3. Innovative Blog - Lily Allen

http://www.lilyallenmusic.com/

Technology used
The technology used in Lily Allen’s blog includes mp3 live streaming, full length videos, online shopping, downloads of Lily’s songs and videos and the ability to personalise Lily’s blog by changing the colours etc.

Lily’s blog is way for her to not only publicise her work, i.e. up coming album or single releases, but also a way to interact with her fans and offer them an insight into the life she leads and allow them to feel closer to her. In turn, this encourages loyalty to her music and herself as a brand.

The Media being used
This website includes a variety of types of media including mp3 live soundtrack streaming, related websites such as her Label on myspace, online shopping, full length videos, message boards, Lily’s blog, pictures from Lily’s day to day life, competitions, RSS links for immediate updates, exclusive album content and mobile phone updates.

All of these act as promotion for Lily’s career and albums as well as offering the consumer an exclusive and interactive experience.

Having downloads allow her fans to consume her media wherever they go without having to purchase it, ideal for encouraging new fans to buy her albums because they can listen to her work for free first. The online streaming and blogging encourages consumers to come back to her site because they can listen to her latest music as well as find out about her day-to-day life.

RSS feeds and mobile phone updates allow the consumer to go about their life without having to check regularly the website, but as soon as something new is released or happens, they find out about it. It has the added bonus of putting them ahead of their peers because they find out first about things rather than people who just check the website and might not have looked recently.

Audience
I think the main target audience are her fans, although there is a no real age limit I believe it would probably be her younger fans who would read her blog, especially those who are interested in the celebrity lifestyle and music industry.

They use the website to find out about Lily’s work and her lifestyle. If Lily has been touring or is planning to, they hear about the new shows being planned, can buy tickets and merchandise and also hear about what music she played at the previous nights show.

The benefits to the audience of reading her blog are that they do get exclusive information as well as downloads and can find out about her celebrity lifestyle. The audience can purchase her merchandise and tickets for tours from the site itself or related sites which are linked by the blog.

Institutions
The institutions involved are Lily Allen’s label, Regal. The website allows them to promote their artist, Lily, as well as her music and merchandise. The use that Lily’s blog has is that it encourages consumers to come to her website to find out about what she has been doing, and in turn they may well choose to listen to some music, and purchase music or merchandise. The interactivity of the website encourages consumers to spend longer on it and gain a higher interest in Lily so that they may go to see her tour etc.

The audience gains from the blog as they can read about the lifestyle most will aspire to as well as get information on an artist they enjoy.

Key concepts
The key concepts of the website are interactivity and non-linear in that the audience can consume the website in any order they wish. Vertical integration is present meaning that the audience have an increased experience through the variety of media and content available and resulting in a higher loyalty to Lily Allen as a brand and for the record label Lily’s fans may check out other artists on the label to see if they like them too.