Generic Research: Textual Analysis 1 (Website)

Florence and the Machine is a band that plays mainly indie pop and has been active since 2008. The singer, Florence Walsh is an eclectic artist that is known for her hippie attitude to music where she chooses to express herself.
Her website reflects this side of herself by not being the conventional website. Instead of giving information about the author, Florence chooses to instead have an artistic promo for her new album with small, hand-drawn illustrations with aged photographs of herself. They reflect a certain aesthetic she has and makes her more appealing to those who enjoy a simplified website.

Textual Analysis of Florence and the Machine's Website from daisyq2

Florence and the Machine have a website that is written for a supportive audience to engage. It introduces the audience to both new and fresh releases. The website is both pandering to the fans with the introduction of known music as well as introducing a 'best of' to people who are visiting for the first time.

- First takes the user to the main page of which is unconventional and doesn't have a taskbar or any buttons

- An embedded video fades in with a red square with 'Lungs' written across it in the iconic font used the majority of the time for Florence and the Machine's music

- The simplicity is something introduced early on and is repeated throughout the entirety of the website

- The embedded video spins around and introduced the album cover and introduced the audience to her 10th Anniversary Edition of her album, long-term fans of hers understand the reference to her old album and will be interested to see if there are any differences on the special edition
- This home page also suggests that it changes periodically, depending on the events Florence is having at the time, as the 10th Anniversary section cannot be used permanently.
- There is no clear masthead although Florence's logo is shown at the side of the page with her social medias underneath (although they're not visible in the screenshot)
- Depending on which button the audience presses, they are taken to different pages such as with her store and to listen to her music 
- There is no navigation bar and, instead relies on the audience scrolling down the page to look at the homemade effect of the website 

- When you click on the individual social media platforms that Florence has on her webpage, you have this cross-media convergence which allows the audience to have a more interpersonal relationship with her as they can follow and interact with her media accounts.
- There is an idea of the brand image shown through the repeated image used in her social media, making her easily recognisable and familiar.
- Her Facebook is her least active account where, the majority of the time, she posts thanking her audience and reposting things from her other accounts, this is due to the fact that her target audience is millennials who are more likely to use Instagram or Twitter, of which Florence is more active on.

- Florence uses her Twitter to post new music but also to retweet images, videos and messages that her fans leave for her, creating this idea of the interpersonal relationship between fans and celebrities

- Instagram is known for being a photograph page which allows users to share images with captions. Her personal page of @florence is used to share short stories and poems she finds interesting and images and paintings she likes
- This juxtaposes her band account that consists of promos for new songs and videos at concerts and represents the differences between a personal account and a business account

- A YouTube account is important for artists as it correlates all their music and music videos into one area and gives ease of access to their fans and people who want to view their videos
- As well as this, YouTube is the most popular video streaming site on the internet and therefore, by using that site, they're likely to get more views than if they were to use Vevo or another music video streaming site.

- Florence and the Machine also have a Spotify account which helps promote the music. Unlike Apple Music, Spotify is free and has over 240,000,000 users of both free and premium which allows for a much wider audience to listen to her music, a plus for the band as they can reach more people
- However, Spotify doesn't share music videos which is why both YouTube and Spotify are utilised in order to share their music on a wider scale

- If you choose to sign up to the website, a pop-up shows which allows you to sign up for the newsletter in order to get more information about your favourite artist.
- The pop-up also mentions about getting more information from Universal Studios about other artists similar to Florence and the Machine, an example of self-promotion and trying to get a wider audience not only for Florence but for other bands under the same studio in order to try and get more money.

- When you click on Store, you are taken to another tab with the iconic font for her album Lungs. The colour scheme of red and gold reflects that of the album cover and the new vinyl aesthetic that has been used to update the newest release of the album.

- The site has the main page which gives a range of choices to buy from, especially marketing the seasonal 10 year anniversary rerelease 

- Colour scheme is consistent throughout the whole site and compliments that of the main website 

- It is also split up into sub-sections with Music and Merchandise being separated, creating ease of movement through the pages

- The music section has both her new and old music in ascending order with the oldest at the bottom and the most recent at the top. It allows audiences to decipher what sort of album they want.

- The merchandise has a mixture of both her old and new clothing which gives the audience a choice of what style they wish to have. The hand-drawn artwork on some of the shirts reflects the style of the main website as you scroll down, furthering this brand identity

- She also sells a book of lyrics and poetry Florence herself has written which is a very personal perchance allowing the audience to feel as though they have a personal relationship with her. It's an unconventional item to have in a merchandise store and this and the name of the book - Useless Magic - reflects the style and aesthetic Florence wishes to achieve.

- Both buttons Out Now and Listen Now take the viewer to separate tabs of which you can choose where to listen to her music.
- Simple and easy to manoeuvre and understand 

- Her website includes another embedded video of the best highlights in concert of her Lungs tour, with the age shown by the audience and the phones they hold
- It is her celebrating her achievement of having come this far
- The link takes you to the same site as above and allows the audience to listen to her album

- On the home page, there is an option to click Live Dates which takes you down the page to this section. The entire webpage is also accessible to scroll on it, making it easily accessible to anyone.
- This part of the website would usually have the times and dates of Florence and the Machine's next performances, however, due to COVID-19 and also the fact of no recent album releases, there are no dates on her website.
- The band is known for also playing at festivals and this would be advertised on the festival's webpage as well, therefore appealing to a wider audience who may find interest in Florence

- As you continue scrolling down the page you get to Florence's most recent release, High As Hope which is advertised here with links to buy it and listen to it. This reminds audiences that she has new music as well and the whole theme of the website is based on this album with the lighter colour palette and illustrative detailing.