As we further delve into what a media niche is, what media niche we want to further investigate we now have reached the next stage of the media niche investigation. This being problematisation essentials meaning finding a problem which requires a solution that is unknown. Firstly to begin this stage I problematise my media niche meaning understanding what the key issues are that are crucial in understanding our media niche better. As you know by now I have decided to investigate my own media niche and this being my music production project and exploring how the project has grown over time and the marketing strategies as well as target audience in order to get your name further.
To answer this first step it is crucial that to further understand my media niche it is essential to research who is currently in the dance music industry and understand the process it takes to become a successful artists. This new investigation will be to analyse artists and the ways they market themselves across all social platforms, gaining feedback from current artists in the industry and learning the process in the industry from a primary source.
This new trajectory of research will be beneficial for myself as well as others that want to learn more on the dance music industry. This leads me to identifying who my audience is being participants interested in making their own career out of the industry through my research this ranging from almost any age because age doesn’t matter in the music industry! Through my research I found that 49% of EDM listeners are female. This research will guide me to speak to future employers such a record labels and managers.
To begin this stage although it is crucial that for myself as a researcher I understand the methods of observation and autoethnography. For me these two are both something that fall hand in hand to create a reflective research task. Observation is the action of properly and closely observing something or someone. I will use this method to observe artists in the industry and see how they got to where they are a good way of doing this is through one of my personal favourite artists Flume who documented his career from beginnings to now on a series of YouTube videos. Autoethnography being a form of qualitative research in which is where I reflect and write on the explored experience. I will do this method by taking notes on each factual research matter I gather. I will use this research to take on myself and use the knowledge I find in putting it into play with my music production project (media niche). This therefore will help me to build my career up to the professional standard I investigate. In regards to recording these field notes I will note them through documentation on my laptop, audio/video recording for any face-to-face information I am able to gather. I will take pictures (screenshots) for visual evidence too. I will use paradigmatic frameworks to help me understand the human experience as this research method allows me as a researcher to fully submerse myself in viewing the investigation from a different point of view.
In order the understand how i am going to conduct my research I need to create a timeline or sequence of events to understand what I will research and when. This therefore allows me to maintain a ethnographic research investigation. (weeks 4-7)
- week 4: Begin research on the dance music culture (target audiences, who is in the industry, how do you access the content, is my experience of listening to the genre altered in different environments)
- week 5: I will find someone in the dance music industry that has really made a big impact to the genre and how their following has risen so much, how their listeners are streaming them (best platform), how many listeners they have (monthly, overall)
- week 6: Analyse their marketing techniques they use i.e what socials they are on, how often they post, what content they post, whether they have merchandise business as well, how much they release albums/singles
- week 6: Discover various record labels and managers in the industry and find out ways artists connect or get their music known (using primary research)
- week 7: Discovering one more artists in the industry and compare findings to see if this is the common strategy in which artists are taking to reach fame and success in the music industry.
This research task will overall enable to me break down all the key steps and elements an artists must take to reaching success in the music industry and how they built up their profile. This will ultimate allow me to properly explore a new experience with my media niche and put it into tuition with my own music project.
Reference:
https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1589/3095
Carl Querin 
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