Post 9: My Website and Social Media Pages

I have been majorly inspired by the online presence of artists such as Katy Perry, Cardi B and Khalid. When viewing their websites and social media pages, I became instantly engaged by the variety of content, ability to interact with the site and the interesting colour schemes, fonts and designs.

I also made sure to look at the websites of some of the artists signed to Sony Music, such as George Ezra and DJ Khaled. I wanted to see how their online presence compared to artists signed to alternative labels. I found that their content is slightly more personal than other artists. For example, they tend to use a personal mode of address in order to make the audience feel closer to the artist.

Through looking at existing websites, I can see how codes and conventions of pop artists websites have been used effectively. They all have a consistent colour and font scheme, they all have moving pictures and videos to create an interactive element, and their platforms are all digitally converged to encourage audiences to view all their digital platforms.

Katy Perry Official Website

Khalid Instagram

George Ezra Official Website

I did a more in depth study of Cardi B in order to see how an individual artist creates a consistent brand online. She is a mainstream rap artist who has a huge participatory presence online and has inspired my ideas in many ways. 

Seeing how Cardi B uses her online platforms has majorly inspired my ideas. I like the layout of her website as it is bold and eye-catching. The images are consistent and there are a lot of interactive elements for the audience such as the videos and moving pictures.

Below, I have embedded a flat plan that I created for my website homepage. I aim to create a synergised brand through the uniform colour and font scheme, as well as appeal to and engage the youth target audience through the interactive content.

I need to create extra audio-visual content that will feature on the linked page of my website, which I have decided will be a 'News' page. The content needs to be fun, engaging and exciting in order to gratify the audience need for entertainment. This will keep them interested in my artist and the type of content that she produces. It also shows that my artist is becoming very successful in the industry as she is starring on TV shows and creating clothing lines.

Audio-visual content 

1 - Carpool Karaoke 

For this idea, I was heavily inspired by 'The Late Late Show' with James Corden. The Carpool Karaoke segment has always been something that I found really funny and entertaining. It is also a great platform for artists to promote their new music on, as James often asks them about upcoming tours, events etc.

I studied the codes and conventions of the episode featuring Ariana Grande, and used these to recreate a similarly styled video. The videos usually start with the celebrity entering the car and greeting James. They then listen to one of the artist's songs and this is then follow by a small conversation before the next song begins.

I wish to recreate a similar video, however I will have to sing songs by other artists as I only have a debut single. 

I decided to ask my dad if he would play the role of 'James Corden', and take part in a carpool karaoke with my artist. Needless to say we had lots of fun!

2 - Celebrity Endorsement (Clothing Line)

When researching pop artists, I discovered that many of them endorse brands. This is a symbiotic relationship, as the celebrity receives a huge pay check and the brand they endorse are being marketed by somebody with millions of fans and followers, meaning that they reach more people and therefore increase their sales.

I was really inspired by the recent release of the LittleMix x PLT campaign.

I wish to recreate an advert for my clothing line in the studio. I will use similar shot types in order to conform to the conventions of these adverts. I want to endorse the clothing brand Missguided as their brand values and ethos are very similar to that of my pop artist. 

3 - BTS Video

I want to create a BTS video from the making of my music video. This will generate buzz amongst the fans as they are able to see a stripped down version of my artist; having fun, making mistakes and being silly. This will make my artist more relatable and lovable.

I was really inspired by the BTS video for Ariana Grande's 'Thank U Next'.

                                         

4 - Elle Magazine

I wanted to create a magazine cover for Elle. From my research into the target audience, I discovered that the mainstreamers were big fans of reading popular magazines such as Heat and Elle. This meant that an Elle magazine issue would be likely to interest and engage some people from the target audience.

I studied the Demi Lovato issue released recently in order to find out some of the conventions of the magazine cover.

I discovered that the artist usually stands in the centre, foreground of the image, slightly covering the title. The main issues discussed on the cover page are about fashion, beauty, relationships and the issues that the featured celebrity are talking about.

In my magazine, I want to discuss the issues surrounding being a woman in the music industry. From movements such as #MeToo, I have learnt that women often struggle within the industry, and there is often a lot of gender inequality. I want my artist to share her struggles with the audience, to make her seem more authentic, genuine and open with her fans. It also shows that she is a strong feminist and is not afraid to speak her mind if she knows that it may benefit others in some way.

5 - Bellemoji

I wanted to create an emoji for my artist, named 'Bellemojis'. This was inspired by the release of Kim Kardashian's 'Kimojis' pack in December 2015.

This is a fun little feature that fans can use when texting their friends and commenting on pictures. This encourages people to talk about my artist as they are reminded of them through the Bellemoji.