A musician’s website is the foundation for your music promotion. Every artist should have one. You’re possibly asking yourself why this is necessary in the age of social media? A website is a branded online destination that allows for curated and dedicated fan experiences, and the ability to capture fan data and create audiences for future marketing. A branded website domain also gives fans and industry professionals the impression that you’re serious about your career and allows them to easily search and find information about you. Lastly, Google likes to see that you have real estate in its ecosystem and it sees functional, search engine optimized websites as one example of proof of that real estate.

Benefits of an artist website include:

• Branded domain
• Owned experience
• Search engine optimized
• Email capture
• E-commerce capabilities
• Owned data
• Proof of real estate in the Google ecosystem

Securing your Branded Domain

A domain name is the words that appear in the URL of your browser. For example, my company branded domain is https://www.fredandaugustus.com. 

Yours might be www.yourbandname.com. In fact, your domain name should align with your artist or band name. Why? It will make it easier for fans to search for you and find your music and content online. For example, if your artist name is Kenny Redditch then it makes sense to try and secure kennyreddich.com or similar.

It’s easy to buy a domain name. Simply visit a domain name registrar, enter the domain name you want to purchase, and (if it’s available) pay a fee to secure it. Domain name registrars you might wish to explore include:

• GoDaddy
• Namecheap
• Dreamhost
• Bluehost

Branded domains aren’t typically expensive, however, they do need to be renewed, often annually or semi-annually. Ensure you set up notifications from your domain registrar to receive the renewal notices, or set up automatic renewal so that your domain is never offline.

Website Builders

Hosting sites offer website building templates that also contain content blocks, allowing you to build and create your blocks of content on each page. Coding is not required, but the coding savvy can access the code to make tweaks to design and layout. There is typically a monthly hosting fee, and a number of these hosting sites also come with a custom domain. You can claim your custom domain as part of the hosting fee, or bring your domain name that you purchased over (allowing you more flexibility to move website builders in the future if you need to. 

Website builders include:

• Squarespace
• WordPress
• Bandzoogle
• Difymusic
• Wix
• HostBaby

A number of the above website builders also offer e-commerce functionality. However, if you’re looking for more robust options, consider offerings such as the below online stores for artists: 

• Shopify
• Bandcamp
• Big Cartel
• StoreEnvy

The options for what you can sell are reasonably limitless: CDs, vinyls, USBs, posters, tees, hoodies and so forth. All of the online stores are easy to set up and you’re able to retain large amounts of your revenue from sales of your merchandise. Each site will take either a monthly hosting fee, or a percentage of your sales, so do your research on which will work best for you and your needs. A number of these offerings will also allow you to host the store as a sub-domain on your website (eg shop.bandname.com), providing additional branding opportunities and a more seamless shopping experience for your fans.

A Secure Website

Speaking of seamless shopping experiences… one such feature is securing your website with an SSL certificate. 

Norton.com says “An SSL certificate is a type of digital certificate that provides authentication for a website and enables an encrypted connection. These certificates communicate to the client that the web service host demonstrated ownership of the domain to the certificate authority at the time of certificate issuance”. 

That’s great right? But just why do you need it? Well, without SSL the security of your site is at risk because it is not encrypted. Due to this your site visitors are also at a higher risk of phishing scams and data breaches. An SSL certificate helps to create a secure environment - for you and your fans.

Building your Website

When building your website you’ll want to be mindful of:

• Sourcing professional photos
• Choosing a modern aesthetic and template or at the very least an aesthetic and template that suits your brand
• Including clear and prominent Call-to-Actions (known as CTA’s).
• Selecting colors and typography which match those provided in your brand guidelines kit
• Ensuring there’s a defined flow or navigation to your site 
• Designing your site with a mobile-first mindset. This means that it should be mobile responsive.
• Tell your story! Your website is your dedicated and curated online presence, and one which you have full control over. What is the story you want to share with your fans? For example, if you create highly creative music videos which engage and delight your audience then it makes sense that you would share them with potential new fans on your website.

Every artist website should have:

• An ‘About’ page
• Press photos
• Video
• Social media 
• Your Music
• Upcoming shows
• E-Commerce Store
• An EPK (Electronic Press Kit)
• Contact information
• A newsletter subscriber capture form

It’s recommended that artist websites have these pages:

• Home 
• About (bio)
• Listen (music)
• Watch (video)
• Tour (performances) 
• Store (e-commerce, fan club, fan experiences) - sub-domain
• Contact
• A hidden EPK page not linked in the main nav and password protected.

There are many free concert listing services such as Bandsintown or Songkick which offer plugin features with many of the popular hosting platforms. When you input your performance information on their domains that same information will automatically populate on the /tour page of your website too.

Remember: your navigation should have an easy flow, clear page names as above, sub-menu pages where relevant and your social icons and newsletter subscriber capture form should feature on every page. 

Then optimize your website for Google Search with your Meta Titles, Meta Descriptions, and clear page flow which ideally includes H1’s, H2’s, and body copy which includes your keywords. 

Use your branded URL to obtain a branded email address (info@yourbandname.com) which you can use as the contact for your website, and for all official artist correspondence.

Need some inspiration? Check out these artist website examples.

• https://www.oliviarodrigo.com/ 
• https://phoebefuckingbridgers.com/ 
• https://www.dualipa.com
• https://www.travisscott.com/ 

Once your website is built, be sure to promote it online. For example, you can share your website URL on socials when you announce tour dates, and drive traffic to your site for more information or to purchase tickets. Add the URL to your ‘about’ information on your socials and use the URL in any online advertising you might run driving traffic to your website. 

Congratulations - you’ve just created an engaging music website designed to impress not just your fans but industry professionals too!

Author Bio: Dayna Young has 15+ years of global experience in music, entertainment, and leading creative teams to success. She is the Founder of Fred & Augustus,  and an expert in music marketing and digital artist development. Ultimately, what gets her up in the morning is the knowledge that she’s creating opportunities for artists.

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