Research and Planning: How bands/artists in the music industry are branded and marketed today.

Nowadays it is both harder and easier to get into the music industry. There as so many new artists and bands trying to get their music careers going. You need to really stand out from the crowd, you need to brand yourself or your band and put yourself out there as much as possible.

There are many things that you can do to stand out and start your career:

1. Establish yourself as a brand
2. Make a website
3. Use social media to market yourself
4. Create a unique logo
5. Create an image for yourself

Establish yourself as a brand

You need to start treating yourself as an artist. You will need to invest both time-wise and financially to market and promote yourselves.

Make a website

The Internet is very popular so if someone hears about you they will look you up online. Your website will have regularly updated information and it should have links that are related to you on it.

Use social media to market yourself

The best way to market yourself if through social media. Social networking websites are tools to help you market your band. There are many networks you can be on:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• MySpace

Create a unique logo

You will need to create a unique logo that people can remember you with. If it is a good logo then hopefully people will recognise your band without even seeing your name. You can also use the logo for merchandise, posters, banners and on the Internet. If people really like your logo then they will wear it and market it for you.

Create an image for yourself

You need to make sure your band looks like a band. How you carry yourself and behave is associated with how people see you. Try to be a band that people can look up to and give them something to believe in.

For this research I used some websites as my source:
http://www.smallbusinessbranding.com/652/how-to-market-a-band/
http://www.squidoo.com/branding-in-the-music-industry