By Mike Ippersiel
Why do you need an official web site for your band? This series of posts on band web site basics will tell you how and why you should have a web site for your band.
Why do you need a web site for your band? Ask yourself the following questions:
- Does your band write music?
- Does your band regularly perform live?
- Does your band plan on recording and selling your music?
If you answered “yes” to all or most of these questions, do yourself a favour and get a real web site (ie. as in: www.yourbandname.com). Read on and you will learn how to obtain a domain name and a web site for next to nothing.
Don’t let these following myths hold you back any longer:
- .com domain names and/or webhosting costs too much
- you require highly specialized knowledge and software to build your own site
- having your own site will require a lot of extra time that you don’t have
Besides – you have a cool looking Myspace page, that should be good enough right?
This is my first real article for this site and I’m going to make this clear for you up front; a band is a business. If you expect to be taken seriously you must present yourself in a professional manner.
It’s common knowledge that a Myspace account can be set up in five minutes or less; a five year old can do it. When a band takes that little extra time and money to set up their own domain name, others are more likely to believe that you have your ‘shit together’.
That’s one small victory, because lets face it, bands are a dime a dozen. As musicians we get a bad rap for being late, dim-witted and addicted to drugs, alchohol and sex. Showing the promoters, bar owners, sound techs and other bands that you’re professional gives you credibility which will lead to more opportunities.
Myspace is great for networking – don’t get me wrong. You don’t have to destroy anything you built there – you can always link to it from your official site.
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Keep in mind that often your first point of contact will be your web site – make the best first impression that you can. If you’re serious about a career in the music business, a good first step (besides coming up with a band and something to call yourselves) is creating your online place of business. This will be where people come to find about about you, buy your music, see what you look like and what you sound like.
For those of you that don’t have a domain and wish to begin your search, I took the trouble of providing a banner for Sibername.
I discovered Sibername a few months back. Their pricing is competitive, but feel free to shop around (ie google search domain providers) and you may find even better deals out there.
Stay tuned for Band Web Site Basics part 2.
Happy hunting. Next time we’ll talk more about what you need to get your site online. Also check out my free new 10 part video series called Band Website Secrets