How Important is it to Have a Website?

[The Mogpipe]

I repeat: You have to have something. My band has a Facebook page, and I have videos on a YouTube channel. We also do have a dedicated website, but it's not very important to us in the overall scheme of things.

Is this conversation about a dedicated website with a domain like "myband.com" or is it about a presence on the web where people who might hire you and fans can find you? Because you absolutely have to have the latter, but that's not what I thought this thread was asking about.

A dedicated website

 

[buldog5151bass]

I think a website looks more professional than just a Facebook page. But the more options you have the better. Any exposure is good.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

I know of at least two local bands whose online presence consists of social media accounts only.

Consequently, I never hear anything about them.

 

[Paulabass]

You have to have both a FB page and a slick website. FB gives you the ability to instantly contact your fans, and is quite informal. Then you need a professional website.
I was eating backstage last week and chatting with the busiest guy I know in show business. 25 nights a month, all flying. His promo video cost 10 grand, and he calls it money well spent. He has webmaster too, cause nothing looks sloppier than an out of date website. His current band Hotel California takes the business end of being a musician deadly seriously, and that's why they get gigs all over the world.

 

[DWBass]

I believe a working band should have some sort of web presence. At minimum, an Instagram or Twitter page. A Facebook page is even better as long as it has content. Too many times I've come across pages with just the name. No pics, no info, no gig dates...nothing. More often than not, no web presence at all.

A website is even better but costs money to maintain. Have to decide if it's worth the money. You can do quite a lot with a Facebook page, IMHO.

 

[electracoyote]

Seems there was a time when Facebook was the most popular means of marketing, promotion, and communication with friends, fans, and potential talent buyers. But I've always maintained a website for my bands just to cover all bases. Now I'm getting the impression that Facebook is becoming kind of a drag for a lot of people, so a web site might be more important than before. Also, since I work with a lot of private/upscale event planners, I think many of my clients are a little more impressed with the web site and they consider it somehow more "professional," an extra effort on my part. Just an intuition, no hard data to support it, but it seems to help with some clients. Upscale clients can be funny, and the possible misconception that you went the "cheap route" with FB and no website can influence them. Obviously, you link the two formats together and it makes for a pretty wide and thorough on-line brush stroke. In competitive markets like mine, you do everything you can.

Your target client and audience has a lot to do with it. If I wasn't targeting upscale private events, I'd probably shut the web site down and just use FB. I use Wix.com, and it's not expensive, but it's not cheap either for my budget. I'm also on GigSalad and GigMasters. This stuff adds up fast.

 

[Renaissance]

I've always maintained a separate and dedicated website. It's great for a stage plot, input list, and show advance form. Most of the posts on the website get shared on our FB page anyway. As cheap and easy as it is to put a website together, why wouldn't you?