Need Help Coming Up With Description of My Music! :)
Posted: March 1st, 2009, 8:42 pm
Need Help Coming Up With Description of My Music!
So I want to come up with some catchy but accurate descriptions of my "sound." Would love to come up with something interesting that catches everything I do and piques peoples curiosity to listen to the music or come to a show. That might be hard given my music and songwriting cover a lot of genres & ground, but if you have something bring it on! If you have something that would work for just part of what I do - like my original rock, or my original folk/country, or my blues stuff, etc., - then that's ok too - maybe I can use that on one of those particular sites. To get you started, here's what I currently use:
"A Cross Between David Bowie & Jim Morrison ... with Breasts!"
(sometimes I substitute Neil Young for Jim Morrison, but you get the idea)
Here's a description of the kind I'm wanting that I came up with for a lesbian
female singer-songwriter friend of mine:
"Music so beautifully compelling it could even turn Ann Coulter into a kind-hearted lipstick Democrat!"
So here are links to my music sites so you can listen if you like to get some ideas for your suggestions:
http://www.myspace.com/bethisbell (solo acoustic rock)
http://www.myspace.com/bethisbell folk (folk/country/americana/roots)
http://www.myspace.com/thebanded (blues & blues-rock)
http://www.myspace.com/thedeadprophets (psychedelic blues rock)
For some direction, know that my favorite original songs are the rock, alt-rock & psych rock ones in the first and last website, I most love to play blues & blues-rock, and my folk/country songs are very traditional (I hate the current trend in Nashville towards making country songs sound like 80s pop) - and folks seem to really like the handful of funny comedy folks songs I've written.
So hope you'll send me some interesting suggestions. Remember, that it needs to be something I actually could use - so no profanity, put-downs, or jokes. I'm actually very curious to see how y'all would describe what it is I do - Thanks!
For some additional guidance, here's some advice & suggestions from music industry marketing guru Derek Sivers on coming up with marketing slogans to describe your music:
Wrong Approach:
A person asks you, “What kind of music do you do?” Musicians say, “All styles. Everything.” That person then asks, “So who do you sound like?” Musicians say, “Nobody. We're totally unique. Like nothing you've ever heard before.” What does that person do? Nothing. They might make a vague promise to check you out sometime. Then they walk on, and forget about you! Why??? You didn't arouse their curiosity! You violated a HUGE rule of self-promotion! Bad bad bad!
Right Approach:
What if you had said, “It's 70's porno-funk music being played by men from Mars.” Or... “This CD is a delicate little kiss on your earlobe from a pink-winged pixie.” Or... “It's deep-dancing reggae that magically places palm trees and sand wherever it is played, and grooves so deep it makes all non-dancers get drunk on imaginary island air, and dance in the sand.” Any one of these, and you've got their interest. Get yourself a magic key phrase that describes what you sound like. Try out a few different ones, until you see which one always gets the best reaction from strangers. If you have a magic phrase that describes your music in curious but vague terms, you can make total strangers start wondering about you.
Not everyone is going to like my music (or yours) and some folks will just never like it, so it's totally ok if your slogan suggestions even build-in excluding certain groups of folks that you know would loathe me or my music (but keep it clever & nice). It might even help draw the folk who would like me or feel similarly excluded by those other groups to me and my music - so be creative. Example--There is a vodka company that advertises itself as The Most Expensive Vodka You Can Buy. I'll bet they're very successful with it. It's almost a dare. (And it proudly excludes people!) Derek also suggests, even as an experiment, strongly declaring that you are something totally UN-trendy - the opposite from what everyone else wants or is trying to be.
Help me find my niche - even if we have to create one! Be creative & have fun! Something that incorporates my weirdness & quirks is ok - just has to be interesting enough to make folks stop & say "wow, I've got to check that out!" and be a somewhat accurate & sharply-defined description of the sound.
So get busy ... can't wait to see what y'all come up with! Maybe I'll take the best ones I receive and create a quick poll to see which ones y'all like best and think might most effectively get the desired response.
And thanks for your help!
Peace,
Beth
So I want to come up with some catchy but accurate descriptions of my "sound." Would love to come up with something interesting that catches everything I do and piques peoples curiosity to listen to the music or come to a show. That might be hard given my music and songwriting cover a lot of genres & ground, but if you have something bring it on! If you have something that would work for just part of what I do - like my original rock, or my original folk/country, or my blues stuff, etc., - then that's ok too - maybe I can use that on one of those particular sites. To get you started, here's what I currently use:
"A Cross Between David Bowie & Jim Morrison ... with Breasts!"
(sometimes I substitute Neil Young for Jim Morrison, but you get the idea)
Here's a description of the kind I'm wanting that I came up with for a lesbian
female singer-songwriter friend of mine:
"Music so beautifully compelling it could even turn Ann Coulter into a kind-hearted lipstick Democrat!"
So here are links to my music sites so you can listen if you like to get some ideas for your suggestions:
http://www.myspace.com/bethisbell (solo acoustic rock)
http://www.myspace.com/bethisbell folk (folk/country/americana/roots)
http://www.myspace.com/thebanded (blues & blues-rock)
http://www.myspace.com/thedeadprophets (psychedelic blues rock)
For some direction, know that my favorite original songs are the rock, alt-rock & psych rock ones in the first and last website, I most love to play blues & blues-rock, and my folk/country songs are very traditional (I hate the current trend in Nashville towards making country songs sound like 80s pop) - and folks seem to really like the handful of funny comedy folks songs I've written.
So hope you'll send me some interesting suggestions. Remember, that it needs to be something I actually could use - so no profanity, put-downs, or jokes. I'm actually very curious to see how y'all would describe what it is I do - Thanks!
For some additional guidance, here's some advice & suggestions from music industry marketing guru Derek Sivers on coming up with marketing slogans to describe your music:
Wrong Approach:
A person asks you, “What kind of music do you do?” Musicians say, “All styles. Everything.” That person then asks, “So who do you sound like?” Musicians say, “Nobody. We're totally unique. Like nothing you've ever heard before.” What does that person do? Nothing. They might make a vague promise to check you out sometime. Then they walk on, and forget about you! Why??? You didn't arouse their curiosity! You violated a HUGE rule of self-promotion! Bad bad bad!
Right Approach:
What if you had said, “It's 70's porno-funk music being played by men from Mars.” Or... “This CD is a delicate little kiss on your earlobe from a pink-winged pixie.” Or... “It's deep-dancing reggae that magically places palm trees and sand wherever it is played, and grooves so deep it makes all non-dancers get drunk on imaginary island air, and dance in the sand.” Any one of these, and you've got their interest. Get yourself a magic key phrase that describes what you sound like. Try out a few different ones, until you see which one always gets the best reaction from strangers. If you have a magic phrase that describes your music in curious but vague terms, you can make total strangers start wondering about you.
Not everyone is going to like my music (or yours) and some folks will just never like it, so it's totally ok if your slogan suggestions even build-in excluding certain groups of folks that you know would loathe me or my music (but keep it clever & nice). It might even help draw the folk who would like me or feel similarly excluded by those other groups to me and my music - so be creative. Example--There is a vodka company that advertises itself as The Most Expensive Vodka You Can Buy. I'll bet they're very successful with it. It's almost a dare. (And it proudly excludes people!) Derek also suggests, even as an experiment, strongly declaring that you are something totally UN-trendy - the opposite from what everyone else wants or is trying to be.
Help me find my niche - even if we have to create one! Be creative & have fun! Something that incorporates my weirdness & quirks is ok - just has to be interesting enough to make folks stop & say "wow, I've got to check that out!" and be a somewhat accurate & sharply-defined description of the sound.
So get busy ... can't wait to see what y'all come up with! Maybe I'll take the best ones I receive and create a quick poll to see which ones y'all like best and think might most effectively get the desired response.
And thanks for your help!
Peace,
Beth