Metadata And The Name Of Your Band
Aug0504:46 PM
Filed in: Indie Advice
There's a new, major label Canadian band that just popped up recently, a product of Universal Music Canada and Much Music's "reality show" disBAND, and they're called Stereos. Their name actually sounds kinda cool. It's almost daring, to boldly name yourself after such an archetypical item of pop culture is risky.
Personally, I can't stand the band. Their music makes me angry. They're a young, hipster, tattooed band in skinny jeans and dayglo t-shirts that tries to look rock, yet they sing with a digital vocoder/auto-tuner thing, not unlike all of the poppy hip-hoppers. You know, that damn voice modulation thing, that dreadful device originally brought upon us by Cher (you know the song I'm talking about).
But the point of this post isn't to bash their music or their style (I'll save that for another post). The point I want to bring up and discuss is their name, Stereos, and whether it's a wise choice considering the time we're in, the age of Web 3.0?
Think of it. What happens when you type the word Stereos into Google? In order for them to be easily found, you're going to need some serious Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which takes considerable time, money, and energy. Now if you're backed by a major label like they are, I'm sure this is going to be covered by the new media marketing team at Universal (with those expenses then being 'recoupable' before the band gets paid). But what if they were a truly independent band, with no one on their team to help them other than themselves?
If Stereos were a tiny indie act featured on a podcast, would you be able to find them online with a name like Stereos?
BUT, what if that same band was named in a similar fashion, but with a name that was already optimized for search engines? What do I mean by that? Well, try to think in terms of how Google might pull up your search. The more one-of-a-kind your name can be, the higher it will rank in the search engines.
Many bands have already done without even realizing it, which I've decided to brand as Inclusive Metadata. The following bands have Inclusive Metadata built into their names :
Korn
Coldplay
Jay-Z
Bon Iver
Fleet Foxes
So, to put my theory to test...what if we renamed this band Stereoz? Well, I typed it in Google and sure enough the very first result was a band. Nice. My point is proven.
I'm just tossing this out there as food for thought for any young bands getting their start or for anyone who's about to embark on a new project. With brick and mortar record stores going the way of the dodo, Search Engine Ranking and Metadata (the descriptive information that search engines use to rank your search) is your new best friend as an independent artist.
In today's crazy world of the music business, you must be easily found online by your fans. If not, there's plenty of other music out there to grab their attention instead of yours...
-- Brian Thompson
