"Brand The Band" Marries Music and Marketing

The hottest marriage in entertainment these days isn't between Brad and Angelina. It is between bedfellows of an entirely different sort -- music and marketing. At the core of this union is "Brand The Band," a marketing seminar enabling bands and/or individual artists to build their own unique brand identities by understanding and using the same branding, imaging, messaging and naming tools that have long been advertising and marketing industry standards.

"Brand The Band" will debut at AllAsia Cafe, Industry Night, Cambridge, MA, Monday, March 16.

Subsequent presentations include:

Cape May Singer/Songwriter Conference
Cape May, NJ, March 27

Mocha Mayas
Shelburne Falls, MA, Sunday, May 10

Mocha Mayas
Shelburne Falls, MA, Sunday, June 7

Provincetown Rocks! The Festival, Provincetown, MA, July 15, 2009

IMC (Independent Music Conference) Promotional Seminar
Northampton, MA, August 29, 2009

IMC (Independent Music Conference)
Northampton, MA, November 22, 2009

Between the advent of new distribution technologies and an overcrowded music market, establishing a strong, memorable brand identity has become as critical to bands and/or solo artists as it is to the marketing of any consumer product. Over the last two and a half decades, the advent of digital media has allowed artists to take control of their own production and recording. Now, in a similar way, "Brand The Band" helps bands and/or solo artists use core branding techniques to accomplish the "3D's": 1) Define where they live in their own market landscape, 2) Differentiate themselves from those who are similar, and 3) Develop a clear and compelling identity that is unmistakably theirs.

With these assets, bands or solo artists can maximize the effectiveness of everything they do to promote themselves -- from flyers and ad inserts to press kits and investor presentations. The reality for today's musician is that the "battle of the bands" is not won by musicianship and talent alone. It is won by those who can "cut through the clutter," not just by tweaking their sound or image, but by showing who they really are and what their music is all about.

Christopher Payne-Taylor, Developer

Developed and led by marketing veteran, Christopher Payne-Taylor, "Brand The Band" is based upon his 20-year experience as a creative visionary spearheading brand creation and development, strategic market planning, advertising, promotion and public relations throughout a wide array of business and consumer industries.

Payne-Taylor currently serves senior Marketing Writer for Avid Technology. Previously he co-founded and served as Chief Marketing Officer for AdME (Advertising-driven Mobile Entertainment), a cutting-edge start-up in the mobile advertainment arena. Over the course of his career, he has created numerous long-standing company and product brands such as Luminglas, SONiVOX (Sound That Rocks), PromoCentric (Your Company, Top of Mind), BoomerVenture, and CPO Science (Making It Real). Entering the marketing arena early on as brand originator and co-founder of CBGB's-era new wave band, Karyn Satin & the Bedsheets, Payne-Taylor was subsequently engaged as copywriter by RSS, a young, aggressive West Side advertising and promotions agency, where he emerged three years later as Director of Creative Development.

"Brand The Band" is a crossroads concept at the intersection of Payne-Taylor's marketing expertise and his own personal experience as an original "acoustic garage rock" singer/songwriter (with new single release, "Wildwood Moon"). It is this unique duality that he brings to an increasingly impenetrable music industry, helping musicians take a time-tested set of tools from the advertising and marketing world, and use them to meet the ever-increasing challenge of getting heard.