Dear bands who still direct people to MySpace pages,
Cut that crap out.
I don’t mean to be harsh, but I need you to listen. There are plenty of reasons that you should be switching to a different platform, but you really only need one: nobody uses it anymore.
When MySpace started, that’s where everyone (potential fans included) kept their online profiles and connected with other people. Having a MySpace page then meant you could grow your fanbase by having the opportunity to show up in people’s newsfeeds. That doesn’t happen anymore. Now, all you’re doing is hosting your music on a platform that takes forever to load and doesn’t have the best quality. You don’t want to frustrate someone who’s just discovering your music that way. If it’s hard to load and looks janky, people are going to click away before they hear what you’ve got to offer. Don’t let a website cockblock you from making a new fan. Pick a different platform (need ideas or help? email me: lonelyhousealicia[at]gmail[dot]com), and host your music there.
In short, don’t use a crappy website to host your music. Give people a chance to connect with your music and your band’s personality before they click away.
Rock on,
Alicia
February 23rd, 2012 at 7:47 pm
I like soundcloud for some things, but I think bandcamp is the new standard, right?
February 23rd, 2012 at 10:35 pm
I think it depends on the circle you run in. I’ve been directed to both sites by some of my favorite independent artists, and both are simple to use and find what you’re looking for. I’m partial to Bandcamp because of the following reasons though:
1. You can easily sell your music there should you choose to.
2. They offer PayPal checkouts, which makes it easier on the buyer.
3. Their players are embeddable widgets. So if someone wants to repost your music on their tumblr, Facebook, or HTML-based site, they can easily do that.
4. I’ve never had Bandcamp force my browser to crash.
5. They allow you to add “Tags” to your uploads, like “Ohio”, “alt-rock”, etc. So people who are browsing bandcamp for music from a particular region, genre, whatever can come across your music even if they weren’t looking for you specifically.
I think the main things to look for in a site to host your music is that it’s easily shareable through currently popular social networks or websites, load time is minimal, and it doesn’t require the user to do a lot of guesswork as to how to purchase your songs if they want to keep them.