have little to some money to spend (typically as merchandise).
The Idealised audience for the pop punk genre is one that fits the ‘Urban tribe’ of people currently at school who value anarchy and are disloyal to rigid rules and avoid following traditional systems.
The audience would ideally be equally male and female and between the ages of 16 to 18 as these are the ages in which teenagers typically rebel. Teenagers usually see this rebellion as a form of independence, distancing themselves from authoritative figures that they may find to be constricting their ability to grow and develop their individuality.
Usually this comes about as a result of the public school system, whereby the constricted military routine of school is seen as something to break free from. Pop punk is something that aims to make a statement against what is mainstream, capitalism and conformity. This is a view that can often be extended into adulthood but due to the peak in rebellious views during late adolescence, the ideal pop punk audience would be teenagers who have spent a long time in a conformed environment.
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