Branding for Better Practicing
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?
Jeffrey Bianchi
Bullseye! Great post.
Chris
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…. !
Christopher Davis
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.
Chris
Here’s the link to the text by Arne: http://www.arnesvindland.com/