The whole point of a website is to put all things related to the band in one easily accessible place, such as merch, social media, photos and tour dates. By having a specifically dedicated website, the artist or management has control of how they come across in their online image, and the look of the site can reflect the look of the related products and the artist themselves.

On its homepage, an artist needs to have their logo as one of the main elements, so it's clear to the viewer who they are. They also need to have their social media links so that fans can follow the official accounts if they want updates on the artist, and there's often a mailing list where, if you sign up, you can get emailed update on tours or new music without having to constantly check the website. As well as these, one of the main things on the website should be new music, and where to buy it, so fans can see what's out recently and can buy it (which makes money for the artist).


Selena Gomez


The target audience for her website is young girls and teenage girls because her new single is called 'Bad Liar' which is about a boy so is likely to attract girls as they could relate to the song. The font of the single is written in pink lipstick, so has more feminine connotations, as does the bright and sleek design of the home page and logo.



Selena's face is one of the first things you see when you enter the website, so she's being promoted and is the centre image of attention. She's lying in bed, wearing not much clothing and little makeup, which portrays her as quite vulnerable and quite sexualised. Her website has most of the conventions typical of a music artist's website, like her social media links, her recent single, tour dates, merch store, news, videos and more.

There's a link to the 13 Reasons Why soundtrack, which can be bought on tape (like in the series) which Selena was producer of. This again helps to promote other projects that she's involved in.







Two Door Cinema Club

The target audience for their website is teenagers and young adults both male and female. Their logo is bold and right at the top of the page, which draws the eye. however, the main attraction is the video playing in the background which showcases the band and their relaxed nature, as the sea has connotations of calm.




The video is like a mini-documentary about them, how they started and why they wanted to make music. It shows them as organic and into their music.
The singer is also shown wearing no shoes, which portrays him as quite hippy-ish and comfortable. The band are by the beach drinking coffee in the sun, which further highlights their laid-back nature.


Their website has most of the conventions of a typical website, including their social media links, a merch store, news, videos, their latest album, and their tour. The background of the merch store matches their recent album cover.





Comparison of the two

Similarities:

• Both websites are similar in the fact that they have most of the typical conventions of a music artist's website, such as the shop, newest music, social media links, and bold logo to name a few. 
• They also both have their newest music in full view (Two Door Cinema Club not quite as much as Selena) with 'Gameshow' and 'Bad Liar', so the main focus of their websites is for promotion. 
• They're both very easy to navigate as the tool bars are clear and simple, and so are the pages, with a simple scroll bar and well laid out design.
• The overall design of the websites are fairly similar because they're sleek and simple, with the logo centre top, and the navigation bar at the top too.

Differences:

• Two Door Cinema Club have a video playing in the background, unlike Selena, which is not a typical feature of a music website, however it adds another level of interest to it as people will want to watch to see what it's about.
• Selena herself is a main attraction of the website, as her face/album cover is large and in the centre of the screen, however, Two Door Cinema Club have little promotion of their actual faces, only in the video in the background, so they're not sexualised at all compared to Selena, which goes to show the differences in their star images.
• The websites appeal to different target audiences, Selena for younger girls, and Two Door Cinema Club for male and female teenagers and young adults