3 Different Types of Band, Producer or Musician Web Hosting  Options to Consider for Your Artist Site

Are you looking for band or musician web hosting for your official website? This article takes a look at some web hosting options you can use for your artist or band website.

First, a question many artists ask...

"Why would I need paid band or musician web hosting with all the free hosting and site profiles available to me?"

A good question,  which has a simple answer. Yes,  you can use free Blog hosts, social networks, music hosts and the like to post your music or other content.  Here's the long-term catch though...

These services will most often not allow you to have your own domain name, for example...

yourartistorbandname.com.

You'll at best end up with a profile or blog sub-domain URL which reads...

... yourartistname.hostingcompanyname.com or...

...twitmyface.com/yourartistname.

This screams "not serious!" if it's all you have.

This also means that you need to play by the rules of these companies and you are adding equity to their domain names with your content.

You therefore want to own your own .com domain name and pay for your musician web hosting so you look professional, remain in control of your content and build equity for yourself in the long run.

Remember:  There is value in the pages, music, videos, images, podcasts and other content you create and post online because quality content attracts attention.  Don't waste or risk it all. Own it!

So, which band or musician web hosting will suit your needs and fit the above requirements?

You have three main routes you can follow to get the job done.  Which one you choose will depend on your web skills, time available and budget.

1. Do It All Yourself - The cheapest,  most complicated and time-consuming option

If you know your way around Wordpress, HTML editing software and hosting control panels you wouldn't be reading this guide!  This option won't suit most music artists or bands who don't have the time or skills for this route.

This route may be the most cost-effective route as long as you know your stuff.  It can also turn into a resource black-hole should you not know what you're doing.

If you do decide to take this route then I can suggest you take a look at Bluehost.  I've used the service and they seem to offer everything you could need from a "traditional" host.

For most artists and producers I'd say the DIAY route is not the way to go.  Luckily there are more band and musician web hosting options...

2. Do Part Of It For Me - The more expensive, easier, less time-consuming option

There are hosts who cater to the specific needs of music artists and bands.  These services provide template-driven site-building tools with special applications bands may need already included in the package.

You can have your own .com domain name with these hosts and you pay for the hosting so the site belongs to you.  These hosts make it easy to add a music player, events calendar, videos, blog posts and other artist-oriented features to your website.

Two good examples you can have a look at are Bandzoogle and HostBaby.com.  I've used Bandzoogle and found it musician-user-friendly with good customer service.  I've not yet had a chance to use HostBaby though I believe they offer a similar type and level of service.

HostBaby offers you a slight bit more flexibility in design as you can use your own style sheets which I don't think is possible with Bandzoogle at the time of writing.

I feel most independent artists starting out will benefit from going along this route as it doesn't require super web skills or lots of time to get your website up.

The only downside is that it's a more expensive than traditional web hosting at about $150-$200 a year though I feel this is money well spent.

3. Do It All For Me - The most expensive, easiest, least time-consuming route

Yes, you can hire a web designer to design and build your site for you.  There are gazillions of freelancers and companies that will love to bid for your project.  Ah, the easy life, at last! ;-)

Not so quick though...

Yes, a GOOD web designer can make life easier.  A bad web designer can make a grown artist cry.  You usually get what you pay for.  This could range from $300 to a few grand depending on what you want done.

Price is not the only yardstick you should use when you choose a web designer.  Look for examples of their work and see whether you like what they do.  You can also contact artists with sites you like and ask them who designed the site.

Your web designer will usually be able to set you up with hosting which you'll pay for yearly,  apart from the cost of the initial website design work.

Some designers will also train you on how to maintain the website so you don't need to keep paying someone else to do it should you not wish to.

Conclusion: Most new independent producers, musicians or bands should be fine using option 2 and then moving up to option 3 when the business starts picking up.

First,  make sure you know exactly what you want from your website and then look for a band or musician web hosting option which ticks all your boxes.

Related Pages:

The New Web Music Business: 4 Ideas You Must Know & Use

Why Every Producer & Musician Needs a Website Right Now

Producer, Band & Musician Website Design Tips

How To Make Music Bloggers and Web Site Owners Ignore You

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