For my current internship in the Concerts Marketing department of C3 Presents – a music and events promotion company in Austin – one of my responsibilities has been doing “website sweeps” for different venues that C3 represents. This entails making sure that the event posting on C3’s website, the venue’s website and the artist’s website are all in sync and that the ticket links work properly, etc.
The C3 website requires a couple of things for their events posting in regards to information about the artist – that it features links to the artist’s main website and Twitter/Facebook accounts, as well as a Spotify and YouTube playlist for the headliner. Sometimes, the event page is missing these links and it is my job in these “sweeps” to fill in that missing info. One of my biggest pet-peeves so far in doing these assignments are the “artsy” artist websites that think they are so hip and abstract but then you can’t find any of the information you are looking for. Seriously – I’m trying to do my job to promote this artist up to our standards and they’re making me work to find their Twitter account from their main website. And that’s my job. I can only think about how irritating it is for actual fans who are just trying to find a way to catch up with their favorite artist.
These are three artist websites I have come across in the past week that have been attractive, professional and easy to navigate in regards to the information that I am looking for (and I assume fans trying to find more information on their favorite artist are looking for too).
Homepage
My favorite thing about this homepage is that not only is it neat, strong, easy to read and attractive – but all of the information you could ever want to know about the band is literally right there. Home page, news, tour, music, video, photos, bio, shop AND their social accounts in one bold headline. Not only is this beneficial to promoters but also beneficial to fans. I have to give it a 10/10.
Also, if you are trying to interact with the website, all of the information in the headline is accessible by simply scrolling down. Let’s see what we find…
News
I love how the headline stays static the whole time for easy navigation while you’re having fun on the rest of the website. You can easily go back to a part you scrolled over or skip ahead to a part you want to read. The background is different from the home page, but it still feels like the same “page” because you haven’t clicked anything, you’re still scrolling.
Also, notice the left and right arrows that let you browse different news in order. You stay on the same page but are presented with new information. It feels like you’re not going anywhere but still navigating at the same time. You also have the option to “Like” or “Favorite” this post for different social media platforms FROM the website. Really cool feature.
Tour
As we scroll on, we come to the Tour page. Again, different background that stays in a similar, consistent color scheme. The whole website is very consistent. The Tour page shows you TVOTR’s upcoming shows and lets you RSVP via links to BandsInTown or buy tickets from the specific venue’s website. Easy, useable and most of all user/consumer friendly. You don’t want your fans to be working to have to buy tickets to your show.
Homepage
I like this page from a consumer/fan point of view more than the TVOTR scroll style. This homepage still allows for the scroll feature and the heading navigation scrolls with you like TVOTR. I just really like how the whole color scheme and font scheme play off of the Strange Trails album cover art. I think it really immerses you in the website and somehow gives you more of a connection to the artist.
Also, this homepage right away gives you ticket links to shows and links to buy their music… Bam, right in your face. Here’s what you most likely came for. Right here, right on the homepage. I’d like to see analytics as to how much time people spend on the homepage before they click the ticket and/or buy music links and see how well it works for them.
The heading navigation is nicely done too – site navigation on the left if you’re trying to find more out about the band, social navigation on the right if you’re trying to connect with them. It has a very “straight to business” feel about it. I give this a 9/10 because I don’t like the placement of the links forthe iTunes music (although I agree it’s good to have it on the homepage).
Look
This link scrolls you down to the YouTube links I mentioned earlier – so it is a little like the TVOTR site in that the navigation can skip you ahead or behind and it scrolls down the page. Unlike the TVOTR page, the background stays the same throughout the site – which I think keeps up with the consistency. I kind of wish they had more than two YouTube videos on their entire “Look” category, though. Maybe some more media could help this page or maybe it would be too cluttered.
Listen
The listen page is actually really cool. I love how these Spotify links have the cover art on them – I don’t know that I’ve seen this presentation style for Spotify links in the other artist websites I’ve been looking at but this makes the songs look very attractive, cool and gives each song a unique personality. This is something I would suggest in the design of another website, for sure.
Homepage
Now, this homepage may not be as artsy, cool or hip as the previous ones – but it is simple, easy to navigate, and has all the essential information right on hand. It has their upcoming promotions, tour dates, Twitter feed, and News feed all right there in the front. You also have links to these at the header. I think this website appeals to an older crowd for ease of use as opposed to how it looks. Also, something I like is that there is the option of a music player at the footer, but it doesn’t play automatically. If there’s something everyone hates, its music playing off of their browser that they didn’t ask for. This website gives you the option and that is nice. I would prefer the social links be at the header, but they are easily accessible from where they are located on the footer. I give this an 8/10 because it’s a bit cluttered – but still easy to navigate.
Music
All of the navigation options stay with you when you go to a link, so the layout is basically the same as the homepage. It may be a bit cluttered for my taste, but again overall from a user standpoint it has all of the essential information. I like how there is the most recent album on the left and the discography on the right with photos, etc. Also the option to purchase is important.
Biography
Now I absolutely don’t like this page. The fact that you have to scroll down to read the paragraph on the left and scroll back up for the center is actually really bad design. This whole page feels cluttered and they would have been way better just keeping it one wide paragraph as you scroll down. I highly doubt anyone took the time/effort to scroll down the page on the first paragraph and scroll back up twice to finish this biography.
