How Image & Branding Make Your Music's First Impression
Music Business Myth Busters - Episode 11: Your Music Speaks For Itself - You Don’t Need To Worry About Branding Or Image
If you're not selling as much music as you'd like, getting the kind of gigs that you want or getting as many people to come to those gigs as you'd like, and not making a full-time living from your music, you could be making a common mistake that I see so many independent musicians make. Without realising it, you've probably put up an invisible barrier that stops people from getting to your music in the first place because you believe this myth: Your music speaks for itself and you don't need to worry about branding or image.
The internet and the democratisation of technology have made it possible for anyone to record their music and put it online. The great thing is that there are no longer the huge barriers of entry to having a music career that there used to be. The downside is the monumental amount of music online now means there's way too much music around for anyone to automatically notice and care about you. This is called the “reality of the glut” and it's critically important that you acknowledge it if you want to build your fanbase and make a sustainable living from your music.
Because of the reality of the glut, our culture forces us to communicate about music without listening to it. The first exposure most people will have to us as artists is not listening to our music. It will be an image or a story or a written description; it could be our bio, a blog post, or an album review.
So because we're forced to communicate about our music with words and images, your music doesn't get the chance to speak for itself. If your music was being played on the radio, it would have the opportunity to speak for itself. If you were playing at a popular bar for 200 people, same thing. But in every other scenario, your music doesn't get the chance to speak for itself; you have to speak for it. You have to call people's attention to it using words and images and entice people to want to make the effort to hear your music, and ultimately to buy it.
Your music can't speak for itself because people are never even going to get to it unless your story, your image, or your branding captures them first. Even though your music is an auditory art form, no one is going to care enough to listen to it until they've been captivated by a picture or something interesting in the first two sentences of your bio.
Think of it this way: Your music is a party. People don't show up to a party if they don't know about it. Your branding, your image, and your marketing in general, is the invitation to the party. Get people to the party.
While music is the most important thing to YOU as the artist, music is the last thing that’s important to a potential fan. When you're marketing yourself and trying to get people to pay attention, your branding and your image are key in communicating who you are and what your music is about. Most artists miss this point and get upset when you tell them that their image matters more than their music.
Your music only matters once someone gets to your music. Until they get there, it doesn't matter at all and your image is the only thing that matters. It's not either/or; it's where someone is on the timeline of interacting with your music. You don't have to be so obsessed about your image that you forget about the music. But neglecting your image can be detrimental to your career. Music fans won't overlook your image and think it's just about the music.
It's not that image is more important than your music. It's a part of trying to tell your story. You may have great music, but that's not enough. These days you have to tell a complete story. A story engages your fans, gives them something to latch on to, to connect to, to talk about and remember. It's a hook that opens up a conversation, which is critical for building engagement and relationships with your fans.
Your image is the visual aspect of that story. You've heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. Your image can powerfully communicate things about you and your music that are hard to get across with words. Your image should create a feeling, that can bypass logic and appeal directly to the emotions of a potential fan, which creates a much stronger connection. Your image is telling a story, so you want to make sure that it fits, that it's aligned with your music, that it gives people the right idea of who you are and the kind of music you make, or feels like you're part of a group or subculture that enjoys that type of music.
Regardless of which business you're in, even the greatest products can’t sell themselves; the image or brand perception is what makes people want to buy. We make decisions based on visual cues. We choose which things to buy based on packaging all the time when we go shopping. There are certain visual indicators about the product that it's more of what you're looking for, that it fits your lifestyle and culture.
If you want to be an artist and just make art for yourself and never make a living from your music, that's fine; you don't need to worry about your image and branding. But if you want to be in the music business, your music is a product to be sold. You're not a musician; you're a marketer who sells music and you need to pay attention to your image and branding.
Image isn't necessarily about how fancy your photos look or how expensive your outfit is. They're visual cues that let people know that you're part of a particular genre, group, or culture. If you like Death Metal and you see an artist that's wearing cowboy boots and hat and a check shirt, you're probably going to come to the conclusion that that artist isn't what you're looking for. Same thing if you're a Jazz fan and you see an artist wearing black leather and chains.
The core issue is there is too much music out there now for artists to not be concerned with making those kinds of impressions. No one's going to give you another second beyond that first judgement where they decide that they don't want what you're offering. Your music could be perfect for that person, but you didn't win them over visually in those first few seconds that they were exposed to your image. They're trying to mentally categorise where you belong to determine whether you’re relevant to them.
Your photos can make the difference of your music being perceived as a professional product or not. The media and booking agents pay attention to visual cues too. If they've got two bands that land on their desk and they've only got room to review one or book one, and they like each album equally, the thing that will tip the scales in favour of one band is if they have better-looking photos or packaging than the other band. You need to approach this with a certain level of professionalism.
That matters to the press and booking agents. It matters to fans and how they visually find their tribe. Certain genres like Metal and Hip-Hop have visuals that cue people as to whether it's their tribe or not. If artists don't think about that imagery it can be a hindrance to their career, especially to people that have to make quick decisions like the press or booking agents. Before anyone listens to your music or books you for a gig, the first impression they get of you is your visuals. It's important to spend the time, effort and energy to think about it.
It would be a real shame if you poured your heart and soul into crafting an amazing album, spared no expense on production quality, only to undermine all of your hard work, time, and money by not thinking about your image and branding. One of the most common ways I see this play out is with album cover artwork. Some artists say they just want it to be “all about the music” and why should artwork matter, and so they treat it as an afterthought. The way people search for music, they're going to see your album artwork before they ever hear the music. We've all been captivated by the power of an amazing album cover. We see it in the record store or online and we're compelled to buy and listen to that album.
People do judge an album by its cover. If you've put no effort into the artwork, why would anyone think that you've put any more effort into the music? If your album artwork is mediocre, it's not going to inspire confidence in the listener to push the play button. Think about your favourite album. It probably has a great cover that you intrinsically associate with the music. Would you love that album if it had a shitty cover? Probably not. It's a multi-sensory experience.
You can bend and play with genre boundaries somewhat and there are exceptions to the rule, but if you're trying to speak to an audience and say that you're a part of their tribe and your music fits with who they are, your cover art is a great indicator to the prospective listener as to whether or not they should buy your album and ultimately press play. Your cover art is actually one of the highest leverage pieces of marketing you have. It's either a gateway or a barrier to people listening to your music.
If you're still on the fence about how vitally important your image and branding are to the success of your music career, here's a way to reframe that. Derek Sivers, the founder of CD Baby, said something brilliant. He said, “Art doesn't end at the edge of the canvas.” What he meant was that your music isn't just about what people hear. People hear what they see. It's a multi-sensory experience. Your music itself is just one creative layer. Your branding, your image, your marketing, your photos, your music videos, the way you dress, and your stage presentation are just other creative layers stacked on top of the music. And you can be as creative as you want with those layers. They're not separate entities. It's all part of the experience of your music. Your music doesn't speak for itself. Your image and branding counts too. It's just an extension of your music.