Steps to create your producer brand
In a crowd of almost 44 million new songs released every year (source) - a brand is what will get you sales and listens.
A brand isn't something only traditional businesses have.
It's the way your customer (in our case listener) thinks of us whenever they see or hear our name.
- Nike
- Netflix
- Walmart
All have strong brands because you associate a feeling and image in your head when you hear their name.
- Marshmello
- deadmau5
- KSHMR
Also give distinct images when you read or hear their name.
As promised from last week's letter - here's the actionable steps we can take to create your own brand as a producer.
*Note*
There was homework from last week's letter which we need for today.
Sonic and visual branding.
I want to identify 2 key aspects of our brand before we look at the How/steps to create one.
1. Sound Design
2. Visual Design
Sound Design
I've taken this next bit out of my Sound Design Sorcery Free Guide
Sound design is a means to creating unique, signature sounds.
It’s what makes you different from others within and outside of your genre.
Like how Marshmello is different from Martin Garrix.
Or how Color Bass is different from Trap or Future Bass.
Knowing the fundamentals of sound design is what’s going to give you the tools and means to craft your own signature sounds or even whole new genres.
Sound design is crucial for us as music producers.
Unlink art/digital arts who only have a distinct drawing style, we as musicians need to have an auditory style - a sound style/signature sound also.
We need sound design to translate our brand to an audible representation of our values.
If you're a more chill laid back kind of brand/artist project - knowing how to make chill laid back sounds is key.
Same if you're a heavy aggressive brand, those sounds are key.
It wouldn't make sense for Harley Davidson to market their bikes with a pop song in the background.
They need to use more rock and metal influenced sounds to match what their brand values are.
Visual Design
We need a distinct visual representation of who our artist brand is.
Nike "Swoosh"
Lego Logo
Tesla "T"
Each of these brands have a visual image that attaches to their style and core values as a brand.
This is why it was key for us to determine what our core values were from the last letter.
So when we go to design our visuals, it's consistent with the values you have and aligns with the sound design.
For example - it wouldn't make sense for Taylor Swift to release tearout like Marauda.
It doesn't match her branding.
If she does want to release tearout, it would be better to create a separate artist project for it.
Steps for creating your brand
1. Decide your artist name if you haven't yet.
It can be anything and you can always rebrand in the future if you need.
For me, my name came from a few places.
A. My life long interest in space, stars, other planets, space objects etc.
B. The Doctor Strange Marvel movies and those awesome glass shattering effects.
C. My interest in RPG games, magic and spiritual things.
With these, the Mystic Arts name makes sense.
Some tips to pick a name:
Would you be comfortable using your real name?
Is it a longer name or is it easy to remember
(short and easy to remember is better).Based on your values and interests, what name or word(s) best describe you?
Do you have a nickname you're close family or friends call you? If so, why?
You can reverse engineer the reason into an artist name.
2. Start drawing on a paper sketches and ideas of your artist name logo/brand.
Majority of producer/artist brands use their name as their logo.
They rarely have a separate logo from their artist name.
This means, when you're drawing a logo - use your artist name.
Try incorporating symbolism that match your values in the name.
For mine;
I put some little stars in the corners of my name (space).
There's a little planet outline under my "M" (space).
The font has a cut in the middle, like a shattered glass refraction effect (Dr. Strange)
The bottom of the font has a little "portal" under it, like it's appearing out of thin air (magic)
3. Make the logo with an SVG editor
Once you have you're sketches done, you need to make it into an SVG file.
This makes it easier to work with on future visuals, artwork etc.
Using Inkscape is simple and there’s a ton of free tutorials online to help.
Pro tip: Export your logo as a transparent png, both in black and white.
4. Listener contact points - how can you inject your style/brand into different contact points with listeners?
Now that you have your name and logo, we need to inject that into all areas of your artist project.
Artwork/visuals
Pictures/photoshoots/wardrobe
Costumes/outfits or costumes (think Sudden Death, Marshmello, KSHMR and how they wear certain clothes matching their style).
Communication
The words you use in and out of your promotions and songs.
In person how do you interact with others.
Your bio on streaming sites
Who you collaborate with
What types of music you release, style and genre and sound design etc.
After implementing these steps, you should have a clear idea of your brand now.
A logo.
A style.
A distinct image of what you want you're signature sound and artist project to be.
This crafted image is what pulls in listeners to your sound over those 120,000 other songs released everyday.
Over time, you will need to expand and update your brand - or even restart with a new one.
What's important is that you have this clear image in your head.
The image of what you want your project to sound like which matches the core values you have.
It makes sense to plug Sound Design Sorcery here.
With it, you'll learn all the tools to create signature sounds in 2 hours.
The sounds you can incorporate into your brand.
Peace, Vig/MA
when you’re ready
