When developing the overall website strategy for the Indie Artist X Project it became clear the artist’s existing website fell well short of the functionality needed, let alone desired.

Website Functionality Goals

Before beginning the search for a replacement website solution for the artist we reviewed the overall website strategy for Indie Artist X then listed out the base functionality the new website should have a on a page by page basis. Below is a recap of the desired features we listed for each page:

Homepage:

 “About us” artist blurb, featured streaming music, the ability to offer fans who sign up for the email list exclusive access to free song downloads, email list sign up, social media links, artist news.

Music:

Full length streaming of all released music, free exclusive music downloads (unreleased, demo, live tracks) available to fans who have signed up for the artist email list, email list signup.

Shows:

Monthly show schedule with links to the venues and map based directions, email list signup.

Store:

The ability to sell both albums in physical /CD and digital / MP3 format directly from the website. The ability to sell all released songs as individual MP3s directly from the website. The ability to sell multiple t-shirt designs directly from the website. Accept Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Paypal for payment. Offer free exclusive music downloads (unreleased, demo, live tracks) available to fans who have signed up for the artist email list, email list signup.

Artist Blog:

Include an artist blog on the site. Use the blog for announcements, news and general artist musings. Include commenting, bookmark and rss features with the blog.

Video:

A page that provides streaming of multiple videos by the artist.

Press:

Include a link to the artist’s electronic press kit (EPK), official artist bio, high resolution press photos, press contact email address, blurbs / quotes from artist press coverage

Contact:

Include contact email addresses for artist press, booking and management inquiries, links to social media sites where the artist maintains an active presence, email list sign up.  

Build vs. Buy

Once we identified all the features we desired for the artist website it was time to explore options for the new artist site. The first decision point was to decide if we should build a custom website to our exact specifications or choose a pre-packaged website solution.

Since Indie Artist X doesn’t have any web development skills building a custom website would mean that they would either need to hire a professional website design / development firm or find a friend or fan who has web development skills to build the site to the specifications. Hiring a professional web development firm to build and host the site on a budget of $20 per month (per the budget restrictions of the IAXP) simply isn’t a realistic option.

Finding a friend or fan with web development skills that is willing to build a custom site for the artist can sound like a pretty good idea at first. However, the risk is the volunteer who builds the custom site will eventually get hit by a bus, move to Italy with their new boyfriend / girlfriend, begin a three year meditation retreat or have some other seemingly unbelievable reason why they can suddenly no longer support or update the website they built the artist.   

Given that Indie Artist X doesn’t have the budget to hire a web design / development firm or web development skills to build the site themselves we decided to pursue a pre-packaged website solution that would meet our requirements.

The Website Solution

Ultimately, it was determined that the new joint artist website offering from Bandzoogle and Reverbnation would be the best overall fit for the site requirements we had identified. Indie Artist X was already a Reverbnation user and found that many of their widgets would help meet the specific functionality goals we set out for the website. The RN “Exclusive Downloads” widget that allows access to exclusive free song downloads for fans that sign up for the email list was very high on the list of desired website features (and for the overall fan development and commerce strategy for IAX).

The cost of the Bandzoogle / Reverbnation artist website solution is $17.95 per month and includes hosting, email, website traffic reporting and technical product support.

Audiolife was selected to power the ecommerce store on the IAX website. There are several good ecommerce engines that meet the requirements for selling CD’s, MP3’s and merchandise directly from an artist’s website but Audiolife’s on-demand production and fulfillment capabilities set it apart. Indie Artist X has engaged a few local artists in their community to create multiple custom t-shirts designs. These custom t-shirts can now be featured and sold on the website without any upfront manufacturing costs.

There are no upfront or monthly fees for the Audiolife ecommerce solution. Per transaction fees vary by type of transaction (physical CD, MP3 download, ringtone, merchandise) and by whether they on-demand produce products or warehouse existing inventory.

The Outcome vs. Goals

Overall the Bandzoogle / Reverbnation / Audiolife solution met almost all of the desired functional goals for the website. Technical support and service from all three organizations exceeded expectations during the implementation by a non-technical person.

A few short-comings of the selected solution include:

1.    While Bandzoogle does have many artist website templates to choose from we never found one that looked great while allowing the homepage features we desired at the same time. We had to choose between “look” desired and the “end user functionality” desired. End user functionality did (and should!) win out in the end.

2.    The integration between the Bandzoogle and Reverbnation products still needs work. Adding the Reverbnation widgets into the Bandzoogle site builder often caused formatting / page layout problems that required help from tech support to resolve.

3.    Audiolife does not yet accept Paypal as an ecommerce payment option or allow multi product bundling (buy a CD get a free t-shirt for example).

4.   The $17.95 per month price point was quite a jump from Indie Artist X’s previous Wordpress based site that cost virtually nothing to host.

The new Indie Artist X website isn’t the most beautiful artist site out there but it does meet our primary goal of providing fans that visit it with plenty of options for finding music and videos, free downloads, artist news, tour dates, links to the social media sites and an overall easy to use experience. I will be sure to post a link to Indie Artist X's website once the project wraps up and the actual artist's name is made public.

The next step in the Indie Artist X Project is to develop a solid website strategy for encouraging fans to visit the site on a regular basis.