Websites: The Best Thing You Can Have As A Band

You walk into the place you’ve been wanting to work at for quite some time now and you ask where you can apply for the job you know you’re well suited for. You start chatting with one of the people in charge of hiring, things are going great. By the end of the conversation, he asks for a resume. You look puzzled realizing you haven’t made your resume, and you’re about to look like a fool in front of the guy who’s job is to determine if you are the right fit for the company.

You always heard a resume was good for landing a job, in fact, so important, that you are guaranteed to lose the job without one. It’s the thing you can use to sell yourself to the interviewer and show them all you have to offer, including references and past work.

You would never be in this situation, right? For bands, a website is your resume. It holds all of your past experiences you think would be applicable to landing a gig, testimonials of people who you’ve worked with/played for, and contact information. So why do so many bands NOT have one? Here’s some examples of why you need a website to greatly increase your chances of landing gigs, collaborations, and selling products.

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Show Your Previous Work On Your Website

The resume equivalent of showing your previous gigs/projects is your past work experience. You’d put all your past jobs, school experience, etc here. For bands, you can split this into three parts: songs you’ve recorded/played live, shows you’ve performed at, and unique things you do or can do at shows that will likely bring revenue to the venue. For the studio, the first part may be all you need.

Since you’re trying to look your best, the best thing to do is to add your studio recorded songs. It will come across much cleaner and without mistakes as opposed to a live recording. If you don’t have any, use a video from a previous gig you’ve played or record one at your next practice!

If you’re looking to get a show, include a list of shows you’ve played previously if they’re of any importance. Include any shows where you were the headliners, the opening act for a prestigious band, or if the show had any particular reason like fundraising for a cause.

This will show the person in charge of booking that you have experience, show your importance, and anything that will draw a connection between you two. This is NOT the time to hold an ego, but also not the time to undersell yourself.

Additionally you can add anything unique about previous shows you’ve done and might plan to do at the show. Obviously talk it over with the person booking you though if it concerns them. This may include bringing a haze machine, playing a game with the audience, or… whatever. Whatever you think would attract your audience that you’ve done in the past with success.

Showcase Testimonials On Your Website

Testimonials are your references on a resume. People that can vouch you put on a fun and entertaining show. Try to ask your audience for reviews that include specific things you do in your show! The people booking will see that you have 3rd party proof that you won’t disappoint.

Websites: A Hub For Common Information

Your website is great in that it can be used as more than just your resume. If you get common questions like, “what’s your email?” and “how many followers do you have on all of your socials?”, you can put down this information for everyone to see and you can just point to it! It’ll save you tons of time in emails and messages.

Sell Merch On Your Website

I DON’T recommend this to everyone. If you only have a handful of people coming to your shows and a few hundred likes on your facebook, it will be detrimental to try to sell merch. It will cost you not only time, but there’s a good chance you will lose money.

You can focus your efforts on much more important things like giving value to your audience for free. The only way to grow is to give value, and if you ask too early you’re just looking for disappointment. For bands with a good, consistent, and engaging audience (interacts with your social media on a regular basis), you might consider selling merch.

Be aware though, that only an extremely small percentage of the people who actually engage with your social media and come to your shows will be willing to spend money (1% is actually pretty good!). So be smart, and give more value than you will ever receive and expect!

How To Make A Website

Nowadays it’s super easy to make a website. To get started, use a site like Squarespace or Wix. They’ll have templates that can get you up and running in no time, and you’ll look 10x more professional than if you didn’t have one. (No this isn't sponsored unfortunately :( haha)

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Though this didn’t cover everything in detail, hopefully this shows you the importance of making a website. You’ll need to treat your band like a business if you’re looking to land better gigs and grow your audience, and a website is a first great step. Looking forward to seeing your websites!

If you need to hit the studio to add some content to your portfolio, I've made a huge checklist for preparing for the studio, located here!

Take care,

-Michael