Do you want to skip the read and get right to my top picks? The best website builder for musicians and bands for most people is Squarespace.
Introduction to the Best Website Builder for Musicians and Bands
Welcome to our guide to the best website builder for musicians!
The live performance scene was one of the industries hit hardest by the social distancing and contact avoidance protocols imposed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and this led to diminished income for musicians throughout the world.
But, as with anything, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Many musicians have resorted to selling their recordings online through their websites, and even offer intimate online performances through any number of social media channels and streaming platforms. The challenge, however, lies in the technology a musician can use to create a particularly compelling website to draw in their core audience.
With concerts and live performances all on the back burner, for now, the world’s musicians are turning to the internet to make themselves heard by greater and wider audiences. Therefore, many are in need of a website builder musicians can use to make their online presence felt. Like visual artists who use these sites as a gallery for their work, the website builder musicians need allows people to listen to their music, order compilations, and subscribe for updates.
So, what are the top website builder for music artists? What are the characteristics of a free website builder for musicians to watch out for?
In today’s feature, we present our choices for the best website builder for musicians (which can easily be construed also as the best website builders for bands) and show how each of these stacks up in terms of helping create stunning sites that will let visitors rock on (or chill out) with their favourite musicians.
What's the Point of Choosing the Best Website Builder for Musicians?
A music artist website builder or website builder for bands is necessary as many areas have yet to allow venues like concert halls and bars offering live entertainment to reopen. Likewise, thanks to the emergence of streaming audio sites, a music artist website builder enables musicians to direct their fans to viable – and legal – platforms where they can play and save their tunes.
A good music artist website builder gives bands or solo artists the option to add an ecommerce section to their sites. In doing so, musicians can cut out the middleman (after all, platforms do get a share per download) and retain profits from the direct sale of their music to site visitors, as well as promotional merchandise.
What is the Best Website Builder Musicians Should Consider?
Strictly speaking, websites for musicians are no longer difficult to set up. You can use any reliable site builder to create an online platform for yourself, whether it’s for hosting videos of recorded or live-streamed performances, posting digital downloads, or booking gigs.
Ideally, a website builder musicians should be easy to use, shouldn’t require too much coding (or require any coding at all), and be able to interface with music-specific or recording-specific apps such as SoundCloud, Anchor, and Spotify.
If you're on a budget, you can also produce a decent website with a music website builder free of charge.
Our List of the Best Website Builder for Musicians:
We made a shortlist of the five best website builder for bands and musicians, citing easy to use options that help singers, bands, and solo performers get their work out to a wider audience:
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Squarespace – Best website builder for musicians looking for eCommerce and Online Booking
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Format– Best websites for musicians for a good-looking musician’s portfolio
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Webflow – block website builder musicians need + scalability
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Weebly – beginner-friendly website builder musicians can use
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WordPress.com – highly flexible best website builder for bands
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Wix – good general best website builder for bands and musicians
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Bandzoogle – Best websites for musicians with marketing your merchandise to fans
Before we go into more detail for each of these platforms you are probably wondering how we chose our top picks for website builder musicians.
How Do I Choose a Best Website Builder for Musicians?
As with any website builder, you need to consider the following when selecting the best website builder for musicians 2023:
Ease of Use:
To know whether a platform qualifies for the best website builder for musicians – these questions have to be asked: Can you use it right away, or do you have to take a bit of time learning it before you get into the business of using it?
A website builder musicians, even the non-tech-savvy ones, can use; Musicians are creatives, so not all of them want to delve into the nitty-gritty of having to code the backend of a website. The best website builder for musicians gives them more time for creating, whether it be composing, recording, or performing. That said, a music artist website builder needs to allow users to create in the shortest amount of time possible;
Features and Flexibility:
These are important as they determine how extensive or complex your website is going to be. Some musicians just want the bare-bones features of being able to upload, host, and stream media through their sites. In contrast, others want a richer experience through collaboration with other artists working from different sites.
Functionality; Especially if there’s an eCommerce element involved, a website builder musicians need should let you add functional widgets to facilitate site navigation. Indeed, enhancing customer experience is a plus in a music artist website builder. We’d also like to point out that the best website builder for musicians includes the ability to play snippets or actually stream recordings through one’s website;
Connectivity; By this, we’re talking about a music artist website builder that offers connectivity with the more popular social media platforms, particularly those that allow live broadcasts like Facebook and Instagram. The best website builder for musicians should offer a great way for music artists and producers to actively engage with their followers, putting a human face – so to speak – on a performing entity; and
SEO and Mobility:
The best website builder for musicians needs to enable powerful SEO tools. Especially if you’re building a name for yourself or your band, being first among search results is vital, and your site builder ought to have ample provisions for making your site SEO-friendly. Mobility is another key concern, as you need a site optimised for mobile viewing and editing to function well.
eCommerce Tools:
Being able to market yourself as a musician and sell your work online are two considerations when choosing a website builder. For the most part, musicians need to have provisions for gig booking, premium streaming media, and the ability to sell digital downloads of their work.
Musicians and music producers operate in what is essentially a gig economy. Therefore, the best website builder for musicians needs to have extensive ecommerce features, including the ability to give potential clients the ability to book and schedule gigs on or offline.
Support and Resources:
Most musicians aren’t exactly tech-savvy, so having a good technical support system and a wealth of resources at one’s fingertips are all a great help.
Pricing:
Some musicians, particularly those who are just starting out, don’t have that much in terms of a budget for a website builder, so it would be advisable to get a free website builder for musicians that still offers a great deal of flexible functionality. On the other end of the spectrum, for musicians who have the cash to spare, getting enough bang for their bucks with a premium subscription that enables them to maximise their online presence is optimal.
The best website builder for musicians and bands in detail:
Now, let's get to know in detail which website builder musicians can really maximise to their advantage.
Squarespace:
Squarespace is rapidly getting to be the website builder musicians' choice in the global creative community. While visual artists love it for the sophisticated look of its themes, musicians like it because of its nifty, well-designed built-in audio player and the fact that its eCommerce suite includes options for services. This enables musicians to book and schedule gigs through their websites or through integrated social media channels; email marketing is also a viable option for promoting one’s work through a site built with Squarespace.
But, as with anything, Squarespace isn’t perfect. Price-wise, it ranks among the more expensive site builders in the industry, with subscriptions ranging between $12 to $40 a month, and the builder itself is challenging to learn at first. Still, if you want a site builder that allows you free rein when it comes to your creativity, Squarespace is an excellent choice.
Squarespace – Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- Built-in audio player with great playback quality;
- Audio Collection feature that enables users to directly upload audio and video files in various formats;
- Elegant looking themes for a professional-looking site;
- Ecommerce tools include a service suite that enables musicians to book gigs and sell digital downloads.
- Ecommerce functionality for the sale of artist-specific merchandise;
- Scheduling and appointment function for gigs;
- Contact forms and mailing lists for fan clubs; and
- Excellent social media integration in this best website builder for bands.
Cons:
- Expensive – price range is between $12 and $40 monthly;
- Layouts aren’t very flexible;
- The builder is not very intuitive and takes a while to learn
What is it best for?
Musicians who want to be able to maximise their online earning capabilities through eCommerce and online booking.
Pricing:
Standard rates and pricing packages of this website builder musicians' pick are:
Read through their terms of service before you commit.
Format:
Okay: so you might be thinking – “What in the world is an artist’s site builder doing in a website builder musicians list?”
Simple: Format enables musicians to create a pretty solid-looking portfolio for talent scouts, auditions, and go-sees. While you can’t upload your music directly, you can link your Format portfolio with your Soundcloud and Bandcamp accounts. Likewise, it’s very reasonably priced from $12 monthly, qualifying it to our top website builder musicians list.
Format – Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- Highly intuitive and responsive templates;
- Reasonable prices
Cons:
- You can’t upload sound files directly;
- No facility for booking gigs or scheduling shows
What is it best for?
Creating a basic but exquisitely good-looking musician’s portfolio.
Pricing
Webflow
Overview:
Much like Squarespace, Webflow isn’t really the easiest of site builders to use – but, we consider it the best website builder for musicians for several reasons.
If musicians or producers have cut their teeth building sites using WordPress, the creation process becomes somewhat easier as Webflow is built along similar lines to the CMS-centric platform.
Webflow’s builder is block / box-oriented, so it makes creating specific sections of content easier, but it doesn’t help very much on an aesthetic level. Nevertheless, what works in favour of this music artist website builder is the ability to upload and stream music directly from one’s site – and, for musicians, that’s what really matters.
Features:
- Over 100 design templates;
- Block-driven site builder;
- Extensive range of third-party applications, including several options for on-site streaming; and
- Scalable solutions for ecommerce and marketing
Pricing:
Standard rates and pricing packages are as follows:
Check out their service terms if you're interested in a subscription!
Weebly:
We’ll be blunt: Weebly doesn’t offer as much in terms of flexibility and functionality as Wix or Squarespace, but it’s an excellent website builder musicians option if all you need are the basics. Still, it can be challenging to create a visually striking website when all you have are 50 themes at your disposal. Plus, it’s one of the most reasonably priced premium platforms, with subscriptions starting at $5 a month.
Weebly – Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- One of the most reasonably priced at $5 monthly;
- Video backgrounds give you a dynamic way to show off your work
- Intuitive drag-and-drop website builder musicians who aren't tech-savvy can enjoy using;
- SEO toolkit;
- Ecommerce toolkit;
- In-platform applications marketplace for third-party integrations;
- Cloud-based hosting; and
- Music and video hosting
Cons:
- You have to pay extra to enjoy more functions;
- Limited selection of themes and templates
What is it best for?
Choose Weebly if you want to do extensive email and social media marketing for your music. Also, its online marketing function ranks high among the best website builder for musicians in the industry.
Pricing:
Standard rates and pricing packages are as follows:
Interested in Weebly? Then better understand their service terms before you subscribe.
WordPress.com
Overview:
WordPress has been the gold standard of easy to learn and use site builders. It's considered the best free website builder for musicians since it takes so much of the stress of site creation and backend management out of the equation. As a result, musicians and music producers can spend more time doing what they do best: entertaining the world through great music.
Features:
- CMS site creator / editor;
- Integrated news and blogging function;
- WooCommerce plugin for creating online storefronts;
- Highly responsive templates like Moonlight and Sonaar that were specifically created for musicians;
- Music-specific plugins like Audio Album for direct uploading of media files and Event Espresso for gig schedules; and
- Easy integration with social media.
Pricing:
WordPress' standard rates and pricing packages are as follows:
Be sure to check out their service terms before you subscribe.
Wix
Do you want to create websites for musicians absolutely frill- and trouble-free? You ought to consider Wix. This perennial favourite among site creators offers maximum functionality and the easiest to use building platform. The highly intuitive AI-driven site builder also offers several functions specific to the music industry: a proprietary music tool that lets creators upload and sell their music commission-free; analytics to see which tracks are getting maximum airplay, and Wix ShoutOut, the platform’s very own email marketing tool to help musicians get to a much wider audience.
Wix is, essentially, freemium ware – you get maximum functionality even on a free subscription, even if you don’t get a domain of your own and have in-platform advertising scattered throughout your site – and this makes it a great choice for those who need to set up websites for musicians on a tight budget.
Wix – Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- Music industry-specific templates;
- Music industry-specific functions like Wix Music, Wix Music Analytics, and Wix ShoutOut;
- Free domain name for the first year;
- Intuitive site builder
- Add an online music player via Wix App Market;
- One of the easiest drag-and-drop builders available;
- AI-driven site creator from this website builder musicians who are short on time can use hassle-free;
- Built-in online marketing suite;
- Allows engagement with fans via social media; and
- This website builder musicians' pick offers commission-free music sales
Cons:
- Doesn’t have a mobile app;
- Using it on a mobile browser can be time-consuming and frustrating;
What is it best for?
Creatives on a tight budget but need maximum functionality and flexibility for their work. This qualifies Wix as one of the best website builder for musicians on our list.
Pricing:
Standard rates and pricing packages for this website builder musicians' pick are as follows:
Do your diligence and read their terms of use before committing.
BandZoogle:
Created specifically for the music industry, BandZoogle offers all the bells and whistles that websites for musicians need to play to their core audiences – in more ways than one. Not only will this platform allow you to upload your audio files, but it will also allow your fans to stream your work from your site. If you have SoundCloud or Bandcamp, you can easily link these up to your Bandzoogle site.
It’s not the most intuitive site builder in the bunch, but Bandzoogle makes compiling your music into albums much easier, allows you to vlog to your followers, and also makes creating fillable forms a snap. Subscriptions start at $8.29 monthly.
bandzoogle-pricing
Bandzoogle – Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- 100 themes to choose from;
- Easy to link to social media and streaming media channels;
- Allows musicians to offer digital downloads online, schedule gigs, and sell various merchandise
Cons:
- Not a very intuitive editor
What is it best for?
No question about it: Bandzoogle is definitely for those with more industry experience and the advantage of touring. Gig scheduling and booking are a snap, and it’s great for marketing your merch to fans.
Pricing
Is a Free Website Builder for Musicians Advisable?
Aside from the premium builders we listed above, there are several free website builder for musicians you need to check out.
First, let's resolve the question: is a free website builder for musicians worth it? It all depends on your specific needs and expectations. If you are low on resources and only want the bare-bones version, then, by all means, use a free website builder for musicians. Just remember nothing is really for free but the following will come with only small ads.
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Webflow – Small ads
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Square Online – Small Ads
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Carrd – Small ads
These are three of the best free platforms that create great-looking and functional websites for musicians. While the functionality is limited, these offer a stable platform where musicians can share their work with the world.
Conclusion and Recommendation for the Best Website Builder for Musicians and Bands
Today's recording artists and performers are spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing a music artist website builder, but there are those which appear to be better equipped than most, as in the case of Squarespace.
Keep in mind, though, that the best website builder for music artists may not be the same as the best website builder for music producers.
Any of the platforms we’ve presented in this review would be a great way for musicians to build a website where they can show their work off to the world. We've also recommended the top free website builder for musicians you can use.
>> Try Squarespace For Free <<
FAQ:
What do I need to look at in websites for musicians builder?
While we have given several criteria for choosing websites for musicians site builder, we recommend that performing artists also consider the following factors: Ability to upload audio and video files to your site; Vlogging capability; Ecommerce solutions for booking gigs, as well as selling digital downloads, merchandise, and tickets; Social media integration for interaction with fans; and Interlinking with streaming platforms like iTunes and Spotify.
Which would you recommend in terms of functionality?
This would come between Squarespace and Bandzoogle. Both platforms offer maximum flexibility for musicians and come with various eCommerce tools to help them market their work online.
Do any of these website builder musicians allow artists to directly sell and/or stream their work without needing to go through a third-party host?
Wix Music already has the feature built in, while platforms like Squarespace and WordPress will have you download and install a third-party app or plugin to add the function to your site.
Is there a website builder for bands I can use for free?
Wix, Weebly, Webflow, and WordPress all have free-to-use (or freemium) subscription packages. Keep in mind, though, that in-platform ads will be placed on your site.
Which website builder for bands and musicians can help my fans follow my schedule?
Squarespace’s ecommerce toolkit has a feature that slaps on a calendar where fans and followers can monitor an artist’s schedule. WordPress, on the other hand, can offer the feature through the Event Espresso plugin.
That’s all for now.
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