In last month's article on Country Music, I tried to provide a brief overview as to the various types of Web sites that can be found. I also provided some detail on the weekly charts, such as Billboard, that can be found on the Web. This month I'd like to start exploring some of the Web sites provided by the various record labels, specifically Capitol Nashville, MCA Nashville, Decca Nashville and Curb.
Record Label SitesRecord Labels provide information about the artists with which they have recording contracts. They usually have information about the artists but more importantly, at least from their viewpoint, have information about the artists' records that they are marketing to you, the consumer.
Capitol NashvilleCapitol Nashville features such well-known artists as Trace Adkins, John Berry, Suzy Bogguss, Garth Brooks, Deana Carter, Billy Dean, George Ducas, Emilio, Chris LeDoux, Shenandoah and Tanya Tucker. Biographical and tour information about these and other performers are available. You can also find audio clips of selected recent releases in the "New Releases" section. These clips are in Real Audio format, so you'll need the plug-in and sound quality will depend on the speed of your internet connection and available throughput (in other words, don't expect CD quality). You can also hear these same audio clips in the "Smash or Trash" section where you can also vote on the appeal of these selections. They change on a monthly basis but each month there are three clips from each of three different albums. While the Real Audio format saves on download time by "streaming" the contents of the clip, I think I'd rather get a clip with better quality using either wav or mpeg formats.
The "Artist Links" section provides a list of either official sites run by the artist or their fan club or unofficial sites run by individual fans. Listed here was the Trace Adkins Fan Club Site and several fan pages dedicated to Garth Brooks. (Note: I'll begin reviewing artist sites next month and come back to finish up the record label sites soon.) Capitol Nashville also features a "Record Shop" section where you can order albums online through Blockbuster Music. There is also news information and a chat section.
This site is definitely worth a bookmark and a monthly visit.
MCA/Decca NashvilleMCA Nashille and Decca Nashville are two sites that have parallel construction and content so I'll treat them together. The MCA site features artists including Big House, Tracy Byrd, Vince Gill, The Mavericks, Reba McEntire, David Lee Murphy, George Strait, Marty Stuart, Wynonna and Trisha Yearwood. The Decca site features Rhett Akins, Gary Allen, Mark Chesnutt and Lee Ann Womack. The sites are constructed around a diner format complete with the juke box controller on the wall. Clicking on it gets you to an artists menu where you can get information about their featured artists. Once an artist selection is made, you'll have access to album information, biographical information, audio clips (in wav format) from the artists' most recent album and tour schedules. The album information is particularly good since it contains a description of each cut on the album. Clicking on the diner's menu gets you to a feature list that gives you access to other parts of the site, including contests. There's also a news section where you can get general information about what's going on at the label with new release information and, for the MCA site, a calendar of when their artists are appearing on vaious television shows. Lastly, there's a mail section where you can send an e-mail message to your favorite recording artist; just don't expect a reply.
