Brand = You

I think it’s no secret anymore, in 2025, having a strong brand is the foundation if you want to break through as an independent artist.

If you’ve been around the music world even a little, you’ve probably noticed how pop stars have entire teams shaping their brand.

From what colors they wear, how their music videos look, which brands they partner with, even down to who they collaborate with and what type of tracks they release.

We don’t have those teams. We’re not pop stars.

We’re mostly in the hip-hop space - and if you happen to come from another genre, welcome to the blog 👋 - but even here, branding matters.

Your brand is how you present yourself as an artist. It’s what you stand for, your values, your visual world, your style.

It’s the cover art you choose, the way you show up on social media, the tone of your visuals, and the way your audience perceives you.

All of that decides whether people will see you as a “premium” artist - exclusive, polished, untouchable - or as someone closer to the fans, more personal, open, sharing pieces of your life.

Neither path is wrong.

But if you want to stand out and break through the endless flood of music online, you need a brand.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about in this article. 

Let's dive in. 🤿

Define Your Artist Identity

Before you start thinking about logos, color palettes or cover art, you need to figure out who you are as an artist.

This is your foundation. Your identity is what makes people connect with you beyond just the music. It’s what makes someone press follow instead of just like.

And here’s the thing - the best way to figure that out is to make a lot of music first.

Create, experiment, drop ideas, and see what actually feels real to you.

Trying to decide “I want to be a premium artist, so I’ll make premium-sounding music” before you’ve even built anything can backfire - because it might not match who you are as a person.

If your first project flops, it might not be about quality, it might just not feel like you. And if it doesn’t feel like you, it’s hard to keep going.

But if being “premium” is truly in your DNA, if your music already sounds refined, clean, intentional, and you naturally prefer to stay private, letting the songs speak for you - then that might be your path. 🎯

On the other hand, if you’re more of an outgoing, talkative type, dropping tracks in all kinds of styles, being ultra-polished might be frustrating.

Maybe your brand is about being versatile, wild, open - and that’s just as powerful.

The key is: know this early, before you make big moves.

Because once you commit to a direction, you want to be able to stick to it.

People follow personalities and stories. 🎭

Once you know what you stand for, everything else becomes easier.

Every post, every cover, every video becomes part of the same bigger picture - your world.

Craft Your Sound & Story

Once you start to figure out who you are (I know how it sounds haha, but trust me, you need to do this. Take your time, even if it will take you a year) the next step is shaping how you sound and what story you’re telling through your music.

Your sound is your fingerprint.

It’s the thing that makes someone hear five seconds of a track and know it’s yours. It might be the melodies you gravitate to, your drum choices, the energy of your vocal delivery, it can be anything.

But it’s not just about sonics. It’s about the story behind it.

What part of you lives inside the music? What experiences, emotions, places, or ideas show up in your lyrics or production?

You don’t need to box yourself into one genre, but it helps if there’s a thread running through everything you make. A specific tone to every single track. 

Maybe later on you will create your own genre, who knows?

The easiest way to find your sound? Make. A lot. Of music.

Quantity reveals patterns.

The more songs you finish, the more you start seeing what naturally comes out of you, and that’s where your real artistic voice lives. 🎶

Because here’s the thing: trying to copy a “premium” sound just to fit an image will burn you out fast if it’s not who you are.

But when the sound comes from who you truly are, building the brand around it becomes natural.

Your brand should follow your sound, not the other way around. (damn what a ryhme)

Build a Visual Language

Once your sound starts to feel solid, it’s time to build the world around it, your visual language. 📽️

This is what people see before they even hear a single note.

It’s the cover art on your tracks, the colors you use on your socials, the way your videos are shot, the outfits in your photos, even the font you are using for your visuals.

All of it should feel like you.

If your music is dark, moody, cinematic, maybe your visuals lean toward deep colors, clean lines, dramatic lighting.

If your music is chaotic and fun. maybe your visuals are bright, loud, full of motion. 🎨

The key is consistency.

You want someone to scroll through your profile and instantly know they’re in your world.

That’s how you build recognition.

And don’t overthink gear or budgets, you don’t need expensive cameras or graphic designers at the start.

Just decide on a vibe and stick with it.

Use the same few colors, the same tone in your photos, the same energy across your content.

When your sound and visuals work together, it creates a full experience, and that’s what makes people remember you. ⚡

Create a Consistent Social Presence

Once your sound and visuals start to click, you need to show up, because even the best music won’t reach people if they never see you. 📲

But here’s the key: consistent doesn’t mean constant.

You don’t need to post every day. You don’t need to flood TikTok, Instagram or YouTube Shorts nonstop.

You don’t even need to be on every platform.

Consistency means showing up regularly, whatever that rhythm is for you.

Once a week, once every two weeks, once a month… as long as it’s steady. People can’t follow something that appears and disappears at random.

And even more important, consistency means staying true to your brand.

If you want to be mysterious and premium, maybe you only post snippets of unreleased songs, dark visuals, no personal stories. That’s cool - but stick to it. \

Because if you suddenly drop a photo of you in pajamas eating cereal, your audience will be like:
“Wait… I was waiting for that cinematic single teaser and you just posted… this?” 😅

Just kiddng, I hope you know what I mean.

ANYWAY...

It’s not that being personal is bad, it just has to match the brand you’re building.

If your vibe is raw, personal, chaotic, that kind of post might make perfect sense.

But if your vibe is polished and untouchable, it might break the "illusion" you are trying to make.

So pick your tone and then show up like that every time.

That’s what makes people start to recognize you. And recognition is the first step to building trust, and a real fanbase. 

Build Connection With Your Audience

Getting people to notice you is one thing.

Getting them to care, that’s where the magic starts.

Because followers aren’t fans yet.

A fan is someone who sticks around. Someone who streams your track on release day, reposts your snippets, tells their friends about you.

That doesn’t happen just because your mix is clean or your visuals are pretty, it happens when people feel connected to you.

And here is one, important thing, connection doesn’t mean you have to reply to every comment.

If you don’t feel like answering something, you don’t have to.

What matters is building a relationship with your listeners in a way that feels natural to you.If that means replying to every comment, cool.

If not, maybe your thing is posting a quote that inspires you once a week, sharing your thoughts on X about stuff beyond music, or sending a small update to your mailing list every two weeks with a couple of photos from your studio sessions.

You could even drop a 30-second snippet as a private WeTransfer link for your email subscribers, something nobody else has.

That kind of personal moment builds hype in a way public posts never will. 🎁

Because that’s how you turn casual listeners into real fans: by letting them feel like they’re part of something.

And the best part?

You get to choose how you build that connection. 🤝

Bonus: My Perspective on Branding

For a long time, I thought branding was just a checklist.

Reply to comments. check
Post three times a week. check
Do two Instagram stories. check
Answer every DM. check
Keep the algorithm happy. check

I thought that’s what good branding meant.

But it’s not.

Branding isn’t a checklist - it’s your identity.

It’s a mix of elements that make your presence feel uniquely yours.

Like this: if I want to build a premium brand and decide not to reply to comments - that’s part of my branding.

It shows people how I communicate.

Of course, it might be harder at the start, and yeah, my music would need to be fireeeee enough to carry that attitude, but that’s the point.

Or maybe I do reply, but only with one-word answers like “yes,” “no,” “maybe,” in a way that feels dry or sarcastic, and people eventually recognize that’s just me.

That’s branding too.

Branding is the tone you use when you talk to your audience.
It’s your videos always being shot on VHS. 📼
It’s your photos always taken on film.
It’s always showing up in full black fits. 🖤

And when one day you show up wearing something different, people instantly notice and wonder "what it means?", “New album coming?!”

Because that’s the power of branding:

It’s not about following someone else’s rules.

It’s about picking your own rules - and owning them.

Branding is you.

Wrapping It Up

Branding isn’t about copying what works for someone else.

It’s about building something that’s real to you, and then sticking with it.

Don’t stress if it doesn’t all click overnight.

You don’t need to have your logo, color palette, visuals, tone, and socials perfectly locked in from day one. That part will evolve - and it should evolve - as you keep making music and figuring out who you really are.

What matters is that all the pieces - your sound, visuals, tone, content - point in the same direction and feel like they belong to the same world.

Your world. 🌍

That’s what makes people recognize you, remember you - that's what makes people care.

Because in the end, branding isn’t about shouting the loudest.
It’s about being unmistakably you - every time you show up.

Hope that helped.

Oh, and if are looking for original and unique beats you should definetly check out my catalog.

Take care,

Baxon 👊