Musician Websites (Option #2) – Meet Nico Boesten of Sayvee.com

By: Chris Cox Date Posted: August 4, 2010

Cheap web design for musicians with Sayvee.com & Nico BoestenNico Boesten (of Sayvee.com fame) and I had a little chit chat, as we sometimes do the other day. We’re probably going to be doing more of these down the line, and we thought it’d be fun to share with you, so you can get to know him a little better, have a laugh, and even (shock of shocks, horror of horrors!) maybe learn some stuff.

(Click here, by the way, for the video of “Option #1″ for cheap musician websites)

Sayvee, in case you didn’t know, is a really straight-forward web design service made SPECIFICALLY for musicians. What’s really cool about it, is that you need literally no know how whatsoever to make it happen. You drag it, and you drop it, and bang the website is formed. So that’s pretty cool for a lot of people.

We talked a little about web design for musicians, and why (& how) bands and artists web sites ought be used, and how we should think about approaching the interwebs and all of this newfangled technology.

Chris (C): Cool, well let’s start out for our new readers – what’s your background? Tell us how you got into this Sayvee business, and why it matters to you?

Nico (N): Well, I used to travel with a band and recorded 7 albums (on a label and all that stuff) and had all kinds of issues trying to keep my site up to date. I invested $3000 into a beautiful little Flash site and had a couple of others that I tried to update but I kept running into the same issue – I wasn’t able to add content / new merch / mailing list and tweak it without screwing it all up. A buddy of mine (photographer and musician) who had a web hosting / design company had this brilliant idea of creating a website-builder that would help out guys like me and I decided to partner with him to create it. Sayvee was born.

C: Okay – so you started specifically to create cheap band websites that were easy to set up – What do you think the role of an artists website is? Why?

N: I think it’s becoming more of the HUB of the artist. It’s the place you send everyone to. You don’t want to say to people “Hey, check out myspace.com/myband but then, after that, go to facebook.com/myband, and then if you want to buy my music go to itunes.com/1235664 but then go….. (you get the point). It’s all about making it simple and easy for people to find your stuff, buy your stuff, and love your stuff.

C: Absolutely. I mean I think one of the things we’re talking a lot about in my course, is how the specific ways we direct people from one social media to another, and from those to our websites, blogs and other monetisation networks makes a massive difference, so if your website can help you streamline that, you’ve fought and won a major battle… What are the big trends you’re seeing emerging in this web space?

N:Facebook & Twitter. Facebook is basically a free way to keep a mailing list (since you can directly email everyone who “likes” your page and Twitter is becoming more popular with contests etc. There seems to be a big trend toward giving rewards for spreading the news about your music (Eg. you’ll get a free tune if you tweet about our new album).

C: Sure! There’s obviously a lot of tricks we like to keep hoarded up for our respective members on all this really cutting edge stuff. Any new cool tricks you think guys have to be using now? On your band web site, or on other sites helping them make more of their site?

N:I think integrating social networks into your main site is key. Facebook has come out with the LIKE box which gives you a live feed of everything you’re posting there and also allows people to LIKE your page (which puts them onto your “email list”. Twitter also has an application for this which shows the latest tweets you’ve posted. All of this comes back to the solid rule of “KEEP YOUR SITE STICKY”. In other words, keep your site moving and changing – this will bring people back to it. This is why we’ve created a special component that adds a LIKE box right into your web page because it really helps artists. (SEE: Facebook & its OpenGraph attack – What it means for you…)

C: Tell me about some of the creative ways you’ve been seeing for artists to sell your music beyond normal CD duplication?

N:Some of the most popular ones are download cards, flash cards, USB sticks, and offering crazy packages (like Trent Reznor). Some of these exclusive packages are getting really ridiculous (like offering car rides in a limo, thank-you phone calls, dinner and a night out on the town for X number of dollars in combination with the new disc. Google Trent Reznor for some inspiration.

C: This, folks, is Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails. You might not have thought it, but he is one of the smartest, and most crazy assed music marketers out there. We love Trent. So, why should every artist, as you say, have a stand-alone website?

N: If you don’t, you’re risking not being taken seriously as well as not having control of what you want to display. As you know, every free site is able to change the way their system works at any given moment (not to mention having ads and stuff). It’s a necessity and it gives you a chance to really show your creativity and the vibe of who you are.

C: Right. So you’ve got no control of your list, and you get shut down, and your like 87 million Twitter followers disappear like vapour never to be heard from again… Which is a bit of a crap one really. And tell us, how does Sayvee fit in? What’s cool about you? (Apart from your hilarious marketing vids…)

N:Well, thanks for asking (haha…wasn’t expecting that). We’re musicians and photographers ourselves and know what indie artists need. I (Nico) am not a programmer or CSS guru – I couldn’t build a website the normal way if you gave me 1000 bucks but I know how to drag and drop components. My 10 year old daughter has built 2 sites using Sayvee along with hundreds of other artists who don’t know jack about HTML or web programs. It’s an online editor so you don’t need any special programs – all you need in the internet. It’s also got the most important components built right into it like a mailing list, blog, galleries, and the ability to sell MP3s. Basically, it’s everything I wish I had when I was travelling with a band.

C: That’s hilarious man. It’s sad when your 10 year old has more web design skills than we do. But awesome. I gave it a try. It really IS easy… Ok – finally 5 cool things nobody knows about the secret world of Sayvee?
1. We just added the SOCIAL component (ability to show sweet little icons with links to your social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and iTunes)
2. We love inappropriate humor
3. We are working on a component so you can sell merch & physical goods
4. We have committed to donate 10% of all profits to various non-profits that are making the world a better place
5. We love lamps.

C: Why would you wake the bears?! Well, fun times man. Next time we’ll have to get a little more on depth on some of that stuff. Thanks for the “Afternoon Delight” Nico!

(Apologies to our non-Anchorman watching readers.) Hope you enjoyed. Go have a look at what Nico’s doing, and let us know what you think. Here’s that link to Sayvee.com web design for musicians

Oh, and here’s one of their awesome vids… ;-)

5 Reasons to get a site through Sayvee.com from Sayvee on Vimeo.

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