It's very complex, difficult, expensive, interesting and fun to be an independent music producer. Volume three covers my attempts to: make acoustic improvements to the studio; cut down my production times; learn the art of mastering in-house ad muc...
I've been told that an Indie Musician needs to think about branding before they put out their first album. Today I look into what my identity and brand has become and how I want to further develop it. This one should be interesting for both my community and other indies trying to figure out what their brand is.
I have a friend who is a graphic artist. He is really good at accumulating an art board where he finds similar colours and feelings to create a brand. He finds similar pictures that convey a feeling and pastes them up on a digital board
What is a brand? So I watched some videos. One mentions that a consumer always chooses to come back to a food (Rece's Peanut Butter Cups, Arizona Ice Tea..), because they find: the same great quality time after time; they associate the food with something positive and the packaging sticks out on the shelf. (My music has to have the same great quality time after time. Yeah, right. Oh I guess I'll give it my best.)
"Branding is knowing who you are and who you are not" and communicating that clearly through everything you do - your clothes, your music, your tweets, everything. It is about consistency. The minute a happy go luck brand makes a sad song people can get confused.
So who am I and what do I want to convey to my listeners? I have been thinking about this a lot.
Brand vs. Identity
It is not your website, your name or your logo. It is about who you are and what you do. It is about your reputation.
Some questions I've been asking myself:
Am I political musician?
Should I only post about music or can I include my family etc?
What colours are the true me?
Identity:
- LOGO: I had a bird for featherheadmedia.com now I switched it to a feather between a pair of earphones. (Some may say that I
- Name - Elisabeth Kitzing is my name and Featherheadmedia is my label or is Featherhead Media me?
- Company Colours black and white but the cd covers and videos are going to be in jewel tones because those are the colours I wear. That's me....
- background - New Yorker living in Sweden
Take a minute and think about your own branding.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Brand
A brand is made up of your mission, your values, and your style:
- My Mission to encourage people to seek truth, (be free thinkers) and get their creative stuff going despite all odds. How? I do this through music, videos, podcasts and books.
- My values:
- Jesus is the best thing that ever happened to me or can ever happen to anyone. Relationships are second and my music is third.
- Always be honest, sincere and loving to all, always.
- To fight for the freedom of our minds is mucho important to me. No censorship, no hidden motives.
- Don't let anyone look down on you because you are too this or that. Prove 'em wrong every time.
- Stress is "defeat-able". Kill it with loving yourself and others. Exercise, sleep and creativity are all good here. Stop chasing the wind and be who you were intended to be.
- Dark chocolate is the best candy by far and is to be enjoyed with great coffee! Coffee is one of my passions in life. Swimming is another. Oh no. I am getting outside of a brand think!
Elevator speech:
I feel that if I had to give an "elevator speech" I wouldn't be able to cut it down to a short enough speech. It would go something like, "I make music for your soul." #musicforyoursoul or #music4yoursoul? Hm.
What's your branding elevator speech? What is your branding hashtag - on that sticks out on Instagram?
As Indie artists we need to see some social media post as an elevator speech and others as a short introduction to who we are.
- Style: Laid back, rock and country with a touch of nerdy Sci-fi. Jeans t-shirts, white blouses, hoods and leather jackets; crazy, frizzy hair and bags under my eyes that I refuse to be ashamed of. Take me or leave me
I would say overall, I am a rebel. Haters gonna hate and I'm going to keep going no matter what. I have listened to the "you can't do this or that" crowd for way too long. It is time to rise up.
One of my favourite power verses is " Forgetting what is behind me I reach toward what is in front of me...." That is what I am doing.
