After recently reading a webmaster forum, I saw the dreaded question “Should I put music on my website?” I saw the usual replies by others, mostly saying don’t do it. I had to agree with them for various reasons, but then someone commented, I generally have music playing, so I hate music n websites. That’s good enough reason for me.
The Hostile Takeover
Something that I just absolutely HATE is getting linked to a PDF file or some other file that is not going to be automatically opened by my browser. I consider them to be a hostile takeover of my PC, and if you linked to an especially large file, I smite you! My PC is old, needs more memory, and being forced to open up another application was not what I was looking to do. Identify yourself Mr. Link, at least if it’s not an HTML page.
In regards to music, when I read that forum comment, I realized that is exactly the same thing that is happening to music lovers when they visit a site with music playing on it. How many of you are listening to music on your computer right now? I’m betting a bunch. How many of you have cursed MySpace pages with music on it? Everyone? I think music on a MySpace page is a prerequisite if you have more than twenty followers. Not sure about that one.
So what happens when you visit a site that has music on it? You are rudely interrupted by a hostile takeover of your PC. Some dang website is playing music over yours. Even if you are not listening to music, having noise suddenly pump out of your computer could be the last thing you want, especially if your boss is around the corner.
Music on a Site is Not Against the Law
But you really really want music on your site. Well, you can. It’s not against the law or anything. Think twice before you do it though. Think about that target audience, think about where they will be listening to it (the office or at home), and maybe even think about what they might be doing already (like rocking out to some tunes). Obviously there are some right times, like a game page on the Nickelodeon site where kids are expecting it. With enough consideration though, I am betting you may just decide not too.
When making your final consideration, and you have decided it’s right for your audience, take one more look. Are they going to be visiting this site often? Will they get sick of it hearing it over and over again? Will the song start over every time they land on the starting page. Music is a nice thing to listen to, but it’s hardly essential for a website. It could also be what makes your visitors leave. Next week I will run a poll to see how many of you listen to music while on the computer.
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[...] Music On Your Website? Bad News for Those Listening to Music Already [...]
I really like giving my site visitors an option (music/non-music) with Yahoo’s classy minimalist little ghost media player, at http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com
If you’re doing a musician’s site, it can be really handy.
I agree putting a music or a background music is not forbidden but….we should try to consider that not all the visitor in your site will like the music. What if they already listening to music and your music mixed up, its kinda annoying and they will eventually leave your site.
But if you really incest in having a music then make sure you got a control in your navigation bar that user can turn it off.
[...] Music On Your Website? Bad News for Those Listening to Music Already [...]
This brings me to an idea:…
The idea that you want to submit this post to digg for me? That would be killer. The share button is just above the comment section:)
Yes, if it is a music site putting music seems to make sense but when you’ve an educational site or may be some marketing or ecommerce site then putting music seems stupid.
Just wanted to add that.
Thanks, Aditya
You are totally right…it’s all about expectations.
[...] Music, music, music…. – Again, don’t do it! [...]
I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you that I really enjoyed this entry. It was full of great information and creativity, both of which we always can use more of.
How about the way the government is clamping down on copyright infringement nowadays? It might be a bad time to start a media site right now.
Good one!you made a point!