Should My Band Have a Website?

Ahhh the age old question, is a band website really needed? Can I just have social media to reach my fans? Aren’t traditional websites dead? So.. should my band have a website?

I love this question to be honest and it’s one of the first questions I’ll ask an artist when working on their growth strategy with them. I absolutely love social media to reach new audiences and find your people. It’s such a unique way of connecting which is integral to todays music and business landscape. I really believe it’s unavoidable.

The thing I also see is that, we need the database when other outlets may fail. If your only means of communication is through social media, then what do you have when that disappears? I’m sure you’ve seen the panic when a there’s a meta or social media outage. OMG I can’t log into my facebook / Instagram / see my running ads / tiktoks / linkedin posts and I can’t snap my besties! And then everyone settles when google confirms there is an outage. And the subject comes up again, what if it was all wiped.

Forget even about these platforms going away which can absolutely happen or just going down, you absolutely hear the horror stories of the accounts being taken over and completely flipped overnight. I’ve been part of some amazing groups as well where they’ve had like 500k members and poof. Overnight they’ve been transformed into a big load of WTF? Businesses locked out, bands losing access to their fans, their content, losing total control. It’s devastating and has a bigger impact than you may thing.

How do you communicate that you’ve lost access to your followers? How to communicate with fans about what you’re doing? And worst – how do you rebuilt everything you’ve put years into?

Okay, so let’s rewind a bit - first it was a rolodex, a personal phonebook and diary, a contacts list, physical mailing lists, now you’ve got a digital mailing list really giving you the opportunity to send out an endless number of messages (ethically of course!). Your website can be a surefire way to give access to people wanting to know more and keep in touch with them when they join your mailing list. We’ve developed different ways to connect with our fans over the years as technology evolves and accessibility needs change.

Some main benefits of having a band website is that you can keep as much on there as you want – or technically as little as you need. The main things I think are important to have would be that mailing list, any tour details, and a merch shop if you have merch. This can be expanded to include so much more, but a clear way to join for updates and find out current relevant information is key. The further you go with building out your site, the more findable you’ll be which will continue to make your whole online presence stronger – with or without social media.

Having a website does not have to be a major expense either. I’ve built websites with website builders that make it easy, no programming knowledge required and honestly could be set up in a day at least to get the bare bones in. It could cost as little as £75 a year to keep the site up maybe a bit more as the mailing list grows. But it doesn’t have to have major expenses for a web designer or anything else to start with. Make it functional and then there are lots of design options you can implement from there with ease!

My advice, give yourself that safety net of a website and of a mailing list. It’s going to be your best friend as you continue your path growing your band and building your fanbase. Give yourself the gift to grow from different angles and reach new people. So are you set to build a new website? Time to get your mailing list rolling? Book a discovery call and we’ll help you build your website strategy!

basic computer with blank screen should my band have a website