LEPROUS launches first ever mobile website

[Claus / Intromental]

Friday, April 23, 2010

Norwegian avantgarde progressive metal band LEPROUS have launched what is believed to be the world's very first mobile website for a metal band. The site, http://www.leprous.net/mobile, is specifically created for use on modern day smartphones, such as the iPhone, the Blackberry and iPod Touch. With four times as many mobile phones with internet connection than stationary home computers, many businesses worldwide has found the need for updating their homepages to work well on the mobile platform. However, the music business has been lacking in this field and we're very proud to say that LEPROUS (to our knowledge at least) is the first metal/hard rock band ever to enter the mobile world with a homepage specifically designed for iPhone/iPodTouch/Blackberry.

LEPROUS is a young Norwegian band featuring members from the touring line-up of black metal godfather Ihsahn (Emperor). The band released their debut album "Tall Poppy Syndrome" to great accolades in 2009 through Sensory Records. In fall of 2010 LEPROUS will be touring Europe as support to Swedish metal legends Therion.

Regular site: www.leprous.net
Mobile site: www.leprous.net/mobile



Enjoy,
c.

 

[AngraRULES]

Cool. Will try it out now!

EDIT: It works great! Good job, Claus!

 

[compurocker]

This site is fantastic. Easy to navigate, easy to read, quick access to pertinent info. Great job!

 

[BenMech]

Will Aeolia ever be reissued?

 

[Claus / Intromental]

Will Aeolia ever be reissued?

Hey Ben
at the moment there are no plans for it, but perhaps at some point in the future.

c.

 

[Claus / Intromental]

This site is fantastic. Easy to navigate, easy to read, quick access to pertinent info. Great job!

THANK YOU - I'm glad you like it.

I'll soon be offering this service to more bands - I'll post more about that in a few days

c.

 

[Claus / Intromental]

Cool. Will try it out now!

EDIT: It works great! Good job, Claus!

Glad you like it bro. Feel free to post which phone you used, just so we can see if it looks good on other phones than iphones/blackberry's

c.

 

[ConnieOH]

Hi Claus - I checked it out on my LG ENV Touch, which has a considerably smaller touch screen than and iPod Touch. The site looked great, and the pics in the media section looked good and came up quickly.

Only thing I would suggest is to make the picture icons for each section clickable in addition to the heading underneath. I sat there trying to get into the sections by touching the picture icons until I realized they weren't going anywhere. It not nearly as easy to get the tip of my fingernail right on top of one short word to click it!

Looks great, glad to see this kind of progress for metal bands!

 

[BenMech]

Hey Ben
at the moment there are no plans for it, but perhaps at some point in the future.

c.

Make plans for it, then

 

[AngraRULES]

Glad you like it bro. Feel free to post which phone you used, just so we can see if it looks good on other phones than iphones/blackberry's

c.

I used a Palm Pre. It worked on a family member's HTC phone also.

 

[Claus / Intromental]

Hi Claus - I checked it out on my LG ENV Touch, which has a considerably smaller touch screen than and iPod Touch. The site looked great, and the pics in the media section looked good and came up quickly.

Only thing I would suggest is to make the picture icons for each section clickable in addition to the heading underneath. I sat there trying to get into the sections by touching the picture icons until I realized they weren't going anywhere. It not nearly as easy to get the tip of my fingernail right on top of one short word to click it!

Looks great, glad to see this kind of progress for metal bands!

Hey Connie,
thanks for checking it out on the LG ENV Touch. I'm glad it loads as it should and looks great on there. Actually, the picture icons are linked and clickable, so it surprises me that they don't work on yours, hmmm ... gotta figure that out.
Thanks again,
Claus

 

[lasercd]

Played with the iPad at the Apple store and I checked out the site. Looked very good.

 

[skyrefuge]

Works on Android 2.1 OS (Nexus One device). Only problem I noticed is that a block of white flashes once at the bottom of the screen when scrolling the page to the bottom.

In general, this seems like a nice low-level promotional thing for one band ("first ever!"), but do you really see it adding much value in the long run? The non-mobile site also works perfectly fine on my phone, and often I prefer non-mobile sites, since I've seen sites where the mobile version has less information, or worse, out-of-date information. If the main site used all kinds of junky Flash, then the mobile version becomes more important, but that doesn't appear to be the case for Leprous. Also, how many people go to band websites anyway these days, as opposed to Myspace/Facebook/last.fm etc.? Especially when mobile. I guess I don't know what the use model is here...you're out and a bar and say "oh man, I can't remember, what are the hobbies of the bass player from Leprous?!" Finally, I don't like the splash-screen that makes you choose mobile-vs.-non-mobile, though hopefully that's just a temporary thing for promotion. Most sites will automatically decide what version to serve to you by detecting your browser, and then provide a link to the "full version" at the bottom of the mobile site.

Anyhow, I'm sure I'm sounding like way more of a naysayer than I want to; I'm all for providing content in as many forms and places as possible (I hate it when bands abandon their own domains and use only Myspace). So I think it's a nice idea to add a mobile version, I just hope that the cost is low/negligible. Now, where's the Leprous Android/iPhone OS app?

 

[BenMech]

Neil seems to have the right kind of complaints.

A Mobile website works better for a band like Mindflow, who create/develop all sorts of Alternate Reality Games (like the J.A.C.K) to keep their fans occupied even when the band has nothing musically to say.

If Leprous intends to have an interactive input/output site, then fine. otherwise, this does seem to be a case of short term promotion which will not pay off in the long run (which, frankly, could be 2-3 months as things go)

 

[Claus / Intromental]

Hey Neil,

thanks for checking it out and for asking those questions.

Works on Android 2.1 OS (Nexus One device). Only problem I noticed is that a block of white flashes once at the bottom of the screen when scrolling the page to the bottom.

Okay, that must be something that only happens on Android (at least, it doesn't on the iphone, haha).

In general, this seems like a nice low-level promotional thing for one band ("first ever!"), but do you really see it adding much value in the long run?

I see it definitely having more value in the long run. More and more people are spending time on the internet through mobile phones, all serveys I've seen point towards that. And, there are way more mobile phones w internet capacities than there are actually "real" computers at home.

The non-mobile site also works perfectly fine on my phone, and often I prefer non-mobile sites, since I've seen sites where the mobile version has less information, or worse, out-of-date information. If the main site used all kinds of junky Flash, then the mobile version becomes more important, but that doesn't appear to be the case for Leprous.

The normal homepage is graphically way more heavy, takes a long time to load (if I'm not in a place with good wi-fi I even might get thrown off trying to load the standard Leprous site). Also, I personally hate going on a website not designed for a mobile device while on my phone, as I have to zoom in and out to view it all, and it gets very confusing to me.

Yes, flash is of course another issue, but that's not why we made the mobile site for Leprous (as you've seen, we don't even use flash on the standard site).

The main idea w the mobile site is to bring the most important information on the band straight to people no matter where they are. Not to make a graphically cool page.

Also, how many people go to band websites anyway these days, as opposed to Myspace/Facebook/last.fm etc.? Especially when mobile. I guess I don't know what the use model is here...you're out and a bar and say "oh man, I can't remember, what are the hobbies of the bass player from Leprous?!"

Hehe, well I think that it depends on who you are - some people like it, some don't. But again, you don't see other mobile websites for bands, so that might be a reason why people don't go to band sites when they are out on the go.

Finally, I don't like the splash-screen that makes you choose mobile-vs.-non-mobile, though hopefully that's just a temporary thing for promotion. Most sites will automatically decide what version to serve to you by detecting your browser, and then provide a link to the "full version" at the bottom of the mobile site.

Correct, that is a temporary thing. There will be a "switcher" later on, but for now it's all about promoting the thing, hehe

Anyhow, I'm sure I'm sounding like way more of a naysayer than I want to; I'm all for providing content in as many forms and places as possible (I hate it when bands abandon their own domains and use only Myspace). So I think it's a nice idea to add a mobile version, I just hope that the cost is low/negligible.

Thanks. Yeah, costs will be lower than for a regular site.

Now, where's the Leprous Android/iPhone OS app?

Haha, I'm a designer, not a programmer

c.