How to Sell Music Online in WordPress (Step by Step Guide)

As an independent musician, being able to sell your music directly to fans is crucial for making a living from your art.

The good news is that starting an online music store is now easier than ever before thanks to WordPress and digital downloads.

In this in-depth guide, I‘ll walk you through how to create your own music shop in WordPress using the Easy Digital Downloads plugin (EDD).

Whether you want to sell albums, singles, EPs, or remixes, EDD provides everything you need to sell music online and earn income directly from your audience.

Here‘s what I‘ll cover:

Step 1: Get the Right Hosting for Your Music Store

The first step in creating an online music store is getting the right WordPress hosting.

Your web host provides the server space and technology infrastructure that your WordPress site runs on. For music stores, you‘ll need a host that offers:

• Quick page load times – Music fans expect a fast, smooth browsing experience.

• Reliable uptime – Your store should be online 24/7, with minimal downtime or errors. Even short outages result in lost sales.

• Security features – You need SSL encryption and regular updates to keep customer data safe.

• eCommerce optimizations – Support for higher traffic, caching, security, and performance requirements of online stores.

• Easy Digital Downloads integration – Seamless support for the EDD plugin.

According to Kinsta, a leading WordPress host, sites with longer load times have conversion rates up to 38% lower on average. Fast performance is critical for getting music fans to purchase your songs.

Some top-rated WordPress hosts that meet these criteria are:

• SiteGround‘s EDD Hosting – Comes with EDD pre-installed, specialized eCommerce performance optimizations, free CDN, and auto scaling. Their servers achieve 99.99% uptime.

• WPEngine – Used by PBS, Sony Music, and others. Includes 150+ eCommerce features and load balancing for high traffic stores.

• Kinsta – All plans include free CDN, SSL, staging sites, and more. Delivers industry-leading WordPress performance.

Many shared hosting plans don‘t provide the speed and reliability needed for online stores. Investing in a quality, specialized eCommerce host gives you the technical foundation for sales success.

Step 2: Install and Configure Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin purpose-built for selling digital products.

It comes with everything you need to sell music online directly from your own site, including:

• Product management
• Customizable checkout
• Coupon and discount tools
• Secure payment processing
• Automated purchase delivery
• Sales and earnings reporting

Over 900,000 sites trust EDD to sell their digital goods.

Installing EDD

If your host doesn‘t have EDD pre-installed, you can easily add it yourself:

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New.
2. Search for "Easy Digital Downloads".
3. Install and activate the plugin.

After installing, EDD adds several new items to your WordPress admin menu. This is where you‘ll manage all your music store‘s settings and products.

Configuring Key Settings

Before adding products, take a moment to configure EDD‘s main settings:

1. Go to Downloads > Settings > General
2. Under "Business Info", add your store‘s country and region/state.
3. Go to Downloads > Settings > Payments
4. Enable payment gateways like Stripe or PayPal.
5. Configure each gateway with your credentials by clicking "Setup".
6. Pick a default gateway.

With your location set and payments connected, you‘re ready start adding music products.

Step 3: Upload Your Music and Set Up Products

In EDD, all your music is organized into digital download products.

Each release (single, EP, album, etc) will be its own downloadable product.

Here‘s how to set one up:

1. Go to Downloads > Add New
2. Enter a product name and description.
3. Upload your music file(s).
4. Add pricing.
5. Upload the album art or other product image.
6. Publish the product.

Detailed Product Descriptions

Take time to write detailed product descriptions that convince fans to buy your music. Include:

• Genre
• Release date
• Record label (if any)
• Track list with song lengths
• Credits and collaborators
• Reviews, awards, or certifications

Giving fans all the relevant info helps them quickly decide if your release is a good fit.

Uploading Music Files

When adding the audio files for your release, EDD supports all the major formats:

• MP3
• WAV
• FLAC
• M4A
• Ogg

You can include multiple tracks in one download product, like an entire album. Customers get a zip file with all the songs on purchase.

To prevent unauthorized sharing, enable download limits and watermarking in the product settings.

Pricing and Promotions

EDD makes it easy to experiment with pricing and run promotions:

• Bulk discounts – Offer lower prices on multiple product purchases.
• Variable pricing – Sell multiple versions of the same release (Standard vs. Deluxe editions).
• Coupons – Create limited-time coupons customers can apply at checkout.
• Free downloads – Giveaway tracks in exchange for an email signup.

Once your products are ready, it‘s time to process real orders by enabling live payments.

Step 4: Configure Your Payment Gateway

Naturally, you‘ll want to get paid for your music sales.

EDD integrates with all the major payment gateways to securely accept payments on your site.

Options like Stripe and PayPal allow you to accept debit/credit cards as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

To set up your live payments:

1. Go to Downloads > Settings > Payments
2. Configure your chosen gateways by clicking "Setup".
3. Enter your API keys and account credentials.
4. Disable any test or sandbox modes.

That‘s all it takes to connect real payment processing from your WordPress site.

Step 5: Customize the Purchase Receipt Email

After a customer buys your music, EDD sends them a receipt email with their download link(s).

This email is fully customizable so you can add your brand:

1. Go to Downloads > Settings > Emails
2. Upload your logo.
3. Set a "From" name and email address.
4. Customize the subject line and email content.

Little personal touches here help build relationships with fans.

Step 6: Test Your Music Store Before Launching

Before opening your online music shop to the public, it‘s critical to test the full checkout process.

To do this:

1. Enable "Test Mode" under Downloads > Settings > Payments so orders aren‘t charged.
2. Test purchasing a product using the "Test Gateway" payment option.
3. Verify you receive the receipt email with downloads.
4. Check download URLs work properly.
5. Disable test mode when everything is working.

Testing protects you from avoidable issues down the road.

Step 7: Promote and Grow Your Online Music Store

Once your shop is ready, it‘s time to spread the word so fans can start buying!

A few great ways to promote your music store:

• Social media – Share your new releases and sales promotions across all your profiles.

• Shows and merch – Hand out your website URL on business cards and flyers at gigs. Offer download codes with merch purchases.

• Music platforms – Upload your catalog to streaming services, then link back to your store from your bio.

• Email list – Send newsletters to current fans announcing new music. Offer exclusive promo codes.

• Your website – Feature your latest release prominently on your blog and homepage. Drive traffic to your store through calls to action across your site.

The key is integrating consistent promotion into all your existing channels – both online and offline. This amplifies your reach and gets your music store URL in front of new potential customers.

Earn More with Your Online Music Store

Selling directly to music lovers worldwide through your own online store is the best way to maximize your income as an independent musician.

With WordPress and Easy Digital Downloads, you have everything needed to start distributing your music online on your own terms.

Now get out there and start selling! I hope this guide gave you the information and confidence to create a thriving music store. Let me know if have any other questions. I‘m always happy to help fellow artists.