Build a record label website with a roster, a catalogue and a clear demo policy
A record label website serves three groups: fans looking for the new release and where to buy it, press and radio looking for assets and a contact, and artists wondering whether to send a demo. Get the roster, the catalogue and the demo policy right, and the site does most of a small label's admin for it.
A label site is mostly a catalogue
A label's identity is its releases, in order. Fans who like one record browse back through the catalogue to find others; journalists check what came before; artists look at the catalogue to judge whether they'd fit. So the catalogue isn't a section of the site, it's the spine of it.
Give each release a consistent page with a catalogue number, artist, title, format (LP, 12", cassette, digital), release date, cover art, tracklist, credits, a short paragraph about the record, and buying and listening links. Keep them in a releases CMS collection in Anticode, and each one is served at its own address with an overview at /releases/. Adding the next release is a dashboard entry.
| Collection | Fields |
|---|---|
| releases | Cat number, artist, title, format, date, cover, tracklist, credits, notes, buy links |
| artists | Name, bio, photo, location, releases, links, booking contact |
| news | Date, headline, body: announcements, tour news, represses |
Roster pages that help artists and press
Each artist page should work as a mini press kit: a current bio, two or three press photos with credits, their releases on the label, listening links and who handles their bookings. Journalists working to a deadline will use whatever they can download; make sure it's what you'd want printed. Keep past artists in the archive with a note, rather than deleting them; their releases are still in your catalogue.
Selling records without a shop
Small labels usually already sell through a music marketplace, a distributor or a store platform. Anticode doesn't have a cart, stock levels or shipping rates, so each release page links out to where it's sold (your distributor, a music marketplace or a Shopify product page) through a buy-link field in the CMS. The site's own buy button opens the account's single payment link, from Shopify, Stripe Payment Links, PayPal or Gumroad, so point that at a store page listing your releases. If a pressing sells out, change the button label to "Sold out" in the CMS. The limited product drop workflow covers pre-orders and small runs.
A demo policy that saves everyone time
Every label gets demos, and most get too many that don't fit. A clear policy is kinder to artists and to whoever reads them:
- Whether you're accepting demos right now, stated at the top.
- The genres and kinds of artists you sign, with a nudge to listen to recent releases first.
- What to send: a private streaming link, a short bio, location, and anything already released.
- What not to send: attachments, unreleased masters by email, or follow-ups every few days.
- Whether and when you reply, honestly. "We can't reply to everything; if we're interested we'll be in touch within six weeks" is fine.
Then a form. Anticode's standard contact form asks for name, email and a message, so the artist puts their link and bio in the message; forms take text only, which suits a links-only demo policy. Submissions are saved sealed at rest, emailed to you, and connectors can post each one to a Discord or Slack channel your A&R people share, or into Airtable for tracking.
The Static Bloom Records template
Anticode's template gallery includes Static Bloom Records, a site for an indie label in a brutalist zine style, written by Anticode's model. Using it copies it into your project with no model call and nothing taken off your allowance; you then swap in your roster, releases and artwork and edit with the visual editor or in words. If the zine look doesn't fit your sound, start from a description instead: Swiss (Inter Tight) suits an electronic label with a strict visual system, Editorial (Geist) suits a folk or jazz label with long liner notes. See also the band website page for the artist side.
What Anticode doesn't cover for labels
No store with a cart, variants, stock or shipping; no royalty statements or artist logins; no audio hosting or embedded players on standard pages; no file uploads for demos. Use your distributor and store platform for sales and accounting, and let the site be the label's public face.
Questions people ask
Can I sell vinyl directly from the label site?
Through links to your store and the account's one payment link, from Shopify, Stripe Payment Links, PayPal or a similar provider, pointed at a page that lists your records. Stock and shipping stay with that provider.
Can artists upload demos through the site?
No. Forms are text only, so ask artists to send a private streaming link in their message.
Does the Static Bloom template cost anything to use?
Using a template copies it into your project without a model call and nothing comes off your limits. Publishing options depend on your plan; see the pricing page.