What is UK Tribes?

What is Find Your Tribe/UK Tribes? How was information gathered, by whom, and for what purpose?
UK Tribes is a Channel 4 commissioned project designed to find out how to keep certain youth cultures interested in their TV productions. Find Your Tribe is an aspect of this project that looks to find quantitative data about this.

Qualitative research was also carried out through desk research, interviews, diaries and self-reports.

Description and facts about my target audiences' tribe

According to UK Tribes, my target audience of Metalheads have a very fluid membership, of mostly white working and middle class teenagers. Despite large numbers of Metalheads coming and going frequently, there are often small numbers of loyal fans that maintain their identity from their early teens through to their late twenties.

Most members are very likely to use the internet to explore their musical taste and talent, with key use of YouTube and MySpace. They are also likely to use file sharing software, like LimeWire, to pass on music they have discovered to others. There are also some attempts to discover “underground” music by attending gigs at local venues.

As a sub-group of the Alternative culture, my target audience are very passionate about music, something which can heavily influence whether they are interested in my choice of song, Elegant War by A Joker’s Rage. And although they like to make their own choices, they are slightly influenced by popular alternative music magazines, such as NME and Q.

Metalheads are also the most likely to attend music festivals, Download and Sonisphere being the favourites, while also being slightly interested in Bloodstock Open Air, Damnation, and Leeds. The TV channels most associated with Metal music are Kerrang and Scuzz, although Kerrang is sometimes frowned upon due to its tendency to also air music more in tune to the tastes of Emos and Scene Kids, two tribes that Metalheads supposedly frown upon due to their music tastes and fashion sense.

The idols of Metalheads are likely to be musicians who have sustained their career and lifestyle for many years. For example, Lemmy of the band Motorhead is seen by many UK Metalheads as the most popular icon for his ability maintain a rocking and partying career since the 1970s. Members of the popular US band, Metallica, is also considered icons within the sub-culture due to their constant presence at the top of the scene, as well as touring all over the world.

The sub-culture can be divided up even further based on the timeframe and sub-genres that members listen to. A prominent example of this the NWOBHM scene that has maintained a significant fan base despite its heyday being in the 1980s.

What might marketers find useful about this?
Marketers can use this research to pinpoint the best audiences for them to target with certain products. They can also find out how well different subcultures can be interested in similar things, by blending different ideas together.