Band Website Conventions

I have looked at the websites of other bands of the same genre as The Heavy to gain some inspiration for the making of my own website. All band websites will tend to have been designed cohesively with their latest album. This aids customers in associating all products to one band, such as the album cover, single covers, merchandise and the website all together under one theme. I have also noticed that a lot of indie and rock bands do not have images of the band on the front page of their websites or on the covers of their albums. These features are most noticeable in these examples that I have looked at:

The Vaccines website homepage

The Vaccines latest album

The Black Keys website homepage

The Black Keys latest album

Kings of Leon website homepage

Kings of Leon latest album

Band websites will follow specific conventions to make them easily usable and look professional despite all looking entirely different. Bands can be very creative with their branding but will always include some important features. The features that all three of these websites have in common are:

• name of the band - at the top of the page in large lettering matching the exact style of the bands name on the album cover
• decorative images - used to decorate the homepage and go with the theme or image is straight off the album cover
• news tab - page of news from the band similar to a blog of what they're up to, what's new and what's next
• shows/tour tab - page of tour dates and venues and links to booking tickets for the shows
• photos/images/media/video tab - page of photos and videos of the band from shows or behind the scenes
• merch/store/musicstore tab - page that links to merchandise and how to purchase it online
• social networking links - buttons to the band's twitter, facebook, myspace, youtube pages