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Writer's pictureKathryn Holeton

Why Every Artist Needs A Brand Strategy - Shifting Views with Wayne Willis

Updated: Oct 6


Wayne Willis:

Welcome back to Shifting Views with Willis. Today I'm joined by Kathryn Holeton, a brand designer for musicians.


She works with emerging artists and musicians to help them define their brand, their tone of voice and their messaging and really believes that musicians need to get this right early in their career because this is what's going to follow them throughout their career.




Wayne Willis:

Kathryn, welcome to the show. Thanks for coming on the podcast.


Kathryn Holeton:

Thank you for having me.


Wayne Willis:

So brand designer for musicians, I assume all musicians and artists really are developing their brand, but why is it you feel like you need to take up this this mantle?


Kathryn Holeton:

When I started my career as a musician, I found that in depth topics of branding weren't really discussed.


Everyone knew you had to have a brand and everyone knew that was what people would relate to, but no one was going in discussing at the time on how to go about making your brand, how to leverage it, how to connect with your audience.


Nowadays, I've seen more conversations about that, but when I started there wasn't that much of it there.


Wayne Willis:

When we think of musicians and those starting out early in their career, singers, artists, whatever; they're very much about the creativity side of what they do. So writing songs, performing, touring all of that kind of nice stuff that everyone thinks of when we think about bands.


But what you're saying is actually they almost need to think about this as like a business. Enterprise their personalities and they need to define what they're about, what their messaging is, what their values are about. Is that what you're helping early musicians deal with?


Kathryn Holeton:

Yes, if they're for sure serious about making their music a career, it is pretty much like starting a business. You need to have your foundations in place before you really get going full steam. I mean, it's good to get your music out there, but again, if you're really serious, you need your brand because that's how you get booked.


People want to see your personality and your photos, your video, your social media, your website, your music. They want to be able to find you and relate a particular image to you.


Wayne Willis:

So for you, you're sort of saying this is a fundamental part of of any any early artist life.


Kathryn Holeton:

It very much is.


Wayne Willis:

When you say "branding," are you talking about literally branding? Are you talking about visual? Like are you talking about like logos and things like that or or are you talking about? Or identifying what the values are or or what they stand for, or having a cause. What do you mean by branding?


Kathryn Holeton:

For branding, I actually focus more on helping musicians identify their message and then help them build out from there, identify ways to leverage themselves to get more brand awareness, and then from there, I also do the visual design as well.


Wayne Willis:

So you you're saying that you you feel like you need to do this job because so many artists aren't really focusing on that element. From your experience, what are artists getting wrong?


Kathryn Holeton:

When you're starting out, yes, it's great to be releasing music because that's how you gain exposure, but they're not really connected with anything. As in, they're not actively saying that they support X, Y, or Z; or they're not actively spreading a particular message that would help their audience relate to them.


Because you can write heartbreak songs all day long, but if you're not, for example, supporting mental health and speaking out about it, people won't necessarily be inclined to look into you because you haven't given them a reason to care about you.


Wayne Willis:

It it in what context do you mean "have a cause?"


Kathryn Holeton:

If it's something you physically support, then you should voice it. I was just listing a few social issues because that's what I'm more inclined on, but your message can be about anything. You just have to support something that other people would be inclined to support.


Wayne Willis:

OK. And do you think that this is what helps determine the success of an artist or a musician?


Kathryn Holeton:

Of course. Other brands will also be more inclined to collaborate with you, whether it be another band, a company, whatever. If you have a strong message and you're actively speaking out about something or speaking up about something; then you're guaranteed to stand out more.


Wayne Willis:

I always think that music can almost be defined in errors. Like movements almost. Say I'm in the punk movement or something like that and tied to that punk movement is a set of values, a set of messaging, a set of identity.


Do you think new artists, when they're starting out, need to slot into an existing thing first and build from there to help them stand out?


Kathryn Holeton:

Starting out, that is a good idea because it gives you time to experiment with how you perform on stage and with how you want to present yourself on stage. Copying others, respectfully, can also help you learn new things for your business. You can learn from them and integrate what you've learned into your own business.


Wayne Willis:

Let's talk about some tangible stuff then, shall we? So, if you're starting out as a band, let's say I've just formed a band of four. I'm a singer or musician. And whatever.


I'm just starting out. What do I need to have as part of my setup? What do I need to think about? Give us some tangible examples of things that artists need to be considering.


Kathryn Holeton:

So in terms of your brand, if you're just starting out, it would be a good idea to go ahead and get your website and socials set up. But also, if you're really, really sure you want to make this band be your career, you need to dig deep into your foundations and build out your band's identity and personality.


Wayne Willis:

Yeah, but can you can you expand on that in terms of what that actually means? So what do you mean by identity? What physically do we need to do as artists?


Kathryn Holeton:

So whether you're a single musician or a band, you should dig deep. As in identify who exactly you want to be in that band and how you want that band to be seen. What reputation do you want it to have? What reputation do you want to be tied to in said band? Because your brand is really your message, and of course through that your reputation.



Wayne Willis:

Your job is to help new artists and new bands define their message, define their brand and kind of reach out to the right audience with authenticity in all the music that happens in the world.


Lots of bands do this very well, but there's lots of artists that don't do that. You know, they're just making commercial music and they're highly successful. Why is that?


You know, I assume there's a difference between the two approaches to becoming successful as an artist and making a career. You're arguing that you need to be authentic and have a clear brand because that's going to live with you as your career grows.


And I'm saying there's lots of artists out there, particularly young pop artists, but other genres too, that maybe don't have that authentic kind of message but are highly successful because they make pop music and it resonates with young people and they make nice videos and all that kind of stuff.


Do you think there's a clear break between these two approaches?


Kathryn Holeton:

For music in general, you do have to pay attention to the trends and you do have to

participate in that, because that's business unfortunately. But in terms of being successful, the break is there in that you can have shiny videos when you're just starting out and you can have all the backing, but at some point I feel like you would probably run out of steam.


You would get burned out because you're just following the trends. Sure you're making a living off your music, but if there's no love in what you're doing, if you're not actually saying what you would like to say, it's gonna be unfair.


Because starting a business or being in a band or starting something as your career is a journey of self growth, it has to be something you really want to do in order for it to really pay off.


Wayne Willis:

So let's talk about some of that then. Your job is to help artists and new bands starting out define their brand define their define their message define their identity.


I assume helping them define their audience and their genre based on that what are some of the cool methods or or the easy methods that artists could think about at this stage when they when they're starting out. What tangible things could they be doing?


Kathryn Holeton:




I'm going to go with the band example because bands mean a lot of collaboration. So, if you're in a band, you should all sit down at some point after you've been working together for a while and have a talk about everyone's goals for the band.


You should brainstorm just for some things you would like your band to do. What goals do you have for your band? What message? Or has there been anything you would like to talk about in your music?


Is there anything you would like to talk about that you think your audience would need to know? Just brainstorming ideas and writing them down is a crucial first step into really getting your band's personality and visual identity started or down. And as you grow, you can always look back at this list and pull from it.


Wayne Willis:

I guess it's kind of like having a business meeting. You know, if you're running a business, usually you would have a meeting with other people within the business and you would define the direction of that business.


What's your strategy? Where are you going? Why you set up and obviously the product or the service that you provide is kind of how you make money. That's the value you offer to the customer in the same way that a band offers their music to their audience.


It's the same principle. From your experience, you're saying not enough bands are sitting down and having this conversation and thinking about it as as like an organization thinking about it like a business and you, you're saying they need to be doing that more.


Kathryn Holeton:

Yes, at least if they're serious about it. I mean, if you're in a band for fun there's no harm in that. If it's something you enjoy and just want to do it as a hobby, then keep doing it.


If you're for sure wanting to make your band your career, it would be to your benefit to sit down and have this in-depth conversation with all your band members about what you what you all would like to see the band do.


Wayne Willis:

And I suppose that then informs the art that you create. It informs the type of music. I've been playing in music now for over 25 years and I've played with lots of musicians and my experience of this is that when bands form.


When musicians work together, they tend to gravitate to similar people that have similar values to them anyway. So you know, if you form a Hard Rock band or a jazz band or a scat band or a reggae band or whatever it is. That's because you're involved in that scene that resonates with you and the people that you're joining, that you're forming the band with.


Typically you're meeting through that scene, you recognize that they're also a part of that. So in a way, the chances are your values are probably quite similar. At the start anyway, that's why you've formed the unit.


I guess what you're saying is that isn't enough to say we're all on the same page. There needs to be a more kind of strategic business approach to how you're gonna propel the band forward and make sure that everybody is singing from the same hymn. Everybody's kind of pushing the same message, the same values, thinking about in the same kind of context.


Kathryn Holeton:

Yes.


Wayne Willis:

I was looking at some of the earlier notes that you sent to me and one of one of the things you'd said was about bands not talking so much about themselves. And rather talking more about what their audience might want to hear.


Kathryn Holeton:

What you do ultimately depends on your audience. And it's not that they don't care about you, it's just that they're looking for different things.


Wayne Willis:

There are millions of bands out there. Everyone's trying to do well and be successful with their music, so the competition is quite vast. I actually believe there's room for everyone because music's a wonderful thing and it's global.


It's everywhere, but on that front, the difference between those that are able to make a living from it, or even be successful from it versus those that don't is consistency. Like staying the course and believing in what you're doing and also being good at what you're doing, being well rehearsed, well practiced.


Writing lots, performing lots, really learning your craft, that's one. But the other side is, will the audience resonate with us? Will the audience like what we're talking about?


Will they not only like the music that we're making, but actually feel some form of connection with what we're about as band? And you're saying that's kind of where the brand and the identity is so important.


Kathryn Holeton:

Yeah, because at the end of the day, people want to care about something.



Wayne Willis:

If you're not pushing that around, then you're not pushing that identity. You'll essentially get lost in the void.


Kathryn Holeton:

Yes, especially in this age of AI. The more authentic you appear, the more you appear in a good light, the more it's going to only benefit your band, the more visibility, the more authentically and the more you can get your message out there, the stronger your audience will resonate with you and the stronger your band will get in terms of business potential.


Wayne Willis:

Moving forward then in terms of developing a new artist, what are some of the first steps that you would take when advising a new band or a new artist starting out?


Kathryn Holeton:

My first steps would be asking them a bunch of questions that would really make them think about where they would like their band to go. So, all those branding questions. And then from there I would give them a brand personality, which is something that Carl Jung made. A brand personality is like your Zodiac sign.


They're kind of eerie when you find what your personality, brand personality is. And then from there we can go about crafting the perfect message that would help your band grow. Then we would work on your mission, your values and all that fun jazz, and, using that information, I would then build out your visual identity.


The logo, color palette typography or the fonts you'll use across all your socials, your website. Other pieces of brand collateral. I also make the website and brand collateral such as business cards, electronic press kits for PR opportunities.


Wayne Willis:

What's the overarching message that you want them to take away? What what is it that you think is really important for them to understand?


Kathryn Holeton:

It's important to keep honing your craft, but you need to give yourself a direction to go with. Because ultimately your direction will determine how successful you are. Your message will play a part in that as well.


Wayne Willis:

So, if people wanna reach out to you and get your advice on this, how can how can artists get in in, in contact with you?


Kathryn Holeton:

You can send me an e-mail or message me on social media or fill out a form on my website. I'm pretty much everywhere on Facebook, Instagram Threads, TikTok, LinkedIn. Of course you can find me on my website and I have my e-mail also on my website, which is kathrynholeton.com.


Wayne Willis:

So, if you're a musician, a band and artist starting out, you need to be thinking about your message. You need to be thinking about your brand, the identity of your art. And getting those early footsteps right because that's what's going to travel with you throughout your career. Is that fair way to sort of wrap up what your message is?


Kathryn Holeton:

Yes.


Wayne Willis:

Awesome. OK, listen, Kathryn, this has been really, really interesting. Thanks so much for being on the show. I really appreciate it. And if you're a new band or artist, be sure to reach out. And Catherine, I'm sure we'll help you out. Take care, Kathryn. All the best. Thank you very much.


Kathryn Holeton:

Thank you.


You can watch this episode of Shifting Views with Willis by clicking here.

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