Selling Tickets? A Website Host’s Infrastructure Really Counts For Your Band’s Website

Your band’s website is out and your TikToks are going viral. Doing gigs at the local pub results in standing room only, and you need to start playing bigger gigs – ticketed gigs. So, does it matter where your website is hosted?

The short answer is yes hosting matters if you’re going to do anything that isn’t static. And in music, static is no bueno. Stagnating is death to bands but that’s another post. Selling Tickets on your own WordPress website requires an Enterprise Host who has the infrastructure to support your sell-out shows.

Selling Tickets? You Need a Fast Host.

There are so many ticket-selling websites (Eventbrite for one) you may wonder if you should even bother to sell concert tickets on your own site. Hey, that’s a legit question. And, to be honest, managing your own website may take time away from your creative process and become a total black hole. You’re supposed to be writing songs, not being a 1990s webmaster.

“One of the things we frequently have to do is announce tours for the bands and then we direct the fans through to the websites to get tickets. When that happened on our old system, the website would have a number of stability problems and we’d have like gateway errors and that sort of stuff. And essentially, it came down to the fact that whilst the websites were well optimized, the server and the infrastructure wasn’t.

And what I really think is great about Rocket.net is they understand WordPress and the whole system behind it, and they understand how to optimize WordPress which enables them to get the most out of it”.

Rob Skarin, Crystal Spotlight

There are advantages to selling tickets on another site. Firstly, you get the audience of that website. Meaning, Eventbrite is already a marketplace. It already has name recognition and, more importantly, trust. But, they also take a cut.

Remember that selling tickets is an eCommerce functionality and you’ll want to ensure this is done in the most PCI-compliant way. So, maybe test it out. Use Eventbrite. Get people to sign up for your email list on your band’s site. 

But for the best branding and cross-promotion, you’ll want your fans on your website, not on a third-party ticketing site.

But I Also Want to Sell Merch

Of course, you want to sell merch; not only is this great for promotion, but artists have a bigger profit share. This is especially true with the digital streaming world we live in. How many vinyls, CDs, or cassettes do you still own? Or do you just listen to Spotify and Apple Music? 

The best thing about directing fans to your own website to sell concert tickets is the ability also to sell them merch. Maybe they didn’t see the newest tee or dank laptop sticker. They may not be able to make the concert after all but they still want to support you. Cross-selling for the win! And your bank account will thank you.

Essentially, selling tickets and merch go hand-in-hand for the modern musician. So, where your website is hosted matters. 

Why Do I Care About Where My Website is Hosted?

If you’ve ever bought tickets – flights, hotels, concerts – you’ve seen the timer. “Buy in the next 5 minutes to get this deal.” Ticketmaster is famous for this. It’s because of a computer science principle called concurrency. You don’t want people to mistakenly buy the same seat, for example. Or, if people are bum-rushing your band’s site, you don’t want to run out of tickets with duplicate sales and inaccurate counts. Or, with your website throwing server errors. That’s death to the momentum. 

So why does it matter where your band hosts your website? You have better things to think about and do with your time than to worry if your host doesn’t have sufficient tech to handle your needs. 

Think about it this way. You get booked into a venue and it sells out. Awesome, right? It’s downtown San Diego and you could not be happier. You know this is lit on Insta. Only, your bass player’s amp blows out mid-show. Why? The venue didn’t bother to upgrade its electrical panel and – with all of the other things plugged in – the whole circuit is blown. You could go unplugged and redeem the moment, but you lose so much of your vibe. It’s a total drag.

If a venue doesn’t have upgraded and powerful infrastructure, then you can’t trust them. But you don’t have time to research every venue. And why should you? A live-music venue must have upgraded equipment and electrical infrastructure. So should your website host.

Sell Your Ticketed Events On Your Band’s Gnarly Site

With a robust eCommerce website, managed by a professional agency, and hosted on a killer Enterprise platform, your band’s site will always be lit. And, the best part is that it won’t go down when your superfans sign on to buy tickets to your added concert dates.