Rise Against are an American punk rock band, formed in 1999. They have since released five studio albums. When you visit the bands official MySpace, you will see a featured video, artwork for their latest single and a button which takes you to download their latest album. However, the featured video was unable to be viewed in England and I expect the only country it can be viewed in is America – this is a disadvantage as only fans based in America will be able to see the featured video, which would likely advertise any upcoming singles or albums they may have. Setting the background and layout as a theme of their new single artwork is a good method as advertising, as fans of the band will see the background and instantly link it with the single. Whilst fans who do not know of the single will be curious to see why that is the background and then probably find out about the song after.
Also at the top of the bands MySpace are several buttons which take you to all their other official sites. These include iTunes, Twitter and YouTube. Below this there are a selection of the bands songs, allowing visitors to listen to their music whilst looking at the MySpace.
The MySpace is very video based, with two of their music videos on the page as well as a ‘making of’ video and a video showing that they are currently touring, this is also advertisement by the band as it will encourage fans to buy the music video or at least the song, as well as see their live performances on video and possibly decide that they too want to see them perform live. As well as footage of them performing live, the MySpace has a list of upcoming shows to help fans know when the band are coming to their city, or at least near enough for them to see them perform. This is useful because it is a reliable source, and will probably be one of the first places fans go to check for any tours.
Amongst the bands ‘top friends’ are ‘PETA’. This stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and is seen as the largest animal rights organization in the world. PETA are in Rise Againsts top friends as they are all strict vegetarians and supports of the organization. Many of the bands music videos have hidden meanings whilst some are more obvious. For example ‘Ready to Fall’ contains footage of factory farming, rodeos, and sport hunting, as well as deforestation, melting ice caps, and forest fires. The band feel that their music should at least try and make people take notice, and action, against these things.
Visitors to the page can also download wallpapers, icons and avatars directly from the MySpace for free. This is something many other MySpace’s may not have and is an offer many fans of the band would take advantage of.
At the bottom of the page there are many comments by fans who have visited the page leaving supportive comments of the band as well as trying to advertise their own. The majority of the comments are from fans who have recently seen them perform live.
No comments:
Post a Comment