Music Channels

Music channels that I know:

- MTV

- MTV Rocks

- MTV Dance

- MTV Base

- MTV Dance

- MTV Classic

- 4Music

- Kerrang! TV

- The Vault

- Viva

- VH1

1) Who is the target audience and why?

2) What type of music does the channel play and why?

3) Identify 3-5 examples of artists that feature on a regular basis

4) How is the channel used as a form of branding?

5) How does the logo appeal to the target audience?

MTV

1) The target audience for MTV Music is mainly teenagers and young adults aged from around 15-30 as the majority of the music they play is from the charts, in the genres of pop and R'n'B. These music genres usually appeal to a younger audience due to what the lyrics say and what happens in the music video, as the lyrics about drinking and friends usually relate more to a younger adult than more mature ones. Also the majority of music videos in these genres include dancing, girls and parties, which again can relate to a younger audience more.

2) MTV usually plays music from the charts that fall into the genres of pop and R'n'B, this is because these genres will appeal to their target audience of young adults and also because MTV is a very popular music channel so a large audience will be watching and wanting to hear and listen to the chart music and want to watch the music videos. However, MTV does have many other channels though which will widen their target audience, for example there is MTV Rocks and MTV Dance.

3) Some artists who are shown regularly on MTV are Katy Perry, Rhianna, Beyonce, Justin Bieber and Usher, as they all regularly have hits in the charts and fall under the pop and R'n'B genre, so MTVs target audience will very likely want to listen to their music and see these artists latest music videos.

4) As well as showing many current music videos, MTV also airs many reality TV programmes such as, Jersey Shore, Pimp My Ride, My Super Sweet 16 and The Hills. All of these shows relate to the target audience which are teenagers and young adults, as the actors who are in these reality shows are teenagers and young adults themselves, so the target audience will be able to relate with them and therefore want to watch these programmes.

5) The MTV logo is simple, but it appeals to the target audience as it is bold and the 'TV' is done in a graffiti-style, which relates to the young urban target audience who are often stereotyped to be fans of graffiti and create artwork out of graffiti themselves. Over the years MTV has developed their logo, so it can now be found in many different colours making it look more fun and appealing to the young audience who may be excited by these bright colours as they connote fun and youth, but the logo has still kept the same look and structure of the word 'MTV' as it has developed over the years.

VH1

1) The target audience for VH1consists of male and females aged 25 to 35 years old, this is because VH1 is owned by MTV and was created to attract those people who have grown out of MTVs younger pop and R'nB audience. So this more mature target audience is attracted to VH1 due to music artists such as Robbie Williams being played on it and also due to its many feature shows which sometimes play music from certain decades.

2) VH1 plays a variety of different music genres; this is so that it will appeal to a wider adult audience, as VH1s mature audience will be more open to different genres and this therefore requires VH1 to play different genres of music throughout the day. It also has hour shows that play a specific artist or genre.

 

3) A variety of artists are regularly played on VH1 and it also has programmes, which play a specific genre such as ‘100 greatest power ballads’. This is because it is a mainstream channel, which has to appeal to a wide audience of adults. Robbie Williams, P!nk and Of Monsters and Men are regularly played on this channel as they are from a variety of different genres and appeal to a more mature audience.

4) VH1 is a subsidiary of MTV, which helps with branding as it can be advertised on all of the other MTV channels, such as MTV Rocks, MTV Dance and MTV Classic. MTV is an extremely popular channel, so the fact that VH1 can be advertised on their channels means that many people will see it's adverts and be intrigued to watch VH1 and see if they like the music it plays.

5) The logo will appeal to the target audience, as it is bright and bold, with the colours pink, yellow and blue which reflect the 80s. This may appeal to the mature target audience as the colours could represent the genres of music they like and the decade of music they enjoy listening to. The connotations of these colours are all very ‘happy’, as blue connotes calmness and peace, yellow connotes happiness and optimism, and pink connotes femininity, energy and love, so this will make the target audience want to watch VH1 as the audience may want to watch the music channel to get this sense of calmness, happiness and energy. 

BOX

1) BOX’s target audience is teenagers and young adults aged around 14 to 20 years old, as it plays current chart music which will appeal to this younger audience. The main genres BOX plays is pop and urban and indie which are the main music genres which will appeal to this age group.

 

2) BOX music channel plays a variety of different current artists and bands from the pop, urban and indie scene, such as Plan B, Nelly Furtado and David Guetta. This is because this genre of music will appeal to BOX's younger target audience as it is mainly mainstream artists and music genres.

3) Rihanna, Conor Maynard, Chris Brown, Drake and Rita Ora are all played on Box on a regular basis as they are currently in the music charts and are very popular with BOX's target audience age group. Also, all of these artists fit within the genres of music BOX aims to play on its music channel in order to appeal to the target audience.

4) It is a subsidiary channel for Kiss, Magic, Heat, Kerrang! and 4music, so BOX can be advertised on all of these channels. This helps make the channel BOX successful as people watching its sister channels will be intrigued to see what music is on BOX's music channel when they see it advertised on a channel that they already like. Also the subsidiary radio station Heat also has a popular weekly magazine which BOX music channel could be advertised in, so they will be advertised to a new audience which will hopefully broaden BOXs target audience.

 

5) The logo represents the name of the channel, as it has the shape of boxes within the black background; the colours used are just black and white as BOX does not need to be colourful to attract its particular target audience as the young audience will mainly just care about the music it plays rather than the look of the logo. However, the simple colours of the logo adds a sense of elegance and maturity to the channel, and this may attract its target audience of teenagers and young adults as they may make them feel more mature in their taste of music. However, BOXs website is more colourful than its logo as it has the colour pink in it which connotes youth and innocent teenagers, so both colour schemes will attract BOXs target audience.

SCUZZ

1) Scuzz has a rather niche target audience as it attracts people who listen to rock, pop-punk and metal music. However, although it plays a small, niche, selection of music genres that are not usually in the UK top charts, its audience is spread over a large age group of 16 to 30 year olds.

2) Scuzz plays heavy metal, pop-punk and rock music such as Enter Shakari, Slipknot and Lower than Atlantis. This is because it's a niche channel that wants to appeal to its rock-loving target audience, who do not listen to the usual mainstream chart music that can be found on many other music channels.

3) You Me at Six, slipknot, young Guns and Deaf Havana are all regularly played on Scuzz music channel as they all fall under the genres of heavy metal, rock and pop-punk that Scuzz's target audience will be expecting. Scuzz plays different artists and bands in the night compared to in the daytime as it wants to appeal to the different audiences it has throughout the different times of the day. In the daytime Scuzz plays new rock and pop-punk music videos, but during the night Scuzz begins to play its heavy-metal and rock music videos to appeal to the older audience within its target audience.

4) Scuzz has many sister channels including Bliss, The Vault and Tiny Pop. But Scuzz is the only rock and metal music channel within its entire sister channels, however it will be able to advertise itself on its sister channels, therefore possibly gaining Scuzz some more viewers.

5) Scuzz's logo would appeal to its target audience as the word 'scuzz' is written in a metallic silver colour, which looks like metal, and it has sharp edges which further makes the logo look like it has been written in metal, so this therefore relates to the metal and heavy metal music genre which will appeal to Scuzz's target audience.

KISS

1) The target audience of Kiss TV consists mainly of 15 to 25 year old people. Kiss has quite a large target audience as the music it plays is usually music that is in the top charts. 

2) Kiss plays a mixture of genres, including dance, hip hop, and r’n’b, this is why Kiss will have a very large target audience, as this is a popular selection of music genres that are usually in the top charts, meaning many people will want to see the latest music videos from these chart topping artists and genres.

3) Chris Brown, Rhianna, Beyonce and Jay Z are regularly played on Kiss TV as they are all r'n'b artists that would appeal to Kiss' target audience, and they are also regularly in the UK charts so Kiss' target audience will want to watch these artists newest music videos.

4) Kiss is used as a form of branding through advertising on 4Music, Kerrang!, Heat and E4 as these are all Kiss' sister companies, so therefore Kiss is able to be advertised on them, and Kiss can have adverts promoting them too. So by being advertised on these popular TV channels and in Heat magazine, Kiss will be able to attract more viewers as all of its sister channels are very popular and have high viewing figures, so lots of people will be able to see its adverts.

5) Kiss' logo is blue which connotes calmness, and the shape is fun, playful and youthful as the bold shape on the left represents the letter ‘K’. So this playful and fun logo will be appealing to Kiss' younger target audience as the shape will be seen as quite cool.

Why do you think MTV is broken down into different channels (base, hits, dance, rocks, classic)?
MTV is broken down into these different channels, including MTV Rocks, MTV Base and MTV Classics, so that MTV can appeal to a wider audience. This is because each channel is associated with a different genre of music, meaning that everyone will most likely enjoy at least one of MTVs channels, so MTV can attract a large audience with its different channels that will appeal to different target audiences.

Why do you think music channels are important in appealing to a target audience?
It is important for a music channel to appeal to a target audience as if music channel didn’t have a specific target audience and played all genres of music then they probably wouldn’t gain a loyal fan base as people would only flick through that channel to see if they like what they’re playing at that particular moment. So if a music channel did have a specific target audience/music genre then they would be able to gain a loyal fan base that would like most of the music they played and would therefore continue to watch that channel and return to it every time they wanted to watched music videos.

Why do you think there are a variety of music channels?
There needs to be a variety of different music channels as there a many different music genres in the world and not everybody likes all of these music genres, so they have to be separated into different music channels in order to satisfy the viewers. Also, a large amount of people in the world enjoy watching music videos, so music channels are in high demand, therefore there needs to be a variety of music channels so that they can appeal to each different target audiences who like different genres of music.

What have you learnt from analysing music channels and how will it help you with your own production?
From analysing many different music channels, I have learnt that a music video can be more exciting if the lyrics are reflected in the video, as it intrigues the audience to carry on watching. Also, I’ve learnt that music videos can be either narrative, performance or concept based, and in addition I now know that music videos should include specific characteristics relating to their music genre in order to appeal to their specific target audience. and satisfy them This will help with my own music video as I now know what kind of techniques I am able to include in my own music video and which specific features should be used in the genre of music I am doing.