Websites

Websites are an important marketing tool for musicians. Over many years of working with classical music organisations and individuals, Nicholson Proud realised that limited budgets in this field often lead to websites which are either visually well designed, but impossible for the musicians themselves to update (and therefore often with out of date information), or 'home-spun' websites which were up-to-date but which didn't present a professional image.

Nicholson Proud has worked with Loopo (a web development company with many years experience of working with classical music organisations) to develop a database-driven website system specifically to solve this problem. For an affordable set-up cost and modest monthly fee (including all hosting, email and domain name costs) now all artists can have access to website technology that until recently was only affordable for large organisations.

Manuscript

The system is called Manuscript.  Given a piece of manuscript paper, all musicians know how to get a musical message across in a way which can be understood worldwide.  In the same way our Manuscript website system is designed to provide the structure that allows musicians to create and edit their websites without any specialist programming knowledge.

Once set-up, the website can be edited from anywhere in the world by logging in to the site using a standard web browser on any computer.  This is especially useful for musicians, who often find themselves with spare time to work on their website whilst away from their own computer on tour.  After logging into the site, making changes is then as simple as typing into a word processor.

Modules

Manuscript is divided into various modules, some or all of which can be used to form the website:

• Diary - which automatically displays the next concert on the homepage and archives concerts as soon as they have taken place
• Biography - easily keep a downloadable biography up-to-date on the website
• Galleries - publicity photographs and galleries of concerts can be viewed on the site and downloaded in a high resolution format
• Reviews - create a database of reviews which can be displayed by date or by publication and automatically linked to the relevant concert or recording
• Recordings - create a catalogue of CDs automatically linked to the reviews, CD sales and audio downloads modules
• Online CD sales - built in shopping basket system for selling CDs through the website
  
• Audio downloads - easily make available sound clips for playing on the site or downloading
• Membership - create and manage mailing lists or friends schemes entirely on the website

Bespoke modules can also be designed, so the possibilities for the system are endless.

Further information

Manuscript  can be set up using your current website design.  Alternatively, we work with a number of exceptional designers who can create a new and exciting image for your website. For further information about Manuscript, and to receive a no-obligation quote, please contact us.