yes yes and more yes! Nice one Digital Music News.

Have not people learned from Myspace?

Never use anything but your own domain as your website.

Facebook will go the way of Myspace... eventually.

Yes and yes.

Huge and juicy market opportunity here it seems. Which is: how to build the artist site first, the port the elements into the Facebook environment with all the changes coming from the site.  Widget style, but the website is central command instead of Facebook, so puppet strings dangling from the hands of the artist... okay ya dig?

Now you're followin' me.  It's total opposite of what Root Music and BandRX went for. 

I would say it could have been Bandcamp but they never integrated social networking into it.

I can't believe it's 2012 and bands still need to be reminded of this. Remember when bands would do MySpace *site* in lieu of their own site?

How much does a website cost to run properly (hosting, bandwidth, design etc...)?

$200-300 a year?

A good web site design will cost over $500 (you get what you pay for), but once you have it you can operate for $50 a year or less.

Our (Bandzoogle) price plans are between $10/mo. up to $200/year for a Pro annual plan. No commission taken on sales.

All-inclusive website solutions are typically in this range and will differ on the features offered and support provided. Many site-builder plaforms are not made specifically for artists, and some might have a "free" entry-level plan, but are ad-supported. There are "free" CMS systems out there (Wordpress being the most pervasive and flexible) that are very powerful. But, factors to consider when evaluating the total cost of ownership of a website include:

Cost ($) of hiring a designer or developer

Cost (time, opportunity costs) of doing it yourself

Cost of theme or template

Access to support

Website hosting 

Media hosting - bandwidth - storage

Domain name registration and renewal

Cost and ease of updating and changing the site

Cost of mailing list service

Costs of store transactions (fixed? commission? payment processing)

Disagree...where else can you reach a potential 800 million eyeballs and now ears?

Facebook UI is industry leading, the worlds most talented developers work for them, therefore anything they build will utlimately beat your bedroom attempt to build a website hands down!

Facebook users are far more engaged in content on the Facebook platform, fair enough maybe only 15% may see your posts but its 15 % more than visit your website.

How many fans do you know check your website the moment they wake up in the morning?

I do however agree that you can't rely soley on Facebook, you should however use facebook as a means of channelling people to a place where you can collect marketing details, drive plays and purchase your content.

Ru hit the nail on the head!

You might have misread the intent of the CD Baby article. It doesn't say "don't use Facebook." Artists absolutely should use FB's reach to reach and add fans. But they shouldn't rely solely on Facebook. They need a home on the web, and that home should be their own website, which we can affordably provide with our HostBaby artist web hosting service.

Tony van Veen, CEO

We pretty much cut n' pasted your email to members.

/alexandra.

Isn't that a bit of an overstatement? No band reaches anything that even comes close to that potential. Most get lost in a sea of noise, while reaching only a fraction of their own following.

To paraphrase the old line: "Nobody goes to Facebook anymore. It's too crowded."

Lazy kids trying to get their "Like"s up just like Myspace "views".

It seems fairly easy to hook them with FB, have plenty of links to real content on your own website.  It is not as hard as many people say to get fans to leave FB's environment.  Come on...Facebook is GREAT for marketing.  It's like shooting fish in a bucket.

One more time: your facebook page isn't your website!

J'aime avoir raison!

Seems more like an attack on facebook than any kind of relevant advice to an artist.

Paul,

Thanks for sharing our email with your readers. It's hard to believe that so many artists still view social media profiles like a Facebook Band Page as their primary web hub-- but they do.

For anyone who wants to build a professional music website in minutes (no programming or design skills required), check out HostBaby, CD Baby's sister company that offers affordable web templating and hosting services that allow independent musicians to own the fan relationship and have design control.

Plus, HostBaby members receive 5 free submissions to CD Baby per year! Get your music on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and dozens more. (Up to a $195 dollar value per year!)

If anyone has questions about HostBaby, please give us a ring, any time between 8am-5pm (1-888-448-6369) or email hostbaby@hostbaby.com

Thanks again.

-Chris R. at CD Baby

Músico, ¡ojo! Tu fan page de Facebook no es tu web

Couldn't have said it better.

Hey bands... You're doing it wrong using this facebook thing... Here's what you should do...

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION. ADVERTISMENT FOR OUR OWN PRODUCT.



Don't use Facebook to promote yopur band, use us.

Some valid points in there, but comes across as a blatant, vacuous bit of publicity for their 'sister' company...

Meh.

facebook is purposely hostile to artists. you can't even act as a band on the sight. you are an artist "PAGE" and virtually powerless. you can't even request friendship with another band or person. you have to switch back to the owner individual page to make any real contact or choices. that is why myspace worked well for bands. you were a band and not some little afterthought hidden in joe schmoe's "PAGES". i want people to relate to my band not me.