Website Design in New Orleans for Venues and Musicians

Updated November 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

A drummer pulls up outside a club with a kick drum, two cymbal bags and a 15 minute window. In New Orleans that window is a City rule: a Musician Loading Zone lets a band park at the curb to load or unload before and after a scheduled set at a venue that holds the permit. Website design in New Orleans for a live music room starts there, with an artist page that tells every act where to stop, when to load and what happens once the gear is inside. Progression is a New York company that builds New Orleans sites remotely and will come down to the room for a working session when a client asks.

Fifteen minutes at the curb with the hazards on

A hypothetical band’s van sits in a marked Musician Loading Zone two doors from a hypothetical club, hazards on, fifteen minutes on the clock. A phone shows the club’s artist page with three lines: where the zone is, the 15 minute limit and the side door to use.

The band that reads the page loads once and parks once. A band that finds nothing circles the block with a kick drum in the back.

Website design in New Orleans for rooms that book live music

The Mayor’s Office of Nighttime Economy was created in 2022 to bridge the gap between New Orleans’ nightlife and City government. It works with venues to identify locations that can be designated as loading and unloading zones for musicians in accordance with Section 154-868 of the City Code.

Live entertainment is a secondary use in New Orleans, added to an eligible primary use such as a bar, a standard restaurant, an indoor or outdoor amusement facility, a winery, a micro-distillery, a distillery, a micro-brewery or a brewery. Both uses must be allowed at the location under the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, and the primary establishment must remain open while live entertainment takes place.

The plain advice: a venue site serves two readers, the guest who buys a ticket or a drink and the act that plays. The Office’s Music Industry Resources page is the City’s own starting point for both.

Who is the second reader?

The act that plays. A guest wants a ticket and a time; an act wants a curb, a door and a contact who answers on the day.

The advance page: what a band needs before it pulls up

Before a gig a venue sends the band an advance. New Orleans website design for a live music room turns that advance into a page every act can open. Each row below is a line on the advance, the rule behind it, where it sits on the site and who keeps it current.

Where the zone is, in directions a driver can follow

A driver reads directions at a light, not a map. The page says which corner to start from, which side of the street the zone is on and how many doors it sits from the venue’s own door. The zone must be within two blocks of the venue, as the City’s 2023 release puts it.

• Write directions from the nearest corner, with the side of the street.
• Say how many doors from the venue’s door the zone sits.
• Add the 15 minute limit in the same paragraph.
• Name the zone only after the permit is in hand.

Before and after a scheduled set, and only then

The City describes the zone as a space where a vehicle may park for up to 15 minutes to load or unload equipment before and after a scheduled performance. The page says the same, so a band does not read it as an hour’s parking.

• Use the City’s words: before and after a scheduled performance.
• Put the times of the scheduled set on the same page.
• Say where to park once the gear is inside.
• Leave out any promise about enforcement.

Stage plot, backline and the house sound plan

A stage plot, an input list and the house backline belong on the artist page as downloads. The license application includes a sound management plan, and a short summary for acts keeps the room’s rules in one place.

• Offer the stage plot and input list as downloads.
• List the house backline in plain words.
• Summarize the sound plan in a few lines for acts.
• Name who to call about stage questions.

How a venue applies for its loading zone

According to the City’s Musicians Loading/Unloading Zones page, a venue completes the application form and submits it, along with a copy of the establishment’s mayoralty permit, to nighttime@nola.gov. The form asks for first and last name, email, phone, address and the Live Entertainment Permit Number.

Once the application is completed and reviewed, the City’s 2023 release says the permit can be picked up at the Office of Nighttime Economy at Gallier Hall, 545 St. Charles Avenue, 4th floor, or emailed to the venue. Questions go to nolanightmayor@nola.gov. The City decides every zone.

Who applies, the venue or the band?

The venue. The band’s page only points to the zone once the permit is in hand.

The plain advice: the artist page names the zone only once the permit is in hand, and it says the City decides every zone.

Pricing a venue site with a working artist page

A venue site is a service site with a calendar, a ticketing link and an artist page. Pricing depends on scope and is set in the written proposal. Published prices are subject to change.

Listed build prices at Progression

These are the fixed-scope starting prices on our website design and development page.

For related builds, see booking website design and event website design.

Hours, bookings and payment as the license file describes them

The Live Entertainment License application asks for a security and operations plan that gives the hours of operation and a description of how customers book, order and pay for services. The same guide asks for an executed lease, a site and floor plan and a sound management plan.

The plain advice: the site’s hours, ticketing and table booking pages say the same thing as the operations plan on file, and change together. A ticket calendar that links straight into the booking flow keeps them in step. See booking website design for the booking side.

Why should the site match the plan on file?

Because a guest or an act who finds a different set of hours on the site than the license file describes has found a promise nobody is keeping.

• Change the plan and the site on the same day.
• Keep one source of hours for every page.
• Link the ticket calendar to the booking flow.
• Send license questions to the Department of Safety and Permits.

Web design in New Orleans for the musicians on the other side of the curb

A web design company in New Orleans that builds for working musicians starts with a gig calendar that lists the venue, the load time and the set time. An electronic press kit carries the stage plot and input list a venue can download, and a booking request form takes the rest.

The Office of Nighttime Economy publishes business planning guides for musicians and promoters and a Street Performer Guide, and it runs a free professional development series with The Ella Project. In 2024 it published the New Orleans Music Census, which collected input from over 1,500 people across the music community. See musician website design for the band’s own site.

Can a band link the City’s guides?

Yes, as resources and never as endorsements. The guides are the City’s, and the band’s page says so.

• List the venue, load time and set time on every gig.
• Offer the stage plot and input list as a download.
• Add a booking request form with the fields a venue asks for.
• Link the City’s guides as resources, never as endorsements.

What belongs on a band’s gig page?

The venue, the date, the load time and the set time, plus a link to the venue’s artist page. A band that links the venue’s directions saves its own drummer a phone call.

Sound, neighbors and what the site should not promise

The Office of Nighttime Economy publishes a Sound Management Guide and indoor and outdoor sound management checklists, and the license application includes a sound management plan. A site describes the room and the music and gives a contact for neighbors.

It never promises volume, late hours or anything the license does not allow. License questions go to the Department of Safety and Permits.

• Describe the room and the music, not the volume.
• Give neighbors a contact that is answered.
• Leave out any promise of late hours.
• Link the City’s guide for sound management.

Who answers a neighbor’s question?

The contact named on the site, with the license questions routed to the Department of Safety and Permits.

Words an artist page leaves out

A few lines make promises the City has not made. An artist page that avoids them keeps to what the permit and the license support.

• Read the page for the words free, any time and approved.
• Check the zone wording against the City’s page.
• Date the page’s last review.
• Update the page when the City updates its own.

Touring acts and local bands read the same page differently

The advance is the same for both, but each reads it for a different reason. A touring act reads it from a van it has never parked near this room, and a local band reads it between day jobs.

• Put the zone directions first for touring acts.
• Put set times and settlement first for local bands.
• Keep the guest’s ticket link on the calendar.
• Give neighbors a named contact.

Closing the advance before the doors open

Eight checks close the advance, and the card lists them. For a venue that also sells tickets, see event website design.

For search and advertising around the room, see our SEO company in New Orleans and advertising agency in New Orleans pages.

Frequently asked questions