Choosing A Brand Name As A Music Producer – Complete Guide

If you are planning to brand yourself as a music producer, then the very first thing to consider is to name your brand. Choosing a name for your brand or your music business is not as simple as it looks. You can not just come up with a brand name and decide to use it without considering certain things first.

If you want to pursue your music as your full-time business, you need to build a brand.

If you wish to learn all the steps to building a brand, check out this article to learn How To Build A Brand As A Music Producer.

In this article, I am sharing all the need-to-knows of Choosing A Brand Name As A Music Producer.

Why Do You Need A Brand Name?

The very first and essential step to building a brand is choosing a name for your music business.

As a music producer, you need a brand name to brand your music and your music production services (i.e. your product). You need a brand name because that’s how your audience, fans and customers going to remember you. Your brand name is your music business’s identity, just like your name is yours.

As a music producer, you need a brand that converts your listeners into your fans and customers of your services.

You must be thinking what’s the point of a brand name when you can simply use your real name for branding your music. Well, that makes sense.

You can actually use your name as your music business name. But there are certain things to know before jumping to any conclusion just yet.

Using Your Real Name As Your Brand Name

You can use your real name as your music business name if:

• Your real name is easy to pronounce and spell.
• Your real name is not too long.
• Your real name is not too common or already used by another brand.
• Your real name is easy to remember.
• You really like your real name and want to go by it.
• A domain name for your real name is available.
• Trademark for your real name is not owned by someone else.

If all these conditions are true, Congratulations!

You already have a name for your music business. Now all you need is to register it as your brand name.

If not, then you can try tweaking your real name a bit to meet these conditions, or you may want to consider a completely different brand name.

Let’s find out how to choose a brand name for your music business.

How To Choose A Brand Name For Your Music Business

Step 1: Brainstorm Name Ideas

Take a pen and paper, and start writing names. Think about unique names, your inspirations, tweak some names or join two together, write all that comes to your mind including variations.

Don’t get tied to any name yet. Write as many as you can.

Once you feel stuck, search the internet to get a different perspective. Every new idea will help you think better and come up with your own ideas and names.

Write a list of at least 20-30 names, you can take more than one sitting to brainstorm new names.

Try and shortlist a few names that you like.

For instance, Dr Dre’s real name is Andre Romelle Young. During the early 1980s, he performed at house parties and clubs wearing a Doctor’s mask. He originally went by Dr J, J for his favourite basketball player Julius Erving's nickname. Later he switched the ‘J’ for ‘Dre’, ‘Dre’ being a nickname for ‘Andre’.

Step 2: Check Availability

The process of choosing a brand name can be a bit challenging since there may exist many brands already with the names you have shortlisted.

Check if the domain and trademark are available for all these names you have shortlisted. If any of these are not available just cross them off the list.

If your shortlisted brand names are not available, then there’s no point in keeping them on the list.

If you really like a name and don’t want to give it up consider tweaking it up a bit and check if that’s available. 

For example, Google is derived from a misspelling of a mathematical term, Googol.

You can check the availability of your shortlisted brand name’s trademark here and domain name here.

If none of your shortlisted names is available you should consider brainstorming the names again or start again at Step 1. Hard luck, but that is how it works.

If any of these brand names are available to trademark and for a domain name then you can move to the next step. 

Step 3: Narrow it Down

Now you have the list of the brand names that are available for registration. But just because "unhsyfgthyeu" is available doesn’t mean you should use it to name your brand. Isn’t it? 

This is why this final filtration will provide you with the things to consider before finalising your music business brand name.

Here’s a checklist for you to finalise your brand name. You must make sure that:

• Your preferred brand name is easy to remember.
• It goes well with your personality.
• You are comfortable introducing yourself with this name.
• It is unique and not a generic term.
• It connects with your long-term goals.
• It portrays you in your favour.

Give enough thought and time to your brand name ensuring that it reflects what your brand stands for. Your brand name is the first impression people have about your brand. You must be able to market it, own it and protect it.

If it represents you, your personality, your style of music or the way you want your audience to perceive you, then it’s definitely the name for you.

Write it down in gold words. Finalise it and Live With It.

Now you are ready to move on to the next step, i.e Create Your Online Presence, of How To Build A Brand As A Music Producer