With so many different social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, or Tik Tok, do you still need to have your own website as a music artist?
I think so.
In fact, I believe having a website crucial for your music career.
This is why I included it as one of the tasks to complete at the Assembly stage of my P.A.L.M podcasting strategy.
Here are 6 reasons why I think you need a website for your music career.
1. A website makes you look like a pro
If you don’t take your music career seriously, your followers won’t.
And if they don’t take you seriously, they won’t buy from you.
This is why it’s super important to show your followers you’re serious about your music career.
One way to do this is to have your own website.
Nothing says I’m a serious artist like having a professional website where people can go and check out everything you’re up to as a musician.
And it’s not just for your followers.
Brands and other businesses might want to do business with you, and having a website shows them how serious you are and could even increase how much you could charge these guys.
2. A website gives you more control
As awesome as social media can be, there’s one thing that I don’t like about – you get very little you can control about the overall experience.
You’re pretty much stuck with what the platform gives you.
The algorithm for one, you have absolutely no control over what type of content your followers get to see.
Also, if you want to do something different that could increase your sales and money, you won’t be able to.
Like, use external links on Instagram or Tik Tok for example.
Your only option is to add one in your bio. Which is a terrible experience for the follower as the have to click away from what they’re watching, head to your profile and click on your bio.
However, it’s different with a website.
You can control how it looks and feel, the type of content you post, when your followers get to see this content, and add features that help you make more money as an artist.
3. A website is your own
Another thing I don’t like about most social media sites is that you don’t own any of the content you post or the followers you build on it.
These all belong to the platform, and if you happen to break any of their numerous terms and conditions for any reason, they kick you off the site and you lose all your content and followers instantly.
Poof!
Years of hard work gone just like that.
You’re pretty much building on borrowed land.
This is not the case with your website.
When you post content on your website, like your podcast episodes, that content belongs to you and stays on that site as long as you want it to.
And the risk of you being kicked out of your own website is slim to none.
Most web hosting companies allow you to post pretty much anything.
As long as you’re not breaking the law, inciting violence, or dishing out hate speech, you should be fine.
4. A website is your one-stop hub
It’s common to see indie artists have more than social media platforms, and keeping up with all these can be cumbersome for your followers.
For instance, if they want to see your photos from a concert, they have to follow you on Instagram, if they want to watch your podcasts or your music covers, then they have to follow you on Youtube, and if they want to buy your merch, then they have to go to a separate site.
All this can get too much pretty quickly.
Sometimes what people need is a single place where they can learn all about you and keep up with everything that you’re up to.
It’s convenient for them and people love convenience.
This is where a website can come to your rescue.
With a website, you can have all your content, store and even integrate your social media in one place, which will make it easier for your followers to keep up with you and buy from you, which should increase the money you make as result.
5. A website allows you to collect data
This is another big advantage a website has over social media.
You can use it to track all sorts of data.
Like people who buy from you for example. You can place certain codes (cookies) on your website which tracks people that visit certain pages on your site or buy from your store.
Having this data is really important if you want to increase your sales and the money you make as a result.
For example, if you want to run retargeting Ads to let these people of new a new product or about your concert.
6. A website allows you to make money
And that brings me to the last but not the least point, which is the ability to actually make money from the people that visit your website.
Unlike most social media sites, like Instagram or Facebook, you can actually make money from people just visiting your website.
You can do this by placing Ads on your site and whenever any of your followers visit your site, you get paid for it.
While these amounts can be small, they can add up to thousands of dollars if you have a lot of visitors coming to your site.