Websites for Selling Music

I have been unbelievably frustrated trying to get someone to help me build a site to sell CDs, downloads, and merchandise.
 
• There are lots of cheap templates out there but either they don't do e-commerce, or else they are geared towards someone with a catalog of lots of items (like jewelry or small tools).
• Custom design firms usually work with large corporations and their fees are going to be out of line for an independent music producer.
• Some sites (bandcamp) are optimized to sell music, but that is all they do: they won't build your other web pages.  Although what they do looks good, it is a pretty rigid template.
 
My needs are not that great.  I can give someone the layout and artwork, the content (music and videos), the PayPal button code (or whatever the web builder recommends), the domain names, etc., but I need that person to build the site so it works and then upload it to my service provider (e.g., Network Solutions).  Functions I need (besides the obvious text and buttons): stream music, stream video, sell CDs, sell merchandise, sell downloads, and keep records so I can be sure I ship to everyone who buys and so I have the mailing list info later.
 
Surely there is someone who can do this.  Of course, I will pay—but hopefully something in-between the $9.95 template and the $50,000 corporate fee.  Thoughts?

Have you looked at Bandcamp? They handle downloads and CD sales, and the user can customize their music page to an extent.
 
Also, if you look around you'll find that you can do a lot better than Network Solutions. 

I will hunt around for sites that handle the distribution/payment parts of things, that also allow some custom content to be added to describe the seller and the merchandise.
 
A thought.  Check with the academic computer programming department at a couple of your local colleges.  The professors and/or a dean may have some ideas on helping you get up and running for cheap - possibly they would do the work on the side, or they would recommend a small number of students that they feel could handle it.
 
I used to work at DePaul University in Chicago, and we used to get these kinds of requests - it worked out well, as it was normally just some guy wanting a pretty straight-forward web page or site, and it was great real world experience for the students, as well.
 
I will spend some time today looking into the above, and into other options for you, and will post back to this thread within the next 4 hours.
 
Bob Bone
 

I love how 2 people cited Bandcamp when he already mentioned that in the original post. Read, then write. ;)
 
My guess is that sadly there isn't much of a demand for music-specific e-commerce sites because music sales are dropping. New technology tends to follow the rising star, not the falling one.

tom1
 
If you sell on CD Baby,  they provide a code (called a widget); You can paste this code on your site and your customers can not only buy a high quality mp3 (also a flac file) but also hear a short sample of the song.   

1+

Templatemonster.com has thousands of templates under $100. They will also customize them, but can also have another modify....

Custom work can be contracted on elance.com (typically done by someone in India very cheaply). A friend had their company website built <$300 from scratch that way. As with all contracting, be very specific about what you want.

For hosting I use StartLogic.com They have added a lot of support services over the years and have unlimited bandwidth (unless you abuse it). Not sure if you need this, but threw it out anyway.

Konrad, I've a web developer who works with a lot of small businesses within the budget you're looking at. Would love to do a music related site and help a fellow musician out. If you're interested in discussing this, let me know how I can contact you...I'd suggest a PM but I can't send them. Longtime lurker, don't post much.
 
Mark
 

For online shops that don't sell too much I have to agree that you can't beat Paypal and when I'm buying online it's my preferred method of payment.  I've been using it on the Field Records site for year with a number of iterations of the site including Wordpress, Joomla and OpenCart. At the moment I'm rebuilding the site in Drupal with the Commerce Kickstarted module because it gives me the most flexibility on how to build the site without having to code everything.  In the past I have worked on big online shops written in a bespoke .Net platform for VisitBritain and RAC so I have lots of experience of creating sites to sell products.

Thanks.  I know how to insert the PayPal button into HTML.  The problem is that I don't have time to layout the site, write the HTML, optimize for different platforms, insert the shopping cart, upload to my provider, ensure I am getting records of purchases, ensure everything is integrated, point all the domain names, set-up email, etc.  Someone who does this for a living could do it easily.
 
Bandcamp is OK as the sell page within a larger site; but there again, I have to build the main site, link to Bandcamp (that part is easy), ensure everything works together, ensure the Bandcamp page looks like my other pages, etc. 
 
This is a job for a specialist; not for someone trying to do it in-between 50 other things.
 
In response to comments above, downloads sell more than physical CDs, but many people want CDs and merchandise.  Also, you need CDs for events.  If you've never done this before, note that most aggregators require you to sell on Amazon and to provide a CD with a universally recognized bar code, which is why I belong to GS-1 and use them to produce bar codes.
 
BTW, I know how to sell on iTunes via an aggregator, but, while you need to exist on iTunes for credibility and in case someone looks for you there, it is not profitable; and without a huge advertising budget, you will be lost there.
 
PS I used to be an online movie reviewer as a sideline, and I built my site in WordPress.  I heavily customized the code and the site looked great; but it did not sell anything and it took a huge amount of time to maintain. 

konradh
which is why I belong to GS-1 and use them to produce bar codes.

 
URL ???
Is their price for a bar code better than CD Baby's?
 
Thanks!
 

Beepster
I would like to hear more about these CDbaby horror stories and/or degradation of service. They were kind of my shining light at the end of the tunnel in regards to how to eventually distribute my stuff independently in a cost effective manner. If they are going down the pooper or there are things I need to watch out for I would like to know. My needs and expectations are rather simple so what might be a problem for some may not necessarily affect me or be as problematic.
 
Cheers. 
Edit: And this is particularly important now that I think about it because I recently recommended them to someone to pass along to some of the underground and "unsignable" acts they deal with.

 
They are getting expensive (prices creep up every time I visit the site) and the fact that they will not stock any CD's (unless they are fast moving) makes it difficult to actually profit from CD sales. We gave up on selling CD's through them because it cost more to send them than we were getting for them. (I'm in Canada, postage is a lot higher from here).
 
BUT - we still use them for Digital release. Spend an hour or two setting up an Album and within a couple weeks it is available around the world. 90% or more of our sales come from iTunes. We could go directly to them, but CD Baby makes it painless and the reporting is excellent. We do manage our own Bar Codes, ISRC codes, artwork, etc... etc..

I've used Kunaki in the past. Not great quality, duplication only.
Worth checking out for piece meal, small projects & promo/ giveaways, they drop-ship too.
I've sold through them & haven't had any delivery problems or customer complaints.

Sorry, it was OT in response to fb.seeker's post above.