Head over to Google real quick and search for your band name. It should only take about 0.25 seconds so I’ll wait for you to come back…
Alright, is your band the first thing that comes up in the search results? Is it on the first page?
Anyone looking for info about your band, be it a fan or a promoter, will probably start with a Google search (and if you’re lucky, they might even spell your band’s name correctly). If they can’t find you easily in the search results, you’re missing out on new fans and gigs.
If your band isn’t coming up, what can you do?
No Results – If Google can’t find anything on your band, you’re actually not in bad shape. All you need to do is put more stuff online and Google will index it. Start with a website, MySpace page, Last.fm profile, Sonicbids EPK etc. and you should start to see some better results.
Confused with someone or something else – If searching for your band brings up something else with the same name what you’ll need to do is become more popular online and generate more content than the thing you’re competing with. For example, Franz Ferdinand the band has much more content online than the Archduke they named themselves after.
Another band with the same name – This might only be a problem if the other band is more popular online than you. If the other band isn’t active anymore they’ll be easier to surpass on Google, although if they were using the name before you and have it trademarked, it could lead to some legal trouble. If the other band is still gigging and putting out records, a final solution will require a bit more diplomacy and a trademark attorney. I’m not going to get into trademark law here, but if you’re interested in learning more Donald Passman’s ‘All you need to know about the Music Business‘ has a good chapter on trademarks and band names.
Simpler Solutions
If you’d rather not get involved with trademark disputes at this point, there are two simple ways to deal with having a band name that’s confused with other things.
1) Change your name – Changing your name to avoid confusion is nothing new. 50 years before Google was invented Ray Robinson changed his name to Ray Charles because of boxer Sugar Ray Robinson saying in his autobiography “I figured two Ray Robinsons might be one too many.”
If you’re still a relatively new band or you think that your name is holding you back, simply pick a new name. Just make sure to do some research on Google beforehand so you know that no one else is using it.
2) Don’t worry about it – Truth be told, I was in a Frank Zappa cover band called The Brain Police and there were 2 other bands that went by the same name. A 60’s psychedelic band was using the name before anyone in my band was even born and a “stoner rock band” from Iceland was also going by The Brain Police. Being a cover band, we weren’t trying to sell records so it wasn’t a big deal that someone else came up in iTunes and fellow Zappa fans had no trouble finding our shows since we’d circumvent Google confusion by posting info about our band and our shows on Zappa message boards reaching out to potential fans instead of waiting for them to come to us.
As long as you’re aware of where your band ranks in Google you can take some steps to make it easier for people to find you. If you’ve got any tips on making your band stand out in search results share them in the comments.
