In defense of advertising on artist websites

I was browsing Twitter today when I saw people talking about seeing an advertisement on their favorite musician’s official website, and after going back and forth with a few folks about the issue, I decided that 140 characters wasn’t enough to fully explain my point of view. Here are a few tweets I saw:

“the next ad better not be about flat belly or that housewife who knows the secret to whiter teeth”

“I have to think about that. I see your point but ads just junk things up. Especially on a professional site. I’m just thinking about other big companies. Apple,um.. Netflix. They make money. I don’t think they have others advertise on their sites.”

“This is what I find odd. I get Twitter and [MySpace] needing ads to keep them afloat. They are free. It just seems like [Record label] should be buying ads rather than renting out space. Isn’t it like an auto insurance ad on GMC’s site?”

“If the artist is endorsing the product, I don’t have a problem. But I don’t think he is, & by endorse, I mean the artist is actually in the ad. I just hope it doesn’t turn off new fans :/”

“There are two. One at the top and the other in the middle. I think they look tacky.” “that’s REALLY sad. I want to see it on [other artist websites] then.”

I get it, I really do.

I understand the gut-level…icky-ness…of going to your favorite band’s website and seeing banner ads plastered all over the place. I understand that it feels fundamentally wrong that a genuine, passionate musician would let major corporations place their logo on their official website in exchange for a few bucks. I understand that for some people, it screams “sell-out” or “corporate shill”.

But really, what’s the big deal? Allow me to speak on the side of advertising for a moment.

To put it bluntly, band websites have always sucked. In the past, if I wanted to see a band’s new music video, I was much better off going to their MySpace profile or doing a simple Google search. Maybe the site had tour dates or a few crappy photos, but they were almost never updated and often seemed like little more than a web address that the band owned. Meanwhile, band members all had individual Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace accounts that were updated on a regular basis, and new music videos were premiering on MTV.com, AOL Music, or any number of other sites. Imagine how difficult it could be for a fan to keep track of everything, especially when the band’s .com site hadn’t been updated in 6 weeks.

So, at one point, someone decided that there had to be a better way: “Why should MySpace / MTV / AOL / Buzznet be making money from advertising by showing OUR content?” (note: here’s where things get a little more fuzzy and ambiguous to me. I’m not 100% sold on this point of view, but I’ll continue nevertheless). It makes so much more sense to bring everything (and everyone) to one destination, the band’s official website. Bring fans to the site where they can check out the drummer’s Twitter feed, “like” the band on Facebook, buy concert tickets, and upload photos from the show last night, all while communicating with like-minded fans and the band through regular webchats and an active message board. Don’t know where to watch the newest music video that premiered last week? The official website will have it the day it premieres.

All of this is just another way of saying that the artist .com site has become the new destination of choice for a lot of major label acts. Provide fans with a quality experience in your own controlled environment, and they’ll keep coming back (Google “Warner Music Group Cisco EOS” for more on this).

CONTENT IS KING, and just like the desire to bring all content to one official destination, advertising is just an extension of the long-term digital strategy of the major record labels.

Not to belabor the point or ramble on forever, but the gist is this: moving forward, the idea of the artist official website is going to be more important than ever. Bands will continue to use traditional media partners for promotion, but the .com site is going to be a major hub where all important content lives and can be shared and talked about.

With increased traffic comes increased opportunities from companies looking to partner with musicians. In a world where artists already license their music to television commercials or blockbuster movies, web properties are just the next logical step.

Agree/Disagree? Let me know in the comments.