9. My Website and Social Media Pages

In order to create a successful website and social media page(s), it is vital that I do research into what other artists' websites look like and how they function, so mine can fit into what is conventional in the genre.  This is also a great way for me to obtain some more inspiration for my website.

When looking at the role of the internet, I did a general review of the codes and conventions in artist webpages, therefore in this research session, I decided to look closely at some websites individually, to understand how they utilise the codes and conventions as well as how they create a unique website:

Demi Lovato:

Demi Lovato's website has a modern design, centirc around her and her music.  The home page looks very sleek, with the titles on the edges of the page, some of which are overlapping.  Additionally, there is a consistent black and white style throughout the page; the branding overall (including the merchandise) is synergised.  There are multiple header images, displaying a wide amount of the song which she has out at the moment.  It is also multi-purposed, as it displays her brand deal with the company 'Fabletics' and the Original Youtube Documentary, 'Simply Complicated' about her life.
In regards to the brand deal, this creates the notion that Demi Lovato endorses Fabletics sportswear.  This builds up an element of trust between the artist and the audience, since she recommends what she uses and trusts.  The link to the Youtube documentary and Youtube is a method of digital convergence, linking the user not only to the content on her life, but also to the rest of her music videos / other audio-visual content, connecting the site and music on the website.  This is also achieved through the Youtube embed to the 'Sober' music video.

The merch page is combined with the tour page, which is not particularly typical.  The purchase of tickets is more incentivised, by bundling together the merchandise and tickets, such as the Super Digital Album being purchased with Ticket Access for a single price.

Demi Lovato's menu bar has links to social media pages and streaming services.

Instagram Page:

Demi's Instagram page consists mostly of content featuring her and what she gets up to on a day to day basis.  As one goes through the page, there are numerous posts which aren't directly related to new music, but instead about leisure or philanthropy.  This is not to say that there is no content that is explicitly self-promotional or cross-promotional.  An example of a cross-promotion would be the picture with the stars of the hit sitcom, 'Will and Grace'.  Such a photo makes clear that there's a connection between these people and consequently gives an artist like  Demi more exposure to the audience that follow that account.

Lewis Capaldi:

Lewis Capaldi's website is largely based around the imagery of his latest album, 'Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent', featuring the red and black colour scheme which is synergised with the album cover and merchandise.  I am really fond of the simplicity of the site, as it is easy to navigate across; it is only necessary for the user to scroll down to observe the majority of the content, whereas the details on merchandise are found on the linked page which merges physical albums (vinyls, CDs, cassettes, etc.) with the apparel, prints, bags and pins.

Twitter Page:

Lewis Capaldi is very active on social media, in particular Twitter, which is full of entertaining content; he constantly posts jokes and his thoughts, alongside audio-visual content of what he's been doing when it comes to collaborations and music.  The account's primary purpose is to let people into the life of Lewis Capaldi, but also works to digitally converge his musical content, in particular his newest music video, 'Bruises'.  A short teaser is posted and pinned, piquing the users interest to go ahead and watch the video.  Furthermore, the banner is synergistic to the website banner and the album cover, creating a connected style that runs across all his products.  In turn, this creates a memorable brand identity for the artist.

After taking the inspiration into account, I decided to make a flat-plan in Photoshop, to visualise what wanted my website to look like.  This would give be an idea as to where and how I wanted to move and place the graphics I wanted to make and where the content would go.  By making a flat-plan I could insert the codes and conventions that were necessary to have on both the main page and linked page:

I also thought about what audio-visual content I intended to make for the website; this is with the intention of it being engaging while also informative to the users on the artist outside of music as well as the persona and finally what the site has to offer the user:

I will put together a behinds the scenes video similar to the ME! (Taylor Swift & Brandon Urie) BTS video, showcasing the lengthy production process.

With this post, I have learnt largely about what it is that I need to implement on my own website and social media pages in order for it to maximize appeal to my target audience.  Part of that will be achieved through using some of the techniques that I picked up on from the various other artist websites that I looked into.  From here, I will go forward and use what I have learnt from other artists in the construction of my own website.