James Blake's audience 1

James Blake is at 25 years old a very young Electronic music producer and songwriter from London. He's still fairly new to the music industry having his debut album release in 2011 before going on to be nominated for two mercury prizes - winning one - and then one Grammy nomination for 'Best New Artist'.

While his music hasn't been a massive hit in the charts - peaking at 39 in the UK, his music has appealed to a more niche market - as evidenced by the millions of views on his music videos on YouTube which accumulated gradually over time, shown below. (From his highest viewed video 'Limit To Your Love')

So it would seem that, rather than through a spike of social media luck (looking at you, PSY), James Blake's audience is one that actively look for his music. This could be thanks to seeing him perform at concert or on shows such as 'Later... with Jools Holland'.

There is also the matter of James Blake's form of music and genre to consider. If you've read my blog, you should know by now that Blake is weird, his music is experimental, been dubbed 'Post-Dubstep' but also containing elements of soul. It's not a typical sound you would dance to at parties or clubs but some aspects of the music is influenced by that - it's just shaken up so that it is unrecognizable. He's not mainstream (although he certainly is in comparison to others who have tried in his genre) and his music isn't necessarily easy listening with songs such as 'I Never Learnt To Share'. His music is often so creative that it's hit and miss - some of his songs are brilliant and others not so good and some even good and then turn bad. It's this that leads me to believe his audience would be looking for self-actualisation as they consume his creativeness and spontaneity. 

Across psychology's social approach, it is widely stated that gender is one of the key factors when it comes to identifying with someone else, and I would theorize that this extends across to some extent even into consumption of music. You might notice for example that a lot of Beyonce's fan base are female in comparison to males. But... the same doesn't necessarily appear to be true (or at least to the same extent) for male artists. One Direction, Justin Timberlake, Robbie Williams, James Arthur - they all seem to have equal or even more female based audiences. It could be fair to say that it's more genre orientated when it comes to male audiences. Rap genres (which characteristically have lyrics which can be very male-dominated 'big booty hoes!!!11') and Rock (can often be far more physical, which testosterone and society gears men towards) are genres which usually have a larger male to female ratio in its audience. But James Blake's genre is so odd that you can't really categorise it as female or male based - it doesn't really seem to lean either way.

Conclusions:

- A niche audience - He won't attract mainstream audiences of 95.8 Capital FM  but rather hardcore audiences of those who go looking for his music or are told to give it a listen by one or two friends.

- Self actualisation - James Blake's creativity and spontaneity in the twists he gives to his genre probably rubs off on his audience. You don't go to him if you're looking for a typical dubstep song.

- Male or female - At this moment in time, it's hard to say that James Blake's music appeals to either gender. I will do research and questionnaires into this to try and define it further.