Choosing a good artist name is as important as your music. With the internet being a major source for the way people discover and share music, not picking the right name can cause huge problems for your marketing and promotion strategy. Here are a 4 very important things you should take into account when selecting one.
1. Is your name easy to pronounce?
Having a difficult name to pronounce makes it harder for people to pass along info about you by word of mouth. This is not to say that there haven’t been artists who have made it with complex names, it just creates an added obstacle when trying grow your fanbase. If you have a complicated name, provide a phonetic spelling with it to help new fans get it right.
2. Is your name too common?
I once worked with an artist named “Mystery”. This was a bad choice for a number of reasons. For one, this name is not search engine friendly. No one will ever find you if you were “Googled”. In fact, it will be hard to find you anywhere. If you’re going to pick a common name, choose a different spelling to make it easier for your fans to find you. Also, names like these are most times impossible to trademark.
3. Will you want this name in the future?
For example: You may not want a “Lil'”,”Young”, or “Kid” in your name when you get all grown up. It’s just something to think about. Carrying around a name that uses a trendy word can make you look dated too soon when everyone stops using it. Example: Lil’ Swag (hope that’s no one’s name. I didn’t Google it before I wrote this.)
4. Check to see if someone else has the same name!
Nothing could be worse than having the same exact name as another artist in the music business. This not only confuses your fans, but it can also bring a lawsuit against you. See my post on trademarking.
If you’ve put a lot of years building your career with a difficult name to market, then I suggest that you change it or add to it. It could be making it harder for you to achieve the success you want and changing it could help you avoid any potential legal problems in the long run.
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