A brand is an identity. When I say “Nike,” you think shoes. When I say, “Yamaha,” you’d probably think of guitars. Both those are brands: strong identities associated with a name.
Musicians, especially those trying to make a living in music, should have brands as well. A brand is easy to think up, just ask yourself, “what do I want to be when I ‘grow up’?”
More than Business
A strong brand can give a business direction to an entrepreneurial musician, but everyone should have a brand because goals are important.
Having a brand is the same as have a long-term goal. Do you want to perform concerts? How many? What sort of practicing does that require? How about being a studio guitarist? You better be good at sight reading and an incredibly consistent player.
Those are two more business-like examples, but the possibilities are endless. Do you want to perform for family and friends? How do you practice for that? (by performing for them a lot!) Do you want to be able to play restaurant gigs? Or do weddings? Having that sort of brand, being a wedding musician, can provide a direction to your practice time and repertoire on which to work.
Brands are not just for businesses and professional musicians. What’s your brand?
Bullseye! Great post.
Can you really make a living with music??
I’d like to see a post on this.
Because I’ve just read the following, written by
Arne Svindland – classical guitarist:
“- Wanted to make a living as a guitarist, but since
I’m not Pepe Romero and very few people bother
going to a concert with a mediocre classical guitarist
I decided to do something else for a living;)
Worked in a factory, took a bunch of courses and a
2-year technical degree in petroleum, and now I
work offshore on an oil platform…”
Food for though…. !
Sure is. Considering most of my income comes from marketing consulting and web work, I’d say Arne is somewhat right. Now, that said, could I make a living with music? Absolutely — but I’m more interest in doing wordpress development and coding right now. Could I make a living performing? No. But being a musician is about doing more than performing. There’s only two guitarists in the entire world that only make a living performing: John Williams and David Russell. Even Pepe, who Arne holds up as an example, has a teaching gig at USC.
That’s something to think about.
Here’s the link to the text by Arne: http://www.arnesvindland.com/