How to create a musician website

Keep the main navigation short: Home, Music, Shows, About, Shop and Contact. Create these as Pages rather than posts because they are permanent parts of the site. WordPress pages can then be added to the site navigation.

Prepare one clear action for the homepage, such as Listen, Buy tickets or Join the mailing list. Do not put every social profile, release and date in the first screen.

For a manual build, choose a responsive block theme and open Appearance > Editor. Use Styles to set the site-wide colours, typography, spacing and button appearance, then edit the header, footer and navigation. With a classic theme, use Appearance > Customize instead; the available controls depend on the theme.

Create a static Home page under Settings > Reading, or use the theme’s Front Page template. The common Friday problem is editing a page while the theme is actually displaying a different template or the latest posts.

Start with a Cover or full-width image, your artist name, a short description and one primary button. Follow it with your latest release, a small list of upcoming shows, a strong photograph, an email sign-up and links to your main platforms.

Upload appropriately sized images, add useful alternative text and avoid fixed image heights that crop faces on phones. WordPress can generate image sizes, but oversized originals still slow pages and can distort a layout.

Use the Audio block for one track or the Playlist block for several tracks. You can upload supported audio files to the Media Library, or embed music from a service your audience already uses. Add the release title, artwork, track names and a visible link to buy or stream it.

Do not rely on autoplay. Browsers commonly block audio that starts with sound before the visitor interacts with the page, so show a clear play button instead. Test the player while logged out and on a phone, not only in your administrator account.

For a small number of gigs, publish each show as a post or add a simple dated list to a Shows page. Include the date, local time, venue, city, ticket or RSVP button and any age or accessibility information. Link to the venue or ticket seller rather than making visitors search for it.

If you need recurring events, calendars, ticket sales, venue maps or event search, use an events plugin. Plugins can introduce theme and caching conflicts, so a broken calendar that suddenly shows unstyled text is usually worth checking with caches and other plugins disabled before changing the design.

Use the About page for a concise biography and the Contact page for booking details, a form and professional email address. Add a featured image to important posts if your theme uses featured images in listings.

Install WooCommerce only if you will sell physical or digital products. Create products for records, downloads, clothing or bundles, then check that the theme displays product images, cart buttons, checkout and order confirmation pages correctly.

Keep the shop visually separate from the music player and gig information. Before launch, place a test order on mobile and check shipping, tax, stock, payment confirmation and email notifications. If the theme overrides WooCommerce templates, an update can change product tabs or styling, so keep backups and test updates on a staging copy.

The fast route is to install a music-focused theme such as Croma, import or select a suitable homepage layout, and replace the demo content with your own releases, photographs, shows and shop products. It is designed around musicians and includes layouts for audio players, event promotion and merchandise, so you spend less time assembling those sections yourself.

After activation, check every imported page, menu item and media asset. Replace placeholder links, remove unused demo content, test the audio player while logged out and review the site at phone width before publishing. A theme gives you a starting layout; it does not supply your biography, music rights, ticket data or shop settings.