Musicians on Squarespace: Matthew Covington, Oboe
Introduction: Musicians on Squarespace, an Interview Series
Table of Contents
Introduction: How I met Matthew
I met Matthew on Facebook! We haven’t actually met in person (at the time of writing this article), but we are fellow oboists in the double reed world. I saw Matthew’s post on Facebook announcing his website and had to look—how exciting! I always love seeing my fellow music colleagues launch their music websites.
Mathew informed me that some of the content I had been sharing about Squarespace inspired him to finally sit down and build his DIY website. I just had to hear more about this story. If you have been dragging your feet on building a website, read Matthew’s inspiring story about how he got his website up and running in one week (after putting it off for years!).
BONUS-TIP: I install Squarespace websites for free! If you are considering a DIY website, email me and let me know what template you want to start with (including blank templates). As a Squarespace Circle member I can give you my extended 6-month free trial period and 20% off your first year of hosting!
What is your name?
Matthew Covington
First, tell us a little bit about yourself!
I'm Matthew! I play the oboe and English horn in six symphonies, sub in a few more, and just started selling reeds on my website. I like to game on my PC in my free time, make (and drink) cocktails with my husband, and occasionally go see horror movies.
What did you struggle with the most when building your music website?
Just sitting down to actually build the website was the most daunting part of all of it. Once I actually started doing it, Squarespace was very intuitive and things moved along very quickly. It's also hard to make a website about yourself without feeling like you're just bragging hard is difficult... but we should all be bragging on ourselves; we do a lot! I was also pretty unfamiliar with much of the lexicon used for websites i.e. SEO, url slug, backlinks, etc.
How did you overcome those struggles and concerns?
The AI wrote was very kind, albeit cringe-worthy, things about me to get me started one the website. I took it from there and did my best to make things casual yet professional. I hope I did a good job of that! I also did A LOT of googling to find out what things meant. Squarespace also has lots of great articles to help.
What do you love about using Squarespace as a musician?
I absolutely loved how easy it was to actually have something that resembled a website so quickly. Within an hour I was saying to myself "people could look at this and I wouldn't be totally embarrassed!". I had no prior coding knowledge whatsoever (despite gaming on the PC if things aren't working, I have no clue how to fix it without other people's help) and it was still so easy to get things up and running. Other troglodytes like me can definitely do this!
How has your website helped you as a musician and/or helped your music business?
It's all still very new! But within a few days I've had lots of people check out the website and even had a few people place orders for reeds. Hopefully the numbers will just keep growing!
What advice do you have for other musicians considering a new website?
Just do it! I hemmed and hawed over making one for years, but when I just sat down and did it I had it up and running for other people to see in less than a week! Before I did anything on the computer, I had mapped out on paper what pages I wanted the website to have and a vague idea of what I wanted on each page; that made everything feel more approachable.
How can people find you?
My website is https://www.matthewcovingtonoboe.com/ ( I wanted to keep it simple and to the point), you can find me on Facebook by just searching my name, and my Instagram handle is @matty_coco.
