Shotgun Records Logo

As my group and I are designing our digipak's design we realised that we needed a logo our our record label. Initially we thought about using a shotgun image due to the name being 'Shotgun Records" but instead we decided to keep it simple. We used a black CD as the 'O' in records to make it a bit more interesting to look at but no so complicated that it looks out of place on our digipak. Our logo also matches our star's image and theme of black and white to keep it relevant and linked to Noxa at all times. This way when people look at the Shotgun Records logo they will think of Noxa.

This is our logo:

Website Analysis - All Time Low

As one of my favourite bands I thought I would look at All Time Low's website and analysis what a website for a band or artist should look and get some ideas for my website.

The home page of the site is also the news page as this is probably what the fans expect and want to see when they first enter the site. The colour scheme was the first thing I noticed as everything is following a similar light blue pattern which relates back to the 'Future Hearts' album cover. The background of the site is their most recent album "Future Hearts" cover on a titled pattern which fans will recognise and know that they are on the right site. This can also be considered synergy as it is subtly promoting their album on their own site. There is a side bar that contains Twitter links and recent videos for fans to have quick access to. At the top of the site is their logo, next to the links, and it is present on every page as it is what identifies the band and that the user is on their site:

The logo is the biggest text on the entire page as it is advertising the band's name and also informing who the sight belongs to and what to expect. The links are neatly placed to the left of the logo and are easy to see. There are six in total: news (also the home page), music, tour, photos/videos, ATL hustlers and the store. Each has its own individual page containing exactly what the label states:

The news (also home page) link displays the most recent happenings of the band and a link that takes the user the iTunes page of their newest album. They also have a YouTube video of a live performance of one of their songs "Runaways" to tempt their fans into seeing them live and showing potential new fans what to expect, presenting their star image. There is also posters for their tour and discounts to advertise their album and intrigue some potential new fans:

Under the music section there is a list of album covers, when they were released and the record label that marketed them. Most of there albums are marketed by Hopeless Records, who are also marketed their most recent album. There is also a link to iTunes to view the tracks on the album and the user can listen to a preview of each song. This preview is to convince the audience to buy the song and will usually be the middle section of the song. The link to iTunes also give their audience an easy and reliable way to purchase their music.

The tours section has all of the tour dates, venues, locations and whether there are tickets available. There is also a RSPV button that leads to a Facebook group event pop-up that allows fans to say whether they will be attending the tour or 'maybe' (there is no 'no' option). This allows fans to interact with each other, talk about the band and the tour, and create a positive word-of-mouth and excitement surrounding the tour. Clicking the link labelled 'tickets' redirects the user to another page where tickets can be officially brought. This is a easy way of buying tickets that fans will know are official. There is also a small link on the tours page that leads the user to Facebook and Twitter which adds some multimedia to the site.

Under the photos/videos there is currently only two available pieces of media to look at, three pictures (the folder has to be clicked on) and the same video that is on the home/news page. This will likely fill up during the tour with more pictures and videos to convince and persuade fans to attend later tours. The pictures available on the site are:

The ATL Hustlers page is advertising a backstage 'type' deal that allows all access during tour. It redirects the page onto a different site titled 'All Time Low Hustlers Official All Time Low Fan Club'. This, as the name suggests, is the official fan-site dedicated to the band. It is very similar to the main website as it provides a news, photos and videos page but also a added forum, community and contest to bring fans together to have them communicate and bring the fans closer together.

The final page redirects the user to the official All Time Low store that allows fans to buy the band's merchandise. There is a navigation bar to make the site easier to browse through which makes the site more appealing to navigate.

There is also a ATL Hustlers page that links back to the same page as the link on the main website. The store is very organised and is easy to browse so fans can find what they want and pay quickly and easily.

Overall the site is very smooth running and extremely easy to navigate. It offers everything that a fan would need and like to see which is the initial aim of a website. I hope to use similar navigation bars and overall layout in our website as it seems to be very effective for this site.

Record Label Research

Every song that is released and sold to the public has a record label that manages the distribution and marketing of an artist and/or band and their music and music videos. One particular artist can release each song with a different record label each time depending on the song and the artist publishing it. There are many famous record labels, one example being Capitol Records.

Capitol Records is based in America and is owned by the Universal Music Group. Many rappers, such as Cee-Lo Green and Snoop Dogg, have used this record label to market their songs as well as singers like Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, Lady Antebellum and many more. This shows that famous record labels likely result in a hit song.

However if our music video was to have to be part of a ready-made record label it would be a smaller label that handles alternative songs. This way they would know how to distributed and market our video to a specific audience that would be interested in alternative music and through word-of-mouth they could pass the video on.

One record label could be Sub Pop. Sub Pop mainly deals with rock music, which is a small element of our song choice, but has also marketed alternative songs. The reason this label stood out to me was because it seems like a company that is interested in marketing that particular genre of music and look, overall, like a friendly label.

Another company that I think could market our song is Hopeless Records. I have heard of Hopeless Records as they market the band All Time Low's album 'Future Hearts'. They publish each song on YouTube and market merchandise for each of the artists and bands that they cater to but one of the main aspects of Hopeless Records is that they only have around 15 artists in their label meaning they could possibly concentrate on one at a time.