Branding in the Music Industry

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THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

As a student of music industries management, I've learned a great deal about what it takes for a music artist or band to achieve a level of success. What a lot of people don't realize is just how crucial branding in the music industry is. In this day of digital media and social networking, it is both more difficult and easier than ever to get your foot in the door. With so many new artists and bands emerging and trying their hand at a career as performers, it is easy for others to get lost in the shuffle. To really stand out from the crowd and start on your road to success, you need to brand yourself (or your band) and put yourself out there as much as possible.

In this lens I will discuss the importance of branding your band and treating your music career as a business and not just a hobby. I will also share some simple tips on how to get started with the branding process and how to make yourself stand out from the rest.

Establishing Yourself as a Brand

Treat your music as a business

One of the most important and valuable steps you can take in your career as a musician is to build yourself, or your band, as a brand. If you are looking for a successful career in the music industry as a performer, and your ultimate goal is to make a living from your music, then you need to treat yourself as an artist, or your band, as a business.

If you start to take your music seriously and look at is as more than just a hobby, you are well on your way to achieving the success that you are striving for. To make a living from creating and performing music, you need to invest (both time-wise and financially) in your band and market and promote it as you would a product from any other kind of business.

Create a Unique Logo

One of the best ways you can brand your band is to create a logo that people can automatically associate with it. As I specialize in the hard rock/metal genres of music, I have added a picture of the logo of a well-known, successful band - Avenged Sevenfold. The logo - known as the Deathbat - has become synonymous with the band, and millions of people around the world recognize it and automatically know it is Avenged Sevenfold without having to even have the band's name anywhere on it.

Creating a striking and unique logo for your band that can be used on merchandise, posters, banners and around the Internet is a huge step in establishing your band as its own brand. Once people start to see and recognize your logo, it will be much harder for them to forget who you are. If the logo is really cool looking, people will be proud to wear it and show it off for you.

Creating an Image

The image of your band is sometimes just as important as your music. Make sure your band LOOKS like a band and carries an image that your targeted demographic can relate to. Many musicians greatly underestimate the important of image in the music industry and fail to realize that the business has moved beyond just the sounds of a band. Image goes beyond just the visual aesthetics, too. How you carry yourself and behave also plays a huge part in how people see you. Aspire to be a band that people can look up to in one way or another. Send a message that your fans can take on board and give them something to BELIEVE in.

The importance of branding

Any marketing guru will tell you that the biggest and most important aspect of marketing is branding. This is as essential in the music business as it is in any other. Potential fans need to be able to remember and associate with you. With so many other artists and bands out there, it is important that you take the necessary steps to stand out from the crowd and not just fade into the background. Once you start to treat your band as a business and understand the importance and value of branding yourself, things will start to fall into place and you'll be taking steps in the right direction. The brand of your band is the foundation of your business, and once the foundation is laid you can build upon it. Without a starting block, a business cannot be built. When it comes to your career, you don't want to be going around in circles, you want to move forward.

If you're serious about your music career, want to learn more about marketing in the music industry and are ready to take your career to the next level, Music Marketing Classroom provides some valuable information in the form of "cheat sheets" using non-traditional strategies you can implement to expand your fanbase