One step ahead of MusicWeek, the visually attractive news feed on National Public Radio Music's news page covers all aspects of the industry, from business to hip hop to classical music, an easily navigable site encouraging interactivity with a news search, “most emailed” section listing popular stories, and a full, well-organized news archive. Last100, dedicated to the digital lifestyle, features an audio section solely devoted to tracking digital music trends and changes. The news content is helpful, but the light blue background and title font look a bit childish. Pitchfork Media ups the visual ante with blog-style news entries and high user interactivity, allowing users to add stories to their favorites, although I wish they also allowed users to comment. The site also highlights daily links to current news stories not addressed in the blog, all the while marketed to a younger, concert-going audience, as evidenced by the bright color scheme and emphasis on artists. Coolfer's blog consolidates useful links to other publications’ news feeds and groups them by the current event they discuss, presenting straight music business simply and clearly and making it easy to subscribe to a reader; the only thing missing for me was a graphic element for greater aesthetic value. New York Magazine's blog (catchy graphic from last Friday's front page pictured, above left) is also aimed at a more youthful demographic, with a highly artistic interface that looks like a page from the magazine itself, living up to its slogan of "devouring culture" by addressing key trends in all fields of entertainment with current user comments. Its biting tone may offend some, but is nonetheless appropriate to the subject matter. Spin Magazine's site has an equally artist-oriented blog with high user interactivity, inviting readers to post photos and participate in polls on the site, also integrating videos and music clips into the mix. However, while the news is current, comments on the entries are low. All in all, an interesting and rewarding search of the web and its music industry and culture connections.
3.02.2008
Notes from Abroad: Exploring the Web for Music Connections
This week, I ventured out into the internet once again in search of high quality resources that will compliment the content I address in my entries as well as provide you, my reader, with additional links that may prove of interest to you and help further your musical explorations. Using the Webby and IMSA criteria for evaluating websites and blogs, I have compiled a list of what I feel are ten outstanding music blogs, news sites and organizations based on their content, structure, visual design, functionality, interactivity, depth, and activity. These links are available for you in my linkroll (right), but I will also evaluate each of them for you here. The first site two sites I found were inspired by my last entry on digital downloads. The National Musical Publishers' Association (NMPA) is an easily navigable site with visually appealing graphics that includes resourceful links to other recording industry, government, and licensing organizations. Its Press Room section provides links to press releases and events, but I wonder how current these are since the last event listed was in October; also, I am aware that the releases provided are all biased towards the NMPA, solely discussing positive achievements of the organization and not revealing any potential problems or battles. Similarly, the Recording Industry Association of America's site has a wealth of press release links biased in their favor, although a section on tools for parents and educators to teach kids appropriate downloading behaviors is new and innovative, unlike the visually unappealing home page, which features three shades of dreary, washed out gray. A third organization I discovered, Music United, has bias towards siding with protecting artists' music and prohibiting illegal downloads, but nonetheless provides useful information and links regarding music law, as well as accessible live links to educational campaigns on online music and copyright. MusicWeek's news page displays extensive news headlines with major stories displayed at the top with simple and effective graphics; however, the long list of news stories below is not organized or dated in a useful manner, and there is no news archive.
One step ahead of MusicWeek, the visually attractive news feed on National Public Radio Music's news page covers all aspects of the industry, from business to hip hop to classical music, an easily navigable site encouraging interactivity with a news search, “most emailed” section listing popular stories, and a full, well-organized news archive. Last100, dedicated to the digital lifestyle, features an audio section solely devoted to tracking digital music trends and changes. The news content is helpful, but the light blue background and title font look a bit childish. Pitchfork Media ups the visual ante with blog-style news entries and high user interactivity, allowing users to add stories to their favorites, although I wish they also allowed users to comment. The site also highlights daily links to current news stories not addressed in the blog, all the while marketed to a younger, concert-going audience, as evidenced by the bright color scheme and emphasis on artists. Coolfer's blog consolidates useful links to other publications’ news feeds and groups them by the current event they discuss, presenting straight music business simply and clearly and making it easy to subscribe to a reader; the only thing missing for me was a graphic element for greater aesthetic value. New York Magazine's blog (catchy graphic from last Friday's front page pictured, above left) is also aimed at a more youthful demographic, with a highly artistic interface that looks like a page from the magazine itself, living up to its slogan of "devouring culture" by addressing key trends in all fields of entertainment with current user comments. Its biting tone may offend some, but is nonetheless appropriate to the subject matter. Spin Magazine's site has an equally artist-oriented blog with high user interactivity, inviting readers to post photos and participate in polls on the site, also integrating videos and music clips into the mix. However, while the news is current, comments on the entries are low. All in all, an interesting and rewarding search of the web and its music industry and culture connections.
One step ahead of MusicWeek, the visually attractive news feed on National Public Radio Music's news page covers all aspects of the industry, from business to hip hop to classical music, an easily navigable site encouraging interactivity with a news search, “most emailed” section listing popular stories, and a full, well-organized news archive. Last100, dedicated to the digital lifestyle, features an audio section solely devoted to tracking digital music trends and changes. The news content is helpful, but the light blue background and title font look a bit childish. Pitchfork Media ups the visual ante with blog-style news entries and high user interactivity, allowing users to add stories to their favorites, although I wish they also allowed users to comment. The site also highlights daily links to current news stories not addressed in the blog, all the while marketed to a younger, concert-going audience, as evidenced by the bright color scheme and emphasis on artists. Coolfer's blog consolidates useful links to other publications’ news feeds and groups them by the current event they discuss, presenting straight music business simply and clearly and making it easy to subscribe to a reader; the only thing missing for me was a graphic element for greater aesthetic value. New York Magazine's blog (catchy graphic from last Friday's front page pictured, above left) is also aimed at a more youthful demographic, with a highly artistic interface that looks like a page from the magazine itself, living up to its slogan of "devouring culture" by addressing key trends in all fields of entertainment with current user comments. Its biting tone may offend some, but is nonetheless appropriate to the subject matter. Spin Magazine's site has an equally artist-oriented blog with high user interactivity, inviting readers to post photos and participate in polls on the site, also integrating videos and music clips into the mix. However, while the news is current, comments on the entries are low. All in all, an interesting and rewarding search of the web and its music industry and culture connections.
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