Curtis

Personally, I quite like music on photography websites, as long as it is fitting with the site and quite subtle.

@Jim — “why not follow through with music on the website?” Because my website serves for more than only showing imagery. When showing imagery in a slideshow, I don’t mind the music. When doing other stuff, reading about you, reviewing prices, policies, raves, reading your blog, I want to listen to my own music.

– Mitch

If a large national survey resulted in: The majority of brides feel music along with phtographs assists in making an emotional connection to the work.

Would you add music, or leave it off because you personally don’t like it?

Ask your target audience what they think, not other photographers. You’ll get very different answers.

And yes, I do have music on my site.

Music and imagery go well together. Try watching a music video without the music. Sure, they’re selling the music, but without it, the video has substantially less impact.Downright boring to be exact. Music is so important to create mood and feeling.Watch any movie or even a TV show. There’s music everywhere!! Why? Becuase it has a whole lot more impact and increases the enjoyment level. Not my opinion, just the facts.

I have been projecting slide shows in my studio with music for all of my wedding and portrait clients for the past 29 years. There have been many a tear from my clients viewing them. I have stock in Kleenex. If I would have shown the slideshows without the music, it would have soooooo much less appeal. There is an expression…”If they cry, they buy”.I KNOW for a fact that showing the images with the music has really increased my sales.

So, with all this said, why not follow through with music on the website? I have had many a positive comment on mine which has and always will have, music. (It can be turned off quite easily.) When it comes to an emotional response, I’ll take warm fuzzies any day. The cold pricklies, well, there’s lot’s of sites out there without music just for them!

From what I can see, opinions from users fall into two categories: 1) I can’t stand music on sites, and 2) I don’t mind music on sites. Note that you generally don’t find any responses in the third category, 3) I WANT music on sites (different from not minding). Therefore, I think is makes the most sense to not have music on a site, or at the very least have it off by default while giving the visitor the option to turn it on.

We are all offering our photographers opinions of our perception of our customers, but do we actually have concrete customer data?

Does anyone have a connection with Top Knot or some other customer facing source that can put together a survey and ask them?

Photographers have to cater to clients not other photographers. Though I highly value photographers’ opinions when critiquing my actual art work (photographs), at the end of the day, it is about what I want and what clients/non-photographers want as far as the site. My opinion matters, clients spend money, non-photographers (i.e. family, friends etc.) refer clients. These groups take precedence over peers in this case. I feel that my site caters to me and clients. The blog caters to me, clients and peers.

Though most clients (except ones who only shop on price) seek photographers with work that they like and photographers seek the clients that the really want to work with, the space between what clients/non-photographers like versus what photographers like often is wide enough to drive a semi through it. There are several things that many clients/non-photographers like that photographers don’t including: HDR images (both DuChemin and Bourne have a post about this), flash websites, music on sites, selective colouring, repetitive traditional settings for images (beach, warehouse, railroad), digital images, images w/o copyright statement for web use, and retouching. Photographers heavily complain about the aforementioned yet clients/non-photographers fall in love with these over and over again (not stating ‘all’ photographers or ‘all’ clients).

There are things that I feel are abused in photography and a bigger issue than music on a site. For example, 2009 was the year of lens flare/sun abuse in engagement and wedding photography. Every time I saw that overrepresented in a portfolio I cringed. However, those photographers’ clients and peers were thrilled and left comments so at the end of the day, who am I to judge what another artist does?

Photographers have to reduce the self importance and realize that they might not be the primary intended audience. As far as the music being disresptful to the audience, I disagree. If a photographer knows who their target audience is and their audience likes the type of music, I can’t see how it would disrespect them.

Now, I do realize that in the wedding area, the music can be overwhelming since most clients who shop for a wedding photographer will naturally view more portfolios than someone shopping for a portrait, commercial, food or other photographer. In that case if the music is optional, that is nice and a choice to be made by the photographer himself, not his peers who are not hiring him in the first place.