Research into websites of Indie/Indie Pop bands

We have now decided to do a website instead of a magazine advert for one of our ancillary products.

 

 

Below is The Kooks official website -

 

   

The website incorporates tumblr into the site; the photos on the homepage can be reblogged and liked by tumblr uses. This feature helps the fans feel interactive with the band.

 At the top of the website on the right hand side are the links to various sites that The Kooks use/have accounts on e.g. - the bands twitter, Facebook page and their Instagram. These links provide the fans with other ways (social networking) to interact with the band and for them to find out about what the band are doing
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There is a link to iTunes in which people can click on and then be directed to a page that they can purchase the bands singles/albums - this is important as the band are trying to sell their music.

The website uses a simplistic layout that uses the colours black and white, therefore making the website look modern yet indie.

 

 

 

 

The Vaccines website uses a white and red colour scheme and a simple layout like The Kooks website. The pictures at the top of the website are black and white 'vintage' looking pictures, this suggests straight away the band is of an Indie genre.

 

The website has various headings on the menu at the top, which allows for the fans to find out things about the band e.g. - when they are touring, what music they have available to buy/listen to etc.

 

 

Further down the website is an advertisement for the bands latest single, below this there is an iTunes button - if clicked it directs the website user to iTunes where they can download the single.

 

The homepage mainly features 'News' posts that tell the website user what the band have been up to.

 

 

 

Two Door Cinema Clubs website uses a pastel colour scheme of white, pink, turquoise and green. This is slightly brighter than The Kooks & The Vaccines websites, however it still looks and fits in with the Indie (Indie Pop) genre.

 

There is a banner at the top that plays the bands latest music video automatically; this is interesting as it is advertising their single/music video without the website visitor even clicking 'play' to watch it.

 

Further down the website is an advertisement for the bands latest single (just like The Vaccines website).
Next to this is a QR code while allows the website visitor to download an app that the band have created, which allows fans to use the website etc on their phones without searching for it on the internet.

The Strokes website uses a red and white colour scheme, the red is very bright and connotes the idea of danger. At the top of the website there is a slideshow of various things such as newly announced gigs, lyrics to The Strokes' songs, and also links to listen to the bands songs.

On the right side of the website is the advertisement for their new album, with buttons to buy and play the album.

Further down the website is some news about the band and a gig listing that allows fans that have signed up to the website to tell the band if they are attending the event - this is a good feature as it allows fans to feel a sense of belonging (McQuail's 'Uses and Gratifications theory')

At the bottom of the website is links to the bands Facebook page, Twitter account, Myspace, YouTube channel and Vevo channel.

Conclusion
After researching Indie/Indie Pop websites I have found that most websites contain the same generic features e.g...

• advertisement for latest single/album
• links to the bands Facebook/Twitter accounts etc
• News posts that tell fans brief information such as announcing a gig or letting fans know that a single/album have just been released
• links to additional pages

Also the colour scheme tends to include the colour white as the main colour, and then brighter colours mixed with the white eg. - red, blue, green.

I will be thinking about these features when I am creating the website.

 



 

Storyboards

Below are the storyboards I have created for when we film. They will allow for myself and my group know exactly which specific shots and angles we need to shoot.

Lip sycning practice

Last week we decided to film Harry and Dom lip syncing in order to decide who would be the singer in the band for the music video. After doing this task we decided that Dom is going to do it, as he felt more comfortable in front of the camera.

Shot list, things to film..

Today we have been deciding on the different things we want to film for our music video. By planning this it is helping us with our storyboarding. 

The shot list means that we will have a variety of shots, which will make our video better to watch. 

Stuart Halls - Reception Theory

This theory was developed in the 1970's and it considers

• How texts/products are encoded
• And how the text/product is then decoded by the audience

The theory suggests that when a producer creates a product e.g. A music video, it is carefully encoded with a meaning and messages. The purpose of this is that the audience will correctly decoded the message that is being communicated, and they will understand what the producer is trying to say. However, in some cases the audience will either fail to understand or they will decided to reject the idea.

Hall identified 3 types of audience readings of the text (how the audience decodes it)

1. Dominant: This refers to when the audience broadly agrees with the message and understands it correctly. Example - The audience likes a music video and understands what is being shown to them.
2. Negotiated: The audience accepts, rejects, or refines elements of the product in light of previously held views. Example - The audience agrees/likes some parts of a music video, but doesn't like/disagrees with other parts of it.
3. Oppositional: The meaning is correctly retrieved by the audience but it is rejected for either cultural, political, or ideological reasons. Example - Total rejection of a music video.

How this links to the coursework

In our music video their is going to be a message encoded within the video about how the majority of young people think/feel a romantic relationship should be like. We hope that our audience of young people will successfully decode the message and accept it.

Push/Pull theory

Push 
In a push system information is pushed towards/onto the consumer. Therefore the marketer and distributor are in control of what the message is, how it is seen, and when & where it is seen.

Pull
In a pull system the consumer seeks out the product and then pulls it through the delivery system.


Traditionally the music industry used a Push model of marketing products, however with the significant increase of social networks (and their use) like Twitter and Facebook, the music industry is having to come up with new ideas in order to change to a marketing system that uses Pull strategies just as much as Push strategies.

Examples of Push marketing:

• Magazine adverts
• Television adverts
• Online offers
• Tweets from an artists Twitter account

Examples of Pull marketing:

• Fan sites/blogs
• An artists website
• Email subscription
• Peer to peer recommendations

However some examples can be argued that they are both Push and Pull e.g. - Email subscription. The consumer firstly has to sign up to the subscription which is Pull, but then information from the email is pushed onto them which is Push.

One reason for the change in how products are now marketed is that consumers like to feel that they have created something or found an artist that they like. With sites such as Spotify, consumers can create their own playlists which they can then share with other people - therefore the consumer is pulling the music towards them.

How this links to the coursework

For the coursework we have to create 2 ancillary products, one of them being a magazine advert. This theory suggests that both Push and Pull ways of marketing should be used when my group is creating the magazine advert. As the genre of our song is Indie I think it is especially important that we use Pull strategies, as many listeners of Indie music like to feel that they have found bands/music that they like by themselves, without the media exposing the artist to them.