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How did YOU obtain your music website? Ideas needed!Date: April 21, 2013 by donald patriquin  Views: 1016
Hello to anyone who has a music website:
Although I have a 'composer' website, there are many elements that all musicians have in common on their respective websites. I am in the throes of (re)creating my website. Chances are that others are as well. I learned a lot from Jack Senzig's recent foray into the topic, but it was geared mainly to the ongoing development of the (excellent!) ChoralNet Community Composition Showcase and stopped a bit short of addressing problems dealing with an indivdual website.
My present website, which has worked extremely well until now, is totally HTML and therefore not readily changeable by someone who much prefers composing to getting into the time-consuming fineries of (re)creating a website. I need to have an appealing, somewhat custom (i.e. not cookie-cutter) website which will allow me to import/export/alter music entries, including descriptions, pdf files and music samples (audio & video)
The chief problem for me concerns music samples. There are two main categories– internal (ON your computer) and external files (on a HOST computer). Which do you use/prefer and what drawbacks have you found?
Can both ‘internal’ and ‘external’ be used on the same website? (Maybe ‘internal’ for shorter samples, ‘external’ for long works.)
Have you used SoundCloud or BandCamp? Would you recommend either of these? Any particular plusses or drawbacks? Other recommendations?
I have read that one can use metatags to find out how a site was created. How is this done? (Please remember I am a world wide web non-HTML luddite!)
What is your experience with wix.com to create a site? Or Wordpress? (Any particular 'theme'?) Or other platforms– either yourself or by a website builder?. Any strong feelings about any of these? Does a website builder generally have the expertise to get the site up and running as well?
Thanks,
Donald, and hopefully others in the same boat.
(donaldpatriquin.com)
Donald, and hopefully others!
Replies (5): Threaded | Chronological
David Nino on April 22, 2013 3:02am
Hi Donald, I found weebly.com very functional and easy to use. It is web based, drag and drop. Has beautiful templates and all the tools for a composer (audio, PayPal, etc)
David N.
donald patriquin on April 22, 2013 2:20pm
Thanks David. I looked at the site, and it looks interesting. Presumably you have set up a site with this program– if so, could you give me its URL?
Thanks!
Donald
on April 23, 2013 3:03am
hth
Derek
on April 23, 2013 4:35am
Hi Donald, if you are a total coding novice, and don't want to hire a pro, I second weebly. Here's an example http://www.nolarichardson.com/
Wordpress is great with a custom theme, but most out of the box (cheap) themes are going to need some (to a lot) of customization. There are also security issue with Wordpress that require some knowledge to manage. Unless you have a Wordpress.com website.
Hope this helps!
ian
on April 23, 2013 4:18pm
I built Ellis Road Press using Wordpress and have not had to worry about security issues. It uses the Mystile theme and the Woocommerce plugin for e-commerce. I design websites for a living and run my own hosting company so I am not going to say it is a walk in the park, but then again neither is being a good musician :)
Weebly looks like good option if you are not hiring a pro...and I do believe in DIY but just like in the world of music, hiring a pro can be the best way to get the job done right the first time.
DIY ADVICE:
If you choose to go the free route with ANY website make sure you are allowed to use your own domain name with the service. Some web building sites will endup owning your domain when you create that "free" site so, if you don't own one already, make registering your domain name the first step. You can register (buy) it yourself at a registrar like Namecheap, 1&1 or Name.com. I tell every potential client to do it themselves, that way they will be sure to be notified for renewals since they are listed as the contact person for that domain name.
ALSO:
Make sure your site can be easily viewed on mobile devices. You might be surprised at the number of visitors that will view your site on a phone or tablet. Ask about site designs that are "responsive". That way you will only need one design and it can be easily viewed on a desktop, laptop, tablet or phone.
Hope this helps...
-Richard
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