The document analyzes the Arctic Monkeys and their target audience for their indie rock music. It finds that their audience typically ranges from mid-teens to late twenties and skews male. This is because of the band's influences from male-oriented 1960s and 1990s rock bands and the rebellious image projected by their frontman Alex Turner. It also discusses conventions of the indie music genre, such as simple album art with black and white imagery and references to older music, as well as how the music provides escapism and guidance for its younger target audience.
2. After analysing ‘Arabella’ by the Arctic Monkeys
I was able to establish what audience they attract.
As their genre of music is indie rock their typical
audience member ranges from mid-teens to late
twenties. The style/swagger of frontman Alex
Turner gives an ideal to male followers of the
band and this means their overall audience is
more male orientated. However there are female
followers due to the sex appeal of the male band.
3. Due to their huge success the Arctic Monkeys
identified many large bands as key influences to
their musical career. Their influences range from
1960’s rock to 1990’s bands such as Oasis. This
music culture highlights how male orientated
their audience is as these types of bands are more
associated with males. Also the band is proud of
their Sheffield heritage and often mentions this
within their songs. This gives their music a
personal feel to it as they are writing about
something close to them.
4. Arctic Monkeys have invented their own mise en
scene for the indie rock genre. They have done
this through the portrayal of the bands frontman
Alex Turner. A typical image of him would be
him in a leather jacket, with slick back hair and
sunglasses on. He creates a rebellious image
indicating that there is a rebellious nature to the
genre. There is also many references in their songs
to big city areas and this indicates that this is
where they want their music to relate to.
5. After researching album covers and adverts of this
music genre I have identified the key conventions.
The indie music genre allows there to be simple
designs that are effective as they appeal to the target
audience. The simple designs often link in to a lack of
colour as many album covers, videos and adverts
show black and white pictures and shots. This
emphasises the simplistic nature of the indie music
genre but is still effective in reaching its target
audience. Often album covers or adverts may
reference older music such as when music was played
on vinyls. This gives the genre a retro feel to it as it is
promoting the old ways of music; this is a common
convention of what the indie music genre should be.
6. Indie music creates a form of escapism for its target
audience. Its ideologies aim to try and achieve this by
creating pivotal figures such as Alex Turner for the
audience to aspire to. This is why a lot of the genres
target audience is the younger generation as it wants
to give them something to believe they can achieve.
Another ideology of the genre is that a lot of the
songs within it feature references to
love/relationships. This is because it is almost giving
the audience advice on what to do with their
problems through the artists own personal
experience. It’s music acting as a tool of enjoyment
but also as a guide at the same time.
7. There are many key bands such as Arctic
Monkeys, Catfish & the Bottlemen, Royal Blood,
The Courteeners, Jamie T, The Libertenes etc.
8. The motivations of genres audience essentially
relate to why they like/listen to this type of
music. One of the main reasons for indie rock fans
is because it gives them a sense of belonging to
something. Also in many indie rock songs the
lyrics are very personal and about real life
experiences meaning that the audience can
potentially relate their own situation to what the
song says. The songs can be used as a form of
support or guidance for its audience.
