THE BEAST

There are so many options for musicians and bands to host music online nowadays. You don’t need to upload your music to every website out there, but it’s a good idea to explore your options and pick a couple that make the most sense for your needs as an artist.

For example, some websites focus primarily on selling tracks, while others are more about building a community. Many of them seamlessly integrate with personal websites, which saves you time, helps you streamline your promotional and sales efforts, and allows you to keep all of your stats in one place.

So, what are the best websites to host music? We’d recommend starting with these five.

1. Bandzoogle

Shameless plug, yes, but if you only host your music on one website,   make it your own band website . You have full control over it, and anyone seeking out your music online will expect to find it in one click when they land on your homepage.

Bandzoogle   is one of the best website hosting options for musicians because you   keep 100% of your music sales . You can display and sell your music exactly how you want: offer songs for free, charge a fixed amount, or let your fans name their own price.

Design a professional website in just a few clicks where you can sell music and merch commission-free!   Build your music website with Bandzoogle today.

2. Bandcamp

Bandcamp   is a favorite among independent musicians, and it’s easy to see why: the platform is user-friendly, artist-first, and does a great job of encouraging music discovery among fans. Bandcamp has millions of users worldwide, including   hundreds of thousands of artists and more than 3,000 labels .

If you have your music on Bandcamp and a website with Bandzoogle, you can take advantage of the easy integration. In just a couple of clicks, you can   add your Bandcamp music anywhere on your website , eliminating the need to re-upload tracks or use separate apps or plugins. The Bandcamp music player will automatically adjust to match your website’s theme. It looks beautiful on mobile, too!

3. SoundCloud

SoundCloud   is considered by many to be an industry standard, and it has a large, active user base among fans and artists alike. It’s a great website to host your music if you’re looking to build a community, especially if you like the idea of fans and fellow musicians leaving comments on your tracks.

As a creator on SoundCloud, you have the opportunity to both share and monetize your music. You also get access to detailed statistics on your plays, likes, comments, reposts, and downloads. And just like with Bandcamp, you can easily   integrate your music on SoundCloud with your Bandzoogle website .

4. Audiomack

Audiomack   isn’t as widely known as some of the other platforms on this list, but it definitely deserves to be on your radar. You can host all of your music for free — no premium accounts, and no upload or storage limits. You’ll also have free access to content sharing tools and an artist dashboard loaded with advanced stats and engagement data.

Even more exciting is that thousands of musicians are currently benefiting from Audiomack’s beta monetization program, which offers a competitive per-stream rate for uploaded tracks. They’re working to roll out the program to all Audiomack creators by 2021.

5. YouTube

We all know by now that   YouTube   is a massive driver of music discovery, and it can only help you to have your releases available there. People searching for your music online will know that any tracks you’ve personally uploaded to your YouTube channel are the official, high-quality versions.

You can make it even easier on your fans by organizing your uploads into playlists. It’s a great way to seamlessly introduce them to more of your music that they may not have heard yet, while building up watch time and increasing your opportunities for   monetization .

Bonus: Digital Distribution

All of the websites listed above allow independent artists to directly upload their music, but that’s not the case for popular streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. In order to get your releases on those platforms, you need to go through a digital distribution company.

We recommend using   CD Baby , which has   partnered with over 150 streaming services   and music retailers worldwide, and is a preferred distribution partner of Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. They take care of all the hard stuff for you and make sure you get paid weekly, no matter where people are listening to your music.