Comments on: Crafting Your Personal Brand as a Musician

By: Bonafidebilli

Bonafidebilli — Sun, 26 Mar 2017 00:17:16 +0000

This is insightful and resonates with me ! Great stuff

By: MajoringInMusic

MajoringInMusic — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 18:09:00 +0000

In reply to Kingsley. Thank you for your comment. You’re so right!

By: Kingsley

Kingsley — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 17:32:10 +0000

I’m glad I came across this. The subject of branding needs to be heard by many budding musicians. So many reject the field earlier, leaving their talents undisplayed.

By: Daniel Leeman

Daniel Leeman — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 04:03:08 +0000

In reply to Kristen. Hi Kristen, Thanks for your comment! I completely agree with your assessment. That's a great point that personal branding can also lead to emotional and financial fulfillment; taking time to connect with the right audience early on will lead to rewarding opportunities that occur as a natural extension of what we do, rather than feeling the need to conform to stereotypes within our profession. Thanks for the example of Joyce DiDonato! I'll definitely have to check out her work.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 22:01:10 +0000

Well stated, and such a simple, yet needed, reminder of what it means to manage and market yourself as a musician. Your example of the “dubstep violinist” is especially poignant. I believe that too often, classical musicians especially pigeonhole themselves into this one-track career. For example, as a singer, I have been taught that you go to school, go to a young artist program, win competitions, get an agent, and the rest is (supposedly) history. For so many singers, however, it doesn’t work out that way. As a result, artists either leave the industry or resentfully stay. If we instead thought about branding ourselves in a way that leads to an audience we wish to perform for (point #1!), we will not only create new opportunities for ourselves, but also for the music industry as a whole. We probably will also be more emotionally and maybe even financially fulfilled in the long run. It’s daunting to imagine something outside of the track we’ve been taught; too many feel that somehow they’ve “failed” if they don’t go that way. Your words remind us though that there is no failure to be found in re-imagining yourself and your career. Thank you!

P.S. To answer your question posed at the end, I think Joyce DiDonato is amazing at this. She markets herself as a down-home singer who loves to connect with her audience and bring classical music into the 21st century.