Artist website? thoughts?

#1

So this is not directly related to studio, but the choices were slim on where to ask this:

I have been fiddling with a static website for my music under the name Creepr, something cheap to host and such. I figured it would be a good anchor point for linking to from the socials, and if I release something on say Distrokid, it would be nice to have a “home base” of sorts for my work. It has been fun to fiddle with a site anyway, so no loss on the time invested but…
I do not see a lot of indie people doing it…perhaps I am looking in the wrong places, I dunno. Anyone care to share some thoughts and especially experiences with running a “brand” site for their artist name?

#2

I’ve had websites through like the service Jeff Bridges was pimpin’ a while back Square Space? I’ve also just bought a URL and server space on GoDaddy and used Joomla and a template. I enjoyed messing around making it look nice and visually representing my “brand” or w/e. But unless you are selling physical media or mecrch and want to by-pass BandCamp I don’t see the advantage. Every thing is social media platforms these days. I didn’t pay for any kind of traffic tracking tools on any websites I ever had so I don’t really know if anyone was visiting or not.

I mean, for me, you can buy a URL www.creepr.com and have DNS point it to your bandcamp.

My final thought, for myself, is that maintaining a homepage is something that eats up free time for not much advantage. When a potential fan follows you on social media there are lots of chances for passive interaction. Potential fans have to actively go to your homepage and need a reason to go there.

#3

If you’re fortunate enough to have fans that will actually go there, you’re a step ahead of many. Personally there wouldn’t be any return on the investment for me, time and otherwise. Even DK and BC aren’t worth any of it with the action that I get, but obviously YMMV.

I would definitely do it as a fun project if I had the resources though, especially if expectations were low.

#4

No big expectations. My fanbase currently consists of only a few folks mostly from here. I am just curious how others have faired, if it was a positive or just a time sink.

#5

Like I said I enjoyed doing it and the had time and money but I never figured out how to get people to check it out.

#6

There could be another reason to build a personal website: it’s the standard now for creative type jobs to have some sort of online portfolio. Bandcamp is OK but if you only have two minutes to impress a potential employer you may want a nicely designed personal website with no distractions and a clear set of reels, projects, or your top tracks available to listen. Just as an artist though, I agree it’s become redundant with how many social websites there are.

#7

a few artists have it i.e. enduser, amon tobin, etc…but they do other side projects as well and yea it is the creative industry standard.

#8

So what happened in the end, did you make yourself a website? :slight_smile: