Is Professional Graphic Design and Branding Important for Musicians?

Musicians arguably have a good starting point when it comes to branding. Their music is their unique contribution, meaning musicians often have a firm grasp of who they are.

But like anyone who sells products or services, musicians need strong branding to really make their mark on the industry. Therefore it’s vital for musicians to work on their branding, a large part of which is graphic design.

What is branding?

Branding is different to a brand. A brand is your company identity, summarized as the gut feeling customers have when presented with your product (in this case music).

Branding, on the other hand, is the process of shaping this brand in the minds of customers. If your brand is the result, branding the efforts you take to get there.

There are plenty of different methods you can use as part of the branding process, but not all of these are applicable to musicians.

Brand identity, defined as the name, tone, and visuals, is of course relevant, as is product packaging. In this case, product packing obviously refers to visuals on your albums and music releases.

Let’s look at an example of branding in music: Björk. Even those who aren’t fans of her music know her name and are probably aware of at least one song. Why? Because Björk has a powerful brand and knows how to handle branding.

Björk’s brand, in short, is Icelandic space princess. She’s “weird” and embraces that with every musical release. Her music is experimental, avant garde, and very niche, but it works.

Importantly, too, Björk’s branding changes with each album. She constantly reinvents her image, yet still manages to remain consistent and the dominant voice in her niche.

If you’re unfamiliar with her music, look up her albums in series: Debut, Post, Homogenic, and her more recent releases Volta and Biophilia. Seeing the massive differences between each album’s identity will help you to understand the power of branding for musicians.

Of course, this exercise is possible with almost any musician, although some have much stronger branding than others. That’s why Björk is a good example: her power for branding is very strong.

The cornerstone of branding: graphic design

But what does all of this boil down to for musicians? Simply put, good graphic design. Obviously your music is the product you’re selling, but like any business, it needs to be wrapped in sellable and unique packaging to really complete it.

Music is almost as visual as it is aural. Whether it’s album covers, music videos, or merch, songs are supported by visual elements.

These visual elements also help to strengthen a musician’s overall identity through association with powerful graphics that stand out from the crowd. At the most basic level, this will be a strong logo, but it goes much deeper than that.

Graphics play an important role in marketing, and using the same graphics across multiple platforms is the easiest way to create a coherent brand.

For musicians, these platforms include:

• Social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
• Spotify and other streaming platforms
• YouTube
• Personal websites
• Album art

Of course, the list goes on, but the point is that your graphics should be adapted to the specific platform on which they’re being used.

It’s important to understand how each platform works in order to adapt graphics to suit. Here’s a brief rundown of the most important:

YouTube

Since its creation, YouTube has been an important platform for new artists trying to get their name out there. Look at Justin Bieber, for example, who was discovered on the site.

A YouTube channel gives plenty of opportunities to present your personal brand, from banner images and profile pictures to video thumbnails.

Visuals will help grab a potential viewer’s interest and tempt them into clicking on a video. After all, if they don’t know your music they’ll need something to hook them in.

Band/musician websites

A website is still the most useful central hub. It’s where you can collect and release information directly to fans, including news, music, tour dates, and merch.

As with any business, a website should be the end point of any marketing efforts.

Therefore, it’s important for it to stand out and really reflect your brand.

The good thing, you have ultimate control over a website’s visuals. Even a simple WordPress site can be transformed into a visual masterpiece with the right graphic design.

On a website, graphics will include your band logo, typography, color scheme, and so on. There’s a lot to think about on a website, so it’s worth getting right.

Album art

Although physical music releases have been on the decline, digital albums still need cover art.

Album covers are vital visual hooks for converting potential listeners into fans. It’s common for people to pick up an album based on its cover even before they know the music.

Graphic design for album covers presents a unique challenge. It’s important to get the branding right while also having complete freedom over how you achieve this.

Competition is fierce in the music industry, and one way to stand out is with incredible album artwork.

Marketing as a musician

The bottom line is that graphics should be marketable, and form an important part of the branding process.

Of course, they’re not the only part. It’s also necessary to have a clear brand strategy (how you plan to arrive at your end goal) in order to make best use of your branding efforts.

But good graphics mean strong branding. As a musician’s following grows, they have more opportunities to market themselves.

These strong graphics then have a wider reach and bring in more people. Over time the cycle repeats, each time with more success.

Getting graphic design right

As a musician, you might already have a strong idea of what image you want to portray.

But this doesn’t always translate into marketable materials that can be used across multiple platforms for best impact.

The best option is to hire a professional graphic designer, particularly one with marketing experience.

They will know how to translate your brand identity into a successful set of graphics and a relating branding process.

If this is something you need as a musician, contact Gee Productions. We are experienced graphic designers and marketers who know exactly how to sell your brand.

We’ll work with you to create your brand and related branding and brand strategy efforts. We can even take care of your website design and logo.

What is Clubhouse and How Can I Use it for My Brand?

Whether for good or bad, Clubhouse has received a lot of publicity in recent months. This is thanks in part to the large number of celebrities using the platform, which, as usual, has drawn people in.

But what is Clubhouse, and is there any way you can use it for branding purposes? The answer to the second part is yes, and we’ll explain how shortly.

What is Clubhouse?

Clubhouse is a voice-only social media network. It’s divided into rooms, which are based on established topics, or simply whatever the poster is thinking about. These rooms can have a maximum of 5,000 participants, but that doesn’t mean everyone gets a voice.

Here are a couple of examples to understand the format:

• Conversational podcasts with some level of audience engagement
• A Zoom call with no cameras
• Old-school party lines (without the massive phone bills)

Clubhouse basically sits at the crossroads of all these concepts. It’s novel in the sense that it’s literally just audio. The only pictures you’ll find are display photos, and don’t even think about video.

How do Rooms Work?

A room is essentially a forum on Clubhouse in which participants discuss a topic. This can be something fairly general, like a place, or something more specific, such as gardening hacks, SaaS, faith, and so on.

The current limit on a room is 5,000 people. You start by listening in, but if you want to contribute you have to “raise a hand”. The creator or moderator of that particular room can then decide if they want to let you say something.

Rooms can be opened or closed at will, and currently the content isn’t recorded (officially on the app, anyway). People are getting round this by screen recording and live streaming.

While there can be thousands of people in a room, they’re not as lively as that might sound. They function more like a conference call or moderated panel, with people only being able to contribute when a moderator lets them.

Rooms can be social, open, or closed. Open is completely free to join, social is a room that only mutual followers can join, and closed is invite only. You’ll also find clubs on the app, which are groups that create recurring rooms around different topics.

How Can I Get It?

Currently, Clubhouse is only available on iOS, and you need an invite from an existing member. This setup is for two main reasons:

1. Limiting accessibility creates a surge in demand (particularly after Elon Musk showed up on the app).
2. There are fewer iOS users in the world, and the creators were concerned about the servers crashing.

An Android version is in development, but there’s currently no word about when it’ll be released.

Does Clubhouse Have Any Downsides?

The app’s creators naively thought they could release an app with little to no internal moderation. How wrong they were. After only a few months, racism and hate speech became major issues on the platform because, well, that’s what happens.

Luckily, this has since been overcome, and moderation is much stricter. In fact, the platform has become very popular with Black and Asian creators. Actress Tiffany Hadddish became the first user with 1 million followers, and Daniel Dae Kim and Lisa Ling recently moderated a room discussing violence about Asian Americans.

How Can Clubhouse Help My Brand?

Clubhouse offers a new route for interaction with fans for a range of brands, particularly for musicians. Fans love interaction with their favorite artists and companies, and Clubhouse offers the chance to see a more human side.

While streaming on something like Instagram offers accessibility, Clubhouse is about discussion. Think of it like a Reddit AMA but with voices. It would be really easy to set up a room, have fans join, and discuss music or other topics.

In fact, you could even use it as a performance space. A room was recently set up in which 40 cast members recreated the Lion King musical. As you can see, it’s got plenty of potential from a music perspective.

The format could work well for any brand, particularly those based on niche expertise. For example, if you run some kind of food-based business, Clubhouse would give you the ability to discuss recipes or share insights.

Another option, theoretically, is to use the platform for influencing. While it’s not as visual as Instagram, something like a beauty or lifestyle brand could arrange product reviews or discussions to generate interest.

In short, all brands could benefit from the level of access Clubhouse provides fans. It’s arguably more personal than existing platforms, and it offers the chance for you to showcase your expertise on specific subjects. This, of course, is an excellent way to build credibility and reach out to your audience.

Conclusion

Clubhouse offers loads of potential for brands to expand their reach. It focuses more on a human aspect than other social apps, and this can easily be used to your advantage.

Of course, the current challenge is getting on the app. If you know someone with invites, it’ll be worth getting on board while it’s seeing such massive growth. Taking advantage of the surge in demand would definitely work in your favor.

And you never know, you might even be able to connect with some of your favorite celebs.