Branding

Branding is a way in which an artist will become more recognisible whether it be via identification from a symbol, design, name or a mix of the three. This is an effective way of creating a new revenue stream for the artist. There is common branding through:

• Stickers
• Badges
• Posters
• Flyers
• Clothing
• Accessories 

Merchandise is sold predominately on the relevant artist website or artist label in the form of an online store. There also links to external websites such as Amazon and HMV where more products are sold.

Branded products will not only produce income, but will give the artist more publicity as consumers who wear the clothing and accessories publicly show off the logo.

An effective Branded artist would have something that influences audiences to remember what they have seen and relate it to future branded items released by the artist. Therefore to be able to reach a large audience, the image shown has to be simple, yet uniquely recognisable. In the contemporary music industry many bands and artists brand their work using their name instead of a design. The use of typography can offer a reflection of the type of artist being represented but overall the name will be the obvious image remembered. With the use of the artist name being the branded image, the typography can be changed to match the current style of the the music, whilst keeping the name the same not to confuse the audience.



Akon, Linkin Park and Sway have all used their names as the centre piece of branding




Although hugely effective, branding isn't the only way of promoting a band/ artist, so there has to be an element of linking between the band's branding and the material produced, (lyrics, themes, songs) however this would vary depending on promotable strong points of the artist.



The use of a bear is used by Kanye West on the

 CD cover of his 3 hit albums,

 'College dropout' 'Graduation' and 'Late registration'