Why Your Band’s Name Is More Important Than Ever Guest Contribution by Chuck Jones You can find BandPage on Facebook here: http://facebook.com/bandpage BandPage on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bandpage Find out more about BandPage here: http://bandpage.com

1. GETTING YOUR BAND
NAME RIGHT
Why
Your
Band’s
Name
Is
More
Important
Than
Ever
Guest
Contribu=on
by
Chuck
Jones
chuck@nvomusic.com
hCp://F.bandpage.com/NVO

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Naming
Your
Band
Introduc=on
Pg.
3
Defining
Your
Band
Pg.
4
Brand
Awareness
Pg.
5
Band
Names
In
2012
Pg.
6
Be
Consistent
Online
Pg.
7
Facebook
Vanity
URL
Pg.
8
Facebook
‘100
Likes’
Rule
Pg.
9
Automated
Show
Updates
Pg.
10
Name
Logis=cs:
Consider
This
Pg.
11
2

3. INTRODUCTION
Right
now,
you
might
be
thinking,
“This
is
it!”
You’re
playing
music,
jamming
with
your
friends,
and
you
sound
good.
You’re
onto
something!
This
group
has
poten=al.
You’re
crea=ng
something
new
and
exci=ng,
and
you’re
ready
to
share
it
with
the
world.
It’s
a
rare
and
wonderful
feeling
to
be
in
a
new
music
group
that
has
poten=al.
And
inevitably,
once
that
ini=al
euphoria
wears
off,
you’re
faced
with
a
very
important
ques=on:
What
should
we
call
this
band?
3

4. DEFINING YOUR BAND
Coming
Up
With
a
Name
§ Coming
up
with
a
good
band
name
has
never
been
easy.
You
want
a
name
that
is
catchy
but
not
annoying-­‐-­‐
a
name
that
both
matches
your
sound,
and
that
fans
can
remember.
As
Principal
Skinner
once
said
about
his
barbershop
quartet,
“We
need
a
name
that's
wiCy
at
first,
but
that
seems
less
funny
each
=me
you
hear
it.”
Long
Term
Implica=ons
§ Choose
your
band
name
wisely.
You
could
be
married
to
it
for
a
long
=me.
Think
about
it…
what
will
this
name
say
about
you?
About
your
music?
About
your
style?
About
your
world
view?
If
you
have
a
day
job,
can
you
tell
your
boss
the
band
name
without
blushing?
What
about
your
parents?
What
will
music
journalists
think?
Bloggers?
Poten=al
fans?
4

5. BRAND AWARENESS
§ Disco
Biscuits
bassist
Marc
Brownstein
once
commented
on
the
origin
of
their
band:
“When
the
band
started
out
we
were
all
students
at
Penn,
and
we
had
this
idea
that
we'd
change
our
name
constantly.
We'd
be
called
one
thing
one
night,
then
another
thing
the
next
night.
Somehow
the
idea
caught
on.
Everyone
on
campus
knew
who
we
were.
Then
liBle
by
liBle
we
were
like,
'Wait,
if
we
want
to
actually
have
a
career,
changing
our
name
all
the
Dme
is
not
smart
at
all!'
So
we
were
kinda
stuck.”*
§ This
comment
touches
on
brand
awareness,
a
marke=ng
concept
that
refers
to
a
measurement
of
how
many
consumers
know
of
a
brand’s
existence.
For
example,
Coca-­‐Cola
has
incredibly
high
brand
awareness:
it
is
recognized
the
world
over.
§ Your
band
is
a
brand.
Your
goal
is
high
brand
awareness:
you
want
as
many
people
to
know
about
your
band
as
possible.
Changing
band
names
removes
your
brand
from
the
collec=ve
consciousness,
killing
your
brand
awareness.
*Source:
hCp://www.spin.com/ar=cles/how-­‐they-­‐became-­‐disco-­‐biscuits
5

6. BAND NAMES IN 2012
Beyond
ar=s=c
elements,
there
are
prac=cal
considera=ons
for
marke=ng
your
band
that
you
might
have
overlooked.
In
2012,
a
band’s
name
carries
more
weight
than
ever
before
because
of
the
way
the
music
business
has
changed.
Compared
to
just
10
years
ago,
the
number
of
DIY
tools
for
bands
has
exploded.
As
we
will
outline
in
the
following
slides,
most
of
these
tools
are
rooted
in
your
band
name.
These
days,
star=ng
a
band
is
essen=ally
equivalent
to
star=ng
a
business.
To
make
it
in
music
in
2012,
you
need
to
market
your
band
like
a
business.
6

7. BE CONSISTENT ONLINE
Successful
bands
in
2012
are
all
over
the
web.
There
are
many
online
touch
points
for
a
band,
and
your
group
should
be
maintain
a
presence
on
as
many
as
possible.
A
good
band
name
can
extend
to
each
loca=on
online
consistently,
making
it
easier
for
fans
to
find
your
work.
All
of
your
online
touch
points
should
have
a
similar
name.
A
sample
of
the
numerous
online
touch
points
for
bands:
7

8. FACEBOOK VANITY URL
§ Facebook
will
let
you
set
a
vanity
URL
only
ONCE.
You
may
not
make
any
changes
aLer
that,
EVER.
Customized
“Vanity”
URL
8

9. FACEBOOK’S ‘100 LIKES’ RULE
§ Facebook
will
not
let
you
change
your
user
name
aher
your
page
has
received
100
or
more
likes.
§ Consider
that
changing
your
name
aLer
you
have
100
likes
means
that
your
Facebook
markeOng
efforts
are
reset
to
zero!
9

10. AUTOMATED SHOW UPDATES
§ BandPage
integrates
with
Songkick,
Bandsintown,
and
Sonic
Living
to
create
an
automated
feed
of
your
upcoming
shows.
Changing
your
name
requires
any
fan
following
you
via
these
services
to
add
you
again.
10

11. NAME LOGISTICS: CONSIDER THIS
Consider
for
a
moment:
§ A
band
name
that
is
a
made
up
word,
difficult
to
spell,
or
hard
to
pronounce
can
act
as
a
barrier
between
a
poten=al
fan
and
your
music.
§ Fans
might
abbreviate
an
overly
long
band
name
§ An
overly
long
band
name
translates
into
an
overly
long
twiCer
handle,
reducing
your
available
characters
for
tweets
and
retweets.
§ Band
names
that
use
symbols
like
$
@
*
%
/
etc...
may
confuse
web
browsers,
as
these
symbols
might
have
a
feature
in
html,
php,
or
some
other
web
language
that
you
may
not
be
familiar
with,
leading
to
unexpected
consequences.
§ If
your
band
name
has
profanity
in
the
=tle,
outside
par=es
may
subs=tute
these
special
symbols
in
without
asking
you,
risking
confusion
to
browsers
and
show
feeds
11