Upon first seeing the MySpace page, you can initially see the bands current logo. It is huge bold writing of their name, and is in the same style as from their latest album, possibly to keep with the band changing trends. It is the only white-background contrast on the entire page, allowing it to truly stand out. It silhouetted format the bands image is presented next the name, possibly to make the statement that they are the individuals who are the band. Their Indie genre is particularly highlighted in this image, through use of trendy/casual clothing, and with naturalistic posture. Their faces are nearly all hidden in shadow, possibly being allowed to do this due to being so well known otherwise, and perhaps also hinting towards their privacy nature. Also, the immediate feature that is represented is their music profile, as that is the most important piece about them; it’s what has made them who they are and allowed them to be successful, and thus it takes centre stage. They have also taken habit to putting their most recent singles first, in order to promote the latest album and I feel this reflects on the entire page format through use of new image, hype about the album in the contents, and the wording being of the ‘Humbug’ design. Also highlighted on the first image of the page is the traditional MySpace conventions (add friend, message etc), but these have taken on ‘Arctic Monkeys’ qualities also in the design, so I feel that when we are creating our MySpace site we need to emphasise our artist individuality throughout all features on the page, from content, colouring and layout, in order to express to people who she is.
The next features appearing on the webpage are that of video content and concert dates. The dates would allow fans of the band to gain easy access to information regarding when the band would play live, and so allow good communication between band and fan, keeping the fans interests prioritised. It is also set out in a way that is clear and easy to read, with the white contrasting against the black background. The layout is also set into columns, in order for updates to easily be applied and noticed. On the left hand side of the page are videos, one of behind the scenes with the band, and the other of their latest music video. With behind the scenes, it allows fans to be able to feel involved in the bands lifestyle, and to see how they go about creating their music. Its also interesting to see how they live compared to how they are perceived to live. By this, I mean that being in a famous band people immediately come up with a ‘rock star’ image, immersed in a glamorous lifestyle where the musicians may seem from an entirely different world. However, by providing a sneak peak at their life away from performance, we can see that they are just normal people, and so it allows the audience to relate to and respect them. We then see the current music video, a promotion for both single and album. It features just the front man (Alex Turner) and is very ‘art house’, in that there are not special effects or editing, being done in one take, and featuring little mistakes that fans would appreciate as it shows the comic side to the bands personalities.
The left hand side of the page is blank due to traditional MySpace layout. On the right the house colours of black and white are still used to keep a continuous theme. The ‘blog entry’ feature is small and simple with just the titles of each blog acting as links, allowing for the minimalistic design to continue. It also shows that more information is available on the band for those who want a better understand.The most obvious feature on this section is the ‘sign up’ feature, and the arrow designs has the same humbug design in that it has a kind of ‘splodge’ outline, perhaps indicating a careless attitude. This particular stands out from the page due to the white contrast, and therefore must be very important to the band, possibly in that they want to reach out to their fans and create something that is only specific to the fans.
The friends section is a very important part of the typical MySpace layout, whether for personal use in keeping in touch with friends (or bands etc), and on a higher level it acts as an indicator of popularity. As we can clearly see, the Arctic Monkeys are extremely popular with 175775 friends (and counting), and this suggests that they are a hugely successful band generating interest. Significantly, it was through MySpace that the band became well known due to the increasing interest they were given.The band has chosen to highlight 4 ‘top friends’, and I feel this is so they can promote these. Also, these four have connections with the band (such as lead singer Alex Turner also being a singer in The Last Shadow Puppets, the other singer of The Last Shadow Puppets being the lead singer of The Rascals, and Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders being involved in a Late Night Tales Recording Session).
It is through comments that you can truly get an idea of the bands fan base and popularity. Most comments are very positive and overly enthusiastic, with the fans often asking the band to visit their hometown, showing the international fan base. It is here that we can truly get an understanding of how important someone’s music is to individuals. Of course, the comments also change with the person, with female generally using phrases such as ‘I love you’ and being dramatic with exclamation use, males tending to show respect over love, and bands showing gratitude and saying how they were influenced. Through this we can see that bands of the indie genre tend to have a very mixed fan base, with no particular target audience.
Lastly, I feel the blog aspect to the MySpace is very significant as most artist have one and they are a simple way of presenting masses of information with crowding the original MySpace page. As mentioned before there are easy links to this on the page, and the layout is in an easy to read format of columns. The house colours have also varied by introducing grey, possibly to show a difference to the main page, however it has kept to using the same colours but in different tone.The blog is a very useful way to keep fans up to date with the bands progress and in order to keep their interests high. I feel that by creating a blog we may be able to present our artists individualistic nature and personality which we feel is a huge factor in her appeal, due to her uniqueness.
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