Table of Contents
By: Grace Chee
As a musician, having an online presence is one of the best ways to interact with your audience. Having a presence online allows you to promote new music, showcase exclusive content, and most importantly, keep in touch with your fans.
Nowadays, most musicians have resorted to using social media platforms for showcasing their personal brand. However, despite how popular and accessible social media websites are, they are not the best choice for promoting your music and engaging with your fans. In this blog, we’re going to explain why musicians should have a personal website in addition to their social media platforms.
1. Establish an all in one platform for your work
As helpful as social media platforms are, having too many can make it difficult for your audience to see all your work. For example, it can be a bit tiresome for fans to look at Twitter for your updates, Instagram for new exclusive pictures, Shopify for merch, and then look at Facebook for new events.
By creating a website, you are establishing an all-in-one platform where audiences can easily see all your content organized in one place. They would only have to remember one platform, and wouldn’t have to navigate through other links to see the rest of your content. Also, having a website makes it easier for corporate events / gigs to easily show your information to others. All they have to do is link your website, and fans can easily see an overview of who you are without having to navigate through all your social media platforms. Now, fans can see your merch, events, updates, and pictures all on one link!
For example, check out musician Eden Kai's website on Jemi! Here, Eden uses his website as an all-in-one platform for his work - his links for his new music, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. are all in one place!
2. Look more professional
While social media does provide accessibility, almost anyone can create an account and their own platform. However, taking the time to make a website provides the idea of professionalism, as it shows you are dedicated to your music and taking your career seriously. It also shows legitimacy, as fans are more likely to see your authenticity through a website rather than a social media platform.
For example, check out Subsurface's website on Jemi. Subsurface establishes their professionalism by creating a whole website dedicated to their music. They also include a professional bio in their website to show legitimacy!
3. Showcase your brand
Another drawback of social media platforms is the inability to customize your profile fully. For example, on Facebook and Instagram, you are restricted to the standard theme for your page, and aren’t able to customize background photos, change font colors, arrange layouts, etc.
However, websites allow you to customize these features so that you can build a page that perfectly fits your music experience and brand. For example, if you’re a classical musician, you can have your website fit the calm experience of classical music by using soft colors, a clean layout, and a professional picture of you in the website’s background. Whatever your brand is, creating a website will ensure that your audiences are gaining the true experience of your work rather than seeing a standard social media page.
For example, check out how musician DJ Ramen customizes his website to fit his own personal experience and brand. He is able to take ownership over section layouts, button colors, background photos, link animations, and more!
4. You choose what audiences get to see
On social media, you don’t get to choose which of your posts audiences get to see. Some of your posts can get lost in their feed, which makes it difficult for fans to see all your content. Also, on social media, you are constantly competing for your fans’ attention with other accounts. You always have to make sure you are keeping up with the latest trends to grab your audience’s attention, which can get exhausting.
Using a website ensures that you control what fans see without any distraction from other accounts. You never have to worry about fans not seeing your content, because you can put all the important information you want them to see on your website.
In this example, musician Rock Paper Cynic is able to control which content he wants fans to see. He puts all of his most important music videos on his website, so fans are easily able to access it!
5. Organize the monetization of your content more easily
Since social media is mainly used for socializing, it can be difficult at times to monetize your content. Purchases can be hard to track, and promoting items such as your merch can be difficult because of how big social media platforms are.
However, creating a website would streamline this process much quicker, and allow you to organize your sales and content much more easily. For example, on Jemi (a website builder) you can easily set up shop items to sell anything related to your brand (ex: new CDs, show tickets, merch, Zoom hangouts, etc.). Jemi allows you to easily track orders, and even respond to your fans for any follow up questions. By creating a website, you are not only providing a one-stop place where fans can easily buy your items, but also improving the organization of the process. Now, you can easily see who’s coming to your show and who’s buying your merchandise without the messy process of social media.
For example, songwriter Nina Sung uses her website to sell personalized music lessons, private career sessions, or Zoom hangouts. Nina is able to easily streamline the selling process on Jemi and keep track of all her orders.
6. Own your audience
The last reason that artists should build a personal website is so that they can truly "own" their audience, and have access to all the data, names, emails of their audience members.
Ownership means you have a direct way to communicate with your fans without relying on social media and other third-parties to establish that relationship. Until you have a guaranteed way of contacting your fans, you don't truly own them. That's why it's dangerous to only use social media to engage with your audience. You never know when the algorithm of social media platforms will change.
Having your own website where you can collect emails of followers, send them newsletters, etc will allow you to have true ownership over your audience.
For example, rapper Zuby has a link on his website called "Join My Email List" so that he can easily collect the contact information of his audience.
Closing Thoughts
Websites are a necessary component for any musician. They increase your legitimacy, allow you to distribute content in a more accessible and organized way to fans, and give you control over how you display your brand! Making a website isn’t difficult either - there are many websites that allow you to make one for free! If you’re interested in making a website, feel free to make one on Jemi’s platform! Jemi allows you to create a free website using an easy drag and drop builder. From there, you are able to design your own layout, sell merch, and host interactions - everything you need for your career as a musician!
If you’re interested in more tips on how to expand your audience, feel free to check out some of our other blog posts. As always, do not hesitate to reach out with any questions (or any suggestions of what you’d like to see!) by emailing assistant@jemi.app