Website:
Link: http://iameden.eu/Eden is an artist that produces music from the genres electronic dance music, indie pop and dream pop. He is currently signed onto the record label Astrelwerks, with whom he released two albums: i think you think too much of me (2016) and vertigo (2018)
At the top of the website is the artist's name against a background of a sky, which is the brand image for his new album. There is no banner at the top of the website with links to his store, a gallery or other pages from his website, as they are incorporated throughout the home page in different sections as you scroll down. This is uncommon for a website for an artist in the music industry, as the links are usually at the top to make the website easier to navigate and to straight away promote the store and its products. It could be said that Eden's website is laid out like this to encourage the consumers to scroll through the website and to see the other sections of the website they weren't looking for, but may suddenly now be interested in due to scrolling past it.
The website promotes the recent album vertigo by featuring a photo of a sky, with the name of the album, which is also the same photo used on the front cover of his album. This links to a separate website where people can listen to the music, which is the same website that the "Out Now- Click Here To Listen" button is linked to.
The colour scheme of the website is conventional to the genre of the music, such as dream pop and electronic. The pastel colours can link to dream pop as they are quite soft, and the photo of the sky to me connotes relaxation and curiosity. In terms of electronic the typical colours associated with the genre involve blue, which is shown a lot within the background photo and the album cover of the website.
Underneath this button we can see the logos of various social media ranging from Twitter to Instagram, which link to Eden's profiles on these platforms. The links are placed here so that the consumer can follow the artist on these different forms of social media, this promoting him and his music. It is common for a celebrity to promote their social media on a website, and in turn on these platforms they promote their music and perhaps other forms of social media.
The next section of the website promotes the artists new music video, "float", as well as his new album and tour. Once again a picture of the album cover is featured however this is the full photo with the artist's logo at the bottom. Under this photo we can see multiple links to different platforms from which the album can be purchased (Amazon, Vertigo store, iTunes) or streamed (Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play). The promotion of the tour is another button linking to a separate part of the website with all of the tour dates and locations. On this page buttons names "Tickets", which once again links to a separate page names Bands in Town where an individual can purchase
them. It is very common for tours to be promoted on a musician's website, so Eden's website matches the conventions of one, as he wants people to see him perform songs from his new album on live.
We can also see that the social media logos appear again underneath a "Join Eden" button which when clicked on brings up a pop up where the consumer can join the community via Google or Facebook, giving them the chance to win tickets to a show. This is a common feature on websites of musicians so that people can receive updates on the artist, such as when their album comes out or if tour dates have been released. It is also common on other websites to offer this option, where people can sign up to 'receive newsletters', such as a clothing website to receive emails about new items of clothing in stock.
This button also appears further down on the home page of the website under a section about merchandise, from which the same pop up appears:
Back on the home page of the website the next section is on merchandise, with photos showing new items of clothing that are linked with the new album. Below these photos is a button called 'Eden Official Merch', and the 'Join Eden' button after that. All of the photos and the official merch button have the same link: Eden's merch page. This page is only small as there is a small amount of merch produced. Again on this website we see the 'Join Eden' option at the top, and his social media links at the bottom of the page. Unlike the home page, this page has a banner under Eden's name with links to "Home", "Music" and "Contact".
In this section there is no text nor are there links, but instead a selection of videos from YouTube. The first three videos are music videos for songs that are on Eden's recent album: crash, gold, and start//end. The last two are separate clips, with the one titled "movement" consisting of a montage of establishing shots and conceptual imagery alongside some fast-paced music. The video is quite mysterious, with only one piece of text at the end stating that "ends are beginnings", and doesn't seem to promote any music.The last clip has a voiceover of Eden talking about his experiences throughout 2016, which then fades into a song and another montage of clips, e.g. of him performing in concert. On a website for a musician it is common for music videos to be featured, especially ones that are linked to a new album, to promote it so the audience may consider buying it from their store. The last video in particular can promote his tour due to all of the clips featured, making those who watch it want to see him live one day.
In terms of the target audience, as the music is part of the electronic genre and the website's appearance matches the conventions of this, I would say that the audience are younger, for example teenagers and young adults, as in concert Eden also likes to play music that people can dance to and have fun.
I chose this website as I like the colour scheme of it and how pastel and subtle it is, and these colours and shots of the sky I could use as an idea for my own website, put perhaps one with sharper colours to make it less relevant to dream pop and more electronic in its look.
