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. 

Options for the Main Task- Ancillary texts

If you have seen my overview of the A2 media course, you will have noticed that there is more to the coursework than just the production. In fact, we have to include two extra pieces using different media forms that link to our production. For a music video, i am given the option of creating an album cover, a home page for a band website or a magazine article for the album/ single. I have to choose two of those to accompany my main production. The only one i am definitely is the album cover as i like the creative possibilities related to the creation of covers.

album covers are incredibly important in giving the consumer an idea of the theme of the song/ album. i have found a few albums that do this well, and a few that don't.

Firstly is the album cover for "closer to the sun" by Slightly Stoopid.

Looking at this cover, you probably would assume this band was linked to more heavy music, political comments and more gritty topics with the big sound to accompany. However. this band is actually California Reggae. In fact, a lot of their album covers tend to link more to this gritty, dark imaging, rather than linking closer to their genre. One would assume this is either meant as a sort of joke or nod to other bands with similar album cover themes. But, i digress.

On the other end of the spectrum is Pink Floyd, who seem to much prefer the more simple covers that don't suggest much about genre. an example of this is the cover to "Dark Side of the Moon"

This incredibly elegant album cover carries very little suggestion as to the genre of the band, aside from it linking to a more modern, uncluttered sound. The use of the spectrum coming out of the prism suggests that the album will carry more depth or clarity compared to others (represented by the beam of white light entering the prism). But I may be reading in to it deeper than i should because of how much i love this album cover.