TARGET AUDIENCE
Audience Profile
Pop has changed dramatically throughout the years meaning that the audiences change with it. In the 50's Pop was a loose term for a large genre of music which included Rock and Roll and Electronic music. This meant that the audience varied from the traditional goth stereotype to young, innocent girls. This was due to Pop music being classed as Popular music which could mean anything from any genre. However, recently Pop has narrowed as a genre and now contains more recognisable elements like repeated choruses. The audience has also evolved and changed which demonstrates that the typical pop star generally has a younger audience, who consist of the majority being female. However, there is still elements within the pop genre that reference it to the general popular music, this means that there may be people outside the stereotype of a pop fan who would listen to this kind of music.
Audience Profile
The Demographics explain the general stereotypical audience profile of a Little Mix fan. However this is a broad bundle of the typical idea of a fan. We appreciate that there are fans of Little Mix which are outside of the general, loose guidelines. In other words, not all of her fans are like this. However, most of their fans seem to be teenage girls who can easily relate to them because of her age and gender. Furthermore, as they are this age they are most likely to be in school and stereotypically a well- achieving student as Little Mix don't persue a troublemaker aspect, meaning that her fans most likely aim to be like Little Mix and idolise them.
Hobbies
The target audience of the pop band Little Mix are most likely to enjoy activities that the typical teenage girl would enjoy such as dancing, singing, arts, drawing, caring for animals, etc. These are stereotypical innocent pastimes that teens between the ages of 14 to 20 would rejoice in. They will most likely be strongly interested in music but as they favour a pop artist may like other artists from genres such as R&B and possibly Rap. Furthermore, they may also enjoy watching films such as Mean Girls, Twilight, Pitch Perfect and The Fault in our Stars which are general teen films aimed at this age of an audience.
Characteristics
The fans of Little Mix are mostly between the ages of a preteen and a older teenager. This may be because the band themselves are quite young so may be relatable and good role models for this generation.
As well as this, the audience may be hard working as the general stereotypical idea of a pop fan is a student possibly with a part-time job who listens to Little Mix's music to feel joyful and carefree.
Conventions
Age
The audience of Little Mix are most likely to be teenagers between the ages of 14- 20. This is because the girls of Little Mix are similar to this age so they are easily relatable and a good role model for this age group.
Clothing
The majority of Little Mix's fans will most likely be female and therefore wear quite girly clothing, as the band members themselves wear flowing dresses, so they may aspire to be like them meaning they dress like them too. Also as they have a lot of tour merchandise, they may wish to buy this in order to support Little Mix and their brand. As well as this, Little Mix have clothing under the brand USA Pro, which is an example of synergy, which allows both Little Mix's image and USA Pro's image to be promoted.
Other artists they may like...
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory which suggests that there are five stages we go through in life. If we apply these stages to media we are able to try to understand the motivation behind the target audience. The first stage of the hierarchy of needs is labelled Psychological which consists of breathing, food, water and sleep. The second stage is called Safety which involves security of health, of family, of property and of the body. This is followed by the Love and Belonging stage which includes friendship and family. The penultimate stage is called Esteem which considers the elements of confidence, achievement and respect of others. Finally, the last stage is named Self- actualisation which incorporates morality, creativity, problem solving and acceptance of facts. Applying this to Little Mix's audience, who are young people, we can assume that they are in the Love/ Belonging stage as they are forming friends in school and most likely still live with their family. Therefore, the types of songs these fans most likely want to hear will be based around love and acceptance, as this is the most relevant thing in their life at the moment.