Setting Up Your Band On The Web

Regular Hosting Company
• Hosting Service $20 per month
• Domain Name $29 per year

This is a nice way to go, your domain is hosted at a spot on the internet called a server farm where they generally have really fast internet connections connections so your site and songs will get to peoples computers quickly. The service includes 175 MB of File Storage Space and 10 email addresses.

The Problem with this scenario is that the included Transfer Allowance (bandwidth per month) only allows you to transfer 10 Gigabytes of data or approximately 3300 3MB MP3's per month before they start charging you extra transfer charges. ]

There are several hosting companies providing this kind of service. The most important technical factors to look for are:
1 The Hosting Company's Internet Connection Type (their speed)
2 Included Storage Space
3 Included Traffic Allowance

MyWebServer and Direct TV DSL
• MyWebServer Free
• Direct TV DSL $50 per month
• Direct TV Web Site Included (optional)
• Domain Name $29 per year (optional)

This is a very nice way to go. It includes a Web Site with 10 MB of storage space Hosted by Direct TV at your domain name. Your DSL connection is thru a static IP address which is really important. If your music files are too big to fit in your hosted web site you can put your music files on your PC and run MyWebServer to host your music over your DSL connection.

There are lots of DSL suppliers out there. The most important technical factors to look for are: 1 Do they give you a static IP address or not. (static is highly preferred) ? (static with Direct TV DSL) 2 Do they give you some web space with your service ? (yes with Direct TV DSL) 3 Can the web space be accessed by your registered domain name ? (yes with Direct TV DSL)

Free Hosting Space Usually Comes With Your Internet Service
• ATT Free with $22 per month internet (60 MB Web Space - 6 EMail Addresses)
• Bell South Free with $21 per month (10 MB Web Space - 5 EMail Addresses)
• AOL Free With $24 per month (14 MB Web Space - 7 EMail Addresses )
• Domain Name $29 per year (optional)
• Web Forwarding $12 per year (optional)

Most Internet service providers provide free web hosting with your internet access service. They usually don't specify traffic allowances, which is great. You will get a static domain name which includes your email address for your web site so if you get an email address with your band name in it it might look like.
home.att.net/yourbandname
yourbandname.home.att.net
www.bellsouth.net/yourbandname
members.aol.com/yourbandname

You can register the static domain name with a band Registry like BandsRUs and your all set.

You can even get your own domain name (dot com) and web forwarding service. This service allows you to have your own domain name and have it forwarded to your free web space thus eliminating your Internet Service Providers name from your address all for a mere $12 per year (when purchased with a $29 domain name).

There are lots of ISP's out there. The most important technical factors to look for are:
1 The ISP's Internet Connection Type (their speed)
2 Amount Of Included Web Space
3 Amount Of Included Web Traffic Allowance
4 Number Of Included EMail Addresses
5 Provided Tools For Creating And Editing Your Web Site

Free Server Space
• www.geocities.com
• www.tripod.com
• www.xoom.com

You can even get your web site hosted for free. Companies do this in order to show advertisements on your web pages. So they give you the web space for free in the hopes people will visit your site and view their ads. 

There are a few companies doing this out there. The most important technical factors to look for are:
1 Amount Of Included Web Space
2 Amount Of Included Web Traffic Allowance
3 Number Of Included EMail Addresses
4 Provided Tools For Creating And Editing Your Web Site

If you don't know how to create a web page most of the free web server and free web space provided by your Internet Service Provider comes with utility web pages that take you thru the steps of creating and maintaining your web site.

MyWebServer

Direct TV DSL

Bell South DSL