Online Marketing

http://www.nasirjones.com

The website is for fans of the artist (Nas) to be updated with his activities (such as upcoming album releases & live shows) and to also purchase merchandise such as clothing and physical copies of the artist's music.

It looks really simple and it's straight to the point. There isn't too much going on with the colour scheme as it's mainly just a combination of dark colours, which suits Nas really well looking at where he rose from before his stardom (Queensbridge). By exploring the website, I think it's main intention is to get the fans (and visitors of the site) to purchase from the site, whether it's the music or to see him perform live. As soon as you go on the website, it's already advertising Nas' documentary to you.

I found it very easy to navigate (especially since you don't have to scroll down when you reach the home page) as everything is clearly labelled at the top.

By looking at the website, I think one of it's main purposes is to sell items via the website, but more importantly to get people into the music so they can keep buying stuff (merchandise, tickets, etc).

How it comes across to me, the website tells me that this is an established artist, as he's performing here, there on this day and on that day.


http://flying-lotus.com/youre-dead

By the looks of it, for now, the website is being used to promote his latest project that recently came out, however that may change if FlyLo (Flying Lotus) has another project in the works or if he thinks he doesn't need to promote the album any longer. The website is for fans to be informed about when & where the artist will be playing so they can book tickets and it also directs them to other websites if they want to buy the album, each website having different deals and so on.

From the very start, the website shows simplicity as it only has 2 colours: black & white. It does the job well as the mixture between the two colours makes the website all the more eye-catching. It's intention goes straight to the point as it gives the visitor the essentials: tour dates, tickets, where to purchase the album, etc.

The website is really easy to navigate as all you need to is scroll and find everything you need, rather than clicking on other tabs to access different parts of the site for different reasons.

For the type of music Flying Lotus makes, which is quite experimental, I think the colour scheme was one of the smartest choices as it can easily attract more people rather than having all these flashy colours to try and maintain the attention of the visitor.

I feel that the website is telling me that Flying Lotus is a simplistic artist that's trying to do things differently.


http://mantramind.weebly.com

The website is for me to use as a "business card" if I were to be talking to someone else in the music industry (even if they weren't in the industry and liked music, I'd still show it to them) so they can have an idea of the kind of music I make and a glimpse of what kind of artist I am.

In comparison to other artist's websites (especially those that specialize in hip hop), it's a bit more abstract. It shares the dark toned and gritty feel as other websites but then it's a bit different with all the random different colours. I feel I reflect my intention pretty well through the mixture of colours as I'm trying to get across to the visitor (hopefully a fan of my music) that although I'm specializing in a genre where so much as been accomplished, I'm trying to take steps in a different direction from my predecessors and do things differently.

I find the website easy to navigate myself as there are 3 tabs (home page, about page & contact page) and they're very hard to miss. I also make things convenient for the visitor by having a button directly linking you to my SoundCloud and a button that directs you straight to my e-mail (on the contact page) so you can send me an e-mail inquiring about anything.

As mentioned earlier, colour plays a big role in more ways than one in regards to my website. To reflect my music, I wanted to keep the website looking simple and a bit complex, but to hold the attention of the visitor nonetheless and to make them more curious by making them ask themselves things like "Who is Mantra?" etc, etc.

In the "About" tab, you gather a strong indication of my imagery as there's a bio, however, the strongest piece of imagery is perhaps the first thing you see when you enter the website. On the home page, you have someone who's running uphill whom appears to be doing so without shoes or socks. I chose this as my theme because I feel it perfectly represents where I stand in the music industry: I'm just another young musician with aspirations and goals, who is far away from where he wants to be so I have to keep running uphill until I get there.