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To website or not to website?

Nico Schuele

Tolerated Member
Hey all,

For the past year or so, I made myself a quick landing page on Wix in order to be able to send a link when applying for scoring jobs. Here's the URL: https://nicolas-schuele.com

The thing is that most of the time, I'll write a quick custom demo to join with my application. This demo track, I'll post on SoundCloud as a private link and sometimes provide a downloadable high-quality WAV file through Dropbox. And also send a YouTube link to my demo reel video. That's a lot of links...

...and I can't even track if they were opened.

So, I caved in and signed up for ReelCrafter. This thing is awesome and it lets me create custom pages with custom links for each potential client while having detailed analytics (was it opened? What part of the tracks were listened to? etc.)

But then I thought "do I really need my website anymore?" Instead, I made some kind of landing page using ReelCrafter only. It's here: https://rcrft.co/reel/nicoschuele/main-reel

What do you think? Should I redirect my domain name to this? Do you see any reason why a proper website would be preferable?

Thanks!
 
Who knows?

If I think there is a mistake to be made, out there it's having a super slick-looking website and weak "me too" music.

On the one hand, people expect to be able to check you out before they bother contacting. On the other hand, one wants to put material on that is instantaneously arresting and sounds absolutely killer.

By "instantaneously" I think I mean exactly that: first thing up should grab the listener with something important about your music, whether it's action and excitement, or new age, or something else.

Preferably live, not samples, if it's orchestral.
 
Who knows?

If I think there is a mistake to be made, out there it's having a super slick-looking website and weak "me too" music.

On the one hand, people expect to be able to check you out before they bother contacting. On the other hand, one wants to put material on that is instantaneously arresting and sounds absolutely killer.

By "instantaneously" I think I mean exactly that: first thing up should grab the listener with something important about your music, whether it's action and excitement, or new age, or something else.

Preferably live, not samples, if it's orchestral.
Thanks!

The question was not so much about the need to have a web presence but if anyone would consider a ReelCrafter page rather than a full-blown site.
 
Yes. Reelcrafter is one of the most efficient way to showcase your material in the digital realm these days. I don't have it (I'm old school) but I've seen people using it, and I can truly see its value. A personal website is not an efficient form of self-marketing when starting out, but if you're an established composer, it can be a bit of nice thing to have so your fans can visit your site, and be part of your world.

Websites make more sense for studios that need to lure clients in with their top of the line gear and space (one of many examples), or if you have something to sell.
 
Yes. Reelcrafter is one of the most efficient way to showcase your material in the digital realm these days. I don't have it (I'm old school) but I've seen people using it, and I can truly see its value. A personal website is not an efficient form of self-marketing when starting out, but if you're an established composer, it can be a bit of nice thing to have so your fans can visit your site, and be part of your world.

Websites make more sense for studios that need to lure clients in with their top of the line gear and space (one of many examples), or if you have something to sell.

Thanks for your feedback! My existing site is only one page so I think that I can safely move it to ReelCrafter :)
 
You might have a good solution for your needs with Reelcrafter.

For balance, in case others read this and are looking for different options ...

I think there are services that let you manage and track links for audio to clients and prospects that can be separate from a website (or together).

Personally, I didn't love Reelcrafter's limitations. So I never got on board with their deal. Maybe it's better today? It was a couple years ago that I explored them.

~

For sharing audio files and tracking who listened, I prefer https://disco.ac/

You can make quick custom private (or public) "themes" for each client. For a recent game trailer pitch, I put their graphics on it (not all mine) and sent them the link. It helped to make it feel "personal" to them.

There's tons of features under the hood.

Here's an example using your background and a VSL logo that I whipped up: https://s.disco.ac/lzqoedsshnep

As for a website, I already pay for web hosting for my LLC and manage several sites including my and my business partners' dance music record labels (digital and vinyl).
 
You might have a good solution for your needs with Reelcrafter.

For balance, in case others read this and are looking for different options ...

I think there are services that let you manage and track links for audio to clients and prospects that can be separate from a website (or together).

Personally, I didn't love Reelcrafter's limitations. So I never got on board with their deal. Maybe it's better today? It was a couple years ago that I explored them.

~

For sharing audio files and tracking who listened, I prefer https://disco.ac/

You can make quick custom private (or public) "themes" for each client. For a recent game trailer pitch, I put their graphics on it (not all mine) and sent them the link. It helped to make it feel "personal" to them.

There's tons of features under the hood.

Here's an example using your background and a VSL logo that I whipped up: https://s.disco.ac/lzqoedsshnep

As for a website, I already pay for web hosting for my LLC and manage several sites including my and my business partners' dance music record labels (digital and vinyl).

It looks really cool! But ReelCrafter lets you do the same. Custom banner, image, videos and link URLs per client.

Does Disco allows for video and does it track play/pause within them as well?
 
ReelCrafter lets you do the same
Question: does ReelCrafter basically host your entire catalog and all metadata? That's one of the things I like so much about Disco, it has all the metadata and tagging (important for media composers). It also offers to convert all your WAV to mp3 and allows potential downloaders to choose format etc. It was designed by a team for professionally sharing audio (but not video) so most of the feature set is geared toward music supervisors, libraries, composers, studios, mangers, etc. I'm beginning to see how it fulfills different needs from ReelCrafter.
 
What is the cost of ReelCrafter vs Disco? As someone who codes this kind of stuff routinely, and can design and self-host a website for $5/mo, I'm a little leery about paying much more. But some of the features are attractive.
 
Hi, I'm working in online marketing, so I thought I add my 2 cents. Looking at your ReelCraft I think it makes a perfect professional impression. No need for a dedicated website when looking at it from this perspective.

However, I'd suggest adding a way to collect contact data in a GDPR-compliant way (newsletter signup or you keep track of contact requests manually). As you're relying on a third party service here, there's always the risk to lose it (same goes for your domain or Google search rankings). Then you need to have a way to redirect potential prospects to a different channel. Obviously, the risk is not that high for you, because you are already also present on YouTube where people can find and follow you (I'm one of them!). :)

If your main concern is tracking links, I'd suggest to use UTM tags and track them in Google Analytics: https://ga-dev-tools.web.app/campaign-url-builder/
When using your own website, you could also use Google Tag Manager to track exactly how far people scroll down on your page, where they click, where they leave, etc. Might be overkill, though.

Wish you much success!
 
Looks good.

I already have a website and my dad does website, web programming so if I need edits or changes, I just ask him.
 
These days there are tons of free static hosting services that include CDN and SSL.

Firebase, Netlify, Vercel, etc.
But not with your own domain-based URL right? It would be something like "bman70.vercel.com" instead of "bman70.com."

Edit: It's true you can "point" your domain, if it's parked free with the registrar, to your free host. So as far as users are concerned, they only need type in your domain. This is probably a good solution for some. I'm hosting by running an actual server (nginx), which I like due to the control I have. I can also host multiple domains, currently I have 5 or so all on one server.
 
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But not with your own domain-based URL right? It would be something like "bman70.vercel.com" instead of "bman70.com."

Edit: It's true you can "point" your domain, if it's parked free with the registrar, to your free host. So as far as users are concerned, they only need type in your domain. This is probably a good solution for some. I'm hosting by running an actual server (nginx), which I like due to the control I have. I can also host multiple domains, currently I have 5 or so all on one server.
Yeah you can use your own domain. Even multiple domains.

Most of these (if not all) also use Nginx and Let's Encrypt under the hood. I also manage servers but IMO it's much more convenient to use these static hosting services. Less headaches, you can deploy via the command line or GIT, and you get a zero config CDN.
 
Yeah you can use your own domain. Even multiple domains.

Most of these (if not all) also use Nginx and Let's Encrypt under the hood. I also manage servers but IMO it's much more convenient to use these static hosting services. Less headaches, you can deploy via the command line or GIT, and you get a zero config CDN.
That sounds pretty promising, I'll probably look into it out of curiosity. The last time I used free hosting I think it was only "tripod dot com" Lol.

There are some considerations with free, such as the upsell incentive. A brief check shows Firebase gives 10GB of free bandwidth per month. For $5 on DigitalOcean, I get 1TB/mo bandwidth. So significantly more and you do want more with reasonable traffic. Not sure how much Firebase would charge for 1TB but that's where it requires comparisons. Great options I didn't know about though, so thanks!
 
I’m legacy unlimited Dreamhost and can spin up as many Wordpress (or other CDN) sites as I want. (We also use Lets Encrypt.)

Agreed it’s a good thing to be able to “funnel” traffic to a mailing list that is GDPR and do other little housekeeping things like GA and SEO stuff under your control. Those were some of the “limitations” I was thinking of, glad others brought them up.
 
I've read all of your answers, thanks a lot for these. To answer a few questions:

I've spent two decades in programming, a great chunk of that in web programming (been a contributor to frameworks like Rails and such.) Today, music takes all of my time and time spent coding or having to maintain a website is time not spent on music. Been there, done that, don't want to do it anymore :)

Regarding collecting contacts, I don't do this through a website nor through SEO. This is not how I get contracts and I'm not even sure that would work for our particular craft. Most of it is word of mouth but when I apply for a project, I want to have something to show. At this point, I already have the contact detail and all relevant info regarding the potential client.

There's also this website I made called composingtips.com. It's not intended at people looking to buy my music but at other composers. Tips, tricks, reviews, etc. There are a few thousands members and I collect their email and usernames in a GDPR compliant way.

All of this is not the point of ReelCrafter. I really want a one-stop shop where I can quickly showcase my stuff and put together a custom reel. So far, ReelCrafter fills this need.

As Nathan pointed out, Disco is not for the same goal. It's intended at library music composers. For storing metadata, alt mixes, stems, etc, I use an app that I built (and a Google Sheet as well :-p). For communicating with a director and working together, it's a mix of frame.io (movie people love it for working remotely) and cuedb.com.

The idea here is really to have a "digital business card" that I can tweak depending on who I give it to. And that's what ReelCrafter is about. My idea was more to go full ReelCrafter and do a general page that I can use as my landing page.

Someone also mentionned Google Analytics. I'm very familiar with that, the different frameworks and all... but again, I don't want to code. Also, I don't believe that Google Analytics can tell me if a track was played entirely, where did the user stop, what part of the track did the user listen to multiple times, etc. That, ReelCrafter does it.

So far, I'm really liking it. Bonus point: I've had it for less than 24h and already sent a custom reel to a potential client. I've seen what they listened to and we later had a Zoom call. Seems that I'll be the one doing the music on their feature :)
 
For storing metadata, alt mixes, stems, etc, I use an app that I built
For communicating with a director and working together, it's a mix of frame.io (movie people love it for working remotely) and cuedb.com.
Awesome. I love that you built an app for that. ;)

Congrats on (probably) landing the gig!

I am really appreciative tonight. Lots of great responses, for your specific question and also (I assume) for others who might encounter this thread later and have a similar question but not your “technical skilks”. 😉

This is a pretty cool community. I’ll miss it when I get busy again and cannot read / post as often.
 
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