A2 MEDIA STUDIES
ARTIST/Website analysis
TAYLOR SWIFT
Taylor Swift released her first single, "Tim McGraw" in 2006 and the song became a Top 10 hit on the country charts. Later on she won the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association as well as the Academy of Country Music Award for the top new female vocalist. In 2008, she was nominated for a Grammy and that year Taylor released her next album, "Fearless" which again became very popular, which leaded her to become the highest seling country artist.
Taylor Swift has created a website where she appears in the center of the page in order to represent that it is her website. At the top right we can see all her social media platforms, therefore it is easier to access them and she can gain more followers. In the black box where it says "EVENTS", Taylor has added her upcoming concerts, so her fans can choose the one that suits them and they have the option to buy the tickets directly from the website. In the Merch section we can see all the personalised items she has, such as T-shirts and hoodies in which the names of her albums are included at the back.
As we scroll down the page we see the different albums that Taylor Swift has in which we can click and it takes us to another website where we are able to see the price of each album and it gives as the option of purchasing the albums from the web. Therefore, it makes it much more accessible for Taylor´s fans as they can choose the one they like most.
Taylor Swift has decided to make her own merchandising which is based on her tours. She has chosen to do it with T-shirts and hoodies since it is easier to add pictures of her into this pieces of clothing. In order to make it more original she has included the name of her albums on the back. By creating T-shirts and hoodies with different colours, it encourages more people to buy her merchandising as they can choose the one they like the most and they can choose from two different designs.
DUA LIPA
Dua Lipa is an English singer, songwriter and model. Her musical career began at the age of 14, when she began covering songs of other artists on Youtube. In 2015, she released her first single. Eventually, in December 2016 a documentary about Dua Lipa was released with the name "See in Blue". Moreover, in January 2017 Dua Lipa won the EBBA Public Choice Award.
Dua Lipa´s website represents the pop music genre as she has used very bright colours which are common in pop music videos and in order to make the colours stand out she has added a black background. In this page we are able to see that she has used a phosphor pink in the box where you can send your email in order to recieve the latest news. The purpose of putting it pink is to make it eye-catching. For the rest of the page she has used white colour because it contrasts with the black background therefore it stands out and because it is associated with perfection. Furthermore, she has included her most recent song/music video in order to promote it more. Like Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa has added her social media platforms so we can access them easily.
This page appears when we click on the "Listen to Dua Lipa" button. On this page we can find the different platforms where she has uploaded her music. It offers a variety of options in order to suit each person as there is people who prefer Spotify and others Youtube.
Dua Lipa has also created her own merchandising in a unique way. She has separated her merchandising collection into two categories. The first one is called "accessories" where she offers products such as necklaces, key chains, bags, socks and candles. The second category is called "tour merch" where she has changed the types of products because they are made for her oficial tour. The products are hoodies, t-shirts and tank tops. On almost all the products has included her name and in some t-shirts we can see a photo of her. The colours of the merchandising adapt ver well with each person since the products have been made in both dark colours and in bright colours for people to choose.
Dua Lipa has a section where you can buy her albums and they are available in different formats such as digipak, vinyl and for those who don´t want a physical copy of the album they can pay much less and downloaded into any electronic device. The design of the album is an image of her dressed in bright colours, this has been done on purpose so it represents her genre which is pop music.
SOCIAL MEDIA analysis
The profile photo of Taylor Swift is the same as the one she has on her website. She has decided to create a link between her different platforms so everything is connected this is why her instagram page and her website have the exact same photo.
In the biography she has a link where all of her albums appear but specially her collection called "Meet me at midnight". This is a way of promoting her albums very easily and without any cost.
These circular icons show all the stories that Taylor has highlighted and in the first circle we are able to see all the albums she has.
Taylor´s Swift posts are a mixture of her personal life and her music since she has posts where she announces her next tours, other where she shows the shooting of her music videos and in the rest she posts pictures of her but they have nothing to do with her songs.
Dua Lipa has not used the same photo on her website as in her instagram profile, but the photo she has as instagram profile is very striking as she has a butterfly on her face which represents freedom and positivity.
However, the link that appears in her biography takes you directly to her website. Therefore, Dua Lipa has created a link between her platforms so they are all connected in some way.
Dua Lipa´s posts keep changing, for example every week she uploads a post where she announces that her newsletter for that week is out, she also uploads pictures of herself when she is at an event and sometimes she uploads videos of her podcasts.