Kasabian - Website Analysis

Kasabian are an English indie rock band formed in 1997. Originating in Leicester, the band now has labels with RCA, Columbia and Sony Music. They have been linked with Noel Fielding and Oasis throughout the duration of their 18 year career. With the band having released 5 albums since they began, they rely heavily on marketing through their website. The basic but highly effective web page has helped the band sell many of their albums and create interest around their music. To explore the website yourself please follow the link: http://www.kasabian.co.uk/.

Layout and colour are two things websites often rely on in order to catch the audience’s attention. Kasabian’s website features a bright pink header strip and bright pink image framing all the way down the home page. This catches the eye but also says something about the band and their style of music. The hot pink suggests that the artist’s songs are often bold and striking. This colour may also give connotations of love to whoever may view it.

In the top left corner of the home page, there is a small drop down menu. This menu contains the various links to take the user to different pages such as: ‘Home’, ‘Releases’, ‘Photos’, ‘Videos’ and ‘Newsletters’. Having this allows the user to navigate across separate pages in a quick and easy way.

Furthermore, looking at the home page content the most striking element is the full page width scrolling dynamic gallery. The sliding image bank, with overlaid captions, gives the website a more visual and ‘easy to view’ feel. With limited amounts of text and lots of images the website will appeal to its target audience much more than if it was very text heavy. Many of the images featured are photographs taken of the band on tour or at gigs. These images contain links which take the user to various galleries from events the band has attended. This reflects the sort of fan base the band has in that many of the artists followers want to keep up to date with the performances and the venues at which Kasabian have performed. Some images on the dynamic gallery show the band posing with fans. This addition to the website means the followers feel more involved with the act. This appeals to the artists audience and therefore increases the visitors to the site, raises word of mouth marketing and boosts ticket sales.

Along with the large moving image header, the site’s homepage contains a large collage of variously sized images and headlines which display information and images about events, album release dates and multiple shows and tours the bands are going to do or have done earlier on in the year.

As well as having the images and videos to promote the band, the website also features a section where people can follow the band on social media. This area of the homepage contains links to their facebook, twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Spotify accounts. These social media accounts allow the band to post any tour/event updates for their fans to see. They also provide a market place for merchandise sales and for promotions.

To summarise, the Kasabian website uses bold, block colour to draw attention and to make the images (most in black and white) stand out. The use of a limited colour pallet also indicates the band and their music is very plain and simple but still exciting, this is represented with the hot pink background. The other main features of the site are the drop down navigation menu and the social media links. Both of which are used to make online navigation easier and more enjoyable for the audience.