Research Techniques for Media Industries

The study of how the media uses research to their advantage - and me trying to emulate their methods in order to be successful with the final product that I create.

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Results from my questionnaire, method 3 of my primary research.  The people who answered 'Yes' to if they had every watched a music video or listened to music that they disliked, either attributed the reason to their visit to the page as out of curiosity, peer pressure or marketing.  Most people who filled in the questionnaire prefer to listen to music on the internet, as they can access exclusive information, which they wouldn't otherwise find anywhere else, or because they could find out about new underground artists and listen to material first hand.

If I had more time, I would've got more people to fill in my questionnaire.  As it stands, I have a representation of what 17-18 year olds in a performing arts school think, but I wanted to get a broad representation so that I had a clear idea of how internet users help celebrities achieve fame and what the most effective method is that attracts internet users and makes them listen to music.

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Questionnaire on Internet Music Celebrity Fame

  1.       Are you an internet user?

YES                         NO

2.       How do you listen to music?

LIVE             INTERNET               CD               RADIO                     TV

        ON GADGETS/DEVICES

3.       How do you get your music?

DOWNLOAD                                    RECORD SHOPS                 

4.       Do you share your music with other friends online?

YES                          NO

5.       Do you upload your music to the internet?

YES                          NO

6.       How many hours a day do you spend listening to music on the internet?

1-2               2-4              4-6              6+

  7.       What genres do you listen to most frequently? (you may tick more than 1)

CLASSICAL                JAZZ           DANCE        FUNK           HIPHOP

            POP                 RNB          RAP             UNDERGROUND

            ROCK                        HEAVY METAL

  8.       Have you ever listened to music/watched a music video that you disliked? (If so, why did you watch it?)

YES                          NO

9.       Have you found out about up-and-coming artists through the internet?

YES                          NO

10.   If your response was ‘yes’ for the previous question, then how?

ONLINE ARTICLES                 TUNES ON WEBSITES                    

  INTERNET ADVERTS              SOCIAL NETWORKS

11.   Has the internet made you want to listen to music artists/music more? If so, why?

YES                          NO

12.   Would you listen to music in any other way? (Other than the internet)

YES                          NO

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Music Celebrity Uprise Comparison

Rebecca Black – Friday

‘Friday’ was released on February 10th, 2011.  It has sparked a considerable amount of controversy, as Rebecca Black’s mum paid $2000 for the music video in which the ‘artist’ had to be autotuned, the lyrics were terrible and the video itself was poorly edited and uninteresting.  Within little over a month, it has gained 45,715,568 views. 

Roughly 90% of the ratings were ‘dislikes’.  It has gained a lot of popularity for the poor quality it is, even surpassing Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Charlie Sheen on Youtube. 

A singer with next to no talent has achieved millions of views.  This case shows that on the internet, money buys success.  Videos will gain popularity for their extremities and not necessarily for their qualities. 

Justin Bieber – One Time

Justin Bieber became famous after his mum started uploading home videos of him singing cover songs of celebrities that he admired.  Unlike Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’, Justin rose to fame because he had fans.  It may have also been the fact that he covered already famous songs, in a manner that fans considered as ‘perfect’.  The lyrics to his songs are cliché, there is no visual interpretation of the lyrics in his video. 

Yet fans love his songs and they love his singing voice.  His main fanbase are young gullible teenagers.  In a few months, he achieved a worldwide status.  Covering already famous songs is guaranteed to get you a few hundred views, but it’s the fact that he posted so many cover videos on YouTube – and his fans spread it around.  It’s so easy to spread videos around the internet. 

 Greyson Chance – Paparazzi

Greyson’s brother posted a video of him singing ‘Paparazzi’ at a year 6 annual school performance.  In under 2 weeks, it gained millions of views and Greyson was invited on to the Ellen Degenerous Show and was signed to Ellen’s new record label ‘ElevenEleven’.  Already on Youtube, the teen star is being compared to Justin Bieber: one person's fame is making another person famous.

This is another example of a cover song having made someone famous, which begs the question: is the internet making people popular or is it just the songs sung? If it wasn’t for Youtube which so many people use, Greyson wouldn’t have had the amount popularity that he does now.  He probably would’ve been nothing more than a popular kid in the local community.  However, he’ll always been known as the ‘Paparazzi kid’ for his debut video on Youtube.   

Willow Smith – Whip My Hair

All the music video was about was Willow whipping her hair back-and-forth.  However, as with Justin Bieber and Greyson Chance, it has recieved a lot of likes and comments such as her being alike to Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj in style.  Although the song is not interesting, or meaningful, it's catchy to alot of people and like alot of dance music, has caused a spark of people to whip their hair, to emulate the music video.

Matty B

Just when you thought that celebrities couldn't get any younger, Matty B, aged 8, has over 211, 000 subscribers to his Youtube channel.  He posts videos of himself rapping to other celebrities.  His music is mostly popular with teenagers.  Most of his views for the video are in America, he first became famous when he was seven.  Like Greyson Chance, he may be making fame off what other celebrities have already done, which is highly unoriginal.  However, since almost every Youtube user has the urge to see if he can outperform celebrities or at least give an entertaining performance, they click on him.  

Even though his voice is auto-tuned to the maximum, he still has admirers on his channel.  The internet has given the youngest people a place to get recognised, it has given them opportunities in an industry that relies on talent and experience.  

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Interview with JKadet

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Interview with Ries

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Interview with Fidel Lea

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Primary Research

· Facebook video question – comments/responses

· Practical example – compare a music video (little marketing) to another a music video and see which one has done best. ‘Ok Go’

· Interview with up and coming Youtube artists:

- What method do you use to promote your music?

- What genre is your music?

- What is your song based off – if anything?

- Is there a music video for it?

- What websites do you use to promote your music?

- How many views/listens has the video/song got?

- How has the internet affected your ability to promote yourself, compared to before the internet existed?

- Does the internet make a difference to your popularity?

- How wide an audience does your music reach?

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Compilation of Secondary Sources

1.     (typed in ‘Justin Bieber’s rise to fame, came up)

Aaron Saenz

 March 16th, 2010

http://singularityhub.com/2010/03/16/justin-bieber-and-the-rising-importance-of-accelerating-media/#

This website seems reliable because it’s quite recent to the time of Justin Bieber’s rise to fame.  This website doesn’t only show Justin Bieber’s case, it shows the popularity of Lady Gaga and Oprah over time.  It uses comparisons from Google Trends.  Although its sources are solely from the internet, this is of significant relevance to what I’m researching.  It has the potential for bias as the articles on the website are only written by one author.  

  2.     (typed in ‘Youtube fame, also one of the first results)

Andrew Bossom

23 December 2010

http://knol.google.com/k/how-to-achieve-youtube-fame#

This is an instructional article on how to achieve fame, via Youtube.  This is seemingly an authoritative example as it was one of the first results which came up in Google Search Results.  This article comes from a website which anyone can write on, which makes me debate about the reliability of the article in question, but from reading articles similar in nature to this one, it seems that there is a broad consensus on the issue about utilising Youtube to achieve fame.  Technical terms assure me that the article is written by a semi-professional/professional who has experience in marketing.  Another thing that assures me that the article is reliable, is that it has a 3 ½ star rating.  However, the rating contradicts itself because it’s not stated whether the article was rated by a user, or an administrator, but ratings generally prove effectiveness of an article, when theory is put in to practice.  This is the most recent article that I’ve found so far, combining the other factors together, it’s a definitely reliable, but as an article on the website can be written so easily by anyone, it won’t be used primarily as a source of research.  BAD SOURCE

3.     (Found on Google, popular search results)

http://www.google.com/trends?q=justin+bieber

Google

Most recent up to 4 days

Recent results in search trends for Justin Bieber.  Results conclude that since early-mid 2009 (the year Justin Bieber started posting him singing on YouTube) search results have risen for him.  He’s been searched for most in Asia.

4.      (typed in impact of the internet on the music industry)

http://music.business.edu.pe/

Author unknown

25 January 2011

This article assesses the impact of the internet on the music industry, the positives and the negatives.  This is an objective article as it assesses both positive impacts and negative impacts.  The article doesn’t however list an author, so the reliability of the article can still be questioned.  BAD SOURCE

5.     (typed in impact of the internet on the music industry, first result)

http://www.panoeconomicus.rs/casopis/desetibroj/a%20new%20era%20for%20the%20music%20industry.pdf

Tassos Patokos

2008

Although published in 2008, this article is written by a reliable author.  I’ve searched for him using Google, he’s written books on business and theoretical articles on games.  Like the last article, it goes in to piracy and evaluates the impact of technology on music.

6.     (typed in ‘Youtube and celebrities)

http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Lifestyle/10-YouTube-Success-Stories.html

Amanda Greene

July 7th, 2010

This is a list of popular and substantiated list of Youtube videos, which have made ordinary people famous.  It gives very recent examples, which I could use and compare to the current success of the people in the videos.

7.     (typed in to Google ‘Justin Bieber biography)

http://www.justinbieberbiography.org/

Author not cited Date not cited

This article is a biography for Justin Bieber.  It charts his progress as a famous singer, and a bit of his background.  Although no information that you couldn’t find elsewhere appears in the article, the article appears to be reliable as it has been written within the last month, judging by the information about his albums last year and his film which has been released today.   The information can be confirmed by looking at other articles on Justin Bieber.  However, the author of the article isn’t cited, making it questionable as to the accuracy of the author, as I don’t know the author’s background.  BAD SOURCE

8.     (typed in to Ask Jeeves ‘amount of people who listen to music on the internet’)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3495921.stm

BBC

27th February, 2004

This is a discussion on if the internet has changed the way people listen to music.  Ordinary people have given their opinion on the website.   The article displays a particularly biased view on internet music downloads, which may influence what users of the website will write on it.  However, the article has failed to influence the reader, as most of the users have commented; advocating the internet for music downloads.  Although the article along with the comments, were written in 2004, it shows that the use of the internet for downloading music was still popular even then.  Although not directly related to my research, I can give a rough estimate from is as to how many people now use the internet.  BAD SOURCE

9.     (typed in to Google ‘of people who listen to music on the internet’)

http://www.fastcompany.com/1672447/the-state-of-internet-music-on-youtube-pandora-itunes-and-facebook#

Austin Carr

July 20th, 2010

This compares internet music streaming and download sites.  Youtube is the most popular website for listening to music, according to the author.  However, it doesn’t state how many people download music from the internet as opposed to how many people buy physical albums.  However, it does bear relevance to my research, as it shows popularity in internet sites.

10.  (typed in to Ask Jeeves ‘internet music celebrity youtube’)

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1640050/ellen-degeneres-signs-internet-sensation-greyson-chance-new-label.jhtml

Gil Kaufman

May 26th 2010

Another case study.  This time – a more recent example – Greyson Chance.  He became a Youtube celebrity in a matter of days, after posting his cover of Lady Gagga’s ‘Paparazzi’ on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDlC7YV5is&playnext=1&list=PLADE965D2421A2E4D

The article reports of future plans for the up-and-coming star.  However, the article doesn’t evaluate the cons to becoming an artist on Youtube at such an early age.  This article comes from the American MTV website.  MTV is famous news/music video network, which is known for its false rumours.  However, this particular article can be backed up by the video on Youtube, and by analysing YouTube trends.

11.  (book)

Rock and Pop Timeline

John Black

2003

This book charts in a very detailed way, the progression in music, from the 1960s onwards.  One flaw of this source is that it was written in 2003, so it doesn’t give an up-to-date count on music on the Internet.  Another flaw is that the book doesn’t specifically cover Internet music celebrities, and the only genres it covers are rock and pop.  These are the genres that are most widely listened to.  BAD SOURCE

12.  (book)

Public Relations and the Social Web: How to use social media and web 2.0 in communications

Rob Brown

2009

This source is about the internet, again, it’s not specifically about internet music celebrities, but it has a section devoted to the power of new media as well as file/media sharing websites.  The book gives recent examples, so I can rely on it as part of my research.

13.  (typed in to Google ‘website statistics)

Up to 30 days ago

http://www.alexa.com/topsites

Website statistics.  This will aid me in my research to find out how many people use music websites and watch/listen to music on the internet.  Professional companies use this data to find out statistics and analytics for their websites.

14.  (typed in to Google ‘amount of people who listen to music on the internet’, first result that came up)

http://www.frankwbaker.com/mediause.htm

This gives statistics for the amount of people who use different media sources, and the level of media consumption among people.  This is a highly reliable website as it cites all of the information it has – and the sources are accurate aswell, Nielson, for example.  It has a range of sources; some however, were published in 2004.  Most are recent up to 2010.

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Main Assignment Research Ideas

The assignment states that I need to carry out research about an aspect of new media, remaining objective in my methods of research, I need to:

Include references to primary and secondary sources (2 non web-based sources, 15 useful items of research and 5 sources of no use)

Primary research (2+ different methods)

Qualitative and quantitative research

Cross reference primary and secondary data in my report, to conclude.

I've chosen to research how the internet has enabled the promotion of celebrities in the music industry:

Youtube promotion (primary and secondary comparatitative research)

Justin Bieber case study (secondary research)

Opportunities on registration websites (secondary)

Impact of the internet on the music industry (primary qualitative research - interview - non web-based)

Amount of people engaged with online music (primary qualitative research - interview - non web-based)

Other online services (secondary)

Success of other artists before the internet (secondary)

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Competitor Analysis

At the start of this lesson, we were asked to compare two websites. I contrasted two websites which were completely different, to make the comparison easier for me. These websites were: www.getsigned.com and www.musicsubmit.com.

I need to compare 2 music websites according to the criteria below:

Informative

Navigation

Links and labels

Search results

Readability

Performance

Content

www.musicsubmit.com

On this site, the user will need to sign-up to receive further information, but the basic function – what the website sets out to achieve – is made clear with its highlighted text “we promote your music”. The homepage has a formal and professional feel, with text about what they do.

There aren’t that many buttons apart from the ‘signup’/’membership’ ones. The buttons are simply designed for the user to click on, there’s nothing that makes you want to click on it. The links don’t elaborate too well on the site, the text is small, plain and uses boring words. There are hardly any results for what I want to find.

The text size is readable for anyone, but there is a lack of pictures and flashy buttons, solid blocks of text and it looks like no emphasis has been put on the text, which would fail to attract teenagers. It looks by the lack of pictures in this, that it’s designed for adults. The font is basic and the line length is short.

Pages load quickly due to lack of graphics on there and plain fonts. However, it doesn’t hurt the eyes or look messy.

The website doesn’t offer anything out of the ordinary. It lacks information of their services, not detailed enough and no statistics what so ever.

www.getsigned.com

The homepage grabs my attention with colourful, star shapes, more pictures than there is text and everything is evenly, neatly spread out. There’s nothing that’s crammed in to the middle of the page, like there is with musicsubmit.com. It contains quotes from customers who use the site – and the “show us you’re a star!” challenges the user to signup. Straight away it feels like it’s ushering you in to a lively atmosphere and an interactive feel. The buttons are brightly coloured, smooth (round edges) and cartoony, familiar icons. The buttons highlight when the user selects them, and options come down.

Links are more elaborative. When I click on the links, I find exactly what I want. The website has a search button, unlike the other website. When I search, it has search criteria, which makes it so much more helpful than the other website as I can find whatever I want, and the website understands what I mean.

It’s easy to read without being distracted by pictures, but the pictures add to the text because they’re relevant and they’re placed in the right part of the page. The website loads easily, but the pictures aren’t that big and the graphics aren’t filled with animations or anything too rich in colour.

The website offers exclusive content and membership. What’s more, it lists contacts and useful information such as works by artists, videos and tracks. It has far more pages than the last website and everything is of relevance to the user. One website used text over excessivley, had a lack of detailed information, but was easy on the eye and had a professional look. The other one had a flashy web page, easy on the eye too, but more colourful, intricate, had a balance between pictures and text, and had a community feel to it.

The criteria that our teacher set out for us could've been improved upon as it didn't consider target audience or even interests/ability. The information asked of us was too quantative as we had to work off a rating system to conclude. If our conclusions were based off opinion, it'd be more effective. We should've then compared our conclusions, in order to see whether we might've misjudged the website. Lastly: I only had a limited amount of time to complete the task.

I also reviewed types of research that we haven't carried out in previous lessons.

Methods of research

Experiments –independent/dependant variable (independent – children’s behavior) (dependant – game)

Not completely conclusive, unless conducted along with a survey at the beginning, asking the individual to describe themselves. You might need a parent to describe the child aswell as opinions may differ. It’s hard to be conclusive.

Participant Observation – covert/overt (hawthorne effect)

Covert - The benefit of the covert observation is that the participant doesn’t know that they’re being watched, so they behave normally. An accurate depiction of their characteristics.

Overt – It’s fair on the participant being observed, but it will result in the Hawthorne effect. Refer to ‘Big Brother’.

Historical research – comparing old information with current information

It gives a comparison and context.

Comparative analysis

Comparing two different media products. For example, two websites. There should be a clear, objective criteria.

 Competitor analysis

Comparing another product on the market to mine.

Is your website reliable?

Why – should the audience view the website?

Who – are the target audience? (are they the appropriate audience: demographics, psychographics)

What – does the website aim to achieve? Is the context of the information? (Is it biased intentionally?)

When – will the audience want to click on your website?

Where – will the text and pictures go? Are the links?

How – is it reliable? Unbiased? Sources? Secondary/Primary? Up-to-date information? Accuracy? Will the audience interpret it in the right way?

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The questionnaire had a couple of flaws: some of the answers didn’t have enough options in them, which meant that people filling in the survey didn’t fill in the right boxes.  Secondly, I’d made some of the options only tick-able once, and people felt that more than one option applied to them.  The result was a slight distortion in the information filled out.

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Questionnaire

A good questionnaire contains:

  ·      Unassuming questions

·      Objective questioning

·      A variety of interrelated questions, some to compare

·      Opinions on the qualitative (open) questions and tick boxes on the closed (quantitative) questions.

·      Mixture of facts and opinions

·      Questions which aren’t misleading

·      Well phrased questions

·      Understandable

·      Questions with a clear purpose and direction

 We produced a questionnaire.  The task was designed so that we could learn from our failures, before we do the real thing.  Follow the link to take my questionnaire:

 http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/H8PS76C

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Content Analysis

We were given a research task to test how effective our methods of research are.  We’ve spent approximately half an hour going through a magazine, checking the proportion of white, black, mixed raced, and Asian women.  We discussed what makes someone white, black, mixed race or Asian.  We are going to count each and every woman in the magazine, then make a rough estimate of the percentage.

  Ethnic representation of women in magazines:

 Ethnicity

White: 75%

Mixed Race: 10%

Black: 10%

Asian: 5%

We concluded that it’s to do with skin colour, tone of their skin, facial complexion and what country they look like they come from.  This has been quite a challenge because we don’t know enough about the models background in the magazine, we can only judge on their skin tone, but their image may have been edited. 

No matter the exact numbers which we estimated the percentage from; we know that some of the UK magazines are still partial to white women.  The problem with our research is that we haven’t carried out research about ethnic representation in other countries, so we’re hardly an authority on that matter.  In other countries, cultures and religions, representation of women will be different, but one thing that I can conclude with is that ethnic representation is based off readership of the magazine and what the standards in the country are.  I’m surprised that white women are so predominant, considering how multicultural Britain is supposed to be. 

To get a broader perspective on the issue, I’d need to use the internet to carry out further research.  I could acquire information from secondary sources that are authentic; this would make information much quicker, and confirm that the conclusions that I’ve come to about ethnic representation in magazines are accurate.

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Social Media Research

Social Media Research, 5 August 2010 by Sean Hargrave

This article sets out the unprecedented effect that social media research has had on global companies.  There are several examples which communicate the effectiveness of social media, consumer feedback, the cost effective way of getting through to the target market and how social media has led to an increase in branding and product quality. 

Social media research is 10% cheaper than postal stamps and takes a lot less long “Now we put out a questionnaire and get far quicker responses” the manufacturing of the product can then happen more quickly.  Coca Cola’s Facebook fan page has over 7million followers, there’s a booklover’s fan page, Dell IdealStorm and M&S Direct also use social media research to find out from their customers what improvements they’d like to see in their products.  Social media research is accessible to everyone and although it’s not direct and doesn’t target all consumers, it targets the majority of customers, is the most cost effective and builds the most income. 

Primary

Is to acquire information first hand.  It’s the type of research you can trust the most because it’s carried out solely by you.  You could VOX pop, interview, carry out counts, and carry out surveys.  Primary research is authentic research.

 Secondary

Information which you get from a second party.  Although it’s easier than primary research, you can’t rely on it as much because you don’t know how the research has been conducted or if it’s reliable.  You can watch a documentary, read an article or ask someone about their research. 

Qualitative/quantitative

Qualitative research is to do with opinions, and can be used for amending products or trying to relate to the audience and see inside their mind.  Quantitative research is researching facts, trying to find out where they’re most likely to go, what their most likely to do and what they like and dislike.  Quantitative research is less direct.

 Objectivity

Objective research is carrying out different types of research, taking all factors in to account and listening to all of the target market.

 Fast and reliable research must require a combination of primary and secondary research.  Secondary research is a fast way of finding out information, but if there is something you’re not sure of then you cross reference the research with your own.  Therefore, the information is accurate and has been conducted without taking up a huge amount of time.

We split up in to groups to emulate the work of a focus group.  My group consisted of: Lucy, Carla, Katie, Heidi, Rochelle, Shakira and Jerome.

 A focus group is a group, which is recruited to conduct research on a specific area.  Focus groups can work for the government, environmental agencies, the finance sector, or industrial work such as film marketing.  Focus groups can make a difficult situation or decision made easier.  For example, the film 'I Am Legend' used a focus group before the release, and the ending was changed because none of the audience liked it.

The film industry use focus groups to research in to potential ideas for a film and content.  Focus groups also carry out primary research with the target audience of the film – which helps them improve upon aspects of the idea or film, as opinions come through.  Mostly qualititative research with focus groups for films. 

 From our exercise of working in a focus group, I’ve discovered that focus groups work as a team to contribute ideas as to how market and create the product with the target audience in mind. 

The task took 20 minutes, but a longer discussion would’ve been ideal because I didn’t go away with anything that I didn’t already know.