Music Business Website Review - Akon - Case Study Example

MUSIC BUSINESS WEBSITE REVIEW Name: Course: Instructor: Institution: City: Date: Table of Contents Famous Musician: Akon 3 Introduction 3 Pros of the website 3 Cons of the Website 4 Recommendations 6 Music School Review 7 Introduction 7 Pros of the website 8 Cons of the Website 9 Recommendations 10 Famous Musician: Akon Website: www.akon.com Introduction This is the official music website for Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Bongo Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam, famously known by his stage name as Akon. Akon is an American based R&B as well as hip hop recording artist. He is also a songwriter and a music records producer who rose to the scenes in 200 when he released his single “Locked Up”. Akon has since rose and grown as one of the most renown hip hop artistes ever since. Pros of the website The website contains vital information about his background, earlier engagements and development of his music talent. For instance, from the website, it can be established that Akon was actually born in Senegal- Africa, and later moved to Union City, New Jersey alongside his family. One such revelation from this website is that Akon actually realized and polished on his talent in music during his three years stint in jail and build on this to become the most sought after lyrists in America. The website also serves as a marketing site for Akon’s music hits. For instance, the website lists some of the famous music hits and albums released by Akon among them single hits such as Lonely, Locked up and Ghetto as well as his best-selling albums such as Trouble, Konvict and Freedom. The latest inclusion on the website is Akon’s upcoming and yet to be released album dubbed stadium which contains several songs among them Angel and We are the world, collaboration by various American artists done in aid of the victims and survivors of the Haiti earthquake of 2010. Akon’s website also serves to promote his brand especially through involvement in various corporate social responsibilities in which the celebrity engages in. besides music, Akon has his own cloth and fashion line which is heavily advertised on this website. Similarly, the website, in an attempt to sell Akon as a caring and considerate brand, has various pictures and concert photos of Akon’s involvement in charity such as his collaboration with various artistes to raise funds for Haiti earthquake victims as well as his efforts to nature and develop music talent in African countries in partnership with Airtel, a telecommunications service provider. Akon uses this website to inspire and encourage young people and therefore pulling large crowds and following to himself. The site contains some of the famous inspirational quotes especially depicting his struggle with crime and poverty and his eventual breakthrough in music. One of the famous quotes by Akon is “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for”. Most young and upcoming artistes who seek motivation and role models would thus find this site an extremely effective resource as they strive to nature their talent. Finally, another advantage of this site is that it contains direct links from which music hits done by Akon can be downloaded and thus generating income from sale of such work unlike purchasing the pirated versions of the same music. Cons of the Website The website of Akon as it stands does not provide sufficient information for any new follower to develop interest in Akon’s music, it only serves right to those followers who already know Akon and would therefore wish to explore deeper into his talent and music productions. The website does not give some of the outstanding features of Akon’s music that can effectively elicit passion in a new follower. Akon’s website does not provide information on his upcoming concerts and music shows as expected of most celebrity websites. Perhaps this is a unique presentation of the website but this makes it hard for staunch followers of Akon to closely follow up and perhaps attend his live stage performances and shows. Most followers have to therefore depend on advertisements to know of his upcoming live performances in various locations. It would therefore be so easy for such followers to get such information were it available on the website. Most of the widely advertised albums and hits on the home page of the website are those done by Akon from 2004 throughout to 2008. In essence the site should be used to advertise and publicize new releases by the same artist. It makes less importance to keep on advertising hits that already sold out to bit their targets at the expense of new hits and albums. On the other hand, advertising the most recent works done by Akon would be a great strategy towards increasing the sales of such works. People are more interested in what has been done rather than what was done earlier on, especially on the music front. Another shortcoming of Akon’s website is that it portrays the opposite of what he actually is; the site contains single hits done by Akon and a little or barely anything is done on his collaborations with other artists. For instance, in 2004 throughout to 2008, Akon was the most sought shadow artist in various collaborations which are rarely mentioned on his website. Any new user on this website would easily think of Akon as a selfish artist who rarely collaborates with other celebrities. The other shortcoming of this website for Akon is that the site does not establish brand loyalty. It is virtually hard to identify people who often access the website. There is no portal provision from which fans can interact amongst themselves or get an opportunity ton chat with their celebrity, Akon. Recommendations As earlier on mentioned in the constraints, the website for Akon is not fan-interactive. The initial adjustment should therefore ensure that the website is periodically updated to contain the most recent information. It should therefore be adjusted in such a manner that it offers a more interactive provision for fans and followers of Akon. For instance, there should an online portal from which fans and followers can request for their desired music albums done by Akon, get periodic updates of the various concerts and shows, get opportunity to interact with Akon online and perhaps reward the most outstanding follower. The essence of such websites is to increase the popularity of the celebrity and thereby increasing sales and proceeds from his art works. Making such websites more user- interactive will thus create a forum on which such fans and followers voice their opinions and ratings of the various works of the artist thereby giving him more ideas as well as identifying weaknesses for correction in the subsequent works. The provision for user interaction conspicuously lacks from the website for Akon and should therefore be incorporated to effectively market Akon as a music brand. Music School Review Website: www.recordingconnection.com Introduction This is the official website for Recording Connection Audio School, a US based music institution that specializes in training of talents in Hip hop music at extremely low costs; $8800. The school has a number of affiliate institutions in almost all states where hip hop culture is dominant. Recording Connection basically aims at helping people with talent in hip hop polish up their talent and performance skills thereby embracing hip hop as a form of business. Among other information, this website explains the outstanding features and programs at Recording Connection; reasons as to why one should actually choose Recording Connection over any other hip hop schools. The website also highlight on the successes of the music school while singling out some of the big names in hip hop that went through its systems. Pros of the website One of the strengths of this website is that it contains the curriculum for the various music and mentorship programs offered at the institution. This therefore enables one to evaluate whether the school meets his or her demands before eventually making up mind to enroll. An online curriculum on the other hand also ensures that prospective students already have an idea of what they actually expect to study or polish on at the instance when they are joining the music school. The website clearly states the mission of establishment of the school, its objectives and successes as at the moment. For instance, the school was established in the 80’s to train upcoming talent in hip hop music by offering veered curriculum at affordable prices. The institution aims at helping such hip hop talents realize the potential business proceeds from their talents by training them to the requirements of both old school and modern hip hop music. Any new user on this website will therefore easily get a mental creation of what Recording connection is. This website also offers information on the location of various affiliate schools thereby increasing convenience in case one would wish to locate the institution. An outstanding feature of Recording Connection as presented on this website is that it has as branches in virtually all states where the hip hop culture is highly embraced. The website therefore becomes extremely useful to potential users who might want to locate the school premises within their locality. Most selling websites often contain information on past achievements and outstanding performance, a virtue that can be easily identified from this website. The website was created, among other reasons, to create awareness of its existence thereby drawing attraction from a large number of potential students. It is actually a marketing strategy to reach out to many people. The fact that the website has information on some of the most successful achievements such as high profile artists such as U2, Michael Jackson, Prince, Pearl Jam and 50 Cent, all who went through the institution therefore makes it more attractive to potential students. People tend to get more attracted to institutions with tangible successful alumni. The website also contains information of incentives offered at the school and hereby increasing its effectiveness in attracting potential talent. For example, apart from the low tuition costs, the school also teachers audio engineering to all its students, offers one on one interaction between student and learner and also introduction to other music genres. This thus acts as a selling point by which the website attracts more students to enroll in the institution. Cons of the Website The initial weakness of this website is that no information is given about the actual teachers of the various music courses offered at the school. One can therefore enroll expecting highly competent and versatile teachers as purported on the website only to find the contrary of the same in practice. There are renowned hip hop artists and instructors whom every upcoming talent would like to be mentored by such individuals. Websites for music schools for Recording Connection should thus give specific details of their teachers rather than giving a general description. The information as contained on this website portrays Recording Connection as more of a business institution rather than a music school. For instance, the emphasis on training on conversion of hip hop talent into a form of business implies that the training as offered at the institution is more inclined towards generating money from the talent rather than making one a complete hip hop musician. This might easily discourage potential students who might be intending to enroll for the love of the genre and not to earn from the same. Another weakness of Recording Connection as identified from its website is that it does not offer internship provisions where its music graduates can practice their learnt skills. Most institutions would wish to churn out the best products from their systems and as a result, will create opportunities where trained personable get forum to showcase their skill before they are finally let into the outside world. This helps rectify minor flaws and build sufficient confidence to sustain the stiff competition in the outside world. Despite the lucrative offers at Recording Connect, the provision to showcase skills learnt is conspicuously missing. This website does also not give any information on the various production houses linked to the music school. The link between a music school and a music production ensures that the trained talents get a readily available producer to work with and produce their music. In this case, the producer will be well versed with the curriculum as offered and will know the kind of advice to offer. Finally, the website for Recording Connections fails to address the need for user-interaction portals. For a school, creation of portals would greatly enable potential and prospective students make various inquiries and seek clarification thereby making informed decisions before eventually enrolling to learn and train hip hop. Recommendations The website for Recording Connection is exhaustive enough to serve the purpose of awareness creation and publicity except for a few things. For instance, for the sake of interactive sessions with prospective students, the website should include a user portal where such people register and thus get chance to communicate with the relevant authorities prior to enrolment. Similarly, besides the clearly illustrated curriculums, information on various music production houses working in collaboration with Recording Connection should also be included in the website. The number of prospective enrollments often goes up in cases where music schools are found to collaborate with some established and renowned producers. In the same regard, inclusion of such information on the website will definitely draw more students. Read More