Evaluation & Conclusion

This blog will look into how my research developed in such a way that it was able to show clearly what the evidence suggested and how I could have improved my study. I believe that my research did provide me with a conclusive ending to my report.

After undertaking research into the history of the BRITs another question and possible topic of conclusion presented itself; should the BRITs have remained un-televised as it was from 1982 to 1989? It was interesting to see my original question develop as I carried out more and more research, as although it did not change, several subsections formed, and I was able to link certain aspects such as the amount of impact the ceremony has on album sales to whether or not the BRITs should have become televised again.

One of the main examples of this was Adele’s live performance of ‘Someone Like You’, as shown below.

The reason why I focused so strongly on this one example was because the figures that coincided with it directly related to the report in a number of different ways, the most obvious of which being the staggering amount the show promoted her album and career. It also helped with my conclusion, because by showing how much televising this performance assisted the artist it proved that people now watching the show for the performances rather than controversies.

How could this case study be improved?

There are a number of errors I made when conducting my research that I would learn from if I were ever to undertake research for a topic such as this again. The first of these was my questionnaire. I only received 42 responses, and only a very low number of them actually wrote below explaining their answers. Alongside this, the online survey did not give individual questionnaire results, just the answers to each question. In the future, I would conduct surveys on the streets rather than online as this would avoid the previously mentioned problems and give a much wider range of responders.

Time was also a strongly influential factor in the writing of this report. Whilst I had more than enough time to carry out my research, circumstances with Warner and BPI proved that if I had had more time I would have been able to go into the study a lot more in depth. Although a fair amount of blame can be put down to my poor time management skills, I also expected more from Warner. They consistently avoided returning my many emails and in the end only gave me one interview when I had anticipated receiving around 4 or 5. Despite my contact telling me repeatedly that they were very busy, he did make a verbal contract with me that he would supply more than one before the 15^th of May. He did not meet this requirement, and the report suffered as a result.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qemWRToNYJY Accessed on 26/05/12

Research Methods

By using ‘How To Do Your Case Study’ by Gary Thomas and other literary resources from Tremough Campus University College Falmouth library, I was able to utilize sufficient data collection methods to help with writing of this report. There were however some parts of my research process that could have been improved or used to a greater length. In this blog, I hope to explain the issues I had surrounding data collection where in hindsight there were clear errors in my methods.

As mentioned in the previous blog, my main source of data collection was intended to be from Warner Records. Despite not having anything to do with the organization of the BRITs, a decent amount of relevant and useful information was collected from them. After expressing a large amount of concern, the friend who works there pointed out that even though Warner did not have any part in the management of the ceremony, the company still played a vital role at the BRITs; representing the musicians and artists who were nominated and receiving awards. Alongside this, it became apparent that getting an insight on what the industry actually thought of BRIT Awards would also be very useful. These facts reignited the interest I had previously had in Warner Records, and I was therefore able to go on to have both a phone call and an email interview with Edward Allfrey, an executive in the events sector of Warner Records. 

In terms of researching public opinion, I chose to use ‘Survey Monkey’, a website that allows you to construct and send out questionnaires online. Unfortunately, I did not receive as many responses as I would have liked, the final total number of people replying coming to 42. Alongside this, questions with a box below them where responders could explain their answers were more often than not left blank. This could have been down to poor question wording however, as the questions did not specify clearly enough. This was also a mistake in the Interview with Edward Allfrey. One question in particular was not specific enough; ‘to what extent do you believe that the location of the BRITs makes a difference’. He interpreted this to be asking whether or not people would attend the BRIT awards had it been in a more obscure location than London, his answer being ‘(the location makes) Very little (difference). It is a hugely important date in the music industry’s calendar so artists/people will always travel.” I did not state that I wanted to know if he thought it made a difference to album sales. However, I believe that even though the wording of this question was poor, the interpretation of it was quite obvious, as the two previous questions had mentioned album sales.

Lastly I would like to mention one literary resource that I only talked about briefly in the report; ‘Brits 25 the official story of Britain’s biggest music show’ by Brian Southall. As my research led me further through the history of the BRITs, the name of this book was a reoccurring incident. However, by the time I had actually found this book online, it would not have arrived in good enough time, as I was half way through writing the analytical discussion of the study. Although if I had acquired it within the allocated time frame I am sure it would have been an invaluable resource.

Images:

http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book235663 accessed on 20/05/12

Subject and Object

I wanted to do my case study based around the British Records Industry Trust Awards (BRIT Awards) because it is an event particularly interests me, as whilst I do not actually have a strong passion for events management, I do have an interest in music and talent management. Alongside this, by studying the ceremony in great detail I think if I ever was to go into events management I would be interested in being a part of these types of events, or something under the same genre such as a film premiere or different award ceremony.

The show has always been run by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), a company that represents the interests of the majority of the record labels within the UK. One of these record labels is Warner Records UK, a division of the global Warner Bros. enterprise. Alongside running events such as fashion shows and promotional events it was my assumption based on what I had been told by a friend who works there that the company also has a considerable role in the organization of the BRITs. This was actually one of the main reasons why I chose to study the BRIT Awards; because I have a friend currently working at Warner Records who should have been able to provide me with the necessary information and contacts to explore the mechanics of the award show in great detail.

However, this was not the case. After eventually making further contact with some of the more experienced staff at Warner Records, I discovered that the record labels have nothing to do with the actual organization and management of the ceremony, they solely represent the artists who attend. This led to one of the main problems I had when gathering data; not having enough first hand data to support my case study.

This problem was not entirely overcome. Whilst I did finally get in contact with BPI, this was brief and only a few short emails took place within the time I had left to write my study. These emails did prove to be useful when writing the report, however if I had established contact with BPI earlier I would have obtained much more thorough information.

Once I had chosen a subject, I needed to have a question or ‘object’ for my case study. I eventually decided that I would look into how the BRIT awards has changed over the past 30 years to the media friendly mainstream event we know it as today. This decision was made due to my own personal opinion on the music industry currently. I do not like the way that television now drives the current album charts by shows such as X-Factor and large award ceremonies such as the BRITs almost choosing what we listen to for us. Record companies like Warner Records are I believe responsible for this, promoting music to fit in with the what the universal media demands rather than a variety of music to suit public demand. A perfect example of this is the friend I mentioned earlier working at Warner. He has always had a specific music taste and hated most music produced solely to make money and fit in with the current charts. However, he now promotes all those things that he once was so strongly against. This is therefore why I thought it would be incredibly interesting to explore why or if this is the case and understand how the music industry got to this point, using the BRIT Awards as a fundamental example.

  

Images:

1.     http://beta.wrmf-fm.tritondigitalmedia.com/upload/image/WARNER%20BROS%20RECORDS.jpg accessed on 17/05/12

2.     http://www.techdigest.tv/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=2&tag=X-Factor&limit=20 accessed on 17/05/12