So you have your music on Bandcamp, YouTube, and Soundcloud…among other places.
Your Followers, Likes, and Friends are growing. People are leaving positive comments about your tunes. And more people are beginning to attend your shows.
So do I or does my band need a website? More importantly, why?
Control
Do you realize that content (mp3s, photos, bios, videos) you upload to Facebook or other social networking sites passes along certain rights to the Companies when you “Agree to our Terms and Conditions“?
I thought you might, but have you actually taken the time to read through, the usually lengthy, Terms of Use, Privacy Policies, and/or other fine print for each of the social networks you have a presence on?
I didn’t think so. I haven’t read them all either, but you might want to check them out sometime.
Depending on how you feel about these things (attention control freaks), it would be a wise choice to know what each entity can/will do with your material.
According to this Forbes article, Facebook’s Privacy Issues Are Even Deeper Than We Knew.
Despite all the criticism of FB’s privacy issues, the point is to understand that FB, Myspace, YouTube, and all other social media outlets are businesses with agendas (profits and pleasing shareholders).
Business rises and it falls so even if you care less about what Facebook does with your content, wouldn’t you hate to lose it plus your fan base if FB ever closed its doors?
Did you think to collect e-mail addresses from the 584 people who Liked your FB Fan Page? Or those 5,434 folks who became your friend on Myspace?
E-mail marketing is for another article but you need to be implementing it into your strategy.
Back to the topic. Running your own website gives you control of your content (and what happens to it), your fan base, and most importantly your career’s direction.
Branding
If its not common sense that owning your domain name (www.myband.com) with a professional looking website is necessary, then you are behind…or not serious about turning your talents into a career.
Your website is your business card. Better yet, consider it your broadcasting headquarters and you decide what content to share.
You should think of your Social Media profiles as outposts that you use to drive traffic to www.yourband.com. The mind map sketch below gives you an idea of what I mean by this:
A&R, Publishers, Journalist, Bloggers, Booking Agents, and other Music Industry contacts are using the WWW and Social Media daily to listen to and discover new music.
Not having your own website increases your chances of not being noticed. The only time I see an exception to this is when bands are referred to industry contacts by colleagues or close friends.
First Impressions last forever
If a label rep was looking for your band online would you want them to see your Facebook page? Or a professional looking website designed by you?
It’s also pretty cool when people can Google your name and www.myband.com shows up first.
A professional quality, user friendly, search engine optimized website can do many things for you and your music.
Potentially, your website can:
- give you a professional appearance,
- give you the ability to brand yourself,
- give you complete control over your content,
- ensure you receive 100% profit from music and merchandise sales,
- make current and potential fans engage and interact with you more often,
- help you analyze how visitors are interacting with your content,
- integrate with your Social Media presence,
- provide a platform for Blogging without signing up for another service,
But most importantly, your website guarantees your music can still be found and downloaded if the Social Media phenomenon ever becomes a memory.
Basically, when you own and maintain your website, the sky is the limit.
You have 100% control, you are able to brand yourself in a unique way, and it makes you appear on top of your game.
Not to mention all the things you can do to build and create more interaction with an audience.