How to make a music website

Are you making a music website but don’t know where to start? Or are you thinking about giving your current website an update? In either case, this comprehensive guide will show you how to create an effective music website that will impress both your fans and industry professionals.

Here is how to make a music website:

1. Choose a music website template
2. Create the color palette
3. Choose your fonts
4. Organize the navigation
5. Create the pages for your music website
6. Create an EPK
7. Sell music on your website
8. Choose a domain name
9. Optimize your website for Google search
10. Promote your music website online

Why should every musician have a website?

You might be asking yourself whether musicians need a website in the age of social media. The short answer is: Yes. 

Your own music website makes a much better impression than supplying just a social media profile. A website shows that you're serious about making music and getting booked. In fact, it’s more important than ever to create a professional music website that you own and control. Here’s why:

You own the experience

With your own website, you have complete control over the design and branding. Unlike social media platforms, there are no design limits, no sudden changes, and no distractions like ads and links encouraging visitors to click away. 

Your website visitor is there because they want to be there. Then it’s just up to you to direct their attention, and make their visit a meaningful one.

You own the website address

Your fans and the industry will always be able to find you at your official website address. It’s a little slice of the internet that is owned by you, always.

You make more money

If you’re selling music or merch, creating your own website is even more critical. You get to keep more money by selling to your fans, and you are giving them a way to support you directly.

Plus, fans can join your mailing list when shopping from your online store. This makes it easier to let them know directly about new music, live or virtual performances, crowdfunding campaigns, and more. 

You own the data

The best way to get in touch with your fans is your email list. Creating a music website allows you to collect that data, and maintain direct communication with your fans. There's no “export list of fans” option on social networking sites because they own that database.

You also get detailed analytics data on your website visitors. This can help you understand your target market, see what kind of content drives visitors, and decide where to book shows.

How to make a music website

Now that you know why you need a website, you’re ready to start creating it. We’ll look at everything you need to make a professional music website, from template design to promotion. 

Choose a music website template

A website template is a perfect choice for a music website. It’s already mobile-ready, and you can customize the look as much as you’d like. When choosing a template to create your website, you’ll want to consider a few things:

Artist header image

Before you dive into designing your music website, you’ll need a great image. You will use this image in the header area of your website template. Make sure it’s on brand - it should convey a sense of who you are, and what your music sounds like.

Tip: Find an image that is high-resolution and landscape-style, with some room around the edges of the subject. This will help you to be flexible when you create the rest of your music website.

Menu layout and position

Think about how many pages you’ll need to add to your website. A good rule of thumb is 5-8, to keep things simple. This number will also fit nicely into a template with a horizontal menu bar. Your menu is ideally set above or below your header image, where your visitors instantly will look to locate it. 

If you wanted to add more pages, you could try a website template with a vertical sidebar menu, or add sub-pages. 

Content layout

If you plan to add a lot of content (bios for all of your bandmates, or your entire back catalogue of music, for example) choose a template that offers a simple content area. 

You may want to choose a template with a full-width content area to lay out all of your text, images, and photos. Or you could select a template with pre-set sections in different colors that you find appealing, and add your content within those areas.

One-page website templates 

One important consideration in choosing a website template: do you want to build a site with multiple pages, or a one-page website that has all of the content scrolling down on a single page? 

This might affect what kind of template you choose -  with a one-page website, you’ll want a nice wide content area and the ability to add sections and section background images.

Mobile-friendly website options

To make sure mobile visitors get a good experience, you’ll want to choose a mobile-responsive template. That means that it will adapt to look great on any screen, including desktop, tablets, and mobile devices. This will also help your website’s Google search engine results.

All of Bandzoogle’s music website templates are responsive, so there’s no need to build separate versions of your site for desktop and mobile.

Make a mobile-ready music website in just a few clicks. Build your website with Bandzoogle today! 

Create the color palette

Now that your template is in place, pick your colors to go with it. These tips will help you choose colors that will work for your website:

Choose a few colors only

As a general rule, you’ll want to stick to 3 main colors to keep the look consistent and professional: a primary brand color, a secondary color, and an accent color.

To start, get out your header image or your newest album cover, and choose a few colors from those. This will ensure the rest of your website flows well together, with a coordinated look. 

Make the colors match your brand

Choosing the color scheme for your website can be a lot like choosing the colors for your album cover. You’ll need to make sure that your website’s colors work well with your music, your personality, and brand.  

You could choose one color that sums you up (maybe a punchy pink if you’re a pop artist, soothing blue for an indie band, or a golden yellow for a folk musician). Then check out a color wheel like Adobe Color to help you find complementary colors.

All of our website templates come with a color palette in place, so you can either go with that, or customize those colors to match your own.

Choose your website fonts

Your music website is going to have a lot of text on it, from your musician bio page to your electronic press kit. Your website font choices will need to be clear and easy to read. Consider these points when choosing your fonts:

Make it easy to read

To make sure your text is legible, choose a color that stands out from your website’s background. Black on white is the classic example, but any dark color on a lighter background will be good for legibility. Try using a serif typeface that’s clean and simple.

Use a fun font for accents

Love the look of a curly or handwritten font? Use that one for your site title at the top, or your heading titles throughout your pages.

Keep fonts consistent

It’s important to keep the typography on your website consistent. Choose one content font and use that throughout all of your pages. That’s especially important if you’re using different font colors in your sections. 

You should also avoid using all caps for body text (don’t shout at people!), and use bold and italics sparingly, to keep text looking neat.

Organize the navigation

When you’re making your music website, you’ll want to decide what menu options to have, and how to organize them. Here are some key points to keep in mind when mapping out your website navigation:

Make navigating your music website easy

When deciding on your menu options, it’s important to make navigating your website as easy as possible for everyone who visits your site. Remember that a lot of your visitors will be there for the first time, and you’ll need to present your pages clearly for them.

Clear page names

Keep it simple when naming your main menu buttons. People have very short attention spans, and not a lot of time. If they have to guess at what content might be in a certain section of your site because the name is fancy or cute, there’s a chance they’ll skip it altogether.

It’s best to limit your main menu options to 8 choices or less. More than that, and it starts to get messy. Having 5 or 6 main menu buttons is ideal. Any less and you’re likely leaving out key information and content from your site, or some of the pages will end up being too cluttered.

Sub-menu pages

If you have more content than you can fit onto your main pages, add a few sub-pages to keep things organized. These will slide out or pop down under a main menu page in your navigation. 

For example, if you have a lot of albums, each with a great story to tell, give those their own page under your main ‘Music’ page. 

Create the pages for your music website

It’s tempting to add all kinds of information to your website, but start out with the essentials so you don’t feel overwhelmed. These pages will help get you started as you make your music website:

Homepage

Your Homepage is the most important, and most visited page on your website. This is where you can guide visitors to the information you want them to see, and what action you want them to take.

An effective Homepage should start with a great header image that makes a first impression. Next, add a relevant call-to-action to buy your latest album, or watch your newest video.

The next thing to add to your Homepage is an introduction to you. Use an image + text feature with your picture and a short bio to make sure all of your website visitors, be they fans, music bloggers, or bookers, know that they’re in the right place. 

To set the tone for the rest of your website, include a music player with your best tracks. Make sure it’s obvious and easy to click play. You could also add a recent video on this page.

Be sure to place a mailing list sign-up form on your Homepage too, either within your call-to-action header, or somewhere high up in the content area of the page. 

Then add your social media links, so that people can find those quickly as well.

If you’re making a one page website, then you won’t have a Homepage because all your content will be on the same page. In this case, you should still have a great header image with a call-to-action at the top, followed by your most important bit of news or content. 

For a more detailed look at creating an effective Homepage, check out How to build the perfect homepage for your band website

About page

Next up is your About, or Bio page. This is an important place for potential new fans to get to know you through your background and accomplishments. It’s also a good spot for media and industry people to read your story.

You can include several versions of your bio on this page. Conferences, festivals and media outlets have different needs for artist information - so make it easy for them to grab. It’s also a good place to add a different photo of you or your band.

For some tips on writing a musician bio, check out How to Write an Effective Musician Bio (with examples!)

Music page

When you’re making a music website, having a sitewide music player or embedding a player on your Homepage isn’t enough. Your website is your main hub on the Internet. Your fans should be able to find all of your music, lyrics, and album info on your own website. 

Dedicate a page to all things music, then arrange it into columns, or sections, so that your music is easy to find and listen to. Don’t forget to include some context about your music as well, and give options to listen and buy - either at a fixed price, or allow your fans to set the price.

Make your music page stand out with these suggestions: How to create a perfect page to sell music on your website

Store page

If there’s any place online that fans should be able to buy your merch, it’s through your website. 

Selling merch directly to your fans means you not only get most of the money (100% using the Bandzoogle Store Feature), you also get their email addresses to keep in touch with those fans over the long term.

To keep your Store page organized, set up your products with images. Then describe each item, explaining why your fans will love it.

Make sure to add a clear way to contact you on this page. When people are shopping online, they want to know that they can easily reach the seller if they have any questions.

For merch ideas and more details on setting up your online store, check out The Ultimate Guide to Selling Band Merch Online.

Photos page

It’s no secret that fans love to look at photos of their favorite bands. If you include a Photos section, it will keep fans browsing your website longer. This is also a good opportunity to show off different angles of your personality, and to show that you’re an active musician.

To help organize your photos, create different galleries to show off your promo shots, live shows, studio photos, or musical collaborations.

Videos page

Rather than sending your fans off to YouTube, focus their attention on your videos, embedded directly onto your music website. This allows you to curate which videos people see, giving you control over how your band is represented online. 

Place your most recent, or most popular, videos at the top of your Videos page, and rotate these out regularly to keep the content fresh. 

Events page 

If you plan to perform, another essential element on your music website is an Events or Shows page. Make it easy for fans to get info about your upcoming gigs, with details on show times, cover charges, opening bands, and the venue. 

If live shows aren’t really happening for you yet, showcase your best videos so fans (and bookers) can get a sense of what your performance would be like. Include a previous live stream performance, and details about any upcoming virtual shows.

If you want to sell tickets to your shows online (and commission-free), you can do that with the Bandzoogle Calendar feature. When a fan buys a ticket to your show, they’ll get a printable ticket by email, and you'll get a guest list to give to the door person at the venue. You can also include a live stream link directly in your ticket, if you plan to sell access to virtual shows through your website.

Contact page

Finally, make sure to include a Contact page on your music website. As the last page in the menu, make it easy for site visitors to get in touch with you - especially considering media or industry professionals.

On this page, include info on how best to reach you for booking, media inquiries, and fan correspondence. Use a custom form with fields requesting specific information to be filled out, compiling the details into a neat email to be sent right to you. 

You can also add your social media links, and a mailing list sign-up form, to this page.

Create an EPK for your music

If you’re actively promoting a new album or looking to book more gigs, you can create a specific EPK, or Press Kit section to centralize information for media and bookers. With an EPK page for your music, they can quickly find all the details they need in one spot.

Here’s what should be in your band’s EPK:

Bio: Media and venues have different needs for bios, so it’s a good idea to include a short and a long version of your bio. That way, they can easily use the bio that works for them.

Photos: Include your official promo photos, with vertical and horizontal options, as well as black & white versions. You can also include your album cover artwork for music reviewers if you’ve put music out recently.

Music: Have your latest music available to listen to, with links to Spotify or Apple Music so they can also listen to your music on their preferred streaming platform. In case a reviewer wants to download your full album, include clear information on who they can contact to get a copy.

Video: Embed one of two of your best videos. If your goal is to get more bookings, add high-quality live videos to give bookers an idea of what your show is like. If you’re looking to get press or reviews for your music, embed your most popular music video, or the video for your latest single.

Press/reviews: Include quotes about you and your music, with links to your best reviews and interviews. This will make it easy for someone to grab a quote to talk about your music.

Notable achievements or recent highlights: If you’ve won any awards, had success on streaming platforms, had your songs placed in movies/TV/ads, or performed at noteworthy festivals or conferences, include this information in your EPK.

Contact: Include detailed information on how to get in touch with you, your publicist, or booking agent. You can also add your social media links so bookers and media can quickly check out your social profiles.

Showcase your latest album with a professional digital press kit integrated into your own website. Create your EPK with Bandzoogle now!

Sell music on your website

Now on to the question: can I sell my own music on my own website? Yes - and in fact, you should make an effort to do so. Your website is an ideal place to sell your music online, directly to your fans. 

Integrate ecommerce into your website so that you can offer digital downloads for purchase. This could be on your Homepage, Music page, and Store page. Add a call-to-action to your Homepage before you release a single track or a new album, to drive traffic and pre-sales.

Offer lots of options to listen to, and buy your music. You can bundle your albums, offer singles, or let your fans pay what they want. Don’t rule out offering previous releases as well - new fans may want to buy your entire back catalog.

With online music sales, you get to keep the majority of the revenue, plus collect email addresses to keep your fans in the know about your future projects and shows. Your sales will also be reported to SoundScan, which can generate buzz for your album.

Include physical options like CDs or vinyl, and offer signed versions for those items for your super fans. Using Bandzoogle’s Store feature you can sell physical items commission-free, put items on sale, track inventory, and offer time-sensitive discounts.

Another option in addition to selling your music online, is selling fan subscriptions for access to your music. With subscriptions, you can set up tiers at different price points, giving your fans the chance to pay monthly in exchange for sneak peeks, access to your full catalogue, and other perks.

Check in on your website regularly, making it an essential tool to selling your music online. Your fans will often look there, especially if it’s important to them to support you directly. Make sure you update your website regularly to include all of your music.

Selling your music successfully online is a huge topic, so if you want to learn more about this, check out The complete guide to selling your music online.

Choose a domain name

Now that your website is created, complete with design, pages, and content including your music, you’ll want to choose the website address, or domain name. Having a custom domain name means owning a little slice of the Internet for your music and your brand - so choose your name carefully. 

Even with other domain extensions available, registering a ''.com'' is still the standard. Ideally you can find yourbandname.com, but if it’s not available, you can consider yourbandnamemusic.com, yourbandnameband.com, etc.

If you already own a domain name - great! You can always keep that with you, and point it to load your music website.

Optimize your website for Google Search

Once your website is loading under your chosen domain name, you’re ready to get it listed in Google search results. To help drive traffic to your website you’ll need to make sure that fans can find it easily. This is where SEO (search engine optimization) comes into play.

SEO is free, and is a very effective tool used by millions of businesses to drive traffic to their websites. For musicians, it’s a great way to get more fans engaged, listening to your music, and exploring your content. 

If you’re interested in optimizing your website for SEO, we took all of our SEO advice and created this quick checklist: Complete SEO checklist for musicians

Promote your music website online

Your website is finally complete. As the main online hub for your music, you’ll want to make sure everyone knows about it. Post your music website’s url far and wide: add it to all of your social media profiles, venues you plan to play at, on your business cards and posters. You can also create a custom band email address with your domain name.

Make your music website central to your music marketing strategy when you release new music or book a big tour. Focus your attention on promoting your music website in a handful of places where you are most active, and keep coming back to regularly update your website pages with new content.

We hope this guide to making a music website helps you work through the steps to creating a website that showcases your brand, and your music, in a professional way online.

Then keep your website close at hand as you venture out to get your music heard. From releasing a new single to selling your previous albums, to applying for festivals or grants, or teaching music lessons, a professional website is a must-have for any musician.