WHAT SHOULD A WEBSITE FULLFIL

One of the most important platforms used by record companies in order to market their music is the web 2.0 (internet). They use this tool to promote singles, artists and their albums.

There are a series of codes and conventions that must be followed to fulfil the purpose of an official band website. I decided to do some research on the BBC website on this topic and found a list of things that every website must have in order to be successful. These are the following:

·Design: this can reflect the genre of music in its colours, features and iconography.

·Information: news about concert dates, press releases and exclusive features on the artist that can only be found on the official website.

·Multimedia content: this includes footage of the band or artist in concert, interviews and photo galleries. There will also be links to social media platforms such as official Twitter and Facebook pages.

·Online shop: visitors to the site will be able to buy merchandise including t-shirts, posters, and other memorabilia.

·Industry links: these will normally be to the record company and merchandisers' websites.

·Fan sites: these will differ from site to site, depending on what aspect of the band or artist they want to focus on. Often they have low production values and are more about the fan than the artist.

Moreover, I decided to research several different conventions in more depth:

·BAND LOGO/MASTHEAD/BANNER: The use of the same font, which usually is simple yet distinguishable, all throughout the band's products creating a certain iconography that will appeal to the target audience.  

·SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS: These is the best way to appeal to a modern audience that interact via these platforms, even though the links are usually hidden by clicking an icon and are usually small. These is a great way to create word of mouth marketing as it enables the audience to interact with one another via forums, comments and likes.  

·PREDOMINANT IMAGE: This is the first thing that the audience see, therefore it must have a direct grip of their attention, which is usually done by a professional photoshoot of the band/artist. The background of the homepage can be still or moving but must be eye-catching in order to keep the viewer intrigued.  

·STYLE: This is key in order to succeed as it determines the band/artist's image. It portrays their  personality and genre by using the colour scheme theory.  

·LAYOUT: It must be easy to navigate because if they are too complex, the audience might lose their interest very quickly. The marketing and the layout is very important to make it easy to navigate.   

·LINKS: These are clearly labeled and usually stand out from the rest of the page by using a different colour, making the easy to read and click. They take the viewer to multimedia, merchandise, news, events, upcoming concerts...  

·GENRE: This is evident in the use of colour, font and images used in the website.  

·SYNERGY: amongst the band/artist website and other products/content is highly popular and a very effective technique for the audience to remember their ‘brand’ and iconography. It’s also an effective marketing tool. Synergy is evident in these examples between the website background and the artists latest single - this is conveyed in terms of font, colour scheme and image.

I will research a few websites with attention to the codes and conventions that I have researched above in order to get some ideas for my own website.