Band Websites- Ancillary Text Research

One of the ancillary texts I have chosen to accompany my main task is the band website homepage. With this in mind, i devoted some time to look at some band websites. The websites i chose to view were Red Hot Chili Peppers, Catfish and the Bottlemen and Twenty one Pilots. I found that there were a list of criteria that these websites had in common. These websites all had:

• Tour dates and locations
• navigation to media (pictures,videos)
• merchandise
• downloads to music
• music videos  
• links to social media
• Ticket sites

Compare this to the twang- no websites just rely on social media and separate sites for Merch and tickets. While the bigger bands websites do have links to their social media and other outlets, smaller bands like "the Twang" solely rely on social media and businesses to advertise gigs ad tours and distribute merchandise.

One site that breaks the mold for more established bands and musicians is John Mayer's website. His website appears to be completely devoted to his new EP's (extended playlists) and a video advertising his new tour as seen by the screen captures below.. While it still contains the links to social media, it focuses less on the merchandise and more on the music and where you can listen to it.

Looking at the variety of examples of different artists websites, we can see that they all contain the same themes with varying amounts and emphasis. A website like the Twenty One Pilots one focuses more on the merch, whereas John Mayer's focuses more on tour dates and new releases rather than merchandise. This has aided me in one of my ancillary texts as it haas given me a greater insight into the themes featured in an average band website.