Research - Website Analysis

System of a Down

The first band website I have chosen to analyse is of System of a Down (http://www.SystemofaDown.com/). Their homepage is very simple and clearly laid out to ease usage and is minimalistic, contrasting with their deep and meaningful music. There are navigational links at the top of the page for News, Discogrpahy, Message Board, Links, System Gear, Lyrics, Media and Home. As the band are currently on hiatus they use the News section of the site to keep the fans up to date with what the ex-band members are currently up to in their solo careers and then let the members of the website to use the Message Board to discuss the band. The main image is of their fans at a very large gig. This suggests that the band care more about the fans than their own image and thus proving they are an organic band rather than synthetic. What further proves this is the clear range of .mp3's available at the bottom of the homepage to listen to while surfing the website. The colour scheme is very dark and the main image is black and white. This reflects System of a Down's sometimes dark lyrics and occasionally similar music videos. At the very bottom of the homepage and all pages on the website is a link to http://www.OnGuardOnline.gov/. This shows that the band also cares about how safe their fans are on social networking sites as the problem of 'grooming' has been a frequent headline in the 21st century.

The Prodigy

The second band website I am going to analyse is of The Prodigy (http://www.TheProdigy.com/). In contrast to System of a Down's website, this homepage is very long and messy. However it is still easily navigated with similar links at the top of the page including; Home, The Band, Music, Gigs, Photos, Videos, Community and Skins. Unlike the previous homepage, The Prodigy have opted for advertisement over simplicity. Although the webpage is crisp and pleasently laid out, it feels a bit over endulged in comparison to System's homepage. The colour scheme is very dark and effective with the five different Skins that are available which reflects their dark image and often disturbing music videos. Similarly to System's website, there are Images, music tracks, music videos and merchandise available to visiters of the website. This is a good example of Dyer's theory about Stardom and moulding the band's image.