Making my own music website - opinions?

V

Vhyle

New member
I'm wanting to create my own domain and website, to share all of my music. I've got a lot of recordings through my musical career from several bands and projects (and continue to do so), and I want to create my own site to share it all in one place.

I've never bought or used my own domain before, so I'd like to ask for some opinions on who's the best service to use, what to look for, etc. From what I've seen, domains are pretty cheap, but I'd like to know who would be the best option, generally. I know a lot of you guys here have your own sites, so who/what did you use?

Thanks.
 
You're just talking about registering your domain? (and not about hosting your site, building it, managing content, etc.)

If that's the case, go with Namecheap.com. They're my favorite for individual sites. It's simple and cheap.
Do NOT use goDaddy. They are awful! (Their UI is bad. They use videos of their CEO hunting endangered species for marketing. They were pro-SOPA until a massive backlash from their user base.)
 
VomitHatSteve said:
You're just talking about registering your domain? (and not about hosting your site, building it, managing content, etc.)

If that's the case, go with Namecheap.com. They're my favorite for individual sites. It's simple and cheap.
Do NOT use goDaddy. They are awful! (Their UI is bad. They use videos of their CEO hunting endangered species for marketing. They were pro-SOPA until a massive backlash from their user base.)
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A place where I can host and run a website with mp3s and other content.

I forgot to mention... I definitely don't want Godaddy. I know about their stunts, and they can FOADIAF.
 
Vhyle said:
I forgot to mention... I definitely don't want Godaddy. I know about their stunts, and they can FOADIAF.
Click to expand...

Good man!

As far as hosting and running a website, you've got several options.

If you want a fire-and-forget kind of thing where you don't have to worry about building or designing it yourself and just pay a monthly fee for someone else to handle it, there are a couple services that do that. I recommend bombplates.com, but that is largely because that's who I work for (I mean, it's good and all, I just wanted you to be aware of my bias here.) There's also HostBaby, Bandzoogle, and Artistdata. They're the big names.

If you want free, there's Facebook and Soundcloud, but obviously, you're stuck with their domain and don't get a lot of customization options.

If you want to build your own, there are a lot of hosting companies out there. Unfortunately, I'm not to familiar with the consumer-level options there. Maybe hostmonk?
 
VomitHatSteve said:
Good man!

As far as hosting and running a website, you've got several options.

If you want a fire-and-forget kind of thing where you don't have to worry about building or designing it yourself and just pay a monthly fee for someone else to handle it, there are a couple services that do that. I recommend bombplates.com, but that is largely because that's who I work for (I mean, it's good and all, I just wanted you to be aware of my bias here.) There's also HostBaby, Bandzoogle, and Artistdata. They're the big names.

If you want free, there's Facebook and Soundcloud, but obviously, you're stuck with their domain and don't get a lot of customization options.

If you want to build your own, there are a lot of hosting companies out there. Unfortunately, I'm not to familiar with the consumer-level options there. Maybe hostmonk?
Click to expand...

I was looking to build my own site (I think I have Dreamweaver somewhere... I'll have to dig through my software), so I'm looking for a host that I could manage content (mp3s and images, basically) and have my own domain.

I'll check out those names though. Thanks for the suggestions!

I've already got Youtube/Soundcloud/Facebook/ReverbNation/Intonation, haha. That's kinda why I wanted to put ALL of my recorded material in one display, at one place.
 
I use iPage, which is likely way more functional than my needs and pricey. But, I'm happy with the service and I get unlimited bandwidth (so, I don't get charged extra if a ton of folks download my albums within a certain time period).

If you don't know HTML, head over to Tizag.com for a tutorial - trust me, it's incredibly easy. Plus, minimalist web designs are a refreshing change from the usual clutter; it's no masterpiece, but I'm proud of my simple website because of its ease of use and navigation: talk midway. Visitors will definitely appreciate these two things above all else.

In regards to displaying individual songs, I use Soundcloud to embed tracks. It's simple, recognizable, and easy for non-Soundclouders to get (could that play button get any bigger?).
 
I made my own website, and used AN hosting, and then wordpress software. Not sure of the relative merits of hosting services, but I do like wordpress. Essentially I downloaded a theme which was structurally similar to what I wanted, and then edited the css (I had to hit the books a little bit) to get it visually what I wanted. Wordpress.com, however, is the free service, and I think it is less customizable than wordpress.org.

The other option is to use dreamweaver, but it's harder to update your pages. If you're only looking for something which has minimal maintenance, however, then this could be an option. Wordpress is essentially blogging software, so updates are easy.

At first, I uploaded my tracks as mp3s with a player, but I soon realized that was a mistake; I have everything routed back to Soundcloud. Your own site is good if you want to consolidate several social networking services. It's also not strictly necessary to have your own website, but if you really want one, it's nice to have. I like having my own bit of real estate.
 
zoomoon said:
The other option is to use dreamweaver, but it's harder to update your pages. If you're only looking for something which has minimal maintenance, however, then this could be an option. Wordpress is essentially blogging software, so updates are easy.
Click to expand...

I've done the "build it from scratch" route before, and I definitely recommend using some kind of content management system (CMS). Wordpress is a pretty decent choice. If you're enough of a hacker to be considering building your own anyway, Drupal is pretty cool too. I don't think anyone uses Joomla or php nuke anymore.
 
I'm not opposed to embedding Soundcloud tracks on my site, now that you mention that. I would simply have to pay for a full Soundcloud account, however, which I'm willing to do anyway. Then I can upload my entire recording portfolio and share it on the site.

I'll do some digging around on the weekend when I have a bit more free time. Thank you guys for the responses; it has been very helpful!
 
Hi mate had a listen to some of your music I like it :thumbs up: I don't know what hosting company is best for your needs but I'll say that some have a 24hr live chat help which could be valuable to you as a newbie.
 
It's important to have your own website but DO take advantage of places like Reverb Nation, Spotify, but in my opinion, NOTHING beats YouTube.
 
Having your own site + embedding your music via social networks like SoundCloud is the way to go. You can benefit from connecting with others through SoundCloud while driving traffic to your personal site.
 
Hey all, checking up on the thread. I don't have my own site yet... I've just simply been too busy with other stuff in life. We're moving in a month or so, so that's where all of my efforts are going right now. Then after we settle in the new place, I'm gonna get back to recording the next Algarothsyum release (which is underway), getting a website up and running, and so on.

But I have been embedding and spreading the word of my tracks on Soundcloud and Youtube on all of the sites mentioned before. Slowly but surely!

Thanks for the compliments, gazmacey! Wait until you hear the new material. :cool:
 
I used motocms to create my website, they have pretty decent templates. Editing is easy, but the initial cost of the template is like $200 . I had no experience in web design but the editor is pretty simple to navigate
 
I've built quite a few websites, including my own artist site, and i've coached clients with their websites and "how it works" what they have to do to get traffic, etc...

Their are three routes to take here:

1. and In my experience the best way to go is to get hostgator and wordpress, which uses a thing called "fantastico" to automatically install wordpress with a couple clicks, all you have to do is buy or choose a free theme and then get started.

It will take a fairly small amount of learning and getting used to how the CMS works, but is well worth it in my opinion.

2. is to go with a hosted solution like blogger, which is just a very basic CMS, but for your purposes you can easily do everything you need to, and don't have to really learn anything, or manage anything. so thats a plus.

3. The third solution is one of the "all done for you solutions" such as hostbaby, which is essentially is just an all-in-one solution that caters to your musicians website, so all the tools that you'd need and all the instruction you'll get, and the interface is all BUILT around serving YOUR NEED as a MUSICIAN/ARTIST. But you are going to pay a monthly fee, for something that you could do yourself, and although something like that is nice, know that it is a "dressed up solution." Tracking?


Now, one thing to keep in mind... You should NEVER... and i repeat, NEVER, use Facebook OR soundcloud as your website. period.
They are NOT, and in the bigger picture, are not MEANT to be your WEBSITE, they serve a very different purpose, and ultimately are a way to reach out to more people and then get them BACK to your website.


Hostbaby is a pretty good solution if you don't want to learn how to, or are not in any way interested in learning how all the "tools" work. They sort of bundle it all up for you and charge you $20-30 a month, which is a pretty good deal IMO, but you could very easily do the same thing for around $5 a month and use mailchimp as your Email marketing provider for free until you actually grow your list.

Hope that helps you understand your options, as well as choose the best one for you.

Jamie
 
In addition, i wanted to add that i recommend a wordpress framework called Genesis by studiopress, i personally use it, and it is built by real professionals who know how to write good clean code and give the search engines what they want, as well as make it easy and intutive for you to use, give you lots of design options, and offer great support.

note: i am in no way affiliated with them, i have just tried a few wordpress solutions, and this is the best i've personally found, and is what i use, and recommend to my clients.

There are others that i'm sure are very good as well.
 
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