Michel Maffesoli, French sociologist, made work around a social link community. The prevalence of imagination and everyday life in contemporary societies. Author of his book 'The Time of Tribes' he argues about the conventional approaches to understanding solidarity and society are deeply flawed. Maffesoli's definition of his theory on 'Urban Tribes' is as follows"urban tribes are micro groups of people who share common interests in urban areas. The members of these relatively small groups tend to have similar worldviews, dress styles and behavioural patterns. Their social interactions are largely informal and emotionally laden, different from late capitalism's corporate-bourgeoisie cultures, based on dispassionate logic".
Reflecting this theory onto music videos it's clear that each urban tribe associate themselves with a certain genre of music. For example, Rock music would most likely be listened to by 'Scene Kids'.
There are 5 main segments to each micro group these include:
- MAINSTREAM
- ALTERNATIVE
- URBAN
- LEADING EDGE
- ASPIRANT
And within these segments are individual social groups; these include:
MAINSTREAM:
- Chavs
- Townies
- Fan Girls
- Chavers
- Boy Racers
- Blingers
- Sports Junkie
ALTERNATIVE:
- Nerds
- Real Gamers
- Hardcore
- Emos
- Scene Kids
- Young Alts
- Skaters
URBAN:
- Stylers
- Get Paid Crew
- Trackies
LEADING EDGE:
- Creatives
- Indie Scenesters
- Tumblr Kids
- DIYers
- Hipsters
ASPIRANT:
- New Casuals
- Trendies
- Rahs
Using Michel's UK Tribes theory is a good way for music marketing to advertise to their desired audience. Depending on what genre of the artist it determines the way in way they are represented to their target audience. An example of this would be a Pop artist wearing Rock or Urban clothing trying to advertise to Pop audiences - it's not going to sell very well as the audience and fans won't relate or have a shared interest. This is the distinctive link between music companies and urban tribes; it helps the artist to sell their music to the correct respondents.
If I was to categorise myself into Maffesoli's theory I'd probably fit in to the 'Townie' micro group as I'm quite 'normal' and uniform compared to the other groups, however I find myself drifting between groups that I share interests with such as 'Rahs', 'Stylers' and 'Trendies'.
As previously mentioned it's important for music artists and marketing to catch the eye of the right tribe/audience. I've decided to look into three social groups and match them to a music video that fits their social attributes.
Starting with 'Fan Girls'
Their social hang out being Twitter they are able to stalk and get the down low on their favourite celebrities. For this tribe I've picked 'Directioners'. They are one of the (possibly the) biggest fan bases in history and it's obvious which video they love most:
One Direction - 'What Makes You Beautiful'
Next up I've picked 'Rahs'
'Rahs' tend to hang out on social media sites such as Facebook and listen to indie genre such as 'Kasabian', 'We Are Scientists' and 'Arctic Monkeys'. Their view on music is more about appearance and attitude so this does vary.
Arctic Monkeys - 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High'
Finally finishing with 'Emos'
'Emos' tend to listen to expressive 80's punk rock melodies and tend to read magazines and listen to music channels such as 'Kerrang!' A typical 'Emo' band would be:
My Chemical Romance - 'Welcome To The Black Parade'
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