BandKarma

Picking a band name should be the easiest part right, just ask . So if its so easy, why do people find it so hard. Well, it is hard, and it is important, especially if you want to get out of that spare room someday and up on stage.

The main thing is you don’t want to change (or be forced to change) your band’s name after years of building a fan base.

Below are a few tips. Let me know how you did it in the comments.

Tips and Ideas:

1. Use your own name - I know it worked for Max Weinberg and the Max Weinberg 7 (did you know he used to be the drummer for Bruce Springsteen?) and Bon Jovi, but for the last time, we are not calling the band Putzkammer! The tricky thing here is ego, until the money starts rolling in (ha ha – sorry) the rest of the band might feel like they are building someone else’s brand and getting nothing in return. This is true of any company. If there are egos involved best to pick something neutral. Maybe that’s why Bon Jovi’s first band was called Raze (he was 13).
2. Make sure ownership is clear - There is nothing wrong with using your last name – if you are the founder of the band (and owner of the company that operates the band), then do it. The only problem arises when the person with last name leaves the band….which does happen. Then what do we do Putzkammer!
3. Appropriate to the genre – If your a wedding band, don’t pick a raunchy name – no one is going to hire “Puke” to sing their wedding, no matter how tuned your orchestra.
4. Distinctive - Don’t pick “Toad the Dry Sprocket”. Come on man, music is about being creative (even if all you do is covers). The only way that name is appropriate is if you ONLY cover Toad the Wet Sprocket – even then…come on!
5. Evocative - The name should reflect the mood of your music – dark, light, pop, fun, heavy, folk, whatever.
6. Pronounceable - Word of mouth might be the only marketing you get – don’t kill it. This shit might work for Prince, but real people need a name.

Need some help – here are some Band name generators – basically a simple script that takes interesting words and randomly pairs them -  they have been around for a while so they might all be used up (I doubt it)

• Rock’n'Roll Generator – If your looking for crappy names – check here.
• Band Name Maker – I like this one – it lets add your own word into it
• NameBoy.com this site lets you enter keywords and check for domains – since the first thing a lot of bands do is get a domain, you can be reasonablly sure no one has it if the domain is open.

Once you have a few good candidates and before you start making t-shirts, you need to make sure now one else has the name already (unless you want main audience is trademark attorneys who like to go crazy and lift their shirts showing you their cease and desist letters). Once your -reasonablly- sure no one has it, then you’ll need to trademark it (I would also get the internet domain name to – its only $9 at godaddy.com)

The fist place to look is ASCAP. If they make have songs that, you know, make money while they sleep then they are listed there. Also look at BMI.

Some other resources –

• Band Name – It has a  band name registry, classifieds, newsletters, etc
• The Band Register – A band registry, A&R Network, and band name trademark info
• Also check GarageBand.com and SoundClick.com.

So you finally found that hip, young drummer you’ve been looking for and your band is ready to start rocking the local clubs and making some money, huh? Well, good for you! But there is a little more to managing a band than know the words to “Since You Bought The Waterbed We’ve Slowly Drifted Apart” (don’t worry, we will cover how NOT to name your county songs in a future post). The purpose of this post is to scare you. To make you aware that managing a band is exactly like running any other business (except, instead of responsible, sober employees, you have drunk, unreliable, friends and family to work with).

In fact, setting up your band as a business (limited liability corporation) is one of the best things you can do. You need to decide who owns the band. Members are going to come and go. There are going to be fights and disagreements, who settles them. Who can fire who. If there is a split, who keeps the names. The best way to do it is to set up the band before you bring in other talent. Have them sign contracts when the come in, just like any employee joining a company.

What kind of company should you make? What about taxes? Insurance? Where do you get contracts? How do you set up auditions? How do you get gigs? Invoice clients? Expense equipment? Do you need a lawyer? An accountant? What if you need to fire some one? What if you need to travel? Take out a loan in the name of the band?

Over the next few weeks, as we get this site rolling, we are going to track down the answers to these questions. If you are band manager who has gone through these issues and want to contribute to this site or if you have questions I didn’t cover, let us know in the comments.

To those about to rock – we salute you.

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