It appears that a dedicated website is a thing of the past for the Independent Musician.
Blogs are the thing now. As I understand it you can set up a blog just like a traditional website but without all the $$$ design and implementation fees normally associated with it.
Exactly how true this less $$$ theory is has yet to be tested by yours truly. At the present time I have only managed to set up this little blog here via Google Blogger.
I know this may seem taboo but I also have a WordPress account set up and I have been told that it is a much more media friendly system as well as offering a dedicated (somewhat) domain.
My interest is to make audio files available for download (Free and fee). It is the implementation of this that I need to really get into...and I am only hurting myself by not pursuing it ASAP!
I will make most of my noise available for free but there will be some choice audio items that I feel compelled to make a few pennies on. My general rule is that anything with a sample I have not paid for is free to whomever desires it...and I encourage DJ's to play these out.
You can find some of them on my dreaded Myspace page here.
If you have trouble downloading any of the free stuff please send me a message on the Myspace or leave a comment here and I will correspond until we get that noise into your dirty little hard drive!
Alright; I need to get some audio on a blog soon! I also need to figure out how to set up a shopping cart on one of these blogs...DAMMIT! I hate charging money...and I hate not knowing how to do all this shyte on my own!
Sorry, little venting there. Excuse me.
Cheers,
m e e k
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Having a blog hosted by Blogger is fine, but if you want to offer music or other media for download you need your own server.
Blogger allows you to enter in your own web host info and it will upload all the files directly to your site.
Godaddy has very affordable hosting, a whole year of the economy hosting only costs about 40 bucks. Don't be frightened by all this hosting talk, all you need is the ftp login info to enter in your Blogger settings and it (your blog) will handle the rest for you.
Of course, if you want to customize your site beyond blogger templates then you'll need to find a web designer.
For audio, you can use the 1-pixel out player which is compatible and works great. You need to host the file for the media player yourself though.
Again, you can sign up to last.fm as an artist or label and upload your music there. You have the option of offering just streaming music, or downloadable music, too. This way, you don't have to host it yourself.
Btw, I am a web designer by trade and I think WordPress totally sucks. It is a convoluted mess that runs at a crawl. Blogger allows you to begin blogging instantly while WordPress is concerned with pointless plugins and widgets. I will admit that it is powerful. However, Blogger is pretty much all you need.
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The reason why blogs are 'the thing' is because static websites are boring and don't connect you with your listeners/readers/fans. Having a blog is a simple way to keep your content fresh (read: your visitors coming back). You're not going to get out of obscurity by blindly broadcasting yourself to anyone who will listen. Connect with your potential fans. Be human.
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