Do you have an artist website? What platform did you build it on? Are you leveraging it to the greatest extent possible? Do you know why websites matter more than ever?
In this episode of The David Andrew Wiebe Show, David walks you through setting up your new independent musician website from scratch. He also reveals his favorite tools and how he uses them to assist in the process.
In This Episode:
- Why you must prioritize your website and email list as an artist
- The advantage WordPress holds over every other website builder
- Where to register your domains and get hosting
- How to draft a website design using AI (and the secret chatbot I use)
- The cheat code to building on WordPress
- The best tool for building an artist fan list
- The WordPress plugins I use (keeping it REAL simple)
- Designing an eye-catching homepage
- Designing an interior page – discography and music releases
Key Resources:
- Ellipsus
- Namecheap
- SiteGround
- ChatLLM
- Divi Theme
- Kit
Transcription:
Today we’re looking at building an artist website. This tutorial is long overdue and probably should have come out alongside my first book, The New Music Industry.
Back around 2015, putting together a video like this was a heavy lift because both hardware and software were more complex and expensive.
Now the tools are accessible, editing is smooth, and putting together a tutorial like this is far more straightforward.
Before jumping into the setup, we need to address why websites still matter.
I have always believed you must have a space you own and control – a central hub where all your work resides.
That’s your website.
You control the colors, fonts, layout, logos, and imagery. That all falls under artistic branding, which dictates how the world perceives your work.
Furthermore, you need to publish accurate information about yourself on your own domain.
If there is no definitive, factual source documenting who you are, search engines and AI summaries will simply fabricate details about you.
Many artists still insist that an Instagram profile, a Facebook page, or a YouTube channel counts as a website. They do not.
Building exclusively on third-party platforms is building on rented land. Social media is valuable for distributing content, but rules change, accounts get restricted, and algorithms cut off your reach.
You must own the racecourse and collect fan email addresses.
This tutorial focuses on self-hosted WordPress using the Divi theme framework.
WordPress provides genuine portability; if a host ever goes out of business, you can easily migrate your site elsewhere.
If you don't intend to build a content-rich site, platforms like Bandzoogle can work, but WordPress provides ultimate control over your design and digital assets.
You can do this. There is no genetic predisposition to technical setup or productivity.
To start, we register our domain at Namecheap.
After purchasing a domain, you point the DNS nameservers to your web host – in this case, SiteGround – using ns1.siteground.net and ns2.siteground.net.
Inside SiteGround, you can set up a new domain or create a subdomain, such as music.davidandrewwiebe.com. With one click, SiteGround installs WordPress.
Before building out pages, I used ChatLLM to draft a clean design wireframe based on strong visual hierarchy – keeping primary calls to action, featured music, and email opt-ins above the fold, like the clean layouts used by major artists.
Next, we install our theme framework. Divi from Elegant Themes is ideal because its visual drag-and-drop builder makes laying out custom sections painless, and their lifetime license is very cost-effective.
Inside WordPress, we install a few essential plugins: Kit (formerly ConvertKit) for email capture, Classic Editor Plus, Sassy Social Share, and an XML sitemap tool.
After activating Divi, we set our global typography and color palette in the theme customizer – using a warm ivory background, a deep burgundy accent, and charcoal text with DM Serif Display and Inter fonts.
Next, we strip out default sidebar widgets and build our core page structure: Home, Music, About, Contact, and Email.
In the Divi visual builder, we construct the homepage section by section:
We create a split hero section with an artist photo on one side and a headline, a single H1 title, a custom burgundy button, and an email prompt on the other.
Below that, we add full-width dividers, a featured music showcase for the EP No Escape, and an inline Kit email opt-in form.
We then create the Music page, laying out an H1 header, a featured release block for the Makeshift Romance EP, and a three-column release grid for catalog titles, complete with direct streaming links.
While fine-tuning borders, spacing, and mobile responsiveness takes some patience, the core framework comes together cleanly in just over an hour.
You now have a central, self-hosted platform where casual listeners can become owned subscribers.
Take ownership of your platform, build your email list, and I’ll see you in the next tutorial.
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