Alright, alright,
this has been bugging me for about a year now, which is as long as I’ve been trying to find a new artist name.
How important is the name of a band or musician?
Personally, I consider my own name to not be representative of the music I make, and therefore should probably change it. On the other hand, I’ve built up a small following under the name already and restarting from scratch would be a bother.
There’s artists like Nine Inch Nails who say their name just came to them at random, then there’s some with simple names like “she”, “audio” and “Danger”, which have built a big following even though their names are quite generic in themselves and don’t imply any specific musical direction.
What would you consider more important, a unique name that catches on or a generic one that would fit pretty much any type of music?
A good name always helps, but at this point it’s almost impossible to come up with something that hasn’t already been used…so I wouldn’t really worry too much about it.
I’d say just stick with what you’ve got if you have a decent following.
Nothing says your name has to inherently fit your music. IMO if you define your musical style well whatever name you use will become synonymous with that style.
Simply take care you become a great artist and then the name doesn’t matter.
I’ve heard talented artist with shitty names and i have heard shitty artist with promising names.
In a different part of my life I asked for a professional stage name because i am aware of enough other musicians named Christopher Hunter who I didn’t want to be confused with, but the reaction I always got was “your real name is cool!”
As long as it doesn’t have interpretation or pronunciation problems, anything will do.
If your music is different enough, your name will become synonymous with the style. Look at Igorrr. What is an Igorrr? What kind of music is it? But when you hear the music, you won’t be able to hear anything else when you hear the name.
If I were to give you advice, pick something simple. One or two syllables, so it’s not like one of those punk bands with ridiculously long names.
Nothing wrong with changing names for different styles either (Juan Atkins) or as the times and audience dictate (Jefferson Airplane/Starship or Big Brother and the Holding Company)
On one hand, having a unique name that isn’t derived from any language is going to make you easier to find for people who already know you. On the other, people who don’t know who you are will never be able to search your name.
I chose ‘skolskoly’ because it has significance to me, but I don’t really believe this important; the music is what counts. I think, however, artists like ‘she,’ who actually do have a large cult following, could have become even more popular with a name that is actually google-able. If you google search my name, the top results return me and my music. Simple, clean; I like that.
Just making sure you are aware that when referring to the little critters with six legs and an exoskeleton that it is not spelled Beatles? Definitely consider there to be many far worse names out there!
Well yes, the insect is spelled beetle, but “Beatles” is just a combination of beetles and beat. Lennon wanted an insect-sounding name since he liked Buddy Holly’s band The Crickets.
I find it interesting as with my name specifically, I’ve had some funny instances of people just getting it wrong. I got featured on radio once and they said the “-chan” part like “khan”… And a lot of people who’re into japanese stuff just assume that I’m a girl from the name. Guess that’s quite a specific problem with my name though and not a general one…
Good (or sore thumb) band/song names are very important for grabbing attention. Bad side effects include: makes it easier to remember if you delivered the suck.
Bad/whatever names are just as good if you got good product to go with it, but harder to get people to try it. You have to compensate with something else.
They been saying since the 50s at least, ‘you got to have a gimmick’.
Personally, I think blood drenched barbarian record covers are the way to go… or the half naked ladies. Or better yet, both in one scene! But that requires befriending visual artists which could lead to all manner of unnecessary ickiness.
I’ve had pretty much the same artist name since I was under 10 years old. Originally I wanted to be Dj Fast but funnily enough I figured out that I wasn’t an actual dj so I just left the J out. The nickname is important to me, but it sure as hell isn’t important to other people. If the music is good and finds a lot of audience, the name will follow and end up being bigger than the actual music.