Websites
Why is a website useful for musicians?
It is important to create our own websites as musicians, this is because we will not have access to our digital space after we have finished studying at Bradford college. Having a website of your own is useful for a multitude of reasons, one main reason for you to own a music website is so that you look professional for potential clients that are intrested in your work. Having a website for your career also makes you look more reliable and it also allows people to look all your work in one place. It also shows that “you’re taking your music career more seriously” (Robley, 2015), making you look even more dependable to the public eye. Websites are also good for musicians as it allows them to fully display their brand and aesthetic, this is because on your own website you have full control over the aesthetic of your website, this allows the public to have a slight insight into your music style. It also allows you to effectively show of your brand. Owning your own website also gives you complete control over it, meaning you can take stuff off the site when you want as well as put new posts on when you want. One last reason you should get a website as a musician is because “social media platforms come and go” (Robley, 2015). Over time website styles may change, however websites will never be forgotten. One example of a social media platform that failed musicians was myspace, this is because many musicians used myspace to connect with fans however after a couple of years it became very unpopular causing musicians to lose their fan base. Therefore building your own website is more sustainable and trust worthy than a ‘passing social media trend’ (Robley, 2015).
How to make your own website
Designing a Template
Before you begin designing your website it is important to chose a good image, this will act as the header image of your website. Chose carefully, as this image and make sure the photo is on brand as it should convey a sense of who you are, and what your music sounds like” (Kealey, 2018). Preferably the image should be landscape, high-resolution and have room around the edges of the subject of the photo. Having a header image with these qualities will allow you to have more flexibility when creating your website. When starting to make your own website the first step is to chose a template, the template of a website is in control of layout arrangement of the page. This is why it is important to chose a template you think looks nice and professional. While designing your website you should also think about how many pages will be on the site, usually people use around 5 to 8 pages as it keeps things simple and allows easy navigation around the website. It will also allow you to easily fit the pages on a horizontal menu bar, menu bars are more often placed underneath the header image on the website or on top of the page, like on this digital space website. People do this as it allows visitors to find the page menu as soon as they open the website.
If you are wanting to include a lot of information on your website pages you might want a template that offers a lot of space for text, images and videos. You could also find a template that has pre-set sections with colours you like and place your content in those areas, as this may be easier for some people as it requires you to use less time organising the pages content into groups. If you are planning on creating a website with only one page, you will want a template with a wide content area, as well as the ability to place sections/ section background images. As this will allow you organise the content on your page into groups more efficiently. Not everyone who visits your website will be using a computer, therefore it is important to consider mobile users on phones and tablets. This is because they website layout will be different on these devices meaning it is important to consider these devices to make your website adapt to there devices. This will allow you to get more visitors on your site, and make the visit more enjoyable on mobile devices. Adapting your website to mobile devices ” will also help your website’s Google search engine results” (Kealey, 2018), meaning the public are more likely to encounter your website on the google search engine.
Choosing a colour scheme
When your website is in place the next step of you development is to chose a colour pallet, a general rule when choosing a colour pallet for a website is to stick to three main colours. This helps maintain an element of consistency within your website as well as look professional, the structure of the three main colours goes as follows; primary brand colour, secondary colour and the accent colour. A technique for choosing website colours is to pick a few colours from your header image, ” this will ensure the rest of your website flows well together, with a coordinated look” (Kealey, 2018). When you are choosing the colours for your website you must make sure it matches you personality, branding and music style. To help yourself find the different shades of colours you like in your website you can use an online colour wheel, such as Adobe colour.
Fonts
On your website you will most likely have a lot of writing, therefore it is important that every word is written in a font that is clear and easy to read. To ensure you font is easy to read make it a colour that stand out from the background of the website, because if the font and background colour are both the same colour it will blend in making it impossible to read. If you like the look of curly text, you can use it on headers or titles on your website, over using fun fonts can make the writing hard to read however using it as a title provides no harm to the reading efficiency of the webpage. It is also important to have consistent fonts when making your website, therefore you should chose one content font for headings or paragraphs and use it on all pages. You should also avoid using all caps when writing body text on your website, to keep your website looking neat you should also use italics and bold letters sparingly.
Provide easy navigation
It is important that your website also has clear navigation so that first time visitors can navigate their way around the website very easily. You must also make sure that the page titles of your website are clear to read, this is because most people have a very short attention span. Meaning if they have to guess what content might be on a specific page they will just skip the page all together. Therefore you must make sure each page title sums up the content of the page clearly for the reader. If there is a lot of content you would like to display on your website you can use sub-menus, sub-menus will appear underneath the main menu pop up on the website. A sub menu might be used if you would like to talk about all the different albums or large projects you have worked on, one sub menu could be used to talk about one of your albums or projects.
Create the pages for your website
The next to creating your own website is to create the pages you will be using for your website, it is important to make the essential pages first to make sure you do not overwhelm yourself. The most important page on your music website will be the homepage, this is because it will be the first page seen to the visitors as well as the most frequently visited. A great music website home page should advertise your newest song, composition or album for people to listen to. It should also feature a short bio for people to read in order for them to learn more about your music and yourself as a person. A good home page should also include a good header image that complements the colour scheme of the website and that looks professional, this header image should sum up your musical brand so that people can relate to you. Finally a great home page should also include links to all your social media, so that you are easy to contact and find for people that are interested in your music.
A good music website should also include a biography page which talks about your most proud accomplishments and your own personal background. This will help people relate to you and build a fan base. Your bio page can include information on gigs, festivals, conferences and media outlets. This will help people easily grab specific information you and your past accomplishments for visitors of the website. It is important to have as much information as possible on your music career on your website in case a journalist or potential employer wants to find out about you through your website. Using a website also give you the opportunity to present your information in an arrangement that is as neat as possible and easy to read for visitors.
You should also dedicate a page on your website to only your music, therefore you should embed all music videos or audio into a neat column of your past albums, Ep’s and compositions. This page should also contain a short brief of information on each piece of music so that the public can learn more about your intentions when writing the song and who inspired it. Make sure the music is easy to find and access so that people can easily listen to it without trouble, as many people will give up and not listen to your music if it too much trouble to access.
It is also important to include a embedded videos page on your website, this is because it can be very tedious to hop back and forth between youtube and another website therefore is important to embed the videos to make the website pleasant for the visitors. The content of the videos may include; gigs, interviews or concerts so that people can watch you perform or answer questions about yourself. It is also helpful to have a photos page where you can upload photos of yourself or band to display your personality and brand of your music. All photos and videos should be organised into a clear arrangement that tells people what it is before looking at it (e.g. Bradford concert 20th October) as a small heading above the video or image.
All music websites should also have an events page where it shows information on upcoming gigs or concerts so that your fans can book to see you perform live, the information contained on the page should include; date and times, venue, potentially set list and a link to buy the tickets. If you have no upcoming events you can also use this page to show off your best performance to give people an insight into what a live performance of yours looks like, this should convince people into buying tickets for your shows.
And last but not least your website should include a contact page, which will allow everyone to easily contact you. Contact information displayed on your website should include your email and social media links, this will allow industry professionals to contact you for future bookings. It will also enable you to engage and respond to fans, which can lead to an increase of fan base members. Therefore it is very important to have essential contact information on your website, both for industry professionals and fans.
Source List
Kealey, M., 2018. How to make a music website. [online] Bandzoogle.com. Available at: <https://bandzoogle.com/blog/how-to-make-a-website-for-your-music> [Accessed 5 November 2021].
Robley, C., 2015. Musicians, do you NEED to have a website?. [online] DIY Musician. Available at: <https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/music-promotion/musicians-do-you-need-to-have-a-website/> [Accessed 5 November 2021].