As an independent musician or band, there are several ways in which you can promote your music, both online and offline. With more and more people turning to the web for information, having your own website gives you the potential to reach a wider audience. Let’s take a look at a few ways you can use your site to help promote yourself and your music.

Maintain a permanent online presence

Your website serves as a permanent address where your fans and admirers can learn more about you and keep up-to-date on your work. Therefore, it’s important that you publicize your website address at shows and in all of your printed materials (CD sleeves, flyers, program notes, press kits, etc.), so that people can find you. For more information about how to promote your website, please see our previous article, “Helping people find you online”.

Stay in touch with fans

Your website can be more than simply a static collection of documents about yourself and your music. By integrating interactive elements such as a newsletter/mailing list and/or contact form, your site can become an effective tool for keeping in touch with your fans. Make sure you also publish your schedule dates on your site to keep your fans updated on when and where you will be performing.

Guestbooks and discussion boards can also be effective communication tools, although they can require a lot of maintenance and are susceptible to what is referred to as “comment spam” (visitors leaving comments in your forum with the sole purpose of increasing traffic to dubious e-commerce sites). Some systems allow you to moderate (approve) comments to your site, but wading through a lot of comments and trying to determine which ones are spam could become a real headache. Be sure you are aware of these issues before implementing one of these features on your site.

Improve your image as a serious musician

By having a professionally designed website that you update frequently with new content, you are showing the world that you are alive and working on new projects. A listing of your past and future performance dates demonstrates a seriousness of purpose.

Expose your music to a wider audience

The web is truly a global community, and by having your own website, people from all over the world will potentially be able to discover your talent. Since your website is “open” 24 hours a day, your fans can visit your site at their convenience. By having audio clips available on your site, people who have never had a chance to hear you perform, either live or on a recording, can get a taste of your music.

Increase your income through online sales

Selling merchandise online is becoming easier and easier these days, especially with the help of such services as PayPal. By selling your CDs directly through your website, you can supplement your income beyond what you make from performances and other gigs. Even if you elect to sell your music online through third-party vendors, your website can serve as a gateway to those sites.

It takes work

As most things in life, building and maintaining your own website will require time and effort on your part. Fortunately, Do-It-Yourself services, such as the one offered by NoteWay, make it easy for you to get started with your own website without having to learn complicated software or build anything from scratch. I think you will find that the time and effort you put into making your website a top-notch resource will really help you in promoting your music career.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 15th, 2005 at 6:30 pm by Thomas Fowler.

Questions or comments about this article? Are there other topics you would like us to discuss in the future? Please contact us with your suggestions.

Author biography: Thomas Fowler is Vice President of Technology and Development at NoteWay Media. He has been involved with music for most of his life and now earns a living building websites.