Assignment 4-Cardinal Trait

I will admit that I am a mainstream music listener and that Indie music was never really my thing, but when I first heard Cardinal Trait on a website called Pandora http://www.pandora.com/ I was hooked. My sister introduced me to them and sent me some of their songs. Ever since then, I have been a fan of this small town Indie band from Ardmore, Oklahoma. http://www.myspace.com/cardinaltrait

Like other Indie artist's websites I have seen in the past, Cardinal Trait's website is at Myspace.com. I think that their website is very effective considering they are an Indie band. It's not flashy, but it's not boring either. Their website is about them and that's what attracts so many people to the website.

What I like most about this website is that you can access their music. Not all of their songs are listed, but you get an idea of the type of music they play. By putting the music on the website the fans get to know the groups music on a personal level because Cardinal Trait picked the songs that they want the fans to listen to. It is completely different with bigger mainstream bands, music listeners don't really get to know the artist and what type of music they like to write, whereas Cardinal Trait actually talk with their fans about their music.

A text-only website does not really work for musicians, mainly because the point is for their music to be heard by the fans. It is one thing to see the lyrics to the music on the page, but entirely different when you actually hear the music.

I like Cardinal Trait's website the way it is, but having an official website couldn't hurt, but their website is fine. The Myspace website is intimate, easy to navigate, you can actually talk to the band. It is this type of website that allows fans to interact with one another as well as interact with the band on a personal level.

With this Myspace website, Cardinal Trait controls what they want their fans to know. They control what music they want out there on their website. Essentially, they are the boss. Because they are Indie, they don't get sucked into the mainstream fad.


Cardinal Trait is a simple band from Oklahoma and Myspace is a simple site to use. They go together hand in hand. I may think that they do not need a better website now, but should they get into mainstream music they may want to consider changing it.