Hi, I'm new but I've been visiting here on and off for a while. I have a large, unofficial fansite for a music artist that runs on a dedicated server and gets nearly 1 million page views per month, at last check. I currently don't have traffic monitoring software on the box, but I'm thinking of buying WebTrends even though it's pricey. The site has about 12,000-13,000 static HTML pages, most of which are being moved to a database so I can maintain control over this monster. There's also a lot of streaming media, which I run off a separate dedicated server. I spend about $200/month total for the servers, which I think is a nice deal. But I also pay music/software licensing fees to BMI and Ascap (about $550/yr) and RealNetworks ($800/yr), and maybe another $250-$500/yr on miscellaneous expenses like script upgrades, etc.
Anyway, I don't make one cent from the site, which is a waste, and I'd at least like to make back some of my expenses. My new design templates don't feature any ads or banners because I didn't want to detract from the design, but now I'm thinking of squeezing ads down at the bottom, even though I hate the way that looks. What would you suggest as ways I could make back some of the money I lose? I don't want to charge users fees, and I don't have a license to sell merchandise for the artist. I'm planning to affiliate with music retailers so I can at least make some spare change.
Another thing, when you look up the artist's name, my site ranks either #2 or #3 in Google and Yahoo listings. I'm thinking of approaching the artist's management and seeing if they'll let me work for them officially, but it might mean cutting back on my content. For instance, I have video files of TV performances, but an official site wouldn't have those because they have to get permission from broadcasters. I run mostly under the radar, so I get away with it. I get an occasional request to remove media files, but no one twists my arm.
What would you suggest? Thanks for reading!
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