5 music websites

By Jade Stipetic

Idea

Firstly, I am interesting in creating my own website to promote local bands so I took this opportunity to research and evaluate music rock music magazines front pages for influence and inspiration.

Research

Websites -

Kerrang

link – http://www.kerrang.com/

Kerrang (Likes)

Style-grey, black, and red. I like the dark style its conventional of rock music as rock is unique and mysterious

Kerrang (Likes)

Search bar -The search bar is very clear in a medium-sized font. Having searched some things using the Kerrang search bar I have come to the conclusion that it has a good filter and takes you straight to the page that you have searched for. For instance i search for the band ‘Bullet for my valentine’ and it navigated me straight to a page that had information on cd releases, interviews and pictures.

Kerrang (Likes)

Pictures- The middle left hand side of the page has a slide show that shows pictures of the latest band photographs and whats up coming such as tours and branding.

Kerrang (Likes)

Magazine - I like that bi-weekly a new magazine comes out and it shows the front cover and eye-catching detail that would make their audience want to be the edition

Kerrang (Likes)

Brand- I like that the brand is in a large font at the top of the page. This instantly indicates that this is the official page as the logo is easily recognisable.

Kerrang (dislikes)

Writing - Although there is not a lot that i particularly dislike on Kerrang’s website I certainly dislike the amount of writing that’s on the front page. Personally, i feel that as a consumer of the rock genre that too much writing can be to heavy and time-consuming on a rock website. Particularly when people only go on the websites really to check out pictures, downloadable content and gigs.

Nme

Link - http://www.nme.com/

NME (Likes)

Style Black, red and white. The same as Kerrang.

NME (Likes)

Categories turns red when you click easy forthe audience to see.

NME (Likes)

Hottest video I like that it shows the hottest band videosof the week, great way to get people into different types of music.

NME (dislikes)

News feed numbers 1-5 have to click on them to viewdifferent news.

NME (dislikes)

Subscription I don’t like that it doesn’t show the latestmagazine and only shows a picture that had been the same for a long time askingpeople to purchase a weekly subscription.

Q magazine

link – http://www.qthemusic.com/

Q (likes)

Style I like the house style that runs through this online music website, black, grey and red again the three colours often used throughout music magazines.

Q (likes)

Categories nice clear categories listed in a bar, small font. When you click on the categories they turn red so you know which one you have clicked on.

Q (likes)

News feed left hand side news feed, very clear to see. shows upcoming events and interviews which appeal to their target audience.

Q (likes)

Videos they have a selection on videos that promote their 25 year anniversary.

Q (Dislikes)

Blackberry The blackberry promotion. Dislike because not everybody is interested or own a Blackberry.

Q (Dislikes)

Features At the bottom of the page is relevant features that fit in with the website. However, they have been put in a black box that doesn’t fit in with the website style. Things like concert tickets are in this box which I feel should be more towards the top of the page.

The Rolling Stone

link – http://www.rollingstone.com/

The Rolling Stone (Like)

Style Again, the style uses red, black, white and grey. Appears to be the style throughout the whole music field.

The Rolling Stone (Like)

more list I like that there is a ‘more list’ that shows the audience a rating of … for example – 100 greatest singers

The Rolling Stone (Like)

search bar The search bar is clear in bold medium-sized writing. When searching with it, it gives a clear filtered search to music concerts, bands, interviews, general information…

The Rolling Stone (Dislike)

Politics i dislike the political section because I don’t feel that it is relevant to have a section of a music website dedicated to projects being shut down etc…

The Rolling Stone (Dislike)

Advertisement it’s not so much irrelevant but it sometimes takes certain readers interest to a entirely different topic/website.

Mojo

Link – http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/

Mojo (Like)

Style Again, typical red, black, white and grey scenario.

Mojo (Like)

categories nice and bold placed in a line format, easy to use and the letters move when clicked or hovered upon.

Mojo (Like)

Lastest news Unusually I like then news feed on this website. It is clearly set out in columns, easy to use and is purely about bands.

Mojo (Like)

Latest features, Latest news and latest tickets I like these three sections because of the way they are set out. Easy layout and accessable. The superlative ‘latest’ tells the audience that these are as recent as it gets.

Mojo (Dislike)

Advertisements - They are very large and look almost as though they are categories on the website which can be confusing. Also, the fact that they are advertising for Q magazine seems bizarre because they may lose supporters to Q magazine.

Mojo (Dislike)

Heading I dislike the placement of the heading because an advert is very large in comparison

Mojo (Dislike)

 to the ‘Mojo’ brand and comes before it. This is not only confusing as to whose website it is as the advertisement is for Q magazine, but appears unconventional of an online music magazine.