Artist Website Codes and Conventions.ppx
- 1. Artist Website: Codes and Conventions Jennifer Robinson
- 3. Image Cover photo The first thing you see on the website, promoting the artist’s most recent project.
- 4. Image Cover photo An artist's website will almost always contain a large photo of the newest album/single that has been released, taking up the majority of the first screen you see which attracts immediate attention. This will most likely be either close up or a full body shot to make viewers familiar with the artist’s face. It will also be accompanied by obvious incentives to listen/buy/stream it - an example of digital convergence. The rest of the website tends to work around this photo with fonts and colour schemes to make the website look cohesive.
- 5. Layout and Design Header Used to make the website easily accessible and look clean – always seen when scrolling through the page Follows the theme of the recent album/single that is being promoted using font and colour
- 6. Headers Subheadings Usually displayed on the left of the header Contains links to streaming services, tour dates, the artist’s merch store and an option to subscribe to the artist.
- 7. Headers Social Media Usually displayed to the right of the header Links social media profiles of the artist as well as streaming platforms – digital convergence Social Media These links encourage the audience to interact and engage with the artist on a more personal level and helps the artist spread their music.
- 8. Artist’s name Usually centred on the header of an artist's website, will be the artist or band's name. The artist's name represents the most recent project that is being promoted on the website, for example, Conan Gray's album 'Superache' follows a red and black theme. The album cover shows him lying on a bed of roses in a heart shape. Red roses are signifiers for passion and romance which is conveyed in the calligraphic font and red colouring of his name on the header. Gracie Abrams' album 'Good Riddance' contains a black and white theme that follows throughout all of her social media pages and her website. Her name uses a white font on a black background for contrast and uses a simple, thin, sans serif font that mirrors the simplicity of the album cover. Typography
- 9. Layout and Design Music promotion A lot of the time, directly under the homepage will be the music page with a display of all recent albums/singles and buttons encouraging viewers to stream/download the records or to buy them in CD, cassette or vinyl form.
- 10. Layout and Design Tour, merch, audio-visual features Continuing down the website, in different orders depending on the artist’s priorities, there will be pages for tour dates, the artist’s merch store and embedded music videos. These will always be accompanied by links to buy tickets or merch and to watch the videos – which are all forms of digital convergence.
- 11. Layout and Design Newsletters and pop-ups Artists will always have an option to sign up for their newsletter to receive emails about any new media from the artist. This includes new music, new merch, new music videos, new tour dates etc. Newsletters encourage engagement from the audience and ensure fans always know when new things are released, gaining more streams and interactions for the artist. The option to sign up for the newsletter may appear as pop-ups when you open the page. These create more incentive to sign up.
- 12. Layout and Design Video pages The video page on an artist’s website contains a collection of music videos, behind the scenes clips and tour videos. This gives an audio-visual aspect to the website and creates engagement with fans.