Essay - How do musicians utilize branding and marketing strategies in order to build a successful brand?

How do musicians utilize branding and marketing strategies in order to build a successful brand?

Branding, the process of providing meaning to products or services by creating and shaping a brand in consumers’ minds, is used by companies and organizations in order to make a lasting impression on consumers. In cases where branding is utilized successfully, brands have been differentiated from other existing similar brands and made their own individual memorable impression on its consumers. Whilst corporate branding is the primary type of branding that springs to mind, the process does exist outside of the corporate world, and has significantly grown to apply to more than just commerce. Organizations such as universities and football clubs are their own major brands, and have applied these strategies to market and sell themselves, as opposed to physical products. In the same way, musicians need to brand themselves in order to appeal to consumers, sell their music and become successful. This essay will explore how musicians utilize branding and marketing strategies in order to create a successful brand, looking at the communication and marketing methods needed as well as existing famous musicians who have successfully utilized these in order to create big brands.

Brand image is the mental connection and association consumers have with a brand. This can be negative, in which case the brand will fail, or positive, in which case it will likely be successful. “Image is about consistency and an unwavering commitment to a specific tone, look and feel. It’s about creating something that people can stand behind because they feel as if it’s more than just a product; it’s a brand they can trust.” (Seymour, 2017). For musicians as well as companies, their unique and defining brand images are crucial in gaining that trust. Because of this need for trust, brand image may be even more important for musicians than corporate brands.

Musician’s brands vary greatly from product brands in that consumers often prefer one particular brand and so will choose to purchase their favourite brand of product over the other. However, music is different in the respect that it is not limited and the content varies across bands. No two songs by different musicians are the same and are rarely similar, instead the music reflects the artist themselves. People enjoy a wide range of music from varying genres so will build a collection of songs, as opposed to listening a singular artist. A major difference can also be seen in how the brands are led. Whereas corporate brands are product led, with customer experience rarely varying, musicians’ brands are led by the musicians themselves and can be compared in a way to service led brands. Wally Olins states that “In a service brand the people who work for the organization are the brand… they get harassed, fed up and have worries.” (p. 42, 2008).  Similarly, musicians are people and cannot provide the same experience every single time they interact with a consumer or fan. Olivia Nunn agrees that musicians are human, however is of the opinion that “The artists are not the brands, but a brand can be generated around them.” (2015). Despite this differentiation between the artist and the brand, the way the artist acts as a human has direct implications on their brand image.

In a more holistic sense, a brand image is created, developed and strengthened through brand communication. An umbrella term, brand communication encapsulates all “the activities that influence customers' opinions of a company and its products” (brand communication, 2017). These activities and tools of branding include visual identity, in the form of logos and typefaces, as well as brand loyalty from consumers. One activity which can heavily influence consumers opinions of musicians is the musicians behaviour as a person and resulting public image.

Once musicians become successful and widely popular they are classed as celebrities, and as a celebrity they are often in the public eye. As they are scrutinised by the public and featured in the news and media, their need to present themselves as a decent and straight laced individual is more necessary than for someone who lives out of the public eye. Acting in a less than desirable manner can seriously negatively impact a musicians brand image. One recent instance of this would be the R&B singer Chris Brown. After being arrested on a domestic violence charge for assaulting his girlfriend Rihanna in 2009, the singer’s once wholesome reputation was tarnished and he was put on probation, which prevented him from leaving the US. In addition to this, Brown got into an altercation with artist Drake in a club, which led to the NYPD closing the club itself. As stated by Alex Marin ‘every new incident potentially worsens both a bad reputation and a criminal record. This, in turn, is a distraction for both the artist and his or her audience’ (Marin, 2012). The impact of an criminal record being attributed to an artist is significant, not just on the artist’s fanbase but also on associated deals with brands and sponsorships.

A musicians behaviour can also affect their public image in a positive way. Many musicians choose to work with charities and lend their fame to good causes. Bono, the lead singer of the Irish rock band U2, has his own charity, ONE, which is committed to ending extreme poverty and preventable diseases in Africa. Similarly, Bob Geldof, a prolific singer songwriter is known for his activism and currently supports at least nineteen charities. Most notably, he founded the supergroup BandAid in 1985 with the aim to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. The single ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas’ is re-released annually every Christmas with the intention of raising awareness of the issue of famine, and all proceeds from the sale of the single go towards this cause. Geldof is a recipient of the Man of Peace title which recognises people who have made "an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace". Committing to a charitable cause as a public figure can therefore significantly help towards building a positive brand image, as you are affiliated with a good cause and seen as an inspiring and good hearted individual.

Another major part of a brand image is the identity of the brand. This identity is visual and communicated through elements such as logo, colour scheme and typeface. A logo’s “prime purpose is to present the core idea of the organization with impact, brevity and immediacy.” (Olins, 2008). Logos for musicians carry the same purpose, however the logos seem more reflective of the band. As brand strategist Mash Bonigala states “a bands logo is critical in being able to connect with an audience” (Adweek, 2015). Artists logos reflect all that the band is and what they want to represent, as well as their music. Iconic logos for musicians include the Rolling Stones (fig 1, wnick87, 2017) who’s tongue logo perfectly reflects the carefree nature of their rock and roll music, and Metallica (fig 2 , CMetalCore, 2017), who, similarly to a lot of heavy metal bands chose a logotype in a gothic, stylized form.

Perhaps one of the most iconic and memorable uses of tangible visual identity to represent a musician is the case of the Sex Pistols. A punk rock band instrumental in initiating the punk rock movement in the UK, their often controversial and opinionated music divided people. Artwork created by artist Jamie Reid for their single ‘God Save the Queen’ (fig 3, Reid, 2017) reflected the anarchist lyrics of the song and offended countless people. Despite this controversy, the song charted at number 2, but due to its offence and the BBC refusing to play it, ‘some charts even refusing to print what the song at number two was, instead representing it with a black line’ (Dhillon, 2018). The politically motivated artwork featured ironic portrayals of quintessentially British icons such as the Union Jack, and a portrait of the Queen herself was defaced and collaged together with letters in a style reminiscent of a ransom note. The shock inducing aesthetic reflected the incendiary personality of the Sex Pistols and has become synonymous with the band and indeed the punk scene as an entirety.

Another musician who has established herself a unique and memorable identity is the singer Lana Del Rey. Through both her music and accompanying visual identity and material, the singer formerly known as Lizzy Grant has based her identity on American patriotism and nostalgia and ‘entranced the world with her distinctive, dreamy brand of what she called ‘Hollywood Sadcore’ (Hall, 2016). Her sad lyrics about romance coupled with hazy cinematic visuals establish her as a truly individual artist, one who took the EDM obsessed music industry by storm. Del Rey’s emergence as a new exciting artist sparked a trend on social media sites such as Tumblr, whose users in turn reflected her own brand ‘Hollywood Sadcore’ in posts on artwork and poetry. These posts were often uploaded by listeners of Del Rey’s music, who loved her style and wanted to echo it in their own personal creative outlets.

Musicians such as Del Rey who are successful in building a unique and solid brand end up with faithful “consumers”. In the case of companies who produce products, these consumers would be people who repeat purchases of the brand because they trust the brand and love the product. In music, these faithful consumers are in the form of fans, avid listeners who identify with the band, as in fans of Del Rey who would replicate her music style in the form of artwork. Often a whole community is built up around a musician/ band, made up of multiple fans. In some cases, these fan bases can be extreme, for example Beyonce with her ‘Beyhive’, or fans of the Beatles, the band who caused the phenomenon known as “Beatlemania” in the 1960s. In more recent history, the popstar Justin Bieber kickstarted a similar following, known as “Beliebers”. Some individuals who class themselves Beliebers go to extreme lengths to support and be noticed by the singer, some even ‘trying to just jump in the backseat of the car with him, pretending to be part of his entourage’ (Finn, 2018). At the beginning of his career, Bieber utilised social media to his advantage. He began posting videos to Youtube, a video sharing platform, where he was discovered by his current manager, but not before he had built up an interested and loyal following. Once Bieber had been signed and was now a recording artist, he took to the social media site Twitter to contact his fans, reaching out to them and replying to individual messages. By instigating connections with and ‘creating the perception of open communication channels with fans (Barshad, 2011)’, the musician grew a numerous following, each fan feeling as if they had a friendship with their idol. Establishing rapport with fans in this personal manner cemented their loyalty and they would continue to listen to and support the musician. Even the fandom names, ‘Beyhive’ or ‘Beliebers’ are a brand within themselves, with fans naming themselves after the musicians they admire and buying into their celebrity personas, extending the brand to include themselves and prove their devotion to their idol.

Brand loyalty and interaction with fans also go hand in hand when it comes to a musicians live presence. An instrumental tool in connecting with audiences, live performances give musicians an advantage over product led brands, they are able to give live performances and interact more with fans than product led brands do with their consumers. Andy Walsh concludes that ‘smart marketers are no longer selling through messages alone, but rather providing experiences to strengthen the connections between themselves and consumers’ (2017). In the case of musicians and their fan bases, the desire for a live experience is overwhelming, hence live tours and performances, done not just to promote the musician but to also maintain the faithfulness of fans. In his short article on The Thrill of Live Performance, Paul Krugman perfectly summarises the appeal of live music, saying that ‘what makes this (meaning live performance) so great is the sense of community and the bond between band and fans. (Krugman, 2014).’ This bond, strengthened by the personal nature of live music, cements fan’s love and admiration of the musician, and therefore brand loyalty.

In summation, musicians utilise branding and marketing strategies in similar ways to corporate, product led brands, however the methods in which a brand image is established and maintained vary due to the human side of both musician and consumer. In both types of brands, building up a positive brand image is essential in establishing the success of the brands. As ascertained earlier in the essay, musicians brands are comparable to service led brands, and are dependent on human behaviour. This dependency on human behaviour makes the brand less stable and consistent, and the image can be damaged or improved easily. Brand loyalty is one of the outcomes of a positive brand image, this is important as having loyal consumers who will purchase the brand ensure its survival. Product brands and musicians both have these devoted consumers, however for musicians, the devotion runs deeper and the connection between musician and consumer, or fan, is deeply personal. This is the defining difference between product brands and musician’s brands, the human personality behind it and connections made through it. This is useful for musicians to know when creating their own brands, that the way they build their brand image to reflect themselves as a person and communicate themselves through other people is perhaps the most important marketing strategy there is.

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