Childress+J.+Focus+Group+Report

Childress J.

To: Music Team From: Jazmin Childress Subject: Music Focus Group Report Date: 3/28/2010

Below is the report of my observations found during the focus group that I conducted. I talked with five black, female college students about their means of obtaining music. I was able to cover all five of the questions developed by our team. All participants reported they illegally download individual tracks online as a way to get the music they like.

The Internet has completely changed how music is delivered and the appeal of broadcast radio as the primary medium for targeting music audiences. The rationale for our focus group sessions is to determine what kinds of music Gen-Y listens to, where they learn about it, and how they prefer to get it. This information will allows us to advise Proximity clients on how they can use music to target Gen-Y consumers.
 * Focus Group Rationale**

The 45 minute session was held at my house on Saturday, March 28, 2010. The female participants were:
 * Setting and Participants**
 * Jackie, 20, a University of Maryland College Park junior english major;
 * Ashley, 20, a Hampton University sophomore mass communications major;
 * Shanice G., 21, a Hampton University junior accounting major;
 * Shanice S., 20, a Hampton University junior English major;
 * Joyce, 21, a Hampton University junior political science major;

We discussed the following five topics during the session:
 * Session Topics**

__Favorite Genres and New Music__ All five participants mostly listen to Hip Hop and R&B. They all agreed that they find out about new music by word of mouth of friends and what is played at the different partys they attend. Shanice G added that she also finds new music through online sites. Joyce and Ashley stated that they don't listen to the radio.

__Obtaining Music__ All participants unanimously said they all download individual tracks online. In addition, Ashley added that the only time she may consider downloading an artist's full CD is if she really likes that artist.

__Illegal Downloads__ Again, unanimously all participants said that they illegally download their music online. Most participants listed limewire as their website of choice. Jackie mentioned that there isn't a point in buying music when there are hundreds of websites that have free music.

__Consequences of Illegal Downloads__ None of the participants seemed to care about the previous lawsuits given to people who have illegally downloaded music. All users seem to be aware of the consequences given to illegal downloaders, however, they continue to do it.

__Underground Bands__ This topic seemed the have split responses amongst the participants. Jackie and Shanice G. both thought that it wouldnt matter if the music industry embraced free music downloads as a means for promoting unknown bands because they rarely listen to artists they don't know. So to them it didn't matter if the downloads were free or not. Ashley, Shanice S. and Joyce believed that the music industry should embrace these free downloads because they like to expand their "musical taste" and if new artists in their favorite genres had free music online they would listen.


 * Findings**

The session revealed that the female participants:
 * find new music through word of mouth
 * more likely download individual tracks opposed to Full CDs
 * illegally download music
 * aren't concerned with suffering consequences

These findings should be compared with the results found from other sessions with those Gen-Y who listen to other types of genres and sessions with more of a variety of ages and genders within Gen-Y. As said above, the average downloader is not in fear of suffering consequences from downloading illegally. So if big music industries want to stop illegal downloads, they will have to provide much stricter consequences for these users. We also see that Gen-Y is not interested in buying music anymore, which will lead to a major decrease in sales for these big music industries. I feel the best way to decrease illegal downloads is to sale individual tracks at a discounted rate to make downloaders feel like they are receiving an value. An example of this would be 3 individual tracks for $1 or etc. We should consider follow-up interviews to determine what our clients can do to get students purchasing music again.