I always hated the word “branding” in regards to building an image in any entertainment based career. It’s uncomfortable. The phonetics don’t match the definition. Words are powerful; the word brand has been associated with conservative commercialism for so long that it crafts a visual of being traditional, basic—boring. 

So let’s rename it and get on top of it. The truth is, whether we like it or not, in order to rise above the noise, you’re going to have to put some kind of flag out on your ship. With a million talented music artists passing through a dark sea of competition, no one is going to see you until you make them. 

Self-promotion doesn’t have to be cautious. Honestly, caution isn’t the best idea for standing out in a crowd. Trying too hard to be morally stable, reaching for righteousness; people don’t want to be preached to by someone who appears chaste and blameless. They want to identify with a human being; someone who can lead them through the uncertainty of the human condition. How are you getting through this world? How easy is it going to be to follow your journey? 

And that’s where we start building an image. 

Branding for artists is more than a logo and a color. It’s the experience of being you. So first, ask some questions about yourself as if you were on the outside looking in:

• Who is this person? 
• Where do they come from?
• How are they dealing with obstacles and just—everything?
• What does this person want from the world?
• Where are they trying to go?

Number one. Who the heck are you, anyway? What do you believe in? What is that thing inside you that beams stronger than anything else? You can’t just cop out and say “music”. Everyone has a strong connection to music. It’s in our blood. So what is it about you as a person that you put out there without even thinking about it? Are you spiritually connected to something primitive in nature and have a sense of tribalism in your soul? Or are you vivid and colorful, possessing the urge to take over a room with your presence when you walk in? Do you prefer flashy party scenes, or are you more at ease surrounded by a bunch of technical music nerds and a craft beer? You have to decide what it is that you go for when you wake up in the morning. That’s your soul. The next step is to make it stand out and shine. 

If you want to be a mysterious, quiet artist, being a musician probably isn’t going to be easy for you. People want to see music artists. We do more than just listen to music. We experience it; we identify with the people who make it, and we want to know everything about those people. 

Where do you come from? This is a big deal to fans. If I come across a music artist I’ve never heard before who absolutely blows me out of the water, I want to be able to talk about them. (This is how your music spreads, by the way.) I want to tell my friends, “Hey! There’s this artist from…. ??? Wait, where is she from? Is that why her music sounds like a rock band crashed a Turkish sultan’s birthday party? 

Let people know a little bit about your life and your backstory. This is how people get to know who and what kind of artist you are. Be transparent and proud of the experiences that shaped you as a person. This is where your music comes from; it’s a feeling inside that’s molded by what we’ve seen and experienced in this world. Your music shows people how you’re out there dealing with the world. And that brings us to number three. 

How are you dealing with it all? Anyone who’s reached the ripe age of 15 has baggage. Unless you’ve lived in a basement without any social contact your entire life, you’ve come to the conclusion that this world is kinda hard. We all have our ways of dealing with it. This is usually one of the biggest things we put into our music when we write. Whether you’re screaming heavy metal and releasing some very pent up urges to sink your fangs into something real bloody, or your tears are messing up the pages of a notebook you’re trying to write about a break up on—this is how you’re dealing with it. “It” being the operative word. 

What you’re writing about is important. The way you compose your music and the passion behind that is part of your image. The way you deal with life is who you are as a musician. Make it a part of your “look”. 

What do you want from this world? Here’s a nice, delicious question. What is keeping you up at night? Tell the world what you want, and watch it give it back to you. That yearning and that request is going to be part of your image. 

You are an artist for a reason. Something inside you is so passionate that it has to get released somehow, and you are one of the talented ones who knows how to take it, roll it up into a hard-hitting record and throw it out there. You’re going to find your image inside your music, and that music is your own beating heart.  

Music artists are more than technical machines, cranking out note-worthy masterpieces. They’re people with the ability to think in ways that the average population normally doesn’t want to. So you can take this list of questions and turn them into branding. Use abstraction; you don’t have to sit somewhere in front of a camera and give all the details of a breakup. Instead, you can take that sad song, and think about what it looks like when you listen to it. What colors do you think go along with that? You can use that in the branding of an album. What colors do you find yourself pulled towards on a habitual basis? You can use that in your overall logo. Now think about your background. If someone’s from New York, for example, their image can adopt the imagery we all associate the brooding, hard city with. Los Angeles brings up different visuals, like colors and warmth and Old Hollywood. People already make traditional associations with places, so use that to make it easier on yourself. It does happen to be a part of who you are, even if you don’t like it. Maybe a young man rejects the image of Appalachians sitting on a porch playing banjos, but that stereotype is still a part of what made him feel that rejection and decide he wanted to be different. A person could do a lot with that. 

Remember—your imagery can change every time you come out with a new album or EP. Keep the logo, change the colors. You are an artist; not a construction company. Your image is going to be a little more fluid, because artists are fluid. They’re evolutionary; their dreams keep moving and changing. The only things that need to stay static are your logos and your attitude. Although that attitude will grow as you get older, your core is always going to remain. You need to know and understand who you are so you can make others understand you, too. 

And that’s artist “branding”.