Music comes to us through a vast range of mechanisms:  MTV airplay, record stores, concerts, radio, Rolling Stone, CDs burnt by peers, and--increasingly--the internet.  The internet may well become the  primary outlet for promotion, communication and commerce for bands, serving as the place to consume music (legally obtained and otherwise), screen videos, and network with other fans.  Those prospects harbor great potential for bands, audiences, and marketers alike:  today, any garage band with a PC can cut a decent-quality CD, put up a web page, and potentially reach masses that were unreachable to bands just a decade ago.  Yet, as with most of popular culture, the internet could be reactionary as easily as it could be revolutionary, churning out cookie cutter bands and rehashed MTV fare and strengthening the marketing grip of the major record companies.

This exercise examines the complex confluence of advertising, community, transparent self-promotion, and musical and cultural expression that exists on band web pages.  Most bands today have an official web page that shares band news, provides music or video downloads, charts tours and band histories, and hawks merchandise.  These pages routinely attempt to balance, on the one hand, an image of artistic independence, musical creativity, and distinctiveness against, on the other hand, commercial interests:  that is, web pages are interesting unions of art and profit by among the most self-professed creative people, rock musicians.  Web pages have become one of the ways bands craft an image that will reflect their genuine creative and social interests and still induce consumers to purchase (or download) their creative product.

In this assignment you will prepare a paper that examines one of the web pages listed below.  Your paper will assess the page's commercial, artistic, and social interests and examine how the band's music reflects these interests:  for instance, why are folk artists' web pages so much different than the electronic band pages?  How are electronic music's distinctive social and artistic messages reflected in their web design and page messages?  Beyond this genre-driven analysis, ask yourself just what message you think the band is trying to send with this web page:  how does it create a specific sort of image, and is that message commercially viable?  Exactly what image is the band creating, how are they creating it (literally, what designs and messages lead you to this conclusion), and why do you suppose they are forging this message?  We will argue in class that even the most bland popular music has a social message, so do the web page's aesthetics, its text messages, and/or the music itself paint any social message?  Every band's web page has some commercial self-interest, so be certain to ask yourself how this web page you've chosen to analyze may potentially add to the musicians' lucre.

You MUST use one of the web pages in the list below:  please do not substitute your favorite band's page.  It isn't necessary for you to write your paper on a band that you already know, and in fact it probably will be easier to write about a band that's new to you (after all, what's left to say about Madonna?).  Part of your mission is to simply assess the web page itself in the same way we assess web pages all the time:  that is, is the site navigable, does it contain useful information, is it aesthetically pleasing to you, does it have technical problems, and so on.  Ultimately, though, what you should do is assess the whole "package" that reaches you:  the visuals on the web page, the text, and the music.  Provide a clear and systematic description of the page's organization, layout, and aesthetics and analyze how this influences the page's message and why you have interpreted it in this form.  Examine how these aesthetics mirror the band's music: almost all of these pages include music samples in some format, and you should listen to the band after assessing their web page.  If your band's site does not have music to download, try MP3.com,  ArtistDirect.com, or Epitonic.com, which all have downloadable music and other features.

Your can draw on whatever resources you find to help you interpret the band's meaning as well as the page itself.  For instance, in many cases you can visit other fan pages for these bands, which can be quite different than the bands' official web page (all the sites included below are the band's own page).  You should use those fan pages to help you contextualize how at least the most devoted fans see a particular band or musician; nevertheless, keep in mind that fan pages always come from the most committed fans or the most zealous opponents.  Some bands have message boards on their pages or on fan pages as well.  Some of these bands are well-established acts, but others are a bunch of friends still holding down day jobs:  in the latter case you could even email the band members to ferret out their internet philosophy.  You will also find genre-based pages that will examine the basic type of music your band is playing:  for instance, there are lots of rap, ska, punk, and electronic music pages that examine the style and inventory bands playing within the genre.

I've reviewed all these pages on a dial-up modem and tried to ensure they're relatively accessible, but pages can go offline at anytime.  The bigger dilemma for those of you using a slow dial-up modem connection is that some of these pages are technically quite complex, requiring long loading times and a variety of plug-ins.  Downloading music can also be slow, depending on the file size and format.  I've tried not to include gratuitously vulgar pages, but some may still contain visuals or ideas that you are not ready to embrace.  If you find a page that you don't like then try another band.  I'm not endorsing any of these bands musically or socially by including them in the list.

Your paper should be typed and double-spaced (justified left margin) and AT LEAST four pages in length.  THE PAPER IS DUE NOVEMBER 6.  Late papers will be penalized a letter grade for each day they are late unless you negotiate an extension with me beforehand.

Accidental Superhero (pop)
Ani DiFranco (alt-folk)
The Aquabats (ska)
Asian Dub Foundation (fusion)
Atom & his Package (punk)
Bad Religion (punk)
Brand New Idol  (synthpop)
Cathal Coughlin (alt-folk)
Echoboy (electronic)
Eyeless in Gaza (experimental)
Foreigner (70's oldsters)
The Handsome Family (alt-country)
Hex Error (rock)
Jack Off Jill (Goth)
Kid Koala (hip hop)
Mercury Rev (neo-psychedelic)
The Muffs (punk)
NERD (rap)
The Legendary Pink Dots (electronic)
Paul Oakenfeld (trance)
Phish (garage)
Rye Coalition (rock)
Silent League (experimental)
The Soft Boys (rock)
Sonic Youth (post-punk)
Spiritualized (rock)
Spock's Beard (mainstream alternative)
Things in Herds (mostly acoustic)
Tragically Hip (alternative/roots rock)
Unsanctified (death metal)
Widespread Panic (neo-hippie)

Last updated July 13, 2004