Web Design for Bands and their Fans

The official Reckless Kelly site has added a forum.  In recent months, they've added quite a few new "goodies."  But overall, the site remains poorly designed, and even the goodies are poorly executed.  Callie and I started our fanpage because the official site was so sad for so long; it's nice to see them trying to improve it.  But it strikes me that instead of all the stuff (2 audioclips -- albeit ones that feature a guitarist no longer with the band instead of the rather amazing guitarist they've had for 9 months now, 2 videoclips, a forum that bleeds over onto the background art) they've added recently, perhaps a logical overhaul of the website itself was in order, to improve navigation, get rid of some of the contradictory stuff, and prominently feature things that OUGHT to be on a band's official site:  more biographical stuff, more news, more "insider" stuff (photos, clips, interviews) that nobody can feature as well as the band and their publicists, a kickass guestbook, a well-maintained notify list that occasionally features emails from the band, and tour dates that are always the most up-to-date on the web.  Leave it to obsessive fans (me and Callie, among others) and their websites to generate discussion, to post bootleg clips and photos from a fan (not marketing) perspective, to trade bootlegs, etc., because fans have interests that should properly drive the design of fanpages.

Web design ought not be just a haphazard process.  A web page ought not be just thrown together because, what the hell, it's something other bands, or firms, or individuals, or whatever, have.  It should be driven by a purpose.  For a band, that purpose is largely marketing -- an official site needs to promote the band in a variety of ways (by advertising concerts, by providing info about the band members, by providing discography and other commercial info, by providing some freebies such as audio and video clips or other goodies).  The fans' perspective is not so much commercial as personal, and good fansites are driven by that purpose: they promote discussion AMONG fans, they allow fans to share photos, boots, lyrics, setlists, and more.  They are selling the band, yes, but in a different sense.  Two really good examples of purposeful web design in this regard are the official Counting Crows website, and Lisa's fanpage, Anna Begins.  

Bottom line: RK needs to find some web designers as good at their craft as the band is at theirs.

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Turning my attention to other matters, I started Jaffa's New Birth of Freedom last night, and although I'm only barely into it, it's outstanding.  I highly recommend it.

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And finally, I'm somewhat annoyed with some conservatives right now.  For eight years, all I've heard from conservatives is what a menace Bill Clinton and Janet Reno are to the "rule of law."  I agree with them on that.  But all of that seems forgotten now that a darling of conservatives (but someone whose writing and intellect have never done much for me), Linda Chavez, seems to have housed an illegal immigrant and paid this person on an irregular basis.  Apparently, Miss Chavez, it has been reported, gained knowledge this person was illegal at some point, yet continued this practice (but did not, if reports are correct, engage in any real attempt to help this person become a legal immigrant).  As Democrats have been pointing out -- correctly -- Miss Chavez's actions, if reported correctly, were in violation of the law (a dumb law, in my view, since I prefer open borders, but still, it is illegal to harbor a known illegal alien).  Miss Chavez's conservative supporters have been quick to point out that she was simply being a good Christian, trying to give a poor immigrant a helping hand (though why that helping hand didn't include assistance with legal immigration proceedings through Miss Chavez's network of powerful friends is not something I've seen addressed; who knows, maybe god told her it was a bad idea).  My question for Miss Chavez's supporters is this: whatever her intentions, what about the "rule of law" in this case?  Perhaps Miss Chavez would be more compelling if she were to come out against current immigration law, and claim she purposely engaged in an act of civil disobedience for some greater good.  I'm inclined to think that Miss Chavez was quite pleased with her cheap, loyal (because illegal) immigrant laborer.  Hearings will determine the truth, but if Miss Chavez indeed broke the law, she should withdraw rather than embarrass the new administration in a bruising fight.  If she broke the law and doesn't withdraw, I would hope conservatives would still have enough respect for the "rule of law" to vote against her.      

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