Side Project & Hobby Showcase Pre-Launch Website Template

Quick summary

Setlist is a single-page bento grid landing page template designed for small bands, indie artists, and music hobby projects. It trades the slick press-kit formula for something more personal: candid photos, rough demo audio, looping video cells, and a waitlist form that sits naturally inside the layout. The page earns the signup by letting visitors feel the room before asking for anything.

Who this template is for

This template fits anyone building a band website around intimacy rather than spectacle. It works best when the story is still unfolding and the release is still coming.

• Musicians and four-piece bands running a side project or hobby music page who want to build an audience before a first proper release
• Local bookers, music bloggers, or venue scouts who land on the page looking for detail on the band's sound, upcoming concert dates, and performance history
• Friends and fans already in the orbit who want a single home page to follow progress, listen to demos, and sign up for updates

What problem this template solves

Most landing page options for independent musicians force a choice: a bare-bones link page that says nothing, or a bloated professional website that feels out of scale for a band still playing every bar that will have them. Neither earns trust with the right audience.

• Curious visitors who discover the band at a concert or through a shared riff have nowhere to land that feels as real as the music itself
• Bookers and promoters scrolling for openers need a song list, videos, and a stage plot view in one place, without hunting through unrelated pages
• The band has no practical way to build an EP waitlist, display upcoming event dates, and showcase individual member personalities in a single, cohesive layout

What you get with this template

This template gives you a complete, fully structured landing page ready to customize with your own photos, audio, videos, and event details. Every section is pre-built and formatted inside a breathing bento grid.

• A Photo Grid Mosaic header with staggered grain-photo fade cells, a signed band name treatment, and four candid image slots showing close-up performance details
• An asymmetric Member Spotlight section with a looping drummer video cell, a handwritten setlist cell, and a tappable audio waveform player so visitors can listen without leaving the page
• A "Save Me a Spot" EP waitlist form with a live counter, a minimal upcoming concert and gig list, and a linear single-row footer

Feature list

This template is built around features grounded in the source brief. Every component listed below is present in the template layout.

Photo Grid Mosaic Header

The header is a bento arrangement of four grain-heavy candid photographs that load with a staggered fade animation. Images include a close-up of calloused fingers on fret wire, a half-lit vocal profile, a pedalboard shot from above, and a blurred crowd leaning in. The band name appears small and bottom-left, typeset in a hand-drawn serif, so the photos do the talking first.

Asymmetric Member Spotlight Bento

Below the header, each bento cell opens a window into one band member's world. One cell holds a fifteen-second looping video of the drummer warming up, shot tight on the snare. Another displays a photographed handwritten setlist on a napkin. A third cell contains a voice memo waveform you can tap to play. Cell sizes vary intentionally so scrolling feels like flipping through a shared photo album.

Audio Waveform Demo Player

The embedded waveform player lets visitors listen to a rough demo track directly on the landing page. The waveform pulses during playback, creating a visual connection to the sound. An effective band website should integrate music players like this to allow fans to listen instantly without leaving the site, and this template delivers exactly that.

EP Waitlist Form with Live Counter

The waitlist cell asks only for a first name and email, stacked vertically inside a bento cell that sits naturally among the content. A live counter below the form shows how many people have already signed up, creating visible momentum without pressure. The call to action reads "Save Me a Spot" in tuning-fork gold, and the single focused prompt helps improve conversion by reducing distractions.

Upcoming Shows and Gig List

A minimal gig list section displays upcoming concert dates and venue names in a clean, skimmable format. This gives bookers and fans the event details they need at a glance. A well-maintained song list and show calendar are essential for any band website trying to secure the next gig or attract a new audience.

Stage Plot and Setlist Display Cells

The template includes structured cells for showcasing a stage plot and a formatted setlist. A setlist is an organized list of songs a band plans to perform at a live show, concert, or rehearsal. Having a well-structured setlist display is essential for delivering a memorable performance impression to bookers. The stage plot gives technical riders and venue managers the detailed information they need before a show.

Page sections overview

Design & branding system

The visual identity follows an Atelier Studio direction built on the Cloud Canvas color system. The palette feels like a sketchbook left open on a piano bench, warm, unfinished, and considered in every mark.

• Colors: soft gesso white (#F4F1EC) for backgrounds, pencil-sketch graphite (#3B3B3B) for all body text, smudged charcoal (#6E6B64) for secondary text, and tuning-fork gold (#C9A84C) reserved exclusively for interactive elements and the waitlist button
• Typography: Fraunces display serif for headlines and the signed band name treatment, DM Sans for body text and captions, creating a contrast between hand-crafted display type and clean readable prose
• Texture and animation: a CSS grain overlay applied via SVG filter runs across the entire page, scroll-linked reveals animate each bento cell into view, and hover spotlight effects activate on individual cells to add depth without overwhelming the warm, quiet branding

Mobile & speed optimization

The template is built mobile-first, which makes sense for a band page discovered primarily on phones at house parties, local concerts, or through shared links. The layout reflows cleanly from desktop bento grid to a vertical single-column scroll on smaller screens.

• Images across the page are lazy-loaded so only visible content loads first, keeping the experience smooth on mobile networks
• The CSS grain texture is generated via an SVG filter rather than a heavy image file, reducing the additional load that a photographic grain overlay would create
• Staggered fade-in animations and scroll-linked reveals are handled in CSS and lightweight JavaScript so the page stays responsive on any device without sacrificing the tactile feel of the design

How this template helps you convert

This landing page is built around one conversion goal: getting curious visitors to join the EP waitlist. Every design decision supports that goal without making the ask feel transactional.

1. Visitors experience the band through grain photos, looping video, a playable demo, and a photographed setlist before they ever reach the form, so the signup feels like joining something rather than filling out a form
2. The "Save Me a Spot" call to action uses the tuning-fork gold accent color, the only element on the page that uses it, making the button visually distinct and naturally drawing the eye at the right moment
3. The live counter below the form shows real momentum, giving new visitors social proof that others are already invested, which supports the decision to subscribe and follow the band's musical journey

Other information about this template

This template is well-suited for bands and solo musicians at any stage of creating an online presence, from a first-time side project page to a pre-release EP campaign. It can also support performers who play weddings and private events by adapting the song list, setlist, and stage plot sections for booking purposes.

• Utilizing the stage plot and formatted setlist cells, a band can download a professional PDF to share with sound engineers and venue managers before each concert or event, covering the detailed information bookers expect
• The template is built to connect with fans across contexts: a local booker can visit the site and find a song list, stage plot, and contact details in minutes, while a casual fan can watch the video cell and listen to the demo in one scroll
• Merchandise stores, streaming links to Apple Music, and other services can be linked from the footer or additional cells when the band is ready to expand the site, making this template a strong foundation for a professional website that grows alongside the project
• The template is designed for easy customization, so users can swap photos, update the setlist, add new concert pages, and adjust energy levels in the bento layout to match the band's current moment
• Social sharing tools and calls to follow on other platforms can be added to the footer, helping fans engage and allowing fans to spread the word after visiting the page
• A great band website tells stories and makes fans feel part of something bigger than just songs on a playlist, and this template is built with exactly that focus in mind

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