Welcome to the current music world of 2012. If your band does not have a website yet you should be embarrassed. I know that you have a free page on Facebook, Reverb Nation, Last.fm, Soundcloud, heck you probably even still have a MySpace page. But there is no excuse to not have your own personal webspace. It’s cheap and essential. There are even coupon codes to get your hosting for next to nothing. We prefer www.iwebhostingcoupons.com
Here are a few reasons your band can not survive without a website:
1. Professionalism – Having your own site makes your band look much more professional and serious about your career. Nothing is worse than searching for a band on google and having to sort through a bunch of music community sites that are full of distractions. As a music writer, I will often decide if I want to write about a band within the first 5 minutes of seeing their web presence.
2. Marketing – It is much easier to build a fanbase when fans have a website to visit that is owned and branded by you. With social networking sites you have very little control of what your page will look like and it will look extremely similar to every other band’s page. How are you going to set your music apart with that?
3. Email lists – While it is possible to build up a ton of “likes’ and “friends” on the social networking sites, there is no easy way to stay in touch with fans when they are not on that site anymore. How many fans did you lose when MySpace became a site that no one ever looks at anymore? With your own site you can have an email capture that will build a list for you of fans that you will always be able to get in touch with and keep them in the know with a monthly newsletter or email blast when a new CD is coming out.
4. Sales – Yes there are apps now to let you sell your music through social media sites but they are spotty and will never get the conversion rates that you will get from selling music on your own site. When fans visit your site you can guide them right to your sales page when you have something new to sell to them. More control = more sales!
5. Fans – realize that your fanbase wants you to have a website. Why should they have to sift through the crap that is all over the internet just to get to keep up with their favorite new band? Fans will spread the link to your personal website much faster than a Reverbnation page. This builds a truly involved fanbase that will do whatever it takes to help you succeed.
Bottom Line: it is so easy and affordable for you to have your own band site that there is no reason not to. We even have a link for you to save even more money on your hosting with some promo codes the most popular hosts.