It’s always fascinating to see the little ways in which the internet continues to change the music industry. The large-scale shake-ups are obvious and well documented, but it’s often the small shifts in thinking that smack you with the blunt realization that we’re in a rapidly evolving business.
On the most basic level, the Internet has changed the way that band’s choose –or should choose- their name.
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the art (if you will) of enhancing your website visibility by improving your search engine rankings. Certainly for a lot of businesses SEO has become a key strategy to online success. The higher you rank in Google searches, the more successful you’re likely to be.
The same theory applies for bands. If a friend were to suggest you check out a new band, I’d wager the likely response would be a quick jaunt over to Google to run a search.
How does your band name rank in Google?
So ask yourself this: if a new and potential fan plugs your band name into Google, what are they going to find?
Aside from their now obvious success, a unique band name like “Arcade Fire”, “Broken Social Scene”, or “String Cheese Incident”, is likely going to put these bands at the top of a search engine ranking.
If however, you were to call your band “House”, or “Department of Agriculture”, you’re going to have some pretty stiff search engine competition, and potential fans are going to have a much harder time finding your band.
The trouble with Tennis:
Take the band “Tennis” for example. While they may be known within indie circles, a new fan would have to dig through Google results before finding the Denver indie-poppers buried on the second page between photos of Roger Federer, and the latest US Open scores. Similarly, when searching YouTube to find a clip for this post, the word “Tennis” offered pages of sport highlights before showing anything remotely music-related.
It’s important to consider the outcome that a common word or phrase might have on your search engine rank. How much competition will you have for that prime Google real estate? What impact could that have on your overall sales and ability to grow your fan base?
Mojito (+Mastering)
In choosing our company name we opted to include the word ‘Mastering’ in all online branding, as the simple term ‘Mojito’ gives us a ton of non-music related competition.
This isn’t to say that having a common-word band name means good rankings are impossible. A search for the band “Girls” or “Women”(RIP) yields positive results. However, you can be certain it took them time, hard work, and an SEO battle to gain those rankings.
In a digital age where attention spans are short, it’s worth considering SEO when selecting a band name. Choose a name that’s unique, easily searchable, and makes it simple for new fans to discover your music.
For a great list of SEO band name do’s and don’ts check out Chris Bolton’s article over at Music Think Tank.
**Update** March 21, 2013- A great example of a band who altered their name specifically for SEO purposes? SXSW and CMW buzz band Chvrches. The scottish trio didn’t just do this for looks. This was done on purpose, with SEO in mind.
Considering search engines when choosing a band name is the stupidest idea I have ever heard for many reasons. The Internet has changed nothing about the way you should choose a name. It has only changed it for musicians who are too lazy to create their own buzz and have faith in random people stumbling on their music.
Here are some problems with your article:
1. People are smart enough to google “Tennis Band” or “Tennis Music” when looking for a band with a generic name. In fact, Google takes into account your search history when giving results so… and hardly anyone will google your band name without hearing about you first.
2. Girls and Women hardly worked on SEO. It’s a MySpace page… They didn’t link build or do keyword research, people shared their music/website naturally. There was no SEO battle at all.
3. I’m going to repeat point number 1 differently. Why would a potential fan who doesn’t know you exist google your website? How many people who don’t already know about the Arcade Fire or are already fans google them?
4. Here’s a real stupid tip about choosing a band name for SEO. Go to Google Keyword Tool. Look for a word or series of words that have very low competition but a lot of traffic and make that your name. INSTANT SUCCESS!
Hey Philip, thanks for reading the post and taking the time to respond.
I think you might be overstating my point a little bit. I’m not suggesting SEO should become the “top priority” when choosing your band name. Nor would I ever suggest that a SEO-inspired band name should be seen as a replacement for working hard to build buzz.
What I’m suggesting (as the title indicates) is that SEO is a factor that a band should consider when choosing their name. SEO can help increase visibility. As a new band, why not use every advantage you can? You’re absolutely right: visibility doesn’t matter to someone who isn’t looking for you. But it might matter to someone who is looking and can’t easily find you.
In today’s age of short attention spans and high competition, why make yourself anything less than simple to find? Will it make or break your career? Probably not. But it might help you pick up (or not lose) potential fans along the way.
In your SEO post you say, “If you realize your ideal band name is already taken or is an extremely common word like Veneers, thinking SEO might be a good idea.” Becoming ‘Wood Veneers’ or ‘Oak Veneers’ as opposed to just ‘Veneers’ might help your visibility as it creates a more unique name. That’s all I’m saying too- that it’s something worth considering.
Thanks again for reading and discussing!