Website Analysis: The Sounds

Jack Renshaw A2 media

• Main image is of the artist for star appeal. The photo is in black and white which is a convention of indie rock.

• Grey white and black colour theme is continuity of the black and white photo and also represents the arty indie genres.

• The parallel lines are used a lot to match the whole website to the artist.

• The bar at the top is for easy access to the rest of the site.

• The layout is quite plain, meaning that complete focus is on the picture of the artist.

• These are all stubs of the main pages found in the nav bar.• Section on Twitter and on Flickr – for advertising and

audience benefits• Multiple free downloads for advertising. This is relatively

unknown Swedish band after all.

• Competition• Everything on front page, including news and tour dates are to advertise the band and keep fans updated

• The news stubs on this site are more visually orientated. Unlike on other sites I have researched, most of the stub on this site is made up of a picture. This is more visually appealing and satisfying. It relies on the star image of the artists shown in the pictures or the album art for the band’s new album to attract the viewer to the article. This would suggest that these are tailored for fans of the artist as these are the people whom would be attracted to such. This could also represent the artistic characteristic of indie genres.

• The picture at the top remains, along with the links to social media. This means that visitors to the site can share it’s content with friends at any time. The fact that you can do this also encourages you to do this too. Being popular on social media is obviously a good way to advertise of course.

• The music page is once more quite visually orientated, for the same reasons as the news page. It also gives a chance to show of album art and is perhaps best for people who listen to songs on iPod etc. as they may relate a song to it’s art more than it’s name. Perhaps this shows that the artist focuses almost completely on the music.

• Each section has the same kind of layout with the main part underneath the picture of the band like the home page. This gives the site an element of continuity and reflects that all focus is on the artist. This is also an advertising technique as we are constantly shown the same branding and trademark layout and picture.

• There is a quick and easy link to all videos produced by the artist, despite the fact you can find them in the music section. This just makes the site a little more user friendly.

• No other website I have looked at has had just one link to YouTube, a playlist. Most simply embed each individual video. Whilst this technique doesn’t advertise each individual video as the other format would, it does mean you are most likely to watch them all as they play automatically one after another and you can easily scroll and browse through them.

• You can see in this image that the nav bar and the social media links are all at the bottom of each page as well as at the top. This makes the website easier to use and means that visitors are more likely to explore.

• There are two sections of photos; a stream of photos showing the artist during performance and then a selection of choreographed photos showing each of the band members. The latter is also available in the ‘Band’ section. The former section is probably heavily promoted as live performances are a key part of the rock genre.

• There is an option to add your own photos of The Sounds to a Flickr group. This is a personal quirk for fans who have gone to a The Sounds performance. It is an active way to get fans together to discuss the artist. It may also persuade others to go to gigs and get their own pictures.

• There is little writing on this page and the images form a visually appealing pattern.

Live performances are deemed

important enough by the artist to have its

own section of videos. This is a

convention of rock and indie bands who depend a lot on live

performances.

Videos and photos have their own media section. This makes it a little more organized and encourages viewers who look at say, photos, to view Live as well as they are listed under the same category.

There are multiple options for the audience regarding store. This means viewers are more likely to spend money, especially as many would feel comfortable using amazon.

This bar shows symbol-links to just about every

social media site imaginable. This suggests

that the artist is up to date and ‘hip’. It puts them into contact with the public on many different levels and

means they are advertised all over the web. They are

in blue to stand out.