Borknagar.com

[Undefined]

Just had a question about this website, as it seems to have been abandoned. I don't know if you guys have simply switched to using the Myspace as your official page after Asgeir's departure but I was wondering if it will ever be used again. The wallpapers and the videos do not load anymore either , which is the worst part because I wanted one for my new mac.

 

[Ond]

Indeed the site has been like that for a long time.
I also wanted the wallpapers, but I was never able to download them. I wonder if you guys are going to do an update and maybe provide some digital-goodies when Universal comes out?

 

[Drummer Dave Kinkade]

Hey-

Its very good that this is all being brought up. I believe that we are actually in the process of having a completely new website built, BUT I also think its going to be the myspace, rather than an actual website.

I have mixed opinions on actual .coms for a band website. This day in age, it seems that the whole networking thing (atleast for me) is completely non-stop and I think adding a .com to the mix is just more hassle. Anyone can contact the band through either the myspace, Facebook or obviously on here and even if some of the other guys dont interact on here everyday, you all know that one of us will pass a message along if need be.

Again, Im not exactly sure what will become of the .com but I can assure you that as we grow closer to the release of UNIVERSAL, we are going to be more and more active on all of the sites. Lets see what the next few months bring.

Hope everyone had a good holiday.

DK

 

[Defiance]

^ Hope you had a great holiday too .

I believe that Øystein said in the interview that I )) did that 'mySpace seems the way to go'. The band can do whatever they want, but I always thought that there's a certain lack of style or taste in having only a mySpace address. I think it's really nice when you have your own web-page for your own band. Ah well, I highly doubt it'll be a new web-page, but I'd be happy to be wrong in this case.

 

[Undefined]

Hey-

Its very good that this is all being brought up. I believe that we are actually in the process of having a completely new website built, BUT I also think its going to be the myspace, rather than an actual website.

I have mixed opinions on actual .coms for a band website. This day in age, it seems that the whole networking thing (atleast for me) is completely non-stop and I think adding a .com to the mix is just more hassle. Anyone can contact the band through either the myspace, Facebook or obviously on here and even if some of the other guys dont interact on here everyday, you all know that one of us will pass a message along if need be.

Again, Im not exactly sure what will become of the .com but I can assure you that as we grow closer to the release of UNIVERSAL, we are going to be more and more active on all of the sites. Lets see what the next few months bring.

Hope everyone had a good holiday.

DK

I agree 100%, the website is a bit obsolete nowadays. My real complaint was the fact the content on the .com was unavailable. To be honest this forum and the myspace are all I really check anyways. I just happened upon the website the other day and then this thread was born.

Can't wait for Universal though, only a month and a bit left.

 

[KRaEzTaIuRmED]

I don't agree about the redundancy of .com for bands. Using social networking sites as replacement of a .com in a huge mistake in my opinion.

The main problem to me with those type of sites are:

- They run on fads/which is the coolest. For example two years ago everyone I know had a myspace account, then had a bebo accounts and now they only use facebook.... when does it stop?!

- It may be easier to contact the band, but as a user who the hell am I talking to? I have new idea, but with a .com I'd know that say Andreas email would be something like Andreas@borknagar.com.

- Myspace/Facebook/Whatever else are really only complementary to the .com site. As in on facebook you might have a group of fans, but if I wanted reliable information I'm never go there for it.

The perfect example in my opinion of where just using social networking sites don't work is Solefald. They used to have an excellent website and even Cornelius site was brilliant, but then everything was replaced with a myspace instead. I personally hate their myspace space, the information is just in one long disorganised page and and design wise it's just annoying. Everything that was originally personal was just throw out the window.

I guess a fair argurment you could say is myspace is free and any joe can do it. But in the end buying web space basically costs nothing and any band could find a fan willing build and run the site for them.

Enough of my rant anyway, there's my plea!

 

[tobz]

Hear here! ( or however you say it )

A .com, or .whatever, is has always been and will always be infinitely more personalized than any myspace or the like will ever be. Those are just for getting news out, as were a personal site can really show your own thoughts, ideas etc. etc.
This is just my opinion though, but it would seem at least a few agree with me...

 

[Defiance]

Yeah I agree, mySpace should only be a complement to the main site, not the site itself. And yeah the Solefald one is pretty awful.

 

[Agah]

The artwork on the Borknagar MySpace is pretty awesome, but the overall design that is standard for all MySpace pages is horrible.

 

[Elvina]

A .com, or .whatever, is has always been and will always be infinitely more personalized than any myspace or the like will ever be. Those are just for getting news out, as were a personal site can really show your own thoughts, ideas etc. etc.
This is just my opinion though, but it would seem at least a few agree with me...

almost all bands seem to disagree with you these days...
honestly, i don't know what's worse: a totally outdated official band site, or none at all (that seems to be the main argument for taking a band site down, and i think it's a pretty good one).
But i still agree that an official website needs to be there. Most people would still go to the myspace page for hot news, and that is why the site should be designed in such a way that it doesn't look outdated for a long time, i.e. it doesn't have to be updated more often than when a new release comes out (so, like once a year or even less often). That should be doable, right? If there's no News section on the site at all (just a link to the official Myspace page with latest news), it won't look outdated.

I think an official website should be more like an archive, an anthology of a band, which contains all kinds of historical stuff, like video footage, photos, interviews through the years, maybe some rare stuff like songs that were discarded/never recorded etc etc. And it would also be handy if there was an official merch section where you could order from (like Opeth site, f.ex.) But this is more of a "nice to have", than a "must"...
But the rest is not so impossible, is it? I mean, it doesn't have to cost that much, you can get pretty cheap hostings these days, and digital artists from the Easten Europe work almost for free and create professional top notch eyecandy... not to mention the whole lots of us who are dying to prove useful for you guys and willing to do this stuff for free

 

[Drummer Dave Kinkade]

I never look at a bands .com...........EVER. The last one I think I actually visited was Pink Floyds...other than that, never. The hot news thing on myspace makes sense but the large majority of people want to wake up, check their myspace/ facebook and not have to open a bunch of different browsser windows in the process to hunt info down. Its simply sent to their myspace / facebook and they have all the info they need in just 1 click. Its called lazy and nearly everyone is these days.

Look, everyone has maade some pretty valid points. Im not the one in charge of these decisions in Bork so haha for all I know, there could be a new website on the way. I just play drums.

 

[Erik Erna]

I never look at a bands .com...........EVER. The last one I think I actually visited was Pink Floyds...other than that, never. The hot news thing on myspace makes sense but the large majority of people want to wake up, check their myspace/ facebook and not have to open a bunch of different browsser windows in the process to hunt info down. Its simply sent to their myspace / facebook and they have all the info they need in just 1 click. Its called lazy and nearly everyone is these days.

Look, everyone has maade some pretty valid points. Im not the one in charge of these decisions in Bork so haha for all I know, there could be a new website on the way. I just play drums.

And eat Dimmu Burgers from time to time. What restaurant was that anyway?

 

[Undefined]

I never look at a bands .com...........EVER. The last one I think I actually visited was Pink Floyds...other than that, never. The hot news thing on myspace makes sense but the large majority of people want to wake up, check their myspace/ facebook and not have to open a bunch of different browsser windows in the process to hunt info down. Its simply sent to their myspace / facebook and they have all the info they need in just 1 click. Its called lazy and nearly everyone is these days.

Look, everyone has maade some pretty valid points. Im not the one in charge of these decisions in Bork so haha for all I know, there could be a new website on the way. I just play drums.

I am the same, except for the Iron Maiden website, I can't remember the last .com website for a band that I have visited. A band needs to get info out to their fans, that has a direct impact on how they make money. A myspace/facebook communicates more effectively for all the reasons Dave stated. That is my opinion on it I just wanted the wallpaper from the .com and I'm good I mean the fact that this thread was only made now and it's been essentially defunct for that long proves the point that no one uses them

 

[KRaEzTaIuRmED]

The main problem with most band web sites is that they use flash, so they looks pretty slick but none of the band members know how to update it.

It's really easy to make band site that the members can update and keep control of. For example if Borknagar.com was made using something like Drupal it'd be simple for the band members to update the news content, set up rss feeds, have blogs etc etc.

I think the main reason people use Myspace is not because it's some social hub, but because simple to use. The same thing can be applied by using content management systems like Drupal.

I mean the fact that this thread was only made now and it's been essentially defunct for that long proves the point that no one uses them

This topic was brought up months ago, and Asgeir re-uploaded the wallpapers for us. The link is dead now, but I'll check my hard drive later to see if I still have them for you.

 

[Elvina]

I never look at a bands .com...........EVER. The last one I think I actually visited was Pink Floyds...other than that, never. The hot news thing on myspace makes sense but the large majority of people want to wake up, check their myspace/ facebook and not have to open a bunch of different browsser windows in the process to hunt info down. Its simply sent to their myspace / facebook and they have all the info they need in just 1 click. Its called lazy and nearly everyone is these days.

I think Dave nailed it about why people use myspace. I know that i wouldn't want to keep track of 100 official websites of all my fav. bands for news when all i have to do is log in on myspace. But news isn't everything. A professionally made official site is kinda virtual version of a band's "business card", so it really woudln't hurt to have one!

 

[KRaEzTaIuRmED]

I think Dave nailed it about why people use myspace. I know that i wouldn't want to keep track of 100 official websites of all my fav. bands for news when all i have to do is log in on myspace. But news isn't everything. A professionally made official site is kinda virtual version of a band's "business card", so it really woudln't hurt to have one!

That's why band sites should have mailing lists and rss feeds

 

[Azzor1911]

Someone mentioned Solefald as an example for when social networking sites didn't work out too well. But I also remember Red Harvest used to have an awesome official website, it had everything from the band's history; tourdates, gig reports, photos, reviews etc., even fanmail dating back from at least ten years ago. But they took it down and now you're redirected to their lame Myspace page when trying to visit it!

I think an official website should be more like an archive, an anthology of a band, which contains all kinds of historical stuff, like video footage, photos, interviews through the years

Exactly.

However, Borknagar's website never had much information and old data on it, at least the one remember (Epic layout). The only thing I really liked was the information about all the previous band members.

 

[Defiance]

Yeah, it's like a business card and should have RSS feeds . I actually do check official web-pages of the following bands: Dark Tranquillity, The Gathering, Threshold, 'Reitermania', and uneXpect.

 

[Elvina]

That's why band sites should have mailing lists and rss feeds

yes exactly! however, i cannot be bothered to go to every one of those 100 bands' sites to subscribe to their rss feeds while i have myspace

 

[KRaEzTaIuRmED]

yes exactly! however, i cannot be bothered to go to every one of those 100 bands' sites to subscribe to their rss feeds while i have myspace

To read those myspace pages you have to go to them and add them which is the same as RSS feed or Email newsletters.