A version of this article originally appeared on The DIY Musician Blog.
Depending on where you are in your career, changing your artist or band name can either be as easy as renaming a few social profiles or as difficult as destroying every trace of your previous incarnation and humbly starting from scratch. Hopefully you'll never have to change your name, but here are four reasons you might need to.
Understandably, this used to be a much more common occurrence before the advent of the internet. Somewhat less understandably, it's still a problem. Swedish metal weirdos Ghost recently changed their name to Ghost BC as a result of what they described as "legal reasons." They're number 32 in the list of bands on Discogs to use that name, so I'm assuming one of the previous 31 told them to knock it off.
Then there's the case of bands like Suede and The Charlatans, who had no issues in the UK, but as soon as they came to the US found they didn't have claim to those names. If you live in the States, you might know those groups as The London Suede and The Charlatans UK. Not quite as catchy.
Do your googling and make sure the name you want hasn't been used before! You'll save yourself some major annoyances later.
You think Radiohead would have conquered the music world using their original name, On a Friday? Well, maybe. Their music is really good. But On a Friday is a high school band name if I've ever heard one, and the future-Radiohead's label saw this and made the band change it. Plenty of bands have had to – or chosen to – do this, and they're probably glad they did. You think Red Hot Chili Peppers is a mouthful? Try Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem.
Sure, you could name your band Food (I'm sure it's already happened many, many times), but good luck getting anyone to find you online. Not to mention the struggle that comes with trying to get a decent website URL, Facebook URL, etc. You might find this is all too much and decide to go with something with a little more SEO power. May I suggest the Food UK?
Portland band Starf*cker decided to change their name back in 2009, briefly becoming PYRAMID, then Pyramiddd, and then they just changed it back. Rapper Killer Mike temporarily become Mike Bigga a few years ago, but he changed back, too. Both artists probably felt the connotations that came with their names were hindering them, but when you're at a level of popularity like they were, it was too late and it didn't take.
Now the real question becomes: how do you get it to take? And how do you do it in a way that your fanbase will accept and respect? It can be tough, certainly, but not impossible. Stay tuned for part two to find out how!
Brad Bush is the email marketing manager at CD Baby and a pro wrestling fanboy.