The internet has completely changed the music industry. A musical performance from back in the day has now transformed into digital audio streams and live video streams.
Being good at producing music is no longer enough – you need to play the web search algorithms like a flute too!

When you are starting out, you should have the ability to promote your own albums, market them the right way and also engage your audience. You might seek some external help for managing your brand once you start rolling, but it is always good to directly manage your virtual presence or your website. If you are a budding musician, you must start your own website. It can act as an excellent marketing tool when used right.

Your website can be that essential medium through which your fans can connect with you, bloggers and journalists can find out more about your journey, what kind of music you like and play, and your future plans.

Do not run off to set up your website just yet. It helps to know the basics of what makes a good musician’s website great. We have compiled a little list of seven crucial components that ensure that your website is cleared to take off to a new level.

1. The font and theme for your website

Let’s start off with what your followers will see first – the text, graphics and theme of the website.

Your website should usually be up to date with the recent design trends (one-page themes are quite popular in 2019). The website presents your brand to the audience, so make sure it is updated, looks lustrous and is professional. Whatever the genre, the site must be light weight, fast, well organised and easy to navigate. To execute a professional look, you should try to stick with 4 or 5 main theme colours.

Fonts with polka dots, or barbed wire may look amusing but are not the best choices.

Choosing colour could be tricky, but you can exercise your art when choosing the primary colour.

Think about the mood of your music. Is it light and fresh? Pastels and light shades might go well with it. Are your tracks heavy and deep? You may go for darker shades.

After picking a primary colour you may use online colour wheels to obtain complementary colours.

2. Mobile friendly website:

In 2016, mobile internet usage overshadowed computer usage. It should not be surprising to find many people navigating your website using their smartphones.

Search Engines like Google also tend to favour mobile-friendly websites.

Designing a mobile friendly website is important. If you have not kept that in mind while designing your website, you are pushing away a huge portion of your potential traffic.

Your website must be a responsive one. An integrated music player should be able to play audio in the background and any video players should scale properly on screen rotation.

3. EPK (electronic press kit): To create a gateway for the right opportunities to reach you, you will have to make it easy to find relevant information about you.

Here are some details that should be included in every musician’s EPK:

• Bio: The first and the most important part of EPK is the bio section. You should able to convey your personality, share your history, achievements, and your story in brief. Make sure you add any extraordinary achievements of your own or your band. Lastly, do not forget to update your bio section at times!
• Photos and videos: Adding shareable contents like photographs and videos is probably the next most important thing. Getting your music heard by fans is always a crucial part of smart marketing. Photographs and videos can capture the full attention of the targeted audience and add to their experience. If you don’t have your own photos you can use some well-selected hi-res stock photos from a stock photo website like Dreamstime to help convey the feel and vibe of your music in a visual way.
• Press reviews/interviews: The press kit would be incomplete without some press! You may post some links of notable interviews and best reviews of yours and add the best quotes from each review beneath the links. It helps with SEO and adds to your credibility.
• Contact information/social media extensions: You should ensure that contact information for each member of your team is easily accessible when you are starting out. You may also add some of your social media links so that media or agents can quickly scan through the profiles. Make sure to only link social media profiles that you actively use.

4. Music player for engagement: Your visitor could either be a fresh face or a good old fan. Potential followers do not know much about you and probably came to your website to check your work out.

5. A music player plug-in at the bottom of the web page that plays your most successful track ever is always a nice addition. Keep the volume low by default though, you don’t want them to mute it!

6. Newsletter signups: If you want a long term connection with your fans and want to expand your music album sales, newsletters are the way to go. You don’t have to send mails or information regularly but you should have access to the mailing list so that you can spread the word about new albums, live shows, events, tours, merchandise and much This can bring your fans to your site when you most need them! Services like MailChimp and ConstantContact make it easy to manage email lists and newsletter distribution.

7. Store integration: Selling merch at events and online always helps spread the word. Your website is the best place where your fans can find and order your merch.
   A web store works for you in two ways – you can make money by directly selling your merch and you get to capture their E-mail IDs for future engagements. Don’t forget to showcase the most flattering merch reviews by fans!

8. Blog section and event calendar: Now that you have found some people, engaged with them and gained their attention – the last step is to make the relationship real.
   Meeting up and communicating with your admirers in real life can cement the relationship and fuel your success in the industry.
   The blog ensures that you show off those wonderful events while the calendar will let the visitors know when you are around in their area.

All of the above combined create an independent ecosystem within your own personal website. Using content management or website building platforms like Wix and WordPress, all of these can essentially be done for free.

While this is not at all an exhaustive list and the creative possibilities are infinite with your own website, this is all you need to get started with confidence!