Since I took some heat for my weekend post as people confused me asking a genuine question about the value of art to talking about a policy I have no opinion about, I thought I’d write a bit on my philosophy for artist websites.

Up above is about 1/4 of the total sites WBR has done on the Drupal platform. The aim in using Drupal as the backbone to our sites was motivated primarily by its ability to be amorphous to the final functionality requirement for any given website. Meaning: when entering into the development of an artist site, we can design the site from the get-go to the demands of the artist, not to the demands of technology.

Our central approach for artist websites is that each site should be as individual as each artist. No artist is similar, in the same way that nothing they produce is similar. So why should their site be similar to anyone elses? Everything an artist does, from a CD to their concert to even a poster should reflect the art, not the concept of product. In the same way, the site that we develop for an artist should be a reflection on the artist rather than a fetishizing of technology or the debasement of artistry under the guise of “easy” and “quick.”

This approach to sites is how I worked in the newspaper business when I was there. However it didn’t scale that well. However with music, since there is a semi-regimented process regarding the translation of idea into an actualized entity, its easier to insert web architecting into that and make it work in a unique fashion.

So in the spirit of Top 10 lists, here’s my Top 10 guidelines I try to adhere to for artist websites.

1. An artist site is not a social network, but it should be social: I’m a firm believer in the power of users in terms of a website. The Internet was not made for single direction communication, and when possible, any website should provide a high degree of control, communication, community and social ability for a user, to the degree they are comfortable with. However, it makes no sense to make a “social networking site” in the generic capacity for an artist. There are better sites for that, they provide nice API’s and the criticality of mass that enables “social network” as a concept rarely can be solidified around only one common theme.
2. Along the same lines: a community doesn’t have to be a social network: You can have a community on your website that is rich and vibrant and thriving without having to fall into the traps of the common social networking paradigms. In fact, to focus on communication rather than the “collecting” notion of social networking is better in the long run for fan relationships with the artist.
3. The artist should be a user, not the site itself: we treat the site as extension of the artifact and artistry produced by the artist, not as the artist’s entity themselves. That means the voice, tone, messaging and imaging needs to be treating the artist as a user, like the site was their home rather than the site is the “artist” as an entity. Its a tough distinction to make. Think of it this way: in order to carry through the notion that the Internet breaks the hegemony that is used to differentiate the “star” from the rest, you need to carry that through in the tone, messaging and design of the website. This isn’t necessarily universal however, but it should be a good starting point. Site = home for the artist, not the artist themselves.
4. People want only a few things from a site, but will stick around if there is more there: the most common things people come to artists websites for is tour dates and music. The second most common is news, and the parts that keep users around are any form of media. The reason fan sites (such as, ahem, murmurs.com) took a lot of traffic from artist sites in the past is that they used these as the gateway drug into a larger experience that celebrated the notion of fandom instead of keeping it at a distance. To keep people in the site, you need to celebrate those people.
5. Which carries to this, an artist site should celebrate fans and create a home for them. Fansites did this very well. The notion of fanaticism is actually quite a beautiful thing and deserves to be celebrated in the context of the object of fandom itself. The tone of a site should therefore welcome fans like it was their long lost home rather than a place to just extract time and attention and money.
6. Fans want a safe place. Running Murmurs.com, this was and is always the key to how I wanted it to feel. I remember being a hard core R.E.M. fan growing up and being constantly made fun of for it. The whole reason I created Murmurs.com is that I wanted a safe place to enjoy being a fan with other fans.
7. Make commerce easy, fun and social. This is a difficult one, but people do enjoy talking about, wearing and socializing around the objects they purchase. Malls are designed to take advantage of flocking behavior, and to a degree, Amazon is too using computer algorithms. The whole process of being a fan is also a process of objectification, which can and should be a fun process.
8. No Flash! This is simple. Flash belongs for certain things: media players and video. Nothing else. If a site isn’t easy for me to navigate, how will it be for someone on a small screen on dial up? I have four monitors and four processors for fucks sake and my processor gets pegged on any site with Flash. Say no to gratuitous SWF’s!
9. Its called the web for a reason: a web doesn’t survive without strong enough links to support it. In the same way, sites need to be one with their own community in order to function as full entities. Leverage what other people do better and don’t reinvent. Embrace and integrate on an API level. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, FriendFeed, Upcoming, Jambase, etc. Anything and everything that can be attached can and should. In the same way, the site should (and we’re working on) provide an API for others to extend it.
10. 365 days, 7 days, 24 hours… the web doesn’t stop because an album is dropped from rotation. Keep things fresh, updated and working. Its hard to keep 100 entirely differently functioning sites functioning, but its essential and we spend tons of time doing so.

Anyone else have any to add?