Stage names: Marketing or Preference?
Choosing a stage name: do's and don'ts for the industry.

Stage names are, even if optional, very important in a musician’s career, as they could define the celebrity’s tone completely and the focus of the audience.

It’s not uncommon to find artists with stage names in the music industry. A stage name is usually a name the artist comes up with to either cover up their real identity, or to just give their artistic side a completely different persona.

Artists also name themselves after other artists and other people that were important in their life as an homage to them, for example we can take Travis Scott which we will get into more in this article.

With that being said, there are many factors that go into choosing a brand name, as it’s not an easy decision to make all of the time as a name can make you a star or a flop. In addition, there are many aspects that can take away from the value of the name like the industry and how well it is received by the general public.

In this article, I will help you know what to avoid choosing and what is preferable for the industry.

Market value of an artist’s name

First of all, choosing a stage name is one of the very first business decisions an artist makes. That is because the stage name of an artist will determine a lot the artist’s popularity, and attractiveness, at least most of the time. The more attractive the name, the more popular it’ll become because of people speaking about it, which gives the artist more listeners, and possibly new fans.

That means a stage name is one of the pillars an artist builds his base on. The opposite of this is true. A stage name can be a negative influence on the musician’s  career, and therefore the legacy they leave behind. We can see this negative influence with the example of stage names starting with ‘Lil’. With time, these stage names started becoming overused, with many artists like “Lil Baby, Lil Wayne, Lil Tecca, Lil Xan, Lil Pump, etc.” which lowered the market value of the name itself, making this choice a bad business decision for newer artists.

However, in cases where the stage name could have a big positive impact on the artist’s career, we can see the names being more unique and original like “Pink Floyd, Travis Scott, AC/DC” which are relatively more unique when compared to other artists.

The market value of stage names could be increased not only in their raw originality, but also with the story it holds within it. Paying an homage to someone, making your name in tribute of another person, or even something that you hold dear to you could create an extremely authentic image of your artistic side.

Keeping the example of Travis Scott, his name is an homage to both his relative, Travis, and his inspiration, Kid Cudi, who made ‘Man on The Moon’, and whose real name is Scott Mescudi. Many people don’t know about this, but when they do, it just adds a lot of respect to Travis Scott as an artist, and makes him feel more human and emotional to his fans.

How a management can interfere with a name

Lastly, all artists should understand that the market value of the name is the most important factor in making the choice. That is why management usually plays a role in choosing the stage name for an artist to avoid unusable names or names that are vulgar. However, artists generally choose their own names.

‘The Weeknd’ is a great example of a stage name chosen by the artist themselves, which skyrocketed in popularity. In this case specifically, his management at the time intervened by removing the third “E” to avoid copyright issues with the pop band “Weekend”. This example is a rather tame and positive one where the management intervened with the artist’s name.

Another example is the artist named “Prince” who lost said name to his management and fought a long war against them to regain his name. In this case, his management didn’t exactly choose a bad name but they stole it by getting the right to his name for themselves, meaning that even if prince wanted to work with another organization he can’t because the name belongs to the industry.

This is a concern that many up and coming artists should keep in mind as the industry can mess you very badly where prince had to change his name several times to names so long and bizarre that it seemed he lost his identity. They took the market value of the name and profited off of it themselves by not letting the artist get a hold of it. This affects the market value a lot as problems and drama from the inside ruins the reputation of everybody and hits the pockets of everybody massively.

What we can take from this is that relying on management to handle your name is good, but keep in mind that your stage name is yours and yours only.

In some cases, it can even demotivate the artist to continue as they will feel restricted by their name, because for the artist it’s about the principle that you are free to express yourself as an artist that is already being suppressed this early into your career.

Conclusion

To conclude this article, a stage name needs to be chosen carefully by the artist or band, as it could give the fans an insight to their story, make the them more marketable, or just help them build a legacy. With some cases you can even make humorous name gaining early traction to your art.

In addition, even when the management interferes in the process of choice, it’s better for the musicians to be the most involved in choosing a stage name for themselves, as it makes them all the more authentic and gives them enough creativity to express themselves and can give them the freedom they need.

Finally, whether be it an homage to someone, a tribute, a wordplay, or just an attractive and trendy idea, a stage name can be whatever the artist wants it to be. The artist should be free to choose as long as they don’t attack, offend, or copy someone else.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weeknd

https://www.bustle.com/articles/105711-7-celebs-their-weird-ways-they-got-their-stage-names