March 16, 2010

Web Sites for Musicians

By:

Hostway Team

By Samantha Gluck

You’ve got a rocking band, loads of cool recordings of original tunes and tons of local fans. Now what? Build a Web site that not only tells the story of the music and the band, but has other promotional tools as well.

Easy Do-It-Yourself Web Sites for Musicians

There are several great platforms especially for musicians with easy to use templates and other features. The best ones can integrate and link to Facebook or MySpace profiles.

The most popular and feature-rich promotional site for musicians, Reverbnation, allows users to integrate with Facebook through the app, MyBand. MyBand is the number one app on Facebook. With it, friends can share tunes across the platform, which increases traffic to your music Web site.

Reverbnation offers a long list of promotional tools with the free version of the service. Tools like TunePak allow musicians to send music via IM and email and promote their upcoming gigs and new releases. The Reverb store is a shopping cart, point of sale system, that musicians can use to showcase and sell CDs, MP3 songs, t-shirts and more.

Another popular promotional site for bands, iLike, partners with MySpace music, but also allows linking with Facebook, Bebo, Twitter and other social networking venues. While iLike doesn’t come with as many free tools as Reverbnation, it has plenty for the novice Web designer, comes with easy to integrate music downloading widgets, and claims 50 million fans nationwide use the service to hear new music.

What to Include on a Band Web Site

A band Web site can be the single most valuable and powerful tool for promoting new music and gaining popularity. There are several things that seem obvious, but might be easy to overlook when building a page. Make certain all contact information is on the page. This should include a band phone number, email and mailing address. It is essential to compose a meaningful bio of each band member and a history of the band itself. You might want to add anecdotal stories of how the band got its name, etc.

Incorporate press releases, reviews and listener testimonials on the page on a rotating basis. These should be switched out regularly with fresh content. Upload photos and video clips of live events where the band performed. The most effective are action photos, not still shots.

Include downloadable clips of music to be released on upcoming CDs to whet listeners’ appetites. This will lead them to the store where it is critical to offer MP3 songs and CDs for sale as well as other promotional swag such as t-shirts.

There are so many free tools out there for musical artists that there really is no excuse not to have a truly compelling and eye catching Web site for band promotion.

About the Author

Samantha Gluck has had over a decade of experience helping businesses better focus their Web sites to enhance ecommerce and Internet presence by utilizing Web analytics, relevant design elements, and marketing campaigns.

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