Web presence for your Band?

[Jazzwee]

Way back when, I used Myspace. But no one goes there anymore. So I mainly do my band promotion/calendar, emails etc. on Facebook.

 

So today, someone was asking me for my website to follow our gig schedule and I told them we were only on Facebook. And I realized then that I have to cater to the non-facebook crowd.

 

I do have a soundcloud page but there's no place to put a profile or a gig schedule.

 

So what do you all do?

 

The one thing I don't want to do is to set up a separate domain, not just for expense but also privacy. I'm tempted to use Myspace again but it's so messy looking that I just can stand it.

[Joe Muscara]

The problem with using any other service - MySpace, Facebook, Soundcloud, ArtistData/SonicBids, ReverbNation, BandZoogle, BroadJam, etc. - is that they are not your web site. You have no control over what those companies decide to do. Your band's image and presentation can be completely out of your control. Anything from annoying changes (look at the way FB changes from time-to-time) to the site shutting down is out of your control.

 

(I hope you realize that I just gave you some other suggestions of other sites you can try. ReverbNation is pretty nice, they let you create a true email list, have songs to play, etc. I have less experience with some of the others.)

 

Note that a Facebook fan page for your band should be accessible to anyone just by setting it up that way. The problem is, some people think you have to have a FB profile to view such pages so they don't go.

[Eric Jx]

What you may want to do is just register a domain name and setup a redirection directly to your band's facebook page. It should be visible even if the user doesn't have a facebook account.

 

 

[Sven Golly]

The one thing I don't want to do is to set up a separate domain, not just for expense but also privacy.

 

I'm not sure I understand what your concerns are regarding privacy; could you elaborate?

[Jazzwee]

The one thing I don't want to do is to set up a separate domain, not just for expense but also privacy.

 

I'm not sure I understand what your concerns are regarding privacy; could you elaborate?

 

Your domain information can be searched (unless you pay extra to make it unsearchable in 'Who is').

 

 

[Jazzwee]

Joe - Thanks for reminding me about ReverbNation. I remember seeing that but I couldn't remember the name.

 

Eric - Thanks. I didn't realize I could do that. However, I'm trying to get away from registering a domain. So that's my last choice.

 

Also, beyond just seeking advice, I'm curious what you guys are doing for internet presence. Anyone still doing Myspace? More Facebook, always a custom Website?

[Joe Muscara]

Namecheap's Whois Guard is just $1.58/yr. That's not a lot IMO, if you care about such things.

[Jazzwee]

Joe - In my case, the name of the band is my real name (typical in jazz) so I guess it's not much of secure deal anyway (regardless of Whois). LOL. But that's the way it got started and now I can't take it back. So let's just say, I'm being extra conscious of what shows up.

[Sven Golly]

Your domain information can be searched (unless you pay extra to make it unsearchable in 'Who is').

 

Right; so pay a little extra, and your privacy concern is removed. Seems pretty straightforward to me?

 

At the end of the day, the right way to do this is to have your own website; it should be the hub of your online presence, with various social media (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc) directing people TO your site.

 

Of course, everyone's requirements are different; the advice above is more for original acts that are trying to establish their brand online and drive traffic and have the most control over their message; YMMV.

 

[Dana.]

At the end of the day, the right way to do this is to have your own website; it should be the hub of your online presence, with various social media (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc) directing people TO your site.

+1, even at the beginning of the day.

 

Don't even bother with MySpace. It's useless.

 

And if you're selling your music, check out Bandcamp. It can double as a promotion platform.

[Jazzwee]

Right Sven - I understand. In my case, I'm not so concerned with the format of the web presence since I'm not getting gigs from the web. It's more of a way to communicate the gig schedule to existing fans.

 

I might yet go into a full website but of course with hosting, domain, privacy settings, it's more costly. But more than that, it's just more time consuming.

 

Strangely enough, in the past Facebook has given me everything I needed and I didn't have to spend a dime. Facebook was good because I just tell them to look up the band name as my name and they find it easily enough and get to hit 'Like'.

 

I just realized that ReverbNation syncs with Facebook so that kills two birds with one stone. But of course the disadvantage is that there's no one simple thing to remember to get to the ReverbNation page. So it doesn't have the same advantage as Facebook.

 

The next step solution (not as much work) is to in fact get a domain and then redirect to Reverbnation/Facebook.

 

Now here's the other thing, since Google is your friend, I just realized that I have enough band things coming up when I google the band name. So that sort of does what a domain will contribute anyway. Most new browsers auto search if you don't enter a domain. (but I realize I'm being lazy and cheap...).

[Jazzwee]

I should explain that since my band plays at the same venues every month, people know where to find us so I'm not so concerned about web promotion. So at the moment, the only mysteries are the exact dates.

 

But yes, I will have to rethink this as we go forward.

[mahinty]

Bandcamp +1

 

It's clean, no ads, good quality audio. You can have a custom header, a bio and a photo, and links to other sites/content. If you list your gigs on songkick.com then these will be automatically displayed on your bandcamp page.

 

Behind the scenes, the stats are good and you can collect e-mail addresses of people who download your music. There are also plenty of options to sell, giveaway and stream your music.

 

Sure it's not comprehensive - but as we all know, sometimes less is more. It won't be there forever, but nothing on the internet will be. The main advantage is you get the service of boffins who know about the web to take care of all the technical stuff, leaving you to concentrate on your music.

 

That's my 2 cents.

 

[not an employee or shareholder of bandcamp]

 

[Jazzwee]

mahinty, I just checked that out. Never seen it before. It seems to be fashioned for those that have CD's to sell. We just play live though and have nothing to sell (yet).

 

So does it work with this kind of model?

[Michelle ggurl]

I don't know if this helps, but I guess I'm just adding what I do to this conversation. ... I have a dedicated website. There are many relatively low-cost hosts out there now, taking advantage of the cloud concept. As for whois, i haven't had any problems ... As you say, when your name is also the domain, that kind of takes the anonymity out of it, ha. And I have a po box for the adress and frankly, I never did submit a phone number. Just FWIW.

[mahinty]

mahinty, I just checked that out. Never seen it before. It seems to be fashioned for those that have CD's to sell. We just play live though and have nothing to sell (yet).

 

So does it work with this kind of model?

 

Yeah, I guess bandcamp is more built around selling/streaming music. They have slowly bolted on the extra things like bios and gig details from songkick, but those elements aren't really it's strength. So it may not be the best service for you. Not sure what is. One thing we all seem to agree on though, it's not MySpace!

[mahinty]

Perhaps, if you mainly want to publish gig details and a bit of a bio, then may be a blog platform could work for you.

 

Then you could bring it all together (blog feeds, facebook, twitter feeds, soundcloud, flickr photos) with a flavors.me page. I've played with it a bit and it's easy to use and seems to solve the problem of aggregating your content from around the web.

 

Like you said above, if people are trying to find out more about your band, the first thing they will do is a google search. You just need to make sure that your main site (whatever it is) appears near the top of the search result page.

[Jazzwee]

Mahinty - hmmmm. the idea of a blog really has merit since you can make it part of a domain and no special task needed to set it up. Especially something flexible like Wordpress.

 

Michelle - what's funny is that I originally never put anything on the internet but my band members started promoting where they play (my name) and suddenly it was out there. It was on their individual web sites. But I guess in Jazz it's to be expected. I just wasn't prepared.

 

-- PO box -- you see what I mean? It's a never ending cycle to keep it private. It's not just the cost, it's the aggravation of maintaining it, especially when you've got multiple things like Facebook, etc. retyping events/venues over and over...

 

 

[Dana.]

Regarding privacy, if you're on the Internet, you've basically given it up. You can't expect to keep it if you're performing under your own name and publicizing your gigs. Have you ever Googled your name? You might be surprised at what personal info is already out there.

[Jazzwee]

Regarding privacy, if you're on the Internet, you've basically given it up. You can't expect to keep it if you're performing under your own name and publicizing your gigs. Have you ever Googled your name? You might be surprised at what personal info is already out there.

 

Actually, I've kept it under control. Mostly what comes up is music related (which is good). I have the advantage of having a common name so it's really hard for anything else to bubble up.

 

But yes, I'm not immune to a persistent searcher who can snatch little tidbits.

[Jazzwee]

Then you could bring it all together (blog feeds, facebook, twitter feeds, soundcloud, flickr photos) with a flavors.me page. I've played with it a bit and it's easy to use and seems to solve the problem of aggregating your content from around the web.

 

Another interesting new approach with "flavors.me". Some really good ideas here. Cheap too.

 

The main issue is really just aggregation (in today's social media world).

 

[Steve Force]

Then you could bring it all together (blog feeds, facebook, twitter feeds, soundcloud, flickr photos) with a flavors.me page. I've played with it a bit and it's easy to use and seems to solve the problem of aggregating your content from around the web.

 

Another interesting new approach with "flavors.me". Some really good ideas here. Cheap too.

 

The main issue is really just aggregation (in today's social media world).

 

Here is another possibility: bandzoogle .

[Sven Golly]

Here is another possibility: bandzoogle .

 

Joe recommended Bandzoogle in the first reply.

[Steve Force]

Whoops.

[Joe Muscara]

Yeah, Steve!! C'mon!!!!!

 

[Sven Golly]

Yeah, Steve!! C'mon!!!!!

 

 

[Steve Force]

[Michelle ggurl]

 

-- PO box -- you see what I mean? It's a never ending cycle to keep it private. It's not just the cost, it's the aggravation of maintaining it, especially when you've got multiple things like Facebook, etc. retyping events/venues over and over...

 

 

I'm not sure I follow. I have had a PO box as long as I've led my last two bands. Or any business, for that matter; when I submit any correspondence -- promo kits, submissions for certain gigs that want hard copy, etc -- I use my PO address, not home. The PO is also clearly visible on my website's "contact" page. I want people to be able to get ahold of me, lol! I guess it depends on how "serious" you view your endeavor from a business standpoint. Playing out is but one aspect of what I do; since I write original music and want to sell/promote that, I am doing much more than just listing gigs on my calendar (which needs updating as of this writing ... Yeah, it's another thing to maintain, but it's just part of the deal for me). I realize your band kind of started ad hoc and you're seeing where it leads and going with the flow, nothing wrong with that ... You just need to decide what level of presence you need. My site is very simple, actually doesn't take much to keep it running.

 

I list my gigs/create events on FB too but to be honest, most people who come out are from my email list.

[David Loving]

Junior's Roadhouse All Stars featuring Sister Rose are on the web - we just don't do enough upkeep. We need to update this one: new drummer/vocalist (the old one re-joined us; and a new bass player.

 

http://roadhouseallstars.com/

 

Here's ReverbNation :

 

 

again different bass player and drummer.

 

Here's Facebook:

 

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002849032579

 

Texas Rock Association, another band I play in, runs these sites:

 

 

and Facebook:

 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Texas-Rock-Association/159192897452569

 

we haven't done a website for TRA.

 

We aren't interested in privacy. We want publicity. Every now and then a member will get internet crazy and update and expand internet presence. What did we do before the internet - handbills on windshields, posters on telephone poles and postcards. What a great new world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kanker.]

With regards to paying for a web site, two words - write off