Audience Research - Kasabian

Kasabian

Kasabian feature many similarities to Howl in their musical style as an alternative rock band so are a useful reference point in terms of interpreting Howl's music. They're a British indie rock band from Leicester that formed in 1997. Amongst their successes they have released 6 albums, headlined the Glastonbury Festival in 2014 and won the Brit Award for Best British Group. They are popular currently amongst young people so their fans can be thought of as a potential target audience for our video.

According to YouGov, Kasabian appeal to lower class people, are marginally more popular amongst women and left-wing, young people. They have been on the music scene since 2004 and so are relatively current (they released an album in 2017). As a result of this, they have lots of older fans in the 40+ age range but also some younger 18-25 year olds as the genre of indie rock had slipped out of fashion in the 2000s but has had a recent resurgence in popularity.

(Data from YouGov.co.uk)

Here is an example of a recent music video by Kasabian (September 2017)

Ill Ray (The King) - Kasabian

The video can be seen to significantly highlight Kasabian as a British band from Leicester as there are many references to this town and elements of British culture. The video is inspired by the discovery of King Richard III's body underneath a Tesco car park in Leicester and creates a quirky narrative around this where a woman resurrects Richard III and takes him around modern day Leicester. As well as an homage to Leicester through depiction of landmarks like Abbey Park, the video can be seen to appeal to both young and old fans of Kasabian. The video casts Lena Headey and Michael Socha who are known from Game of Thrones and This Is England respectively, both of which are shows currently very popular amongst young people. The older audiences are also catered to through the quirky humour of seeing Richard III interacting with a modern day Britain. The band also don't appear in the video, which isn't uncommon in indie rock videos.

Days Are Forgotten - Kasabian

This is an earlier song from the band, released in summer 2011. The video again links the band to the indie rock genre due to the inclusion of band performance and commonly-used black and white filter. The performance setup is enhanced by animated white lines that add an artistic and creative aesthetic to an otherwise standard concept. The video here has an almost universal appeal due to its simplicity, again allowing it to be accessible to both younger and older fans of the band.