The biggest modern musicians knew how to build a brand that appeals to wide audiences. Industry titans like Taylor Swift and Jay-Z have spent years refining their brand presence and have created an aura around their public personas.
Fortunately, you don’t need to sell out arenas and book global tours to build a compelling brand. Even simple steps, like creating a branded social media page, can bolster your credibility, attract more listeners to your content, and maximize your merchandise sales.
Building a brand as a musician can even refine your creative approach. For example, if you’re struggling to create new music for an upcoming album, you may want to explore ideas and sounds that align with your new-found brand vision.
Personal Branding
Building your brand as a musician takes plenty of consistency. As such, it’s a good idea to plan your brand vision and create a personal brand that aligns with your real values and identity.
Creating an authentic public persona can help you stand out from others in the music market and will innately bolster your listener base. You can build a personal brand that stands out today by:
- Conducting an audit of the content you’ve produced to better understand how you’re already positioned in the market.
- Consistently producing content and publishing regularly on channels like Instagram or Facebook.
- Listen to your audience and tweak your brand image as your understanding of your brand grows.
- Set a few goals to give your brand shape and a clear direction.
- Create brand guidelines for yourself including fonts, color schemes, and imagery that invokes your broader brand image.
Setting aside some time to plan key details is essential when trying to create branded content. You have to remain consistent if you want to create a recognizable brand and should have a predetermined set of ideas that guide your broader identity. This is particularly important if you want to create content for your own music rather than relying on a marketing team to do the heavy lifting for you.
Creating Branded Content
Start promoting your music using digital content creation tools that enhance your brand image and help you create graphics and short videos. For example, if you recently created an Instagram platform for your music, consider using tools like Canva or Adobe Express. These tools are relatively intuitive and give you the chance to create consistent content based on your wider brand persona.
You may find that you need to brush up on your editing skills before posting highlights of your work to YouTube or Facebook. Consider enrolling in video editing courses that teach you the basics of programs like After Effects, Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci. This will ensure that your video production reflects the quality of your musical talents and will help you create music videos that draw the attention of audiences and record labels alike.
Creating a strong following on social media can help you build a buzz around an upcoming album release and will meaningfully bolster your exposure in the music industry. A great social presence can act as a portfolio, too, which may be crucial if you want to land branded partnerships and start supporting similar acts in the music industry.
Brand Partnerships
The music industry can be competitive, but that doesn’t mean you should overlook the powerful potential of brand partnerships. Rather than seeing other musicians as competition, try to break down barriers and secure a few partnerships with other bands who appeal to a similar audience as yourself.
If you’re new to the idea of brand partnerships, start with simple collaborations like offering to play as an opening act for a local band in the area. This will expose your musical brand to your target audience and will help you build your professional network in the area. Working with other artists can improve your musical skills and help you hone your personal brand.
Berklee Online shares tips for brand partnerships.
The Artist Guides offer tips for building your brand.
Eventually, you may start to receive brand partnership requests from businesses that want to use your music in commercials or elsewhere. While this can be financially lucrative, you’ll need to do your research before promoting a company’s products. This is key, as you can’t afford to damage your brand image by partnering with an unethical business. You’ll also need to ensure that your partnership reflects your personal brand in a positive light. For example, if you’re a classical musician, licensing your music to a jeweler may work well, while partnerships with a children’s cereal producer will probably undermine your image.
Conclusion
Creating a brand for your music can help you land record deals, build your audience base, and lead to paid spots. However, you’ll need to take the time to plan your brand properly before publishing social content and ordering merchandise. Get the ball rolling by identifying a few similar brands in the music industry and aim to replicate their image. This means you’ll want to create key brand guidelines related to font, colors, and voice to create a persona that reflects your music properly.
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