Instead, Boyle argued that audience segments, clusters of audiences based on common category-related needs, are the ideal tool for assessing who to target.
‘They are efficient, simple and precise if done well, and representative and strategic,’ said Boyle, who added: ‘I really think of it as like X-ray vision to see inside of an audience and really understand them.’
Boyle illustrated his point with a case study from when he used to work at record label EMI. Songwriter and DJ David Guetta approached the label because his success had plateaued and he needed to know where he could find new fans.
Boyle and the team at EMI used audience segmentation to break people down into music-related needs, and create categories with names like ‘nighthawk’, ‘pop idol’ and ‘casual’, to create a plan for growth.
David’s success at that point was predicated on nighthawks, people for whom music was the soundtrack to their nights out, and he had maxed out that audience. Boyle and EMI suggested appealing to mainstream groups (the casuals and pop idols) for whom music was more about entertainment, with new collaborations, new sounds, and new marketing campaigns. Guetta’s subsequent mainstream success speaks for itself.
Similarly, singer Katy Perry had snagged the pop idols but had an opportunity to gain a foothold with ‘cutting edge’ audiences, which led to her making the Unplugged live album.
Pink Floyd meanwhile was already popular with the cutting edge audience but was able to grow by creating products for ‘collectors’ who wanted tactile and scare materials, ‘and the band went bigger and bolder than ever before to really give that segment what they wanted,’ said Boyle.
