Audience, and their Uses and Gratifications

In terms of the audience for my products I will target it around the late teens to mid thirties market that is because the genre of electronic and dance music is within this age range and if people want to listen to the song then they will also want to watch the music video. The reason this age group is my choice is because they spend a lot of time at the weekend partying and visiting clubs and acoustic music is not played in the clubs and bars, but dance music is meaning my target audience are consistenly exposed to this type of music.

In terms of the uses and gratifications and the theory that surrounds this topic, it basically means that the audience are the people that determine what to do with the media avaiable instead of within top down structure were the producers influence and manipulate the audience. This is because when an audience seeks media they want to be able to gratify a use and need for it, therefore they are deciding how they interpret the media. To simplify this theory the it is practically the opposite to the hyperdermic needle theory where by audiences were drip fed pre edited information. 

For the audience they are consistently looking for why they need the information and what they are going to use it for. There are four main perspectives that the needs for media and information are seen, they are as follows:

Surveillance - This is the general idea that the audience will feel a lot better within themselves if they are aware of what is going on around them this can be locally or worldwide however, most people feel a lot better and more sociallty included if they are aware of current world issues, which the news and other forms of media can provide. 

Personal Identity - The concept surrounds the idea that the audience seek someone to represent themselves and their views in the media, this could be a character in a television programme or a radio broadcaster, this allows the individual to connect with the media and place themselves in that persons perspective.

Escapism - This is the concept that people use the media to escape from the pressures and stress of everyday life, for example, if the job the individual is highly demanding and stressful then the media can provide that person with the perfect opportunity to escape from this and relax. This could be watching TV, Film, listening to music or just being active on social networks.

Media Relationships - This is the idea that the individual utilises the media to generate relationships and talking points, for example TV programmes that could have been quite controversial will help to generate conversation between friends and family bringing people together. it can also work in the sense that the person feels a connection with the character within the media and gains a relationship that way.

Furthermore, the theory expands to suggest that people who use the media all the time to gratify their needs can become dependent on him, and the more they miss it if is taken away, this will also mean the likelihood that the media influence the individual more is higher. 

However, there has been criticism for this theory has been subject to criicism. This is due tot he theory stating that the audience have the power and decide how to interpret the media and the producers have no say and that they dont design the media to give off a certain message to revoke a certain interpretation. The theory also ignores 'trends' whereby the interest of another may have an influence on the overall individual. 

In terms of my music video and ancillary tasks the uses and gratifications of this product can be all of the above four options as the video can be uesed by people to simply feel they have seen it and can be part of a community, relate the charactor or the narrative to themselves. To escape from the stresses of life and entertain themselves for the short period of time that is the music video and finally to be a conversation starter to buidl relationships.