Yesterday I was looking up information on the website for our local youth football program. I wanted to find out when the next registration day was and make sure I get my son registered before I have to pay the late fee. As I loaded up the website suddenly I was blasted with some soft of techno music. It almost knocked me out of my chair and I slammed my hand on the "mute" button on my speakers.
I am still shocked at the number of sites that have music playing on them by default. Yes, yours too. If you have music that plays automatically go immediately and turn it off.
I know, I know...you pay all this money to have a beautiful, fancy, Flash based site with slideshow effects and pretty music. Believe me, I understand the allure. BUT I HATE IT WHEN A SITE AUTOMATICALLY STARTS PLAYING MUSIC. I like to have my own music playing or shocking, maybe even a hulu window in the corner while I work and so always having my speakers muted isn't ideal. And I don't want someone else's choice of sound over-riding what I'm doing.
Also, I always want to keep in mind my customer's needs. What if she is surfing sites at work while on her lunch break and doesn't need everyone else to hear what she is doing? Or sitting at a laptop while hanging out with her family? I can't tell you the number of times I've clicked on a link in Facebook posted by a friend only to close the window of the website it opens IMMEDIATELY because music will start blasting out. Guess what, if I'm a potential customer, they probably just lost my business.
Still don't believe me?
Okay, what about a compromise?
Have music turned off by default but give the visitor an option to turn it on. Maybe have a little direction: 'the artist has selected music to enhance your viewing, click here to turn it on". If I'm in a location where I can load the music without interfering I probably will. Once I liked the music so much I just left it running while I worked.
Or option two: create music videos and label them as such. I love Animoto and how easy it is to create music videos. With my pro account they also have a lot of music that as already been licensed do I don't have to worry about getting the proper license for my music (by the way, another no-no is not getting the proper license for the music you use on your site).
It is even worse when the music is automatically started on a blog - I'm even less likely to expect it there and so much more likely to be surprised. And I have noticed it is MUCH harder to find the "off" button on a blog - at least those flash sites tend to have a somewhat standard way to mute the music within the site (rather than muting my entire computer).
What are your thoughts? Am I over sensitive to having the sound? Do you like to have music that automatically plays? Does the benefit out weigh the risk of your client closing the window?
OK, here's my opinion....I hate music on sites also! I always turn the music off no matter what it is, just my personal preference. BUT I believe most people are expecting photography sites to have music and since the majority of people are emotionally driven I have music on my site to promote an energetic atmosphere. On my splash page though I post a warning that music will automatically begin when entering my site so they do have a little "heads-up"!
Posted by: Inspired by christy | May 02, 2011 at 09:11 AM
This is such good information to think about when setting up a website. I am hoping to get our website online by May 15 and today I will take off the music beforehand. My daughter offers stop motion videos set to music for engagement shoots so that would stand out more without site music.
Posted by: virginia smith | May 02, 2011 at 01:59 PM
So with you on that! I HATE when a site automatically starts playing music. I'm not a fan of popular music and who wants to listen to generic techno or what have you.
Love your idea about suggesting music for a slide show or gallery and encouraging your guests to turn it on. Much better and very polite.
Posted by: Chris | May 02, 2011 at 04:49 PM
I agree with everything you've stated here and, if anything, I don't think you were emphatic enough. It is BEYOND annoying!
Posted by: Chung | May 02, 2011 at 05:24 PM
Totally agree. I sit with my laptop in the evenings while we (dh and I) watch TV. I hate it when I'm surfing and BLAST. So annoying. Maybe it's enough to convince him to take the music off our site. Ugh.
Posted by: Rhonda | May 02, 2011 at 07:21 PM
Ugh. No, I don't think you're over sensitive about it. I hate it too.
Posted by: Wendy Fisher | May 02, 2011 at 07:49 PM
Here - here!
Posted by: Nicole Voth | May 02, 2011 at 08:21 PM
You know what I was thinking about - I'm not so sure that our customers just expect music on our sites. I think that as photographers we tend to visit so many OTHER photographer sites (the competition, friends, for inspiration) and we get so used to the music. But I think that most consumers don't assume we'll have music. And I'm not opposed to music in select areas - especially when it is it optional. But I think my issue is being hit with the music as soon as the site loads and with no notice and sometimes, no easy quick way to turn it off.
Posted by: Jessica | May 02, 2011 at 10:42 PM
This is no longer my active email address. Email sent to the account is forwarded to my new address but I encourage you to update your address book. Im using a less spam friendly email address now as this provider tends to have problems with accounts getting hacked quite frequently and I get a lot of spam on this domain too.
Posted by: Jessica Grieves | February 08, 2012 at 08:43 PM
This is no longer my active email address. Email sent to the account is forwarded to my new address but I encourage you to update your address book. Im using a less spam friendly email address now as this provider tends to have problems with accounts getting hacked quite frequently and I get a lot of spam on this domain too.
Posted by: Jessica Grieves | March 10, 2012 at 05:59 PM
This is no longer my active email address. Email sent to the account is forwarded to my new address but I encourage you to update your address book. Im using a less spam friendly email address now as this provider tends to have problems with accounts getting hacked quite frequently and I get a lot of spam on this domain too.
Posted by: Jessica Grieves | March 10, 2012 at 06:35 PM
This is no longer my active email address. Email sent to the account is forwarded to my new address but I encourage you to update your address book. Im using a less spam friendly email address now as this provider tends to have problems with accounts getting hacked quite frequently and I get a lot of spam on this domain too.
Posted by: Jessica Grieves | March 21, 2012 at 07:29 PM
This is no longer my active email address. Email sent to the account is forwarded to my new address but I encourage you to update your address book. Im using a less spam friendly email address now as this provider tends to have problems with accounts getting hacked quite frequently and I get a lot of spam on this domain too.
Posted by: Jessica Grieves | March 22, 2012 at 07:11 PM