Website

Initially, we thought that we should do a myspace page but I've been looking online and real websites aren't actually that difficult to make.
Many artists use myspace, but it looks more professional and can appeal to wider audiences with an actual website. Here are some of my favourite artists at the moment and their websites:

Mark Ronson : British indie artist, internationally known

This is his own website and very bright and quirky, which fits his genre of music. It heavily promotes his new album Record Collection with The Business Intl, with videos, an audio player, tour dates etc. It's a really interactive site and looks unique but is conventional in that it has the features any music website would typically have to immerse the audience in the artist's world.

Chromeo : alternative American duo

The myspace is in keeping with Chromeo's niche image; they aren't about appealing to a mainstream audience. Although this is a myspace, there is a banner at the top which has links to their store to buy merchandise, videos and images which sticks to the conventions of a music website. Their trademark 'Chromeo' logo is individual and definitely something I would like to do with our artist.

JME - British grime artist

This is another myspace page which ties in with the low-key grime image and is quite personal to his fans. At the top, there is a video with fellow grime artist Tempa T which would definitly appeal to his fans as anyone who knows JME shouls know Tempa T. There is a music playlist, which you always see on a myspace and photos for fans to view and leave comments. Like the other websites, we see tour dates and fan comments and myspaces allow fans to become friends with the artist and follow them (like Twitter, which JME is always using!)

Tinie Tempah: British rapper

This is a non-scroll website, which I REALLY like as you don't need to scroll around the place and it is aesthetically pleasing as everything is together and concise. You can listen to all his released music and buy from the iTunes store, which is definitely appealing to the iGeneration, who are generally his fan base. There are 6 photos of Tinie Tempah, all relating to merchandise which shows how a website can really sell all aspects of the artist. Links to social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube and Myspace allow fans to follow the artist from all directions as the sites work in synergy together. All the artwork looks similar, so this could be from his unreleased album which is a good marketing ploy as it ties in with the suave image (he wears his trademark sunglasses etc).

Now that I think about it, I would really like to create a proper website, instead of a myspace page. I think that if I explained to the group how we could do this, it could really work. I found a website calles wix.com which is quite easy to use and allows anyone to create a free website and I really like this style in particular:

http://www.wix.com/flash-templates/mix-master
I reckon that as long as we really create a strong brand image, with photos, videos (such as behind the scenes filming and interviews), links to other sites like Facebook and Twitter, than our website would be really strong and immerse the audience. Interactivity is also key, so links to competitions, leaving comments and buying merchandise would be effective in our marketing campaign as well.