QUESTION
Do you think it's a good idea to have music playing in the background on a website?
AMANDA: YES
Yes, if and ONLY if it is professionally done and it provides nice atmospheric music. I like when official movie sites have some of their soundtrack playing in the background as long as it doesn't obviously loop every 30 seconds. A good example of that would be "The Bourne Supremacy" website. The selection of music they chose does loop, but it blends in so nicely that it sounds like a single, long piece of music. Plus it provides a good backdrop for the site, making you feel like you're in the movie.
On the other hand, music can be bad for a site when the music is totally out of place, is a silly jingle or sounds like one of those monophonic ringtones on a cell phone. If you're not going to make the music compliment the site, then there's no need in putting it on there.
LINDA: ABSTAIN
NATHAN: YES
Some websites do a good job with their background music. It's subtle and makes the website better. Other websites seem to play music that doesn't have anything to do with the subject of the site. This distracts the viewer from the content of the website. Luckily the people that normally do crappy webpage music are the people making their own homepage. Nobody really cares about those websites anyways so it doesn't matter. If someone was building a website I would recommend using music only if it makes the website better. Don't put background music on a website just for the sake of having background music.
JOHN: NO
My answer in one word is: NO! Unless, of course it is a band's website, and then I can see the reasoning. There are some websites that have that cheesy elevator music, and there's no way to control the volume or turn it off. Most band's websites give you the option to mute or turn off the music, so that works for me. I'm not sure how many more times I can handle hearing a crappy synthesized version of "Can you feel the love tonight" (off the Lion King) without finally losing it and annihilating an entire city block!
BEN: NO
Music ... makes the people ... leave your website. Yeah! Sorry, I was having a Madonna flashback. There are very few reasons to have music on your site. First, let me give you the reasons why you shouldn't:
Comments