Creating and maintaining an artist brand is different for every independent artist. It’s part of the joy (and challenge) of being independent — that you don’t have a team guiding your every move. But branding is still necessary for building a lasting fanbase.
Your artist branding is what shapes the world your fans want to live in and for that reason, it needs to be coherent, relatable, and authentic.
In this blog, we’ll provide practical tips for you to establish your artist identity, translating your core sound and characteristics into a brand that tells fans who you are and what you believe in.
Translate your music into an artist brand foundation
The best place to start building your brand is around your music. As the ultimate product and form of self-expression, your music is what fans will engage with most — it communicates the most information about you.
Build your brand foundation by analyzing the following basic information from your music:
- Genre: if your sound is difficult to categorize, choose a primary genre and secondary genre or choose a combination of 2-3 and list them in hyphenated form.
- Influences: who inspired you to write? What artists might complement your sound? Listing these can serve has helpful references to build bridges between fanbases.
- Moods: Does your music tend to evoke a certain mood? Perhaps it ranges significantly! Jot down a few words about the typical emotional state of your music.
- Themes/ideas: Does your music have recurring themes, ideas, or textures?
- Desired effect: How do you want your music to affect the listener? Emotionally, cognitively, imaginatively? What do you imagine people doing while listening to your music?
Tell your artist brand story
Every story needs a “who,” a “what,” and a “why.” You’ve defined what you make – now it’s time to focus on who you are.
If you don’t have a heroic, Hollywood-ready story, don’t panic. The purpose of this step is to identify the attributes, beliefs, and experiences that make you relatable to a listener’s interests and experiences. It provides clarity for a listener who connects with your music, to learn more about you and develop a deeper understanding of your art.
Consider the following questions:
- What drew you to music?
- What’s your creative process like?
- How do you approach your instrument or vocals?
- What inspires you to write?
- What sets you apart from other artists with respect to your sound, musical inspirations, or outlook?
- Are there places, people, or experiences that played a role in your development as an artist?
In reflecting on these questions, remember that the goal is to provide personal context around your songwriting. It’s the kind of information that will help a fan understand your music.
Define your core values and messages as an artist
At this point, you’ve described your music (the what), and yourself (the who). Now you need to develop a why. Take a moment to zoom out from your music and think big picture: how does your music fit into your life, what are you trying to communicate, and what world are you trying to create for your fans? These questions will guide you toward creating your core values and messages.
Consider the following:
- What do you stand for beyond the music?
- What is your core message or mission statement
- Personal story or origin narrative that helps fans connect
Assess your current brand presence
Now that you have documented your brand foundations, values, and identity, you can assess how well your social media profiles, website, merch, and cover art reflect them. As you’re reviewing all your channels, consider whether everything is consistent, on brand, and engaging.
It can be helpful to gather feedback from trusted friends and fans. Without showing them your documented brand information, ask them to describe your music, cover art, or web and see whether it aligns with your reflections.
Once you’ve reviewed your channels and taken notes, make a plan to address any gaps or inconsistencies. For example, if your new cover art conflicts with the colors or fonts used on your website, plan to update your website. Or perhaps your artist biography doesn’t hit all the points you collected in your branding exercise—make a plan to revise it!
Bonus: Know your audience to prepare for marketing your brand
So far, our tips have focused on knowing yourself. But equally important in shaping your brand to resonate is knowing your audience. You can be proactive in planning ways to market your brand and engage your fanbase by understanding who your fans are and what drives them to listen.
Develop fan personas
- Fan personas are detailed, fictional profiles of your supporters. Developing fan personas can help you understand your audience, better target your marketing, and understand your artist brand perception.
- You can gather demographic information from your artist profiles on streaming platforms and social media. Pay particular attention to your recommended profiles to follow, artists who appear on your “fans also like” section of Spotify, and what artists turn up on your radio algorithm and playlists.
- Then gather anecdotal evidence from your day-to-day life. Take note of who visits your merch table after shows or who consistently engages with your content on social media.
- Then from all of this information, create 3-5 fan personas. Synthesizing their qualities will inform you of who your brand is currently resonating with.
Analyze your fan engagement
- Consider how your fans engage with your music by channel and content type. Are they strictly streaming or do they buy physical CDs, vinyl, or tapes? What types of content resonate over social media? Do your fans tend to sign up for your email list?
Understand what attracts your fans
- What draws fans to your music? Is it your live show, vivid lyrics, genre experimentation, or mindblowing solos? Identify your strengths and center those within your marketing as a reflection of your brand.
- Secondly, consider how fans are discovering your music. Through playlists, physical releases, social media or press? Knowing your primary channels for discovery provides valuable audience insights, which can help optimize your marketing spend.
Translate your brand for collaborators through references, moodboards, advances and press coverage
If you’re working with graphic designers, press, or other industry professionals, you’ll need to translate your brand through a variety of materials. Having creative references, moodboards, and press quotes on hand can make all the difference in clarifying your vision.
Here are a few useful tips for communicating your brand and creative vision to collaborators:
- Graphic designers: Create mood boards and reference lists for artists that capture aspects of your brand.
- Press and agents: Have a list of quotes that help your music shine.
- Lighting, projection, and sound engineers: If there are aspects of your sound, projections, or lighting that you need for a show, have those ready to reference in show advances and stage plots.
Apply your brand online: EPK + socials
After you’ve reviewed your socials, streaming profiles, website, and your electronic press kit for brand alignment, identify what you need to update. Some common aspects include imagery, colors, typography, tone of voice, and content.
- Socials: Ensure posts have a coherent feel, especially in the leadup to a release. Post from a single (or cohering) photoshoot, match the colors and moods of your posts with your cover art, and update your bio to the latest links and information.
- Website: Ensure that fonts across your site match and that your artist information is up to date.
- Streaming profiles: Consult streaming profile best practices and ensure your bio, photos, and links are all the same across platforms.
- Merch: Ensure that thumbnails for your merch are all uniform and your merchandise designs align with your brand.
Common artist branding mistakes to avoid
Document your brand guidelines so it’s easy to standardize your creative output, collaborate with designers, and ensure your art remains coherent and clear. You’re most at risk of making mistakes when you leave branding to an intangible gut feeling. As an artist, your creative vision and impulses drive your brand, but they shouldn’t be your methods for ensuring coherency and clarity.
Secondly, don’t ignore your fan perspective. Branding is a reflection of who you are, but the bottleneck lies in communicating that to your fans. Learn how your fans discover your music, what about your music and persona resonates with them, and what are the core pillars of your relationships with fans. Understanding these marketing drivers can help you better communicate your brand and even inform your career decisions.
Next Steps
Your brand can help tell your story, connect with listeners, and stand out in a crowded music landscape. But any great artist brand starts with great music. Since 1998, CD Baby has helped over 2 million independent artists release their music worldwide and build careers on their own terms.
Ready to take the next step? Sign up for a free CD Baby account today and get access to industry-leading distribution, professional tools, and expert guidance to grow your brand alongside every release.