Why Artists Still Need a Personal Website

Social media platforms promise visibility and virality, but they extract a hidden cost. Artists build followers on Instagram, cultivate presence on ArtStation, invest years into communities that can vanish overnight. CG Hub died without warning. MySpace became a punchline. Every platform evolves, pivots, or simply disappears, taking accumulated effort with it.

The uncomfortable truth is straightforward: on these platforms, artists are the product, not the customer. Algorithms optimize for advertiser revenue, not creator success. When a platform decides to chase TikTok or pivot to AI, years of careful cultivation can evaporate. Understanding this dynamic changes how artists should think about their online presence.

You Are the Product

The business mechanics of social media are simple when examined from first principles. Creators generate content that attracts users, and platforms sell access to those users to advertisers. This arrangement means creators never truly become customers. There is no support number to call, no recourse when algorithms change, no ownership of the audience built over years of work.

Even platforms that seem stable undergo transformations that can undermine creator investment. Instagram's pivot to compete with TikTok fundamentally altered how content reached audiences. ArtStation's acquisition by Epic brought uncertainty about the platform's direction. The pattern repeats across every social network: initial creator-friendly growth, corporate acquisition or pivot, then gradual extraction of value from the creator base. Understanding this cycle is not about cynicism but about strategic awareness.

The Case for Control

A personal website inverts the power dynamic. Paying for hosting and a domain makes the artist a customer with actual recourse. The website becomes a stable center around which social media presence can orbit. When platforms rise and fall, the website persists.

The practical requirements are minimal. A domain name, an about section with a paragraph of text, and five to ten pieces of work create sufficient foundation. Modern website builders like Squarespace and WordPress have become remarkably simple. Drag-and-drop interfaces eliminated most technical barriers. The effort required is comparable to learning any new platform, just directed toward something the artist actually owns.

Beyond ownership, a website provides identity verification. When someone searches an artist's name and finds a website with matching work, matching contact information, and matching social profiles, that consistency signals legitimacy. For art directors considering hiring unknown artists, multiple confirmation points reduce risk. The website becomes proof of professional intent.

Future Relevance

The coming flood of AI-generated content will make verification more valuable, not less. Bots can create millions of social profiles, but establishing paid hosting, maintaining consistent identity across years, and showing artistic development over time creates friction that automated systems cannot easily replicate.

Having work online early, even work that seems unpolished, creates a verifiable history. The progression from early attempts to current skill level proves humanity in ways that sophisticated algorithms cannot fake. A website that has existed for years, slowly accumulating work and building search ranking, demonstrates sustained effort that distinguishes real artists from generated personas.

The website also provides complete control over presentation. Social platforms surround work with interface elements, competitor recommendations, and engagement metrics. A personal site allows work to exist without distraction, presented exactly as intended. For artists developing distinct visual identities, this control over context matters.