Over the years, have read several articles online and also has seen growth of musicians. But recently I stumbled upon an argument on how artistes and musicians failed on lack of clear ” Brand “ identity for their music.
Before I continue on this topic ” Why You Need Clear Brand Identity for Your Music ” , I will love to put out what brand identity means for a business.
Here is what Wikipedia says about what brand means :
A brand is a set of marketing and communication methods that help to distinguish a company from competitors and create a lasting impression in the minds of customers.
It also means a distinguishing symbol, mark, logo , name, word, sentence or a combination of these items that companies use to distinguish their product from others in the market.
Let come back to music, as an artist your fans must know your true identity. For example many people knows D’banj as Kokomaster, Bangs Lee or Eja NLA, while Olamide was known as Baddo, Reminisce as Alaga Ibile, Davido as OBO and Wizkid as Starboy. All this simple things means a lot in your career.
Have seen several musician saying that she don’t buy the idea of playing the acting script on stage but just want to be he or herself on stage. Meaning that he or she don’t want the costume or mark-up nonsense or labeling them somebody on stage.
I understand and I also love that point of view, but there is a need for some kind of clarity as to the essence of what you do. And I think it’s more than fun that way.
Here are reasons why you need to have a clear ‘brand’ and how to establish them.
Because Your Fans Need to be Able to Find You
Music is spiritual, which means its spiritual dose for some people. Some fans can go as far of swearing that your music heal them or save their life years ago. This means that the person you save with your music is still outside there, but you don’t know how to reach them.
One way to help fans find you, is indeed to make reference which can be in form of referring song that related to your brand for them to listen or be on their playlist and you must be very careful on which brand, issues or companies you endorse because this matter a lot to your brand identity and fans.
Comparing that you rap like MI Abaga but with the sophisticated style of Olamide. Then we know you’re more plugged into current pop culture standards and less retro. All these details give us a clue as to the age range of your ideal audience.
Because you need publications to review your work
If you don’t know your musical brand, you can’t select the right kind of publication both online and offline to approach in order to review your album and mention you on their list of top emerging artists to watch out for.
It’s not good sending out your new single or album for review to a gossip blog platform with a music section, if you’re singing about how corrupt the government are or how the system has failed citizen in several ways. Unless you have some kind of ironic take on it all that makes you a role model for gossiper solidarity.
In another way, if your music is all about owambe party or Fuji music, you’re not going to get a review in an electro-pop magazine, nor, for that matter, a publication that’s all about innovation and modern technology.
Because you need to simplify your life
If you’re trying to be all things to all people, you’ll end up getting nowhere. You could be confusing yourself if you’re recording songs that sound like Tiwa Savage but you want to collaborate with Asa for sampled beats on your song.
Imagine how hard will it be to keep clear on what your goal is, if you’re a chaotic mess of indecision and different musical directions? As one of my music business quote always says, “No-one can get behind chaos.”
In nutshell, it’s great and lovely if could have more fun with your music if you can be really clear why you’re doing it.
The question you must ask yourself is that : Is it a music that will break boundaries and be challenging to listen to, or is it music you want to listen to in the car driving with your family or friends through fields in Kaduna with your college years experience behind you and a new relationship emerging?
Who are you talking to?
Are you an activists or what?
Are you a hardcore rapper or commercial rapper?
Do you want people to listen to your music while chatting someone up or do you want them to come home to listen to your music while lying on their bed and thinking about things?
What is your music there to do? Quietly calm?
Excite? Incite a riot? Conceive a baby to? Reminisce with?
Decide for yourself even as you’re writing a song. Not for the purposes of being cool record specifically to achieve an outcome, but to enjoy the essence of who you are and what values are uppermost in your mind, soul and heart. If you’re clear on that, everything is in your hand.