Teknoloji

Which tools does an artist really need?

Website, email list, sales and distribution, calendar and invoicing: options for each, with prices from official pages dated 6 November 2026.

WyvOne Editör · 06.11.2026

A writer releasing a new book or a musician putting out a first album can quickly find themselves buried in dozens of subscriptions. Yet for most work, five things are enough: a page where people can find you, a list through which you can reach them, a way to sell or distribute the work, a calendar, and an invoicing setup that keeps the official side in order. Below we list the options for each, with the prices shown on the relevant pages on 6 November 2026. Prices change often, and some sites change currency by country. Check their own pages before deciding.

Website: a name and an address

An artist's site has a simple job: to show who you are, what you do, how to reach you and where to see your work. A social media account is no substitute, because the account belongs to the platform, not to you.

Many services let you build a site from templates. As one example, WordPress.com's pricing page has a free plan, but it has no custom domain and no plugins. Among the paid plans, Personal is $9 a month on monthly billing; on annual billing it drops to $4 a month, and to $2.75 on a longer commitment. Premium is $18 a month on monthly billing, and Commerce, for those who want to sell products, is $70 a month. Prices do not include tax. Alternatives such as Wix, Squarespace and Shopify work in a similar way; when choosing, look at how much the domain costs, whether you can move the site elsewhere, and, if you will be selling, the commission taken.

Email list

Your follower count is in the hands of an algorithm; your email list is not. Two common options have free plans for starting with a small list. On MailerLite's pricing page the free plan covers up to 250 active subscribers and 2,500 emails a month; paid plans start at $12 a month for Comfort and $25 for Power, with a 10 percent discount on annual billing. On Mailchimp's page the free plan covers up to 250 contacts, 500 emails a month and 250 emails a day; the paid plans are Essentials at $13 and Standard at $20, but the page lists these with a 50 percent discount for the first 12 months and does not state the price after that.

If you go over the free limit on either service, sending stops. If you plan to grow your list, work out this limit from the start.

Sales and distribution

For selling music, according to Bandcamp's help page, a 15 percent share is taken on digital sales; once you reach $5,000 in sales over the last 12 months, this drops to 10 percent. On physical goods the share is 10 percent (excluding shipping and tax). Payment processor fees are separate and generally run between 4 and 6 percent, depending on the transaction amount. On some sales, a share for a royalty collection society is added as well.

To put music on streaming platforms (such as Spotify and Apple Music) you need a separate distributor. These services generally work either with an annual subscription or with a share of revenue. Because distribution prices change often, we give no figures here; check the current amount on each distributor's own page. Those selling books, paintings or handmade goods can use the shop feature of their own site or marketplaces such as Etsy. Whichever you choose, check the terms to see whether your listings can be taken down if an annual subscription ends.

Calendar

To keep concerts, exhibitions and deadlines in one place, the free calendar on most people's phones is enough. If you need to take appointments (studio time, lessons, one-on-one meetings), a tool like Calendly can help; according to its page, the free plan has a single event type and a single calendar connection, and the Standard plan is $10 per person per month on annual billing. First check whether the free version is enough for you.

Accounting: how will you invoice?

For a freelance artist in Türkiye, the main question is how to document the work. The Revenue Administration's (Gelir İdaresi Başkanlığı, GİB) e-Arşiv portal is presented as a free method for those who want to use the e-Arşiv invoice, e-Serbest Meslek Makbuzu (e-SMM, the electronic freelance professional receipt) and e-Müstahsil Makbuzu (the electronic producer receipt) applications; for e-SMM you do not need to be registered in the e-Fatura system. To enter the portal you must first apply and log in with a financial seal (mali mühür). Which income requires a receipt or invoice, whether e-documents are mandatory and what tax obligations apply vary from person to person; for this you should consult a financial advisor (mali müşavir). Ready-made accounting programs may be easier to use than the portal, but they cost money.

Where to start?

There is no need to set everything up at once. Start with a site and a free email list; then sales and distribution if you have anything to sell; the invoicing setup before your first income. The calendar and other tools can be added as the need arises. Adding up what each subscription costs once a year is enough to weed out the ones you don't need.