Top 6 Web Design Elements a Musician’s Website Must Have

Digital trend is on the rise and so far as industries are concerned, everyone now has a website with strong internet marketing presence. The music industry does not seem to be an exception out here. So, if you are a rising musician who has just managed to make a presence or the struggling one, yearning to grab the spotlight, a personal website is a must to make your own online presence. Even the most renowned artists now have their own website launched. So what exception are you? This is not the nineties, when popular bands like Beatles and Pink Floyd rose to fame without the need of going socially online to grab the attention of the audience (though now you can surf the Internet to find out if there exists any and may even find one). But you do!

Check out the official website of The Beatles –

[www.thebeatles.com]

Why A Musician Needs To Have A Personal Website?

• Your website becomes your brand identity online. This is the hub which shows everything that involves your band. That is where you can tell your fans and your prospects to reach out to you or learn more about what kind of music you play.
• Private venue and club owners prefer to take you more seriously if you can produce a website for them to look into. This is because; a website can demonstrate your band investment. That is from the promotional and marketing investment. A club looks forward to book an ‘on-going’ act, which in turn will help them to maximize their investment profit.
• A musician or a music band needs to build an increasing fan base. A website can help you build an online portal for your fan base.
• You can promote one of your newly released music online or an upcoming music concert and inform your fans about the tentative dates.
• A website can help musicians market their music by letting their fans stream out live music online.

Every year we witness new artists to arrive in this glamorous industry and make a mark. Getting active online in the digital age is a must if you want to be socially alive among your circle of fans and within the music industry. However, going online does not mean setting up a website with simple design layout features. A musician’s website can turn out to be professionally engaging, when it will be capable of drawing the attention of the audience with its updated stream of information like the latest music releases, live performances, tour dates and merchandises. Only then will your music be taken seriously, thus leading to increased conversions and show booking dates.

When designing a website for a musician, a web designer needs to be careful when implementing the elements that bring out the rhythm of music flowing through each and every detail of the web page. Often subtle design features like an emotional background picture or a soft gradient pastel color or the font style in which the site’s content is written in, can work up the charm to epitomize visually the sound of music.

­­­6 Design Components That Make a Musician’s Website Start the Conversation

#1 – Add Music

What’s a music website without some feature of your music? You have claimed yourself to be a musician, right? So, where is your music? If you are a newcomer, then people would like to hear you out first before they decide whether or not to buy your product.

Your music is the ‘good’ that you want people to listen to and buy. That is why you have a website in the first place. There are many plug-ins like iTunes button or Spotify player that you can use to integrate this feature into your webpage design. So what are you waiting for?

Always make two to three full length music tracks available to be streamed out. Using music videos can turn out to be good share among your fans and friends on the social platform. Even journalists and blogger critics can share a review on your talent after listening to your music and let their readers get to know you better.

One Republic, the famous American band, has a separate ‘Music’ page with more than 16 albums for anyone to listen them to.

[www.onerepublic.com]

Nate Sallie uses the home page to integrate music videos and other music download options.

[www.natesallie.com]

#2 – Add Strong Images and Videos

Adding visual images and videos can amplify the visual experience around your website. Fans love to know something different about you. Now is the time when you can add a dash of your personality by adding pictures of who you are. An image can do all the talking for you. So, use professionally shot images to show an element of you or your band’s artistry- such as shot taken during live shows, jam sessions, scenes captured inside the recording room, any funny incidents, etc. The home page of a music website is different unlike other conventional web designs. Normally, a traditional website might contain one or two lines to describe them or what services do they use. But a musician’s website will greet you with high resolution images and a video player that showcase the latest updates, whether it is in news or for a live concert or for a new music launch. Do ensure that the images used are professionally taken and are of good quality, since professional photos can convert the entire visual appeal of a website.

Check out how popular websites of Maroon 5 and Avril Lavigne use their high quality images to promote newly launched music videos.

[www.maroon5.com]

[www.avrillavigne.com]

#3 – Have a Clear and Focused Navigation around Your Website

Sometimes, with all the glamour and creativity that one has to add when designing a music website, your actual focus may get off sided. Always ensure you have a clear mind on what your motivation should be. What do you want your fans and site visitors to do? – To buy your upcoming album or a newly launched merchandise or to help you out with a donation campaign. Make sure your call-to-action is clear and specific. You can have a minimum of two call-to-action buttons.

Usually, band websites are suggested to keep their number of menu options till 8. You could add menu buttons to a maximum of 9 to 11. However, things might turn out to be messy after that. Keep the names of your menu buttons simple like ‘Home’ , ‘News’, ‘Music’, ‘ Bio’, etc. Vague and fancy names like ‘Discover’, ‘My World’ can come with the danger of confusing your readers , thus leading them to skip the button altogether. Each of your pages must have a clear purpose. If it is a ‘Bio’ page, then talk about it only. Do not add other elements like Fan Forum or a Calendar page.

#4 -Have a Clear and Straightforward Contact Form for a Good Audience Rapport Build-up

Though many a renowned musician’s website does not come with this feature, this simple addition can be a great way to up your professionalism. If you are a newcomer, the contact page will give you a chance to assess how much you have grown to make a successful mark in your musical career. Your fans will always be your well wisher. So, approaching them for a personal and direct feedback can help you to understand why they love your music. You could even get booked by some club or concert for an evening gig. Keep your contact form fields simple and short. Here is a screenshot the XX, to show you how their contact page looks like:

[www.thexx.info/contact/]

#5 – Add Social Media Buttons for Music Promotion

Having social media profiles is a must nowadays, especially when you are part of the internet marketing world. You can reach out to new people every single second and expand your fan base. It is a great way to market your music, while always staying in touch with your friends and family. If you have a new music to launch soon, you can send out notifications across the social platform and boy! That is bound to go viral within seconds. So, take the fullest advantage of your social media buttons to stay current and up-to-date all the time.

#6 – Add Event Calendars to Send Out Early Notifications

If you have a live concert coming up, it is time to scream and shout and make the entire world know. Use calendar events to keep everyone posted about your latest plans, so that your fans can keep a track on your schedules and be there where you want them to be. This will make your site current and updated and give people a good reason to come back again and again for the latest news.

[www.metallica.com]

Your Web Design Needs To Reflect Your Musical Style

Web designers always face the challenge of creating an ultimate page design. The unique thing about designing a musician’s website is that, you need to always keep in mind the musical style and personality of the individual or the band for whom you are developing a website. Sometimes, the color of a website has to go in sync with the genre that one plays. Black is a cool color and can go well with hard rock music. But if you are specialized to compose music for children, then black will definitely be a drab color option. Lady Gaga’s official site design is the perfect example of how personality should be showing off in one’s site design. Visit to check out the entire website.

[www.ladygaga.com/artrave-the-artpop-ball]

You can only crack a good web design job when it is appealing, engaging to look at and returns good conversions.