04/10/2023
When you think of Daft Punk, what kind of words come to mind? Probably something along the lines of electric, futuristic, mysterious, etc. Are these words just representative of their music or have they reflected these feelings in their aesthetic as well?
It’s no secret that curating a strong brand is an important part of becoming a serious musician. However, this can be easier said than done. In this blog post, I’m going to show you how to utilise Pinterest to refine your brand as a musician.
What is Pinterest?
In case you’re unfamiliar, Pinterest is a social media platform that allows users to “pin” images that resonate with them. People use the platform mostly to drive inspiration. Whether that’s hairstyles, interior design, or art, “pinners” are obsessed with creating what are known as ‘boards’ to store all their ideas.
How can a musician utilise Pinterest?
Even if you’re not interested in building your brand using Pinterest, you can still use the platform to gather ideas for other aspects of your musicianship such as lyrics. Yep, people post lyric ideas on Pinterest so why not pin them and use them for some inspiration later?
Gather ideas for clothing such as gig outfits.
Whether you want to accept it or not, what you wear is a big part of how you’re portrayed as a musician. Think about bands such as Greta Van Fleet. When you see a picture of them, even if you are unfamiliar with their music, you can get an idea of their sound solely based on the clothing they have on.
The same goes for artists on the other end of the spectrum. Think about lots of contemporary rappers. Their outward appearance lets viewers know exactly what kind of music they make. Someone who portrays themselves like Travis Scott is unlikely to be a folk ballad singer.
Find artists who are similar to you and see what aesthetic they have.
Make a list of three artists who you think you sound similar to. For example, let’s say you make music similar to Pheobe Bridgers. You can use Pinterest as a search engine and look up ‘Phoebe Bridgers aesthetic’ and you’ll be greeted by endless images of what people consider to match her vibe.
You can use this knowledge to work out what kind of colours, fonts, and styles you could adopt in your own content. Remember, if you believe yourself to sound similar to Pheobe Bridgers, you’re trying to appeal to her fans. Using an aesthetic that her fans like will quickly get them on your side too.
Find set/stage design that you like
Going live on social media is a strategy many artists, particularly bands use to interact with their followers first-hand.
If you’ve decided you want to try going live too, have you considered what your background will look like?
Being live on the internet is a potentially daunting experience and to keep users engaged, it’s important to make what you’re streaming visually stimulating as well as audible. You can use Pinterest to gather ideas on how you want your space to look when you’re going live.
If budget allows, you can also shop through some pins! If you find a set of fairy lights on Pinterest that you’re interested in buying, there’s a chance the pin is clickable, taking you through to a website where you can buy what you’ve just seen!
Discover an Instagram aesthetic that feels right
Pinterest is a great tool for inspiring other platforms too. Simply typing in ‘Instagram feed’ will produce a huge visual list of different feed designs. You can refine your search deeper by typing ‘Instagram band feed’ and discover multiple aesthetic choices.
The platform can also provide you with an endless supply of Instagram Story or TikTok ideas that you can lock away for later.
Uncover your next colour palette
Finding and sticking with a specific colour palette is pretty tough. As soon as you’ve decided on one, there’s undoubtedly a collection of colours that catch your eye that makes you want to redo everything.
Having a palette that’s set in stone is unlikely to happen and that’s ok! Changing up the colours you use in your social media feed won’t lose you any followers as long as your core content remains consistent.
Pinterest is a great tool for finding colour palettes to use in upcoming posts. If you want to add some text or graphics to an image, or example, you can use a tried and tested colour combination that’s sure to please.
Image editing settings
You know when you see an image of an artist performing on stage and it’s clear that the photo has been tweaked in some way but you can’t seem to achieve that yourself? You can search Pinterest for Adobe Lightroom settings that help you edit your own photos to achieve the same look.
Searching ‘vintage Adobe Lightroom presets’ in Pinterest will show you a collection of images that have been edited using Adobe Lightroom. Once you click through, you can find out how to edit your pics, in the same way, to therefore get the same vibe.
This is a great way to achieve a consistent vibe in your images and give them a little extra intrigue.
Discover single/album artwork
Releasing music is already nerve-wracking enough without the added pressure of worrying about what artwork you’re going to use.
Researching artists and their artwork on Pinterest opens up a new world of potential creative ideas that may inspire your next cover.
You can also look up what similar artists have used for their covers and take inspiration from their choices. Do they use collage, illustration, or abstract design?
Of course, I’m not suggesting that you plagiarise anyone’s work or copy an album design down to the font but it’s important to remember that everyone takes inspiration from everyone else. No one is totally original.
Browse video content
Video content is the reigning champion of social media and continues to grow. Sometimes though it can be tough to work out what kind of content you want to make. You can use Pinterest to help you discover what other artists are posting.
Spend some time scrolling through other users’ video content and check yourself when you see something that interests you. What was it about that piece of content that you liked? Is it something that you could recreate? Does that content fit with what you believe to be your brand? If not, is your current brand in need of some updating?
Branding is an ever-changing landscape
One thing to keep in mind when it comes to your brand as a musician is that you don’t have to keep everything the same all the time. In fact, we recommend making changes as and when they feel natural and relevant.
Any company, music or otherwise, that fails to improve upon itself and update its way of thinking will fail. This is why it’s important to make sure that your brand is something you’re keeping in the back of your mind.
If you’ve been a failing band for 10 years and your brand has always remained the same, that could be part of the reason. Your music should always come first. Bad music = no fans and there’s only so much a strong brand can do. Your brand elevates your music, not the other way around.
