ANGRA Guitarist Kiko Loureiro - "DIANA KRALL....

ANGRA Guitarist Kiko Loureiro - "DIANA KRALL & The Importance Of Branding"




Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro (ANGRA, NEURAL CODE) has written the following blog on Facebook:


"Not everyone likes thinking about art in technical terms. For many
artists, 'branding', 'marketing' and 'advertising' are corporate words
that have no place in the creative sphere. But the music industry is
changing, and without a proper understanding of these concepts, artists
can get left behind. In fact, the success of every single business in
the world - whether it's a corporate giant like Coca-Cola or an unknown
rock band gigging the club circuit - depends enormously on developing an
understanding of the importance of brand.





Branding has been playing on my mind ever since I came across the
cover of jazz singer DIANA KRALL's new album in a high-end department
store recently. I hadn't heard the music, and I knew little about the
record, but I got this unshakeable feeling when I saw the album cover.
The advert was clearly just one element of a larger marketing campaign
but, studying it closely, I couldn't help but feel that the branding
wasn't right for the artist. She was being presented as a pop star, it
seemed to me, and her true spirit - that of a serious jazz singer -
appeared to have been lost somewhere along the way.


Now I'm far from an expert on this subject (and I'm probably
simplifying the issue) but, as my grandmother used to say, "Advertising
is the core of a business". And it's truer now than it ever has been.
When you start out as an artist you have to remember that, on top being
your own brand, you need to have some kind of strategy for building that
brand, for nurturing and developing the ways in which fans see you,
feel you and connect with you. It's this magical process - the
intangible way in which people develop a connection with an artist -
that leads to fan loyalty, and ultimately to record sales. The image you
project is a delicate combination of who you think you are and who
others think you are, and this can be very difficult to get right.





Once you do get it right, however, you can feed it into everything -
your image, your logo, your attitude, your way of speaking, writing and
performing, and much more besides. It'll also inform the way you
present yourself on the web, and as a result strengthens the
relationship you build with your audience. Essentially, branding is the
way in which you convey who you are to your fans. It's as simple as
that.


Now and again, a well-branded artist builds the momentum to achieve a
market crossover, conquering different genres and attracting new
followers. This is wonderful when it happens organically, but if the
artist themselves isn't satisfied with the success they've achieved,
their true spirit can get lost and this can upset their original
fanbase. Ultimately we'll have to wait and see if Diana turns up at the
Grammys again in her (in my opinion) somewhat unconvincing pop guise -
or whether we're more likely to see her prancing around the stage like
BEYONCÉ in a sold-out stadium. Only time will tell…!"