As both a designer and someone who loves music, I visit a lot of musician websites for various reasons. Sometimes it’s to check out what other designers are doing for musicians, and most of the time it’s just because I want to find out more about a band I’ve discovered via Twitter or Spotify. There are a lot of great band websites out there, but for every great one, there are are a few…well, less than great ones.
Here are a few of the most common website mistakes I see bands and artists making, and how they can be avoided.
1. Auto play!
I think this is probably #1 on almost all lists relating to website mistakes made by musicians yet some artists do still set their music to automatically play on their websites.
Why do I think it’s a bad idea?
Chances are your visitors are either already listening to music or watching TV and don’t want your music interrupting or clashing with what they’re already rocking out to. Many people browse with multiple windows open, and if they can’t tell where the music is coming from, may just close all of their windows/tabs at once out of frustration. Why risk losing a potential fan because of such a simple mistake?
Another reason why it is a bad idea is that many people browse the internet at work, and if your track starts blasting out of their computer speakers when they perhaps shouldn’t be online, it isn’t going to do them any favours with their employer!
So… put yourself in the shoes of those who will be looking at your site and think about whether auto play is really necessary or if it’s going to be more of a nuisance. My thoughts are that 9 times out of 10, it’s going to be a nuisance.
2. no mailing list
More and more artists are realising the importance of a mailing list (particularly in the wake of the ever-declining organic reach of Facebook pages), but there are still many musician websites out there that don’t have anywhere for people to sign up for updates.
Why is this a problem?
Think back to the days of Myspace. So many bands built their fanbases on there, but didn’t have any other way of capturing their data. When Myspace “disappeared” these bands lost their line of contact with their fans. It may seem unlikely right now that Facebook would suffer the same fate, but you can never be too sure. Make sure you have a mailing list platform set up and allow visitors to your website to subscribe easily from your site.
3. too much clutter…overwhelming your visitors
This is one of the more common mistakes that I see, particularly when artists take the DIY approach to building and maintaining their website. I’m all for musicians updating and maintaining their websites – that’s why I build all of mine using WordPress as a content management system – but sometimes when artists are let loose on building a website by themselves, they want to include absolutely everything they can think of…and it quickly becomes cluttered and messy.
What’s the solution?
Again, it’s a case of putting yourself in the shoes of your fans and potential fans. Make a list of what is essential for them to see, and include only that in your design. In many cases less is more; as long as you have clear navigation, an appealing aesthetic to the design, and you’re delivering the content that music fans, press and venues are looking for, then you’ve got the main bases covered. You don’t need to add every bell and whistle you can think of. Strip it back and go with the essentials. In doubt? Hire a designer or chat with a music marketing consultant; they’ll steer you in the right direction.
4. no contact information
This one always surprises me. One of the main functions of your website should be a way for fans, bookers, promoters, journalists, labels etc to get in contact with you. Make it easy to find contact information; where that’s an email address, contact form or phone number – ideally at least 2, if not all 3 of these. You could be missing out interview requests, gigs, sync deals – who knows!? Add ways for people to get in touch with you, and make it easy to find. Otherwise, you could be missing out on some valuable opportunities.
5. Outdated content
Ok, so you have your website. It looks great. Awesome. Wait… it was last updated 6 months ago? Uh oh. As a visitor, I’m probably not going to stick around. If people feel like your band aren’t doing anything, it’s unlikely that they’re going to want to find out more about you or listen to what you have to offer.
What should you do?
Keep your website up to date! Make sure you’re adding your new shows, blog posts, news updates - anything and everything that is happening with your music should be added. Even if it’s as simple as sharing content from Instagram or Facebook on your page, do it – it keeps things current and shows that you’re still active.
what do you think?
There are plenty of other things that jump out at me from time to time when visiting band websites… but what have you picked up on that you think artists should fix? Leave a comment below and get involved in the discussion.
