15 of the best music website designs

A music website is not only a way to maintain a direct connection with your biggest fans — it’s also an opportunity to fine-tune your artist image and curate your music brand. You have control over how your website looks, you can organize it however you like, and it can include everything you need to promote your music in methodical and creative ways that grow your fanbase and support your career.

To engage your fans and industry professionals alike, design a music website that showcases your personal brand as well as your music. We’ve put together a list of important elements to keep in mind, along with examples of the best music website designs to inspire you.

1. A compelling header section
2. Whitespace to emphasize content
3. An engaging video header
4. Website animation
5. A space to sell your music and merch
6. A coordinated color palette
7. A clear call to action
8. Drawing on your branding
9. Pops of bright color
10. Styled page sections for structure
11. A striking logo
12. Oversized typography
13. Abstract imagery to set a mood
14. A modern sidebar menu
15. Beautiful branding

1. A compelling header section

When someone visits your website you have only a few seconds to make a big impression. The quickest way to grab attention is with a compelling header image or video. A strong header is arguably just as important as the music you include, and will encourage your visitors to engage further with your music.

An inspiring main header image or video also sets the tone for your entire website. It should convey your brand, your vibe, and your sound all at once. Choose an image or video that shows you in your element, be that performing or co-writing or just posing with your bandmates in a way that feels natural.

Experimental electronic band Black Signal melds their header video seamlessly into a design that uses navy and pops of pink and turquoise, drawing from the vibe of the video with overlaying colors that are echoed in the rest of their website design.

Music website example: Black Signal

2. Whitespace to emphasize content

A minimal music website template allows plenty of space for focus on your videos, photos, and media. By adding padding (empty space) around your content, a minimal website design provides you with a clean look that is void of any clutter, allowing your pages to 'breathe.'

Minimalism instantly gives your website a professional look—even with plenty of content, the extra space makes your pages flow well, and the fonts appear crisp and clean.

Using whitespace to create a minimal yet engaging website is shown to good effect by singer-songwriter Tarquin Alexandra. She has taken advantage of a clean white layout with a tidy site title and menu to add her content in carefully-curated batches.

Music website example: Tarquin Alexandra

3. An engaging video header

Using a video header to lead your website design can create a feeling of excitement, or spark interest for the rest of your music website. Make sure the video header isn’t long (about 10 seconds is great), and set your band name, social media icons, and menu overtop of it. This combination of static text and motion behind it is a great way to make your website visitors stop and take notice.

Electronic psych duo forceghost use a memorable video header to underscore their sound, showing colors and textures that meld and weave between the background and their logo. In addition to looping perfectly, their header video sets the tone of their brand, followed by the rest of their band website pages.

Music website example: forceghost

4. Website animation

One way to be sure that your website design stands out is by using subtle loading animation. This could include your artist name, menu, and call-to-action feature floating seamlessly into view as your page loads. This animation sets you up with an on-trend website that immediately engages your fans' interest.

Alt-pop band Caveboy creates a sleek look for their website using loading animation on their logo and menu. Matched with a stylized header image, clear menu, and subdued color scheme, the animation sets a memorable tone.

Music website example: Caveboy

5. A space to sell your music and merch

Effective website design displays who you are and what you do in ways that stimulate fans to follow and support you online. Make good use of customizable online space for your music—it is all your own, for you to sell music and merch directly to your fans.

Duo Wolf & Moon have set up an eye-catching store in a grid layout, allowing their merch to shine. Their Store page is set up in clear sections, with different releases showing as you scroll down the page. Their use of a grid layout allows each product its proper space to stand out, and the simple backgrounds offset their album art beautifully, creating a vibe that reflects the aesthetic of their music and visual brand.

Music website example: Wolf & Moon

6. A coordinated color palette

Visually communicating the brand of your music is easiest when you consistently use a color palette that matches your vibe. To help determine that perfect color palette, start with a website template that appeals to you (consider the layout: the available header space, the menu style, and the content area options), and then add your main image or video to the header section.

From there, select a few colors from the header to create sections with titles, text, and buttons that all cleverly use the same color scheme. The result will be an artist website that reflects your image, making it feel familiar and natural to your fans, which encourages them to return time and time again.

Indie pop duo I WANT POETRY evokes a feeling particular to their music using their website coordinated in shades of gold and blue. White is the perfect accent color to set apart page names in a clear menu, with background imagery setting off sections throughout their pages.

Music website example: I WANT POETRY

7. A clear call to action

To be sure you’re making the most of engaging every visitor that lands on your homepage, add a call to action to the header section. A prominent call-to-action button is the perfect way to encourage visitors to make a specific click—that could be to focus attention on an upcoming single release, an album pre-order, a new video, an upcoming show, or to point out your fan subscriptions service. You can also build your mailing list in an organic way by using a call-to-action button that encourages fans to join your list.

As a design element, the call-to-action feature adds dynamic energy to the header section by tying your artist name or logo together with your site menu. Rapper Haviah Mighty uses a striking header image to evoke a mood for her music, and has added a call-to-action feature with a contrasting button to draw attention to her latest single, encouraging visitors to click to listen.

Music website example: Haviah Mighty

8. Drawing on your branding

One huge convenience of building your own website is that you can update the colors, images, fonts, and content at your convenience—any time. Consider updating your website design every ~2 years; you can make changes to match the look of a new album, give it some new branding for a marketing push, or update the design to promote an upcoming tour (or any other project!).

Pulling from the graphics created for your new album, single, or video, your website's images can be easily replaced with new uploads to create a fresh and visually immersive experience for your fans.

Singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright uses this concept to great effect, designing her website to accompany the announcement of her upcoming 20th anniversary tour. The image used in the tour's branding is echoed as the header image of her website—it's the original artwork from the cover of her first album, released in 2005.

Music website example: Martha Wainwright

9. Pops of bright color

Every musician aspires to translate their melodies and sense of self to the page. A website should portray a distinct vibe that matches the tone of the artist's music. Carefully choosing bright and vibrant colors can express a specific energy and encourage fans to browse through your pages and learn more about you.

The Polish Ambassador uses a layout with complementary bright background colors that cause the music artwork to leap off the screen. Each page of the website makes effective use of these colors, which are also used in the artist's stage outfits—excellent and memorable overall branding, reflecting the vibrant energy of his music and stage performance.

Music website example: The Polish Ambassador

10. Styled page sections for structure

One website design trend that makes a site feel modern is the use of styled page sections. This means breaking up content into manageable chunks, and styling these areas to create a cohesive look throughout your pages.

By using a clear color scheme and borders to delineate your content, sections can pull a page design together, for an overall flow that invites visitors to explore further.

Guitarist James R. Thomas makes thorough use of sections with background images to build a creative multi-page website that is immediately engaging. The header video draws in the viewer, and well-designed page sections create a layout that is dynamic and inviting to scroll through.

Music website example: James R. Thomas

11. A striking logo

One key way to create consistent branding in website design is by using a strong logo. Your band logo should be stylized to reflect your sound. You can use a logo as inspiration to set the colors of your section titles, social media icons, play buttons, and song names. When clicked, the logo at the top of your website should return visitors to your Home page as a reset point.

Musician and producer Pablo Caputto anchors his website design with a logo that shows his name in a stylized font. This logo is repeated on the inner pages of the website. This keeps his name top of mind without distracting from the content on each page. The logo also appears on his show posters and other promotional material—a smart way to maintain recognizable branding.

Music website example: Pablo Caputto

12. Oversized typography

Another web design trend that has influenced the look of modern musician websites is oversized typography. Choosing a large, bold font will help to establish the purpose of your music website—you are branding and promoting yourself first and foremost, especially if you’re a solo artist.

The website design of jazz artist Janet Evra is a quirky and stylish example of oversized typography used to set a specific tone. Displaying her artist name, the heavily stylized font is flanked by a clear menu and simple content area. Ezra’s font title becomes a bold design element, balanced out by the subdued style of her page content.

Music website example: Janet Evra

13. Abstract imagery to set a mood

The abstract art trend works beautifully for music websites, providing versatile backdrops for text and photos. Using a non-band photo offers you creative freedom to draw on album artwork or create an atmospheric look that reflects your sound.

DJ and producer Simba Sax does just that with his thoughtful music website design. The site displays abstract imagery mirrored between the header area and the fixed background of the page. The color palette of the content area provides a stark contrast of clean lines and uncommon fonts, making the text, photos, and music hard to miss.

Music website example: Simba Sax

14. A modern sidebar menu

A fixed sidebar menu will help your website visitors navigate your content with ease, while maintaining a fluid, stylish look that’s less conventional than the common horizontal website menu.

To make the most of a website with a sidebar menu, break up content into manageable chunks and then style these areas to create a cohesive look throughout your pages. Plain backgrounds often work best for page sections in this style.

Rock duo Yur Mum uses vibrant imagery to set up a vivid sidebar menu. The simple menu items are highlighted in black for contrast against their colorful header video, grounding their page titles overtop of an animated background. This vibrant sidebar remains on-screen as their main content section scrolls away.

Music website example: Yur Mum

15. Beautiful branding

The clear advantage of creating your own website is that you can brand it exactly how you want it. With no design limitations, you can build a website that’s a reflection of your overall message and identity. This allows you to truly showcase your branding and set up lasting connections with fans.

Musician IAHIAL's website uses well-designed imagery to build out the vibe of her music brand. Some imagery is neatly repeated between the background and main content, and the refinement of the graphics included in the page layout creates a focused page flow that stirs curiosity and draws attention to her style and music.

Music website example: IAHIAL

Each of the music website designs featured here were created by Bandzoogle members using website templates as their starting point. They all were customized with current website trends in mind, to highlight the artist and their music in intriguing ways. Showcasing artists that span from emerging to well-established, these websites confirm that a musician or band can create the perfect website to support their music at any point in their career. If you’ve ever felt daunted trying to get that perfect look for your website, we hope these real-life examples inspire you to create a fresh design to match your music.