Audience Theories and Tasks

Powerpoint on Audience Theories and Tasks - http://www.scribd.com/doc/135967048/Audience
Powerpoint on Audience - http://www.scribd.com/doc/136280498/A2-Audience-Presentation


Julian McDougall (2009) (Level 3)

• Suggest that on the online age it is getting harder to conceive a media audience as a stable, identifiable group.
• However, audiences still clearly make sense and give meaning to culture products.
• Key Terms: MASS Audience, NICHE Audience, MAINSTREAM Audience, ALTERNATIVE Audience
• Difficult to define specific audience
• An audience can be described as a "temporary collective" (Originally McQuail, 1972) (Level 2)
• A Changing Niche
• Audiences aren't stable

Is your text popular for a mass audience?

• My magazine was based within the pop genre, making it full of mainstream music choices that would generally be aimed at a mass audience, as this sort of music would be 'chart' music and widely popular.

Historically (until the 19th century, at any rate) the term 'popular' was quite a negative thing, with overtones of vulgarity and triviality. Something not 'nice' or 'respectable'. In the modern world, the term means 'widespread', liked or at least encountered by many people. It has also come to mean 'mass-produced', i.e. made for the 'mass' of people. There is a downside to this, of course, in that it can also be interpreted as 'commercial' or 'trashy'.
This leads into a further consideration, which is the definition of 'popular culture' as 'low' culture, something not for the elite, but for the 'common' people. Cultural value ('high' culture) has been traditionally associated with dominant or powerful groups - those who have appreciation of classical music, art, ballet, opera and so on. 'Low' or popular culture is everything not approved of as 'high'. It is vulgar, common, or 'easy‘. It is postmodern.
Is this relevant to your coursework?

• My magazine was in the pop genre and was therefore aimed at a mass audience. Some may consiquently view the music associated with the magazine as 'commercial' as it is often specifically created and enginered to appeal to the masses through basic over-used and well-known structures, chord sequences, themes and meanings. This may also be interpreted as a product for the 'common' people as beign a product of the pop genre and 'popular culture' in general can place it within a 'low' culture category; this can also create the idea that the product, and 'pop culture' as a whole, may be associated with the elite and/or dominant or powerful groups. However, as the pop genre has a mass audience, it can deliver the most money to those involved in the pop genre end of the music business, making those at the top perhaps considered 'elite' or members of 'high' culture due to their wealth. More generically, the pop genre may be reguarded as 'vulgar', 'common' or 'easy; I don't think that 'vulgar' would be a work associated with pop music as it has a mass audience and is widely popular, however, those that don't like pop music and are opposed to 'commercial' and 'common' popular culture may call pop music 'vulgar'.

Another definition of popular is literally 'of the people', a kind of 'folk' culture and this is an interesting area, because it encompasses the idea of an 'alternative' culture which includes minority groups, perhaps with subverse values. The 'indie' music scene is an example of this. So, 'popular' culture can and sometimes does challenge the 'dominant' cultural power groups.
Can this be applied to your coursework?

• Pop music could be described as music of the people because it appeals to such a widespread audience.

Ien Ang (1991)(Level 4)

• "audiencehood is becoming an ever more multifaceted, fragmented and diversified repertoire of practices and experiments" 
• Diverse
• More niche audiences
• Audiences are harder to define, especially by class categories, more divided
• Specific - Create something specifically for your audience

Do you agree with Ang?

• Yes, I think that modern day society is becoming increasingly diverse, making it harder to define class.

John Hartley (1987)(Level 3)

• Understanding your audience

Hypodermic Theory (1930s)(Level 2/3)

• Injects ideas into the audiences heads
• Influences audience

Plurarlist (Active) Theory(Level 2/3)

• Own Interpretation

Uses and Gratifications Theory(Level 2)

• Escapism, Relationship and Surveilance