Before last week, I had never heard of Merlin Mann or his 43 Folders web site and blog. But now I'm ready to build a shrine to him. Why? Because of his hilarious and right-on-the-money post Five Mistakes Band & Label Music Sites Make. It says what I've been preaching for years -- but in a far more creative way.
My favorite Merlin Mann comments include:
"Too much Flash. Okay, I get it. You're creative. Awesome. But you're totally wasting my morning as I helplessly wait for your designer's dancing sausages to finish loading ... Your fans are trying to drive people to the cash register, but you insist on making them watch a puppet show before they can even enter the damned store.
"Crappy or non existent mp3 metadata. If I load up the MP3 of your big single and it says it's "Song" by "Artist" on the record "Album," you've completely blown it already; I have no way to ever find you again. Ditto for file naming. Remember: people often download dozens or hundreds of songs at once, so it's really unlikely they'll remember where Track%2007.mp3 came from.
"Too artsy, too fartsy. People are visiting your site because they want to learn more about bands and music -- not to have a guided tour of your designer/brother-in-law's Photoshop brush collection. Don't be cute with the design, section naming, or navigation. Don't make your visitors solve a Rubik's cube to pull up your lyrics page."
For every complaint he lists, Merlin also supplies solutions. This is required reading. So be sure to check out his entire post.
No comments:
Post a Comment