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Web Design for Bands


toby316624

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I seriously don't see the point in any small time band having a custom site when myspace/bebo/facebook whatever does more than you're going to achieve for 50 for free.

I agree, we looked into getting a website etc made up, but it's fairly pointless in my opinion. Myspace does exactly what you need, and you can customise that to your hearts content. The other thing is that people who have never heard of your band are far more likely to find you on myspace than on a customised/specialised website.

Quite a few bands who have websites from pre-myspace days, now just have their page at a very basic level that directs you to their myspace page anyway.

I'm not totally against customised websites for bands, but just think you'd be better spending your resources on equipment/promo/recording which would be more useful. If money is no object, then it's a different story...

:up:

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I seriously don't see the point in any small time band having a custom site when myspace/bebo/facebook whatever does more than you're going to achieve for 50 for free.

To be honest, you don't even need to spend 50 quid on a basic site - most webhosts will give free webspace, a domain is stupidly cheap and it shouldn't take more than two hours to knock up a simple site, using a free template found online.

I'd personally be highly suspicious of the quality of any website done for 50 quid - it's not going to be something handcoded from scratch, is it?

To the OP - would you be including an integrated CMS solution as part of the site? A band website is pretty useless without one..

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There really is no point. The social networking, mailing system, music hosting and streaming, image galleries, videos, blogs, calendars all tie in seamlessly in a myspace page. Everything is avilable on one easy page. Plus, nowadays if I want to find out info for a badmn, the FIRST thign I do is go and search myspace music. Thats before I even attempt to search through Google.

No custom site built for 50 is going to be able to match up anywhere near the standard you'd get from that. Fair enough you can say "but its so clich/emo/wtf to have a myspace band site" but....so what? It works alot better than most otehr sites ever will.

Also, myspace pages are easy to keep up to date. If the band have no experience with HTML etc etc then they're going to find it alot harder to update.

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There really is no point. The social networking, mailing system, music hosting and streaming, image galleries, videos, blogs, calendars all tie in seamlessly in a myspace page. Everything is avilable on one easy page. Plus, nowadays if I want to find out info for a badmn, the FIRST thign I do is go and search myspace music. Thats before I even attempt to search through Google.

No custom site built for 50 is going to be able to match up anywhere near the standard you'd get from that. Fair enough you can say "but its so clich/emo/wtf to have a myspace band site" but....so what? It works alot better than most otehr sites ever will.

Also, myspace pages are easy to keep up to date. If the band have no experience with HTML etc etc then they're going to find it alot harder to update.

Yeah, you're right. This guy was pretty idiotic to offer a service to see if anyone would be interested. Whilst we're at it, I hate just about everything that Woolworths sells. I'm probably going to drop in at some point, kick over some shelves and promotional stands and yell "THIS IS POINTLESS. IT'S CHEAPER IN POUNDLAND AND IT'S ON UNION STREET SO EVERYONE KNOWS WHERE IT IS!"

Retail riots.

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A word of warning - don't go with just anyone when it comes to domain registration. It's not uncommon for the really cheap companies to register the domains in their names, subsequently holding the domain 'hostage' unless the person pays a ridiculous exit fee if they want to transfer to another company.

Godaddy.com are well recommended by me.

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Yeah, you're right. This guy was pretty idiotic to offer a service to see if anyone would be interested. Whilst we're at it, I hate just about everything that Woolworths sells. I'm probably going to drop in at some point, kick over some shelves and promotional stands and yell "THIS IS POINTLESS. IT'S CHEAPER IN POUNDLAND AND IT'S ON UNION STREET SO EVERYONE KNOWS WHERE IT IS!"

Retail riots.

That post was shit.

If you argument was to go into Woolworths and say "This is pointless. You can get all this plus alot more at a better quality for free from over yonder.." then you'd have a leg to stand on.

But you didn't.

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Myspace is good for finding bands and seeing when they have shows, and from the band's perspective, organising yourself and networking. It is a functional and useful tool for certain aspects of playing in a band and displaying music. On the other side of the coin, there are lots of annoying adverts and the absolute en mass of it all for me means there is nothing personal or unique about it. One of many particles in a sea of shit. I like to look at a bands website if they have one, usually tells you more about them beyond the music.

I'd say a website can be a bit more indulgent and for the fans to see a bit more of a bands personality. If you have money to indulge, if the guy offering his service is half good, got a bit of imagination and is willing to work together with you to create something unique then there is absolutely nothing wrong with going for this. Sounds to me like he will be displaying some of his work soon. There are different ways of tackling the music biz, you don't have to do something just because everyone else does.

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Really? I thought it held as much ground and relevance as arguing about the best type of website for a band to have.
So you think paying for a web-site that has no social networking or real proper content management is a good deal when you can get a seamless web-site with blogging, video, audio streaming, storage, networking and calendars for free is a good idea?
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I'm in favour of neither. but shooting down someone who is offering a service (which in the grand scheme of things, 50 for a website is cheap!) smacks of the typical grating internet-know-it-all.

Myspace has made people lazy, and I'm sure alot of bands would struggle to remember what life was like without it. It makes you wonder how DIY bands in the 80's and 90's did things without all this social networking pish. It's a decent tool and it's useful if you can take what you need from it, but the level that some/most/nearly all bands rely on it is becoming quite devastating. I personally think the 'underground' music scene would completely collapse if Myspace was taken away tomorrow, and that is thoroughly depressing.

Band websites aren't accessible, and a good USEFUL one can only be put together by someone who knows what they are doing (or paying someone who does). It's a pain in the pants to maintain and even though anything that a Myspace has can be added to a website with a bit of know-how and the patience of a saint, no one will even look at it anyway. But as far as DIY music is concerned, a step away from Myspace is probably a step in the right direction. Allowing a band to stand on their own and not relying on being a minescure link in a million mile wide daisy chain populated by 90% absolute shit is nothing but a good thing. But it will never happen. No band will want to put in the legwork that a Myspace aparrently does for them because it's all been made so easy.

I'm sure DIY bands from years gone by are disgusted at present day bands that are tagged with the DIY status, because in comparison, what exactly are we doing for ourselves now? Posting excessive amount of bulletins? Bugging the shit out of people? Being overly judgemental about every little thing on the internet? I'm a hypocrite completely. I admit it and I'm certain I'm not the only one.

I doubt anyone will agree with me, but I don't really mind. Promote your band however you like. Neither way is the right or wrong way.

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