Website Research - Disclosure

Content:

• Home Page - consists of images, each of which are links to the different sections of the website. This is dependent on the picture for example, the image of the album is a link to the 'Music' page.
• Blog Page - consists of a timeline of the boys activities that are aided with images.
• Music Page - consists of the songs that were publicly released that the fans can listen to for free.
• Photos Page - consists of photos of the Disclosure boys that are either taken of them in their private lives, or photos from performances or promotional photos.
• Live Page - consists of the different events and venues Diclosure are going to perform in. Also has a link to Ticketmaster so that fans can purchase tickets. 
• Store Page - consists of merchandise fans can buy ranging from albums to clothing and accessories.
• Videos Page - consists of videos of the Disclosure boys. That are either music videos, live performances or interviews.
• There are also links to social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

Purpose:

The purpose of the Disclosure website is to promote them as artists. They only really appeared on the music scene back in 2012 so they are relatively new to the industry and so would not have a huge fan base. The idea of the website is to introduce Disclosure to more people and use incentives such as free music to entice people in. The idea of the Blog and the regular updates is also a good way to maintain fans as it builds the relationship between the fan and the artists. Furthermore, it acts as a platform to increase profits through the availability of merchandise. This also benefits the fans as they can buy items that showcase their love for Disclosure, for example a Tshirt and this brings Disclosure further promotion when other people see the Tshirt. Studio Moross and Robert Maple are in charge of creating and maintaining the website but Disclosures record label Interscope Records are responsible for the content available on the website and for maintaining Dislosures image. 

Information:

There is a variety of information available on the website such as their daily activities, this is presented in the Blog or through images. This allows the fans to feel closer to them and feel respected. Any tours or performances are added to the website as soon as they are confirmed and links to Ticketmaster is also available so that the fans can buy tickets. Furthermore, new music videos or interviews or performances are filmed and put on the website. This is effective because if a fan could't attend a concert they won't feel as if they have missed out because they have the videos. 

Music:

Songs that have been publicly released are available to listen to for free on the website, more songs are also available on the YouTube channel for free. The songs are copyright protected so the audience would not be able to copy or download the songs. But because most of it is available for free it would decrease the chances of it being illegally downloaded. It is important for Disclosure to provide free music because they are new artists; so first they need to get their music out wide, establish their image and have a loyal fan base, only then can they reduce their amount of free content.

Style:

The website uses a simple monochrome theme throughout the website. Due to the fact they are a male duo and their genre of music they are quite restricted in their choice of colour. Saying that however, I think the simplicity of it is incredibly effective and it is very representative of the Disclosure boys. It's very stripped down, no gimmicks and it is all about the music, which resembles the boys characters. 

The layout of the website is also very simple and very easy to navigate. There is a main navigation bar at the top of the page which consists of links to the other pages in the website and their social networking sites. The name 'Disclosure' is visible on every page and if clicked on it will navigate the user to the home page. The website has a very Tumblr/Instagram feel to it as with most modern websites. This is effective as it appeals to their target audience as they are familiar with similar interfaces. 

Navigation:

The website is incredibly easy to navigate as all the link are in one navigation bar that remains in the same place on every page; this allows the user to get more comfortable in using the website. All the links direct the user to the correct pages and there is always a link back to the home page. Links to social networking sites open in a new tab, this is good because once the user has finished looking at the other sites they can close the tab and continue browsing the website.

Overall, I very much like this website. It is very simple but I feel it represents them perfectly; they're not out to sell their looks but simply just to promote their music. I really like the use of boxes that hold the content of each page; I think I might incorporate this into my ancillary product.