It’s just very annoying and though a lot of blogs these days are slowly dropping the idea of auto playing music on their blogs, there are still a few that persist in having music automatically start playing as soon as the page loads.
I myself usually like to surf the net with my iTunes playing and listening to my favourite tracks and hate it when two pieces of music start overlapping!
So Why Have Music On Your Blog?
Some bloggers have many reasons for playing music on their blogs, some are artists, , want their viewers to here their music, I have a music player on my Music site but it’s not auto playing, others may just have player on their blog/website that earns them money each time a track is played, but why have them auto playing!
Is It Really Necessary?
To be honest no, as I mentioned earlier, I have iTunes playing when I’m surfing and reading blogs and I know quite a few people that do the same, having music playing on a blog can be nice, but not all the time and this is a sure fire way for a reader to instantly move away from the blog, because it’s annoying or it’s slowing the loading time of the page.
If You Want Music On Your Blog, What Should You Do?
It’s a simple thing to do, if you have to have a player on your blog then make it so that it’s not automatically playing music when a visitor arrives and your blog, allow the reader to have the option when seeing a player to select it themselves and listen to the tracks.
So Do You Have Music On Your Blog?
If you have just answered the above question with a yes, then why and is it auto playing?
Twitter: BasicBlogTips
says:
Hi Karen, I agree. It’s very annoying to land on a site and music starts to play then you’re frantically searching for the stop button! People should have the option to turn on the music or start the video if they want. I didn’t realize people might be earning money this way, then that explains it.
On the other hand, my YouTube channel is set to auto play a video tutorial but that’s because if you visit my YouTube channel, I think it’s easier to start watching without the extra click. Does that make sense?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this Karen, have a great weekend.
Ileane Smith´s recent blog post ..Video Blogging Women On The Rise
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Thanks Ileane, it’s a very annoying practice from some bloggers with the auto playing music and I suppose this post should also count auto playing video as well
Youtube channels I think are different, we know what to expect when we visit them, but when it comes to a blog, we don’t really want the surprise of something blasting out of our speakers
Karen´s recent blog post ..Are You A FaceBook Fan Of Blazing Minds
Twitter: craftybegonia
says:
The problem with adding music to a blog is that the owner will add the music he or she likes, which might not be the one that the visitors enjoy. I’ve been to blogs where I had to quickly rach out for the volume on my computer and just mute the blast coming at me. Then I would get out as quickly as possible. You really don’t want to do that your traffic!
Clotilde M´s recent blog post ..Vibrant Colors Scarflet
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Very true, we all don’t have the same tastes in music, somebody who only likes orchestral, doesn’t want to be forced to listen to punk for example
Karen´s recent blog post ..It’s … Twitter FollowFriday Time
Twitter: technicallyeasy
says:
Auto-playing music is one of the most annoying aspects of visiting a web site or blog. Whenever I visit such a site, I will usually close the window to find another site. If I really want to read what is on the site, I will hunt for the media control and then stop the music, and if I can’t then I close the window.
Don’t get me started on popup windows.
Paul´s recent blog post ..How to Recover Deleted Files With Restoration
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
I’ve been to so many sites that have music playing that I’ve never visited them again and as for Popup windows, that’s a whole other post
Karen´s recent blog post ..HootSuite Goes Pro! What Does This Mean For Free Users
Twitter: commentluv
says:
whole other post? I’d love to see you do a series of posts like this!
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
I’ll have to start working on them
Karen´s recent blog post ..Are You A One True Fan
Twitter: lavenderuses
says:
Hi Karen
I agree with you. Even more annoying if there is no stop button. I immediately bounce off those sites. I wonder if they have got it yet that they are losing more visitors than gaining them. Interesting topic you chose. As Andy suggested…maybe another on pop-ups lol
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia´s recent blog post ..Lavender Products Galore-Must Be Party Time
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
I’ve been to a few myself without a stop button, never stepped foot on there blog ever again
Karen´s recent blog post ..A Slight Update to the Author Box to Include a New Twitter Button!
Twitter: craftybegonia
says:
Hi Karen! I don’t like must in blogs for the most part, because people usually choose loud pieces that blast at you and just send me out of there in a hurry!
craftybegonia´s recent blog post ..Vibrant Colors Scarflet
I spend a LOT of time browsing the web, and when I land on a page with auto-play sound, be it music, video, or one of those extremely annoying sound effects, I hit the back button and leave, in fact, when I am waiting on a new page to load, I already have my mouse in position! This is a great article, and covers a very important issue, keep it up Karen!
CarpetGuy´s recent blog post ..Where do you get your news
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Thanks CarpetGuy, it’s one of my pet hates, so I just had to share it with everyone
Karen´s recent blog post ..It’s … Twitter FollowFriday Time
Hi Karen,
I am soooo glad I just happened to read this. I just looked into Podpress b/c I was thinking about adding music to my site…thought it may be cool. I stumbled on the post while I was using my Stumble toolbar…so odd!
Anyway, good to hear what people really think about this BEFORE I did it. Seems the consensus is NO music. Although I might still include one in the side bar if anyone cares to hear some if they choose to… we’ll see.
Thanks for sharing you opinion on this!
newbizblogger´s recent blog post ..3 Tools To Streamline Your Online Business
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Glad you found my post useful, it’s the auto playing music that is a main problem, give people the option to play it, not force them to listen to it
Karen´s recent blog post ..Fashion Houses Prada and Armani Find A New Online Market
That makes complete sense Karen! Always should give people the option… don’t assume they like or want to listen to what you listen to.
Music makes a emotional connection with people and if used correctly can be a powerful tool to put people in the right mindset. This is why I’m considering adding it as “an option”
Thanks again… love to hear peoples opinion on stuff like this!
newbizblogger´s recent blog post ..That’s A Wrap- November 19- 2010
Twitter: buonman
says:
Please no auto playing music on your blog, never, ever…It’s annoying to visitors, just imagine you entering a house with a full blast stereo with a music you don’t even like, you’ll going to shout to the owner telling can you shot the music so that we could have some peaceful conversation…If people want music they will go to where the music is…
Reinier´s recent blog post ..product-reveiw- AffiloBlueprint
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Very well put indeed
Karen´s recent blog post ..Five Pound Jobs- Fiverr But For The UK!
I don’t know, I think it really depends on your blog and your topic. I mean, I would never have music on my blog because obviously it wont benefit my readers or even match with the theme of my blog, but I can see where a romance based blog (beside the obvious- music based blog) could use a little music or what not.
But I think for most blogs its just annoying and unnecessary to add music to them. Thanks Karen.
satrap´s recent blog post ..10 Reasons to Consider Selling Services Online as a Way to Make Money
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Thanks for your input, I don’t mind music on blogs, as long as it’s not playing automatically
Karen´s recent blog post ..How to Survive Christmas Working in Retail
I think there’s only one type of site that can justify autoplay music, and that would be a relatively unknown musician’s site. They would want you to hear their stuff and then you can make up your mind whether you like it or not.
Other than that it’s just a nuisance.
Mick´s recent blog post ..Diaspora 2010
Twitter: rwperkinsjr
says:
If I am on their website to hear their stuff then that is fine, I will push a play button since that is what I am there to do.
Richard´s recent blog post ..Maybe You Can Help – Spray Nozzle
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Very true and speaking from experience of having a website for my own music, I still give the visitor the option to play the music and not ram it down their throats
Karen´s recent blog post ..EDF ENERGY and EDF launches Energy TaskForce
Twitter: rwperkinsjr
says:
I so agree with you. auto-playing anything is a pet peeve of mine. I am an avid traffic exchange user sometimes surfing around 5 or 6 sites at a time and when a couple of them have any auto-playing music/ads it drives me nuts.
I live in the country and the Internet is not that fast so when you have 5 sites trying to load audio at the same time it really does slow the connection and it is intrusive plus I can’t listen to five things at the same time. I like to compare this to loud commercials.
You know when you are sitting there and all of a sudden the local car dealer screams at you that they have everything on sale Sale SALE this weekend? Yeah I hate that and it seems that every commercial is louder than the show you are watching, not just car dealers although they seem to be the worst.
Richard´s recent blog post ..Maybe You Can Help – Spray Nozzle
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Oh yeah, auto-playing ads, have the same effect for me to, the website gets closed and I usually never visit it again
Karen´s recent blog post ..How to Survive Christmas Working in Retail
I do not want autoplay ANYTHING — no autoplay music, no autoplay videos, no autoply of someone talking to me — just don’t do it. Give me the option to listen or view, let it be my choice. Because when I hit a site like that, I leave immediately and I do not come back.
allyw´s recent blog post ..How To Get The Most Out of Your PLR
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
I whole heartedly agree
Karen´s recent blog post ..Saturday Six – Never Been There Before!
Twitter: phonakins
says:
Have now shared this link with a blog that was irritating me for this reason last week!
Fiona´s recent blog post ..6 more things to add to doing xmas the phona-way
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Thanks for sharing
Karen´s recent blog post ..So Who Is On This Weeks Twitter FollowFriday Then
Twitter: healthvotes
says:
Auto playing music, and videos are very disturbing, but i have not seen many blogs do this anymore, or perhaps i have not kept my speakers on…
I had this problem on myspace mostly, all those profiles filled with so many stupid graphics and every page has an auto playing music, and some people of the even smarter kind has more than one music track running… imagine the condition of a visitor.
Overall, am happy to see this auto playing trend go down and with more articles like this, the rest of the new bloggers will understand what is good for their visitors…
cheers,
uttoransen´s recent blog post ..How To Lose Weight Using Diet and Exercise
Twitter: rwperkinsjr
says:
Oh yes! I had forgotten about MySpace! I don’t even visit MySpace anymore because of this. Great catch, your right, all the graphics and autoplaying music chased me away too.
Richard´s recent blog post ..Why I Am Going To Stop Using Traffic Exchanges
Twitter: phonakins
says:
but they don’t “get” it sometimes, especially not when they have a handful of visitors who are all “err it’s her blog she can shove her music down your speakers if she likes” (my words :p)
Fiona´s recent blog post ..Summer Evenings
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
MySpace did get very annoying with a lot of videos autoplaying, but I have to say that when it comes to music autoplaying, MySpace may be the exception, after all there are alot of artists trying to get their music heard on the music pages
Karen´s recent blog post ..How To Select All Your Facebook Friends in one go
Twitter: healthvotes
says:
the same artists should wait for their visitors and listeners to play the music themselves… why auto play them? here are 5 problems i faced from myspace auto loading/running music pages.
1) One of the tabs containing myspace slowed down my entire firefox window.
2) One of the tabs containing myspace crashed down my entire firefox window.
3) One of the tabs containing myspace music re-started my entire system… hung and restarted, from step 2.
4) One of the tabs containing myspace music page shouted as anything and made my friend jump … should have lowered the speaker volume….
5) what to add something more?
uttoransen´s recent blog post ..How To Lose Weight Using Diet and Exercise
Twitter: Anklebuster
says:
Hmmm…I was visiting a blog that had Christmas music auto-play. I thought it was cute.
I do generally abhor such practices, but if I like the blogger, all is forgiven. LOL
In-your-face multimdia reminds us too much of television, where we have no control. I guess.
Cheers,
Mitch
Mitchell Allen´s recent blog post ..RSS Ate My Brain