Streisand on the Web: A Work in Progress

August 2005
[updated May 2007]
by Matt Howe

Barbra Streisand, like many other celebrities, has embraced the web and currently maintains an official web site. Over the years, though, her site has undergone some changes. I thought it would be interesting to see how Barbra's site has evolved over the years. Like Barbra said of herself, the web site is a "work in progress."

Barbra Streisand's official site: www.barbrastreisand.com

1998

Screen capture of www.barbra-streisand.com

At first, barbrastreisand.com and barbra-streisand.com were separate sites. The hyphenated domain was run by Sony and contained text from Barbra's Higher Ground album liner notes. Over at barbrastreisand.com, however, visitors were greeted by the following text:

Welcome to barbrastreisand.com. This web site is a work in progress. The final design and features should be ready in the early part of next year.

In the interim, there might be items of interest that will temporarily be added from time to time. A daily visit will keep you abreast of our progress.

Thank you for bearing with us.

2000

Once Barbra began performing her 1999/2000 Timeless concerts, the web site changed again. Now, both domains were joined so that visitors who typed in the hyphenated or non-hyphenated address arrived at the same page:

The page design, credited to "Official Celebrity", was splashy but not very "Barbra." By this time (2000), the "Truth Alert" was an active part of Streisand's web site.

At the end of 2000 and through most of 2001, Barbra's official web site underwent another redesign, this time with a Flash introduction and streaming video (brought to us by Lincoln!). The Timeless publicity photo by Alberto Tolot made its first appearance on Streisand's site.

The streaming video page contained Barbra's "final performance" of "People" in New York city, as well as clips from A Happening in Central Park and The Concert. Faucett New Media was credited with the redesign of the page.

Streisand, embracing the web as a way to express her political interests, began posting links to articles and newspapers that supported a particular view she had on newsworthy issues. She also used her "Truth Alert" page to address some of the more salacious stories about her. Unfortunately, journalists tended to repeat these stories without even bothering to check how Streisand herself had addressed them. For instance, Streisand addressed the rumor that her contract required concert employees not to make direct eye contact with her (untrue!); that Streisand was a follower of Kabbalah (she went to one class out of curiosity); and that Streisand forced fans to swallow her political views (she believes in freedom of speech, which includes the right to dissent and disagree with our government).

Barbra continued this trend with her site throughout 2001 and 2002.

2003

In May 2003, Barbra's site was once again redesigned. A flowery theme and a color scheme of pastel pinks, greens, and blues created a fresh, airy look. The photos, taken from the Love Like Ours album sessions, conspicuously cropped out Streisand's husband, James Brolin.

The Television and Album pages were reorganized by decade (60s, 70s, etc.) and featured dynamic designs.

The redesign didn't last long. By mid-June 2003, the site was back to its black and red color scheme with the Timeless portrait picture.

2004 - 2007

The official Barbra Streisand web site remained the same from 2003 to 2007. Barbra added links to her ebay auctions, sponsored a fan review contest for The Movie Album, and continued to post political links and statements. Occasionally, the site posted photos — recently, they posted a photo of Barbra at a Sondheim tribute and of Barbra at the christening of The Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage.

In 2005, to mark the release of the new album, "Guilty Pleasures", the Streisand official web site added a BLOG page. On the blog, Streisand's publicist posted news about the album. In August 2005, Barbra posted some Q&A's about the album. The official site was even kind enough to include The Barbra Archives in its list of "Favorite Links"!

On April 30, 2007, to coincide with the announcement of Barbra's European concert tour, www.barbrastreisand.com was re-launched with a new design. The site's new look had been in the works since October 2006. Fans happily greeted the revised official page. With a photo gallery (featuring some Annie Leibovitz outtakes), links page, and announcements about her upcoming concert tour, the site looked great! Signature Networks (formerly a division of Sony) was responsible for the new look of Streisand's web site.

(Above) The redesigned 2007 front page

(Above) The 2007 Photo Gallery page

(Above) Barbra's new News page!