Websites

Websites are a way for bands and artists to promote their music, give their audiences information about tours and gigs, sell merchandise and even talk to fans. The websites have to be designed to reflect the particular band or artist, as this helps to establish their brand identity and also tell an audience what type of genre the music is. This is all done through colour, images and typography.


Pixie Lott

Pixie Lott has a very distinctive image and her website helps to display that in order to tell an audience what genre of music she produces. She nearly always wears black clothes and dark eye make-up, which stands out against her blonde hair. The same sort of thing has been created on this website with the pink typography against the black background. The colour pink lets us assume she is a 'girly' girl, which is also reflected in her image.


On the home page the picture above shows all the available features the website offers, such as the ability to watch her music videos, buy merchandise, get tour and gig information and also talk to other fans. There is also access to social networking sites through the website, such as Twitter as shown in the picture below.

The picture above 'Latest News' is the same image that features on Pixie's album cover. By using it here on the website as well helps to create her brand identity along with the colours and typography. Below that to the right appears a window to watch her latest video, which establishes that this is her most recent song release. Also under 'Latest News' it gives dates for significant occasions in her career, like the first play of her new single and the announcement of tour support acts, all promoting her music and album.

Overall this website makes it very clear the type of music genre being promoted and also establishes her particular brand identity. Her audience has the ability through this website to talk to each other as well as to leave comments foe Pixie herself, and also gain access to all of her music just to listen to or watch the videos.


A Day To Remember

 

A Day To Remember is a heavy American rock band and their website makes it obvious that this is the genre of music they produce. The colours are very dark and compared to Pixie Lott, although hers had a black background it was brightened by the pink typography, whereas this one is just dark. The red background is detailed with a pattern that makes it look like wallpaper, reflecting that they are not a stereotypical heavy rock band as one of those would probably just have a plain red background.

The band members themselves do not appear on the website homepage, which suggests that their music is more important than their image or being popular.

Although this website has the same features as Pixie Lott's such as news, access to music and videos and the ability to talk to the band and other fans, there is a lot less going on and the band are actually talking to the audience themselves, so to them it would feel like they are interacting with the actual band members. It also promotes the album very well by making a feature out of that alone on the right of the picture above, stating the album name and then telling the audience 'buy the album' next to it. It is clear that this website was created purely for the music, and that image and popularity is not important to the band.

Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding is a female, British singer songwriter just like Pixie Lott but they are two very different artists which is reflected by this website. Although this one also has a black background, the typography used is softer and doesn't stand out as much, suggesting that she produces a different genre of music which is also shown through other features. Again, pictures of the artist appear all over the website, but these pictures don't portray the same thing as they do on Pixie Lott's website, they are showing that Ellie Goulding has a particularly individual style and image, which is also made clear through the sound of her music.

All the separate social networking and file sharing sites are listed at the top of the page, giving the audience access to her music from different places. Adverts for her latest single and the album feature at the top, telling the consumer to 'buy it now', which is a similarity to A Day To Remember's website.

The overall layout of this website homepage is unusual and not found on many other websites, especially not for bands and artist, however it still manages to promote the album very well and encourages consumers to buy the music, merchandise and gig tickets.