Band names = Brand names?

The other day I was talking with some of my friends who are starting a band and one of them told me that they were struggling to name it. “We have loads of ideas, that’s not the problem, but we really want something that all of us like and that says something about us,” he said.

Up to that point I had never really thought about it but what my friend had just said made me wonder whether band names were actually very different from brand names.

I thought there was definitely something there for me to investigate and started to collect information. Here is what I found:

For a start, let’s go back to the basics – just to refresh the memory. What is a brand? According to the definition of the Collins English dictionary, a brand is “a particular product or a characteristic that serves to identify a particular product”. Identify is quite an interesting word here: it both implies the idea of distinguishing something from something else and the idea of identity. We will come back on this last one later. As for band, well the definition – I am referring to the first entry here because it adds something to the idea of band as a group of people who play music – is: “a company of people having a common purpose”. This definition suggests that a band is pretty much like a company, which could mean that a band name is pretty much like a company name. Makes sense. After all, like company names many band names say something – even indirectly – about that band (whether it is sense of humour, admiration for someone or for a piece of work, an ideology, etc.); they just tend to be a bit more catchy that company names.

And just like for brands, if you come up with a great band name, don’t register it and not long after you hear that the new album of a band with exactly the same name as yours has been released (a name that this other band registered as a trademark – copyright doesn’t work for band names but it does for a logo), basically the only thing you can do is to rename your band.

Finally, to come back on the idea of identity: just like consumers can identify with brands, people can identify with bands. You can buy a product from a certain brand simply because you like it (taste, quality, etc.) or because you also share the values and ideas that this brand conveys, and because buying this particular product says something about you (social status, involvement for a cause, etc.). When you think about it, it is not very different with bands and music: you can listen to a band’s music simply because you like that style / those lyrics / that particular tune, or because you share the values and ideas that this band and their songs convey (an ideology, a lifestyle, etc.).

Hmmm… this actually makes me think of something. It means another little investigation to come!