Music is meant to be shared. An artist or band can build a website using one of the best web builders for musicians. Sites can be used to promote your music, offer a platform for sharing it and provide updates to fans.
We will help you make an informed decision about the best website builder to use for musicians. It reviews five of the most popular providers and examines their top features, ease-of-use, and costs.
What We Look For in The Best Website Builders for musicians?
It is crucial to have a high-quality website builder. Consider all the options available for free tools. Make sure you choose the one that offers the best template designs, structural control, and user-friendly interface. Take a look at all the available templates. While many templates come with a wide range of designs, some are out-of-date. Websites must look modern and professional if you want to succeed on the internet. Consider how much structural control the website editor permits. This is your website. You should be able ensure it follows the preferred layout and map. It is crucial that the interface be easy to use and intuitive. It is useless if it is difficult to use and confusing. No matter if you’re a professional website designer or just starting your first website, make sure it’s as easy to use as possible.
Key Features
Here is a list of pages and items you should include on your website.
1. Contact information
Although this may seem obvious, you want people to be in touch with you. You want them to have an email address, or some other contact form. You should check your email frequently and respond to all those who reach out to you. People can communicate via digital channels because they are easy to use and respond quickly.
2. Social media links
Your website visitors should be able to choose how they wish to stay informed about your band’s latest news. You should give them the ability to search for you on the internet so that they can keep track of you wherever and whenever they like.
3. Listen…and Buy!
This is often the reason someone visits your website. You can make it easy for people to search your mp3s or to purchase your songs, regardless of whether they have heard your music before.
4. Gigs
Fans are excited to see you live. It should be easy for your fans to find out when and where you are playing. Give as much information as possible. Provide as much information as possible about the venue, including addresses, start times, ticket fees, or door charges, as well any other details.
5. A well-written biography
Tell us a bit about yourself. A venue might want to inform people about what to expect from your show. They will often borrow the information you have written. Your story should go beyond the usual elements of a biography. If you are a band, tell how you met and what your influences were. If possible, add something personal about each member. Share your story if you are a solo artist.
6. Blog or video blog
Post often. Have you had a great time at your last show? Let us know! Have you seen one of your bandmates do something funny? It’s worth writing about. Do you feel super grateful to every fan that you have? Tell them. Do you have a last-minute show? Spread the word.
Your fans want to hear from and feel connected with you. Blogs and video blogs are the easiest way to stay in touch. You can also encourage people to visit your site often.
7. Newsletter sign up
We have already discussed the reasons why you need a newsletter. It’s a simple matter of using your website as a collection point. Your email list will remain the same regardless of what social media platforms you use. Your email list can be used to promote gigs and merchandise, as well as events and other information that you wish to share with your followers.
8. Photos
Your website will benefit greatly from high-resolution photographs. Your website has been well-designed and polished. Now you want your photos to reflect that. Although you don’t necessarily need to hire a professional photographer, ensure that your images are high enough in resolution to fit the intended space.
9. You may also find links to press releases or promotions.
Was your local newspaper writing about you? A fan or venue posted a review about one of your shows. You can link to these articles for people to get an outside view of your music.
10. Tracking visitors is possible
This can get very complicated, but even basic features like Jetpack for WordPress or Google Analytics can provide great insight. You can check your traffic and analyse it to determine how effective your social media promotion, new releases, or blog posts were. You can tailor your strategy based on what is driving traffic to your website when you find something that works.
How to find the best website builder that suits musicians
Your needs and preferences will determine which website builder is best for you.
If you are a new band that is just starting to get to grips online promotion and still need to build an audience to justify selling merchandise, the starter Wix plan might be the right choice. It integrates seamlessly with music players such as Soundcloud and Spotify. The Lite package from Bandzoogle may also be a good option.
MusicGlue’s commerce tools can be used to increase sales and promotion to an already engaged audience. You don’t have to pay anything for your website to be built, so you can get familiar with it before you decide if you want to go ahead.
Remember that the platform will claim a portion of any sales once you start selling. The key to making an educated decision is to consider your priorities and budget.
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We suggest these five website builders for musicians in 2021 you might find useful:
1. Monster Reach
Monster Reach brings together world-class eCommerce and internet marketing technologies, making them accessible to all businesses. Our platform empowers all businesses, whether they are sole traders, start-ups or franchises, to achieve their goals without compromise. Businesses can easily create professional websites, apps and eCommerce stores that generate leads and increase their revenue through advanced analytics and marketing integrations. We are dedicated to our customers and never stop learning.
Monsterreach offers three plans as a primary plan:
STARTER (FREE).
Maximum 5 Products
One page
Perfect for small businesses
Start online.
GROWTH ($14.95 per month)
You can get up to 100 products
Unlimited pages
Advanced ecommerce
Growing businesses
UNLIMITED ($99.95 per month)
Unlimitted products
Unlimited pages
Enterprise grade features.
All you could ever need.
2. Wix
Wix is a popular website builder for musicians. Its drag-and-drop editor and extensive app library are both great tools for beginners looking to create a professional-looking website.
Musician Website Builder Features: Wix
Wix Music Tool: Upload your music, and get paid for it.
Wix Music Analytics: Get stats about your top songs, top downloads and highest-generating tracks
Wix ShoutOut: Effective email marketing
The Combo plan costs $14 per month and provides 2GB bandwidth and 3GB storage space. For unlimited bandwidth and up to 10GB storage, you will need to upgrade to Unlimited plan at $18 per month. The Pro plan is $23 per month and includes storage of 20GB. VIP options are $39 per month and provide priority support and 35GB storage.
3. Squarespace
Squarespace, like Wix is more generalist and can be used by all kinds of creatives and businesses. It offers a wide range of music-related themes, features and templates. It has templates for musicians and bands, including producer and singer-songwriter. However, it is not as extensive as Bandzoogle or Wix.
Its lack of bandwidth and storage restrictions is what makes it stand out from its competitors as the best website builder to musicians. It doesn’t matter if you have the lowest or highest subscription, you can upload any music, images, or video that you want without worrying about site performance or speed.
All plans include a custom domain, SSL security and SEO features. However, you will need to pay $18 per month for the Business plan (when paid annually), in order to access the premium website-building blocks, features, marketing analytics and basic ecommerce functions.
If you plan on selling tickets or merchandise at a high level, the commission-free Commerce plans are a good choice. Basic Commerce plans are available at $26 per month. Advance Commerce options cost $40 per month.
4. MusicGlue
MusicGlue, like Bandzoogle has a strong claim that it is the best website builder to musicians. This is due to the fact that MusicGlue’s team are music lovers first and foremost, as well as industry experts.
MusicGlue, unlike Bandzoogle is a commerce tool that targets musicians and bands with a product to sell and an audience to target. As its existing roster of clients demonstrate–including Metallica, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Kinks–MusicGlue offers a service tried and tested by some of the best in the business.
Users get advanced features that can be tailored to ticketing, merchandise sales and fan club rewards. The platform is available in 26 languages and offers tools to track data and provide detailed insight into conversions.
Although the site-building options and templates may not be as varied as some of the others, you won’t be charged any extra for creating your site. The Lite package is targeted at artists and bands. It costs $7 per month (MusicGlue charges PS4.99 per month). This subscription begins once you begin selling products.
MusicGlue will charge a 2% Commission on all sales made through its platform. A Premium package is available for managers, promoters and record labels. It offers custom pricing.
4. Difyd2c
This innovative platform, formerly known as Difymusic (short form Do It For Your Music), claims to be France’s most trusted direct-to-consumer distributor and ecommerce solution in the creative industries.
Difyd2c is now known to reflect the broader scope of its music-focused roots. Its services include an all-encompassing agency/logistics service with clients like Universal Music, Deezer and Facebook.
The platform’s ready-to-use ecommerce platform allows you to launch an official store within minutes. There is no need for any development. Additionally, the Difyb2c team offers assistance in designing, creating and shipping merchandise. You can also use the ticketing system to handle customer inquiries and support, and detailed reporting will include sales and inventory management.
The DIY plan requires a registration fee of EUR9.99 (around 12), and is charged on your first sale. Difyd2c only earns a 5% commission for all sales after this fee. The mid-tier option allows Difyd2c to use its in-house logistics team and management team. It charges 20% commission and EUR1 (around $1.20 per product) for each shipment.
Takeaway
Websites that are socially integrated, have music-specific templates and ecommerce features are essential for musicians and bands. We narrowed the choices to five websites that best suit most musicians’ needs.
Monsterreach, Wix, Squarespace and Music Glue all offer ecommerce options that will allow you to sell your music or merchandise. These websites are easy to create and can be used quickly to get back to your music. They all offer great social features that will allow you to engage with your fans.
Source: https://reach.reviews/
