Audience Research

In order (Most popular first) Ed Sheeran Maroon 5 All Time Low N-Dubz Beyonce Coldplay James Blunt 30 Seconds To Mars OllyMurs Bon Jovi Pink LMFAO Calvin Harris You Me At Six Katy Perry TinoCoury 3OH!3 Nickelback Nero AC/DC

Niche or Mainstream? Record label Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Niche Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Warner Music Group Universal Music Group Universal Music Group Universal Music Group Sony Music Entertainment Fierce Panda Records Custard Records Capitol Music Group SyCo/Epic/Sony Music Entertainment Universal Music Group RCA Records/ Sony Music Entertainment Universal Music Group Sony Music Entertainment Slam Dunk Records EMI Eleventh Records Photo Finish Records Universal Music Group Cherrytree/Universal Music Group Operates under WMG s Independent record labels. Web Entertainment Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Mercury Records/universal

Major or independent? Major Major Major Major Major Independent Independent Major Major Major Major Major Major Independent Major Independent Independent Major Major Independent

Eminem Michael Buble Paramore Queen Scotty McCreery

Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream

Independent Major Major Major Independent/Major

Needtobreathe Switchfoot Simple Plan All-American Rejects Lana Del Ray Laura Marling Kaiserchiefs Jessie J Rihanna Ne-Yo Drake

Niche Niche Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Niche Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream

Music Group Sparrow Records/EMI Warner Music Groups Warner Music Groups Universal Music Group Universal Music Group Capitol Music Group Liberation Music Lava Records/UMG Def Jam/UMG Def Jam/UGM Young Money Entertainment (under umbrella of UMG) Young Money Entertainment (under umbrella of UMG) Mercury Records/ Universal Music Group Capitol Music Group Parlophone (owned by EMI) Data Records (Fully owned by Ministry of Sound)

Independent ? Major Major Major Major Major Independent Major Major Major Major

Nicki Minaj

Mainstream

Major

Noah and The Whale

Mainstream

Independent/Major

Professor Green TinieTempah Example

Mainstream Mainstream Mainstream

Major Major Independent

The top ten most popular recording artists/bands that were chosen amongst people my own age were: y y y y y y y y y y Ed Sheeran Maroon 5 All Time Low N-Dubz Beyonce Coldplay James Blunt 30 Seconds to Mars Olly Murs Bon Jovi

The list of those most popular did not surprise me as I listed them all as mainstream because of their chart success and fan base. I think my generation is more exposed to mainstream tracks than tracks that are considered niche which is why mainstream music is more popular. Only two artists/bands were signed to independent record labels and I was unsurprised by this result as large numbers of record labels are subsidised by the four major record labels. The four major record labels own smaller record labels or the record labels are a division of one of the four major record labels. This results in there being a small number of independent record labels. Only four recording artists/bands were considered niche out of 41 artists/bands, this was expected because of the effect that the music charts have on the music taste of my generation, chart music is widely advertised and this can affect the response to the artist and their music. From my results I can say that niche acts are not as significant as the mainstream tracks, niche tracks may be less popular in my research because of the people I asked, the audience I asked are in a very close age range and they are also similar in personality, if I were to have asked a 10 people out of a group that were known to like metal music my results would have differed from one another, however my results came from people who were in a similar clique . My personal research and audience research are rather similar and overlap in artists and this may be because the artist has become well-known in the last few years. The majority of the audience I asked have some form of MP3/iPod this means there biggest source of music is from the internet most likely iTunes. iTunes has a top chart which is based on the sales of each track, tracks that are high on the list are mainstream and most popular at that current time, the songs will attracted attention from people who are looking on iTunes and the majority of the audience I asked would buy music from the Top 20 on that list.