HostBaby vs BandZoogle vs ?

[TroyK]

Hey Bass Guitar Guys! I'm Troy, I live on the DoubleBass side (those big violin looking things), but I have posted over here 1/2 dozen times in the last 5 years, so I'm not a complete stranger. I posted this today, but thought I might actually get a better response over here, so here's a dup of it. I appreciate your feedback on the matter.


I need a music website and while I once did some coding, I don't have time to reaquaint myself and build from scratch. There are a couple of services, specifically those above that I know musicians who use are are happy with. I'd be anxious to get your feedback on them and alternatives. Here are my criteria:

1) Price - of course it matters. Host Baby is $240/year all in and BandZoogle is $180, they have similar features. I know I can get hosting for cheaper, but I actually need more.

2) Stability - I want to go up with someone who is not likely to go away and take me code with them (which I likely will not own the source to with these two companies. HostBaby is owned by CD Baby, so they're likely pretty stable. I don't know as much about BandZoogle, but they've been around for a few years anyway.

3) Site creation and maintenance wizard. Again, I'm smart enough to figure this out, but don't have time and don't want to have a half-assed site because I had to get back to practicing or something.

4) Hosting

5) I need to be able to change, update, administer

6) A URL of my choosing, that doesn't have the company's name embedded in it (like MySpace)

7) A nice looking website with; text and graphics under my control, the ability to upload and maintain photos, the ability to upload and stream my songs, the ability to build a page for each of my bands, a email server with my private domain, a mailing list manager, a blog.

Probably that's all. Anyone know of a better, cheaper, more stable and company independent way to go about this? Anyone have good or bad experiences to share on these two companies?

Thanks in advance,

Troy

[HostBaby]

Hi Troy,

(Sorry for a somewhat belated response. Just found this post)

Disclosure: I work for HostBaby


1) Price:
If you pay for a year it's only 199. Additional websites are half off.

2) Stability:
HostBaby has been the leading musician host for over ten years. We're not going away anytime soon.

3) Site Creation:
Our new Site Builder is super easy to use. We know that musicians would rather be playing music than writing code. The new Site Builder introduces unlimited pages, even more dynamic design control, awesome new templates, social media tools and more.

4) Hosting.
That's what we do best.

5) Making changes and administration.
We make it easy. Login at home or on the road and update whatever you like. Our gig calendar has a built-in venue database of thousands of venues.

6) A URL of of my choosing.
Yes, we are a domain registrar. You can register as many domains as you like. You can also point a domain to us from GoDaddy or elsewhere.

7) Features: A nice looking website with; text and graphics under my control, the ability to upload and maintain photos, the ability to upload and stream my songs, the ability to build a page for each of my bands, a email server with my private domain, a mailing list manager, a blog.

We offer all these things and more!

The one thing that our musicians appreciate the most is our phone support. This is something that Bandzoogle and our other competitors do not offer. We're here 7 days a week to help our artists build awesome websites and grow their web presence. Plus, our customer support reps have special ninja tech support skills.

Learn more about HostBaby websites for musicians!