Music branding has become increasingly popular as a topic not only among the music industry hierarchy, but also among the average artist and independent companies. Artists are slowly beginning to realize the power of their own name and how it can generate not only another source of income, but an even more significant financial return that dwarfs the return on their music career.

One of the most significant markers was not set in the music industry but in sports. When basketball legend Michael Jordan rose to notoriety by signing an extremely lucrative deal with Nike to produce the Air Jordan range, the table was set and he has continued in sports with many athletes including David Beckham and Tiger Woods.

The deal with Michael Jordan was not the first time that various industries recognized the power of artists, whether they be athletes, actors or musicians. Sportswear giants approached Run DMC, the famous hip hop legends after recording and releasing the hit “My Adidas”, when the brand’s sales increased due to the popularity of the songs.

Some would argue that even more significant than these cases are the cases of minor celebrities such as the late Jade Goody (Channel 4’s Big Brother) who have shown that it is not necessary to have achieved significant success in any field in order to be successful in selling your mark and be rewarded. financially. Jade achieved significant financial rewards with her perfume line earning her a seven-figure sum.

So what is a brand?

Whenever I talk to musicians and mention the brand, they always start talking about logos and image, which has a place in the brand but is not what the brand really is. Let’s clear up the logo problem first. A logo is the visual identification of a brand.

Again, what is a brand?

A quote from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos states that “a brand is what people say about you when you walk out of the room.” I think many would agree that Amazon is a very well known and successful brand. But how do you build a successful brand? For me, the key ingredient of a brand is trust! Now, if you notice that trust does not mean that you have to behave yourself and do everything by the rules, as the image of our publication we chose the Rolling Stone logo, which has become a brand that represents good rock and roll music, but that before was identified with bad behavior and rebellion.

Others in branding claim that a brand is a promise of an experience most women would get from an Herbal Essence ad, it is the promise of a sensual experience when washing hair. One of the most successful examples of this promise is the Heinz food brand. When most skinless shoppers go to their local superstore if they are buying beans, a large percentage over a long period of time would pick up the Heinz brand can because it was marked as a higher quality product and was marketed so cheaply. so effective that people did it. Don’t mind paying more for the experience. That is what a well-marketed brand will allow you to do.

What is your brand?

The music business is the king of personal branding because if you didn’t have a good personal brand your success would be short lived. When developing your brand, you need to know your brand values, what does it stand for? What do you want people to say about you? What are you promising? Are you guaranteeing a good time? Do you intend to enlighten the world? Or are you the sex kitty guaranteed to excite and arouse? Work out your brand values ​​and you’ll be well on your way to building your brand.

Trust is never instant and neither is a brand, it needs to be built over time and it needs to live up to your brand values, your promise, if you don’t you won’t have a strong brand therefore you won’t be will consider trustworthy. to offer the experience you say.

There is more to building your brand but this is a brief overview and an invitation to those who are interested in researching and starting to build that brand because if it is built effectively it will expand beyond your music to different areas, as our previous examples have shown.