Artist Website Analysis

 

Artist Website Analysis

Website 1: https://www.twentyonepilots.com/

The website here is mainly orientated around the front page with most of the links here taking the person on the website to different parts of the front page, except for the tour page where they show all of their tour dates and where they will be which is a separate page entirely. As well as this page they also have a “merch” and a “buy album” section (which keep the viewer on the home page which can help with load times of the website).  The colour scheme of the website has been changed to a soft pink and a baby blue colour to match the colour of their newest album cover. When they released their album before this one, the colour scheme of the website was yellow and black to match the colours of that one as well. The site is very easy to go around and to get to the parts that you want to without any difficulty or confusion, as well as smooth transitions when you want to go to a different part of the website by clicking buttons like the merch tab. There are also social media tabs at the top to direct people to their different pages to allow fans to follow them easier.

Website 2: https://www.theweeknd.com/

This website is the weeknd’s, he is an artist who is very rapidly growing in size and becoming more and more popular with every song he releases, even performing at the Superbowl half time show, having his own segment. However, his website does not reflect him or his professional side, with the layout being very messy and the links just being hyperlinks that just show text. The background is just a static white with no personality and the homepage is just links to his music videos with oversized images to accompany them. This website is a good example of what I don’t what mine to look like due to a lot of the features and important parts of websites being missing. The only link that has a nice-looking page to accompany it is the merch shop which does look professional.

Website 3: https://www.brunomars.com/

The next website I am analysing here (Bruno Mars’ website) is a good example of a website and style I should try and aim for. The idea here is very minimalistic and simplistic in its own way but can show a lot with the little shown. It seems to be impossible to get lost on this website due to how simple it is but at the same time it has everything a music artist needs. There is a very clear house style that this website goes for with all of the white font on top of the black background which makes everything stand out. All of the links stand out with the white text but are also bold, so they draw attention to them without the viewer noticing. The links that show the legal side of the website along with any privacy links (i.e. cookies, ad choices, privacy etc.) are all on the bottom of the page but not in bold. The links to all the social media outlets are above that but not too much in the way. Finally, the home page is easily found by the name of the artist at the top of the page which is the thing that stands out the most out of everything on the page.

Mood Board

 

Research into the Music Industry

 

Research into the Music Industry

For 6 years now, the music industry has been on the rise, constantly rising and rising despite a global pandemic happening. This year, there was nearly a 20% in paid subscriptions to the music industry raising the number to 443 million people and being worth $13.4 billion. This shows how profitable the music industry can actually be if someone can break into it, becoming both rich and famous at the same time. However, monetary statistics don’t show the whole picture of the music industry since the music has been evolving for many years and to this day it is still changing and shifting. One of the main ways that music can be shared by is through YouTube, where artists can be millions, even billions, of views from a single music video, lyric video or just a song with a static background, and since YouTube is a free to use service this does not track the amount of people who pay for it, therefore not showing the whole picture of the industry in the statistics that were mentioned previously. To look at individual artists and their amount of views, then you would have to go to the YouTube website and find their video and see the amount of views that the one video got. YouTube videos are not the only way to listen to music with the other big alternative being Spotify, with the statistics showing the exact number of streams that a song has as well as the amount of monthly listeners that the artist has, which is a lot more exact than YouTube since Spotify is the leading place where people go to if they want to listen to music while YouTube is more catered towards the music videos. Before YouTube took over the music video scene, MTV was the best way to see the biggest releases of music videos, showing the top 10, 25, 50 and even top 100 music videos showing most days along with older music videos dating back to the 1980’s. The price for music videos has a lot of range, with the two biggest factors being how big the artist or band is in term of monthly listeners, followers and sales while the other factor is who is the label that they are signed with and how much money that the label has and is willing to spend on this music video. Costs for the videos include any actors, props, costumes, equipment, locations, vehicles, editing of the final video and any other expense that may need to be paid in order for the video to be made. It says the price range for a music video can range from anything starting at around £2000 but can range from anywhere up to £50,000, even reaching prices of upwards of £1,000,000 if the artist is very popular and requires a grand music video.

Music Video Analysis

 

Music Video Analysis

Video 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E Taylor Swift – Love Story

The video seems to start off in a typical setting of a college or a university with students walking around what looks like a campus, with some of the students holding equipment like books. But then the video seems o take a more abstract approach with the whole theme of the video changing and it becoming a Victorian style ball with there being a group of people in old attire and dancing in a style that seems like it would be considered old. It also cuts to the singer, Taylor Swift, standing near a balcony of a castle which seems to be a big nod to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, that being one of the most famous love stories of all time which takes the whole thing back to the title of the music video which is “Love Story”. Along with this shift, the colours go from bright and modern to slightly off colour to match the older setting of the video. Despite all of these shifts, the main focus of the video always stays the same with it being on Taylor and her love interest who are constant themes. There is also a big juxtaposition with them walking through what seems like a forest late at night with a lantern. The lantern acts as a natural and only source of light within the scene, as well as this scene being the only darker scene with the lighting going against everything else. The target audience for this does seem to be mainly for girls, with Taylor portraying the role of damsel in distress in the Romeo and Juliet scenes, but apart from that, the videos seem to be accessible to everyone and be enjoyed by anyone of any age or gender.

Video 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjhCEhWiKXk Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are

This music video can be seen as more abstract than the video above but at the same time has elements that does ground this video into reality than other videos about love. The video shows a man and a woman sitting in a room who are quite obviously in love. The man pulls out a cassette tape and the actual tape begins to form images that he is singing about like the way her hair looks or the woman in general. The video only takes place in one room with two people, but the abstract part comes into play when the cassette shows images like Bruno Mars playing on the piano after he just sat down on the sofa, to the camera panning up and then showing Bruno Mars on the piano. Apart from the cassette, there is nothing extraordinary about the video and it can be seen as a very basic video, normal lighting, setting, props, costumes etc. The target audience for this video is not very clear but yet it seems to be for everyone, not being only for younger or older people or anyone of a specific gender, however it does seem to be for people who are already in love with someone else, rather than a song that focuses on falling in love with someone, which is the complete opposite than Taylor Swift’s Love Story. This video also goes to serve that the genre and the video itself doesn’t have to be flashy and have a lot of different cuts and shots to fit in and can just be a simplistic idea.

 Video 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPan651rVMs Joji – Gimme Love

Despite the title and even the song being about love, the video has nothing to do with love and is about someone who works days and nights, through injuries and a lot of setbacks to launch a rocket successfully. It shows us all of the pain he has been through seemingly in the past few weeks and maybe even months, going through changes in his looks and wardrobe and different mindsets. The message of the video is to persevere throughout anything, and you’ll see the fruits of your labour eventually. However the song seems to be split into 2 parts with the 1^st part being very upbeat and fast paced but then the second half hits and it goes from fast to a slow almost orchestral piece which completely goes against the first half of the song, however in the video we can see the main character stealing the rocket (presumably since he was not meant to ride it) and going to space by himself, leaving his crew back on earth, showing he has gotten the fruits of his labour one way or another. The target audience for this song again is once again unclear but can be shown to anyone, but probably directed towards a teenager to young adult age range but not tied to a specific gender.  This video is very different since it doesn’t cover a love of two people but rather the love of a man and his job who wants to see how all his hard work paid off by any means necessary.