Originally published by So’lano Music Group.
In culinary circles, it is all about presentation. For comedians, it is all about delivery. Similarly, for musicians, the songs are best served by a band that knows what it is about and proudly displays that banner.
Creating a brand is a process. First an artist must decide what they’re about: their genre, their influences, their aesthetic tastes. Next they must find a way to present all of those facets in a cohesive, appealing way. Finally, the well thought out, prepped and polished product must be put on display in a manner and at a location chosen to maximize visibility.
While cues for all of these things ought to be taken from the music, once those cues are identified music moves to the back burner. A brand is all about design and marketability. Purists may balk at the idea, insisting that it should be all about the music. Indeed, perhaps it should, but the music industry is just that: an industry. It produces products. The product sounds like art, but it must sell like industry.
Knowing how to present your band — your clothes, style, web presence — can go a long way in early self-promotion, and also in increasing your appeal to labels and record companies. Their whole purpose is to sell a product, and if you’ve already laid the groundwork, they’ll be pleased to save the money they would have had to pump into your band to do it themselves.
Once you’ve designed your product, it must be put on display. More than simply researching yourself, you must research your market: know where it goes, how it spends its time, what its looking for. Then go there, do it, and be that. If you’ve identified your market well, being what they want will simply mean being who you are.
You aren’t building a product out of nothing, you’re figuring out how to make a product out of what you already are.
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