Purpose Of An Artist's Website

[Kayriss]

So,

I woke up this morning and had an interesting thought. Imagine yourself as passive radio listener/muchmusic zombie, and you hear/see something by "The Matthew Good Band", or "Matthew Good". Also assume that you're somehow not familiar in the slightest with this group/artist. The Matt Good site really doesn't do much for you along the lines of trying to figure out how to get a hold of Matt's stuff, and except a link to Wikpedia, you'd have to do a bit of work to figure out that this is in fact the website of that guy on the TeeVee.

Yet most of the people here seem to dig In a Coma and we "get" the sense of humor Matt puts out there to us. My question is: Should a band's website be by necessity a way for consumers to obtain information on their music and albums, or a blank slate through which they can post just about whatever they want? Again, imagine yourself as the above mentioned media zombie.

Edited January 11, 2005 by Kayriss

[S.E. Hardy]

there are many other ways to get "regular info" about an artist that's not their official site. I happen to love mg.net, because it isn't the normal, boring band site...but that's just me.

[mrs jesus]

if im the above media zombie, i seriously doubt im gonna care enough to look for a bands website.. hell, id probably just listen to the radio, and not even bother buying albums at all

[saturnine]

if i look up a band in google and the artists site is useless, i look down a few links and usually find a great fansite.

 

if the artist controls the site, then they can put whatever they want on it. if the label controls it, there's a 'buy it here' button on every page.

 

as much as i loathe tool's site, it's a great mix of both.. they've got a 'news' page (with with a bunch of pretentious shit no one cares about) and they've got merch and music samples, but none of it is shoved in your face.. plus they have a dedicated art site. i find the bands that have been around awhile seem to have less corporate sites (nine inch nails, radiohead) whereas all the pop/rap/corporate rock sites are just giant cash grabs with no emphasis on personal interaction

[mrs jesus]

if i look up a band in google and the artists site is useless, i look down a few links and usually find a great fansite.

the stevie nicks website used to be a fansite

it was so awesome, she made it her official site ;)