Trademarking your name

It's typically a good idea to trademark your name as soon as you choose one. Names get picked up really fast and so do good webpages (like yourname.com or myspace.com/yourname).

So why should you trademark your band name?

Imagine that there are two bands with your name floating around. Let's pretend your band gets popular and you sell some CD's, and the other band plans to sue you for trademark infringement. Here's the problem: they own the trademark to your name. Now you have to pay this band with your same name all the royalties. Doesn't sound fun does it? Imagine if you were on the other side of the ball. That sounds like more fun doesn't it?

How about this scenario? You own the trademark to your band name, but there's already a website and a myspace page with your name with a band declaring their name as yours. Well, now you can fight for both pages!

You may not actually need a lawyer at all in the cases mentioned above. In almost all cases, as soon as you mention you own the trademark, they will work with you to dispute it before the law gets involved. A good example of this happening is the drummer of my current band. His previous band owned a trademark to a band name and there was another band with the same name. As soon as they talked about, my drummer's band ended up getting free gear in exchange for the name.

So where do you go now?

http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm

This only applies for bands in America though. If you're from another nation, check with your government's website and check for trademarks and patents.

You may also want to check out http://www.bandname.com/ to see if your band name is taken or not (legally).

Naming your band

When you finally form a band, it's generally a good idea to give it a name. Here's what the name should contain:

• Represents you - You don't want a band name like "The Lollipop Guild" if you're a death metal band. It may sound funny, but in the long run some people will reject your band all together just because of the name, causing you to loose some fans.
• Easy to spell - I can't emphasis this one enough. I shouldn't be asking "how do you spell that?" when you pronounce your bands name at a concert. If you're a good band that I want to check out, I'll want to go home and search for it online. If I can't spell it, what use it is? It certainly doesn't help if somone wants to find your album in a store either.
• Don't make your name too long. The shorter it is, the easier it is to remember. Try keeping your name down to one or two words instead of a sentence.
• And most importantly, it can't be taken!

There are several ways of coming up with a good name, but here's some ideas:

• A dictionary - Open up to random pages and choose random words. Find one that fits your style of music or the subjects to your lyrics.
• A thesaurus - If the dictionary doesn't work, think of a word that matches what your band is about. Look it up in the thesaurus and find synonyms, or even antonyms.
• A book - Books are still used these days. Does your favorite book have a name of someone that represents your band? What about a fake town name? Even the book title works! (Ex: Amon Amarth is an alternative name for Mount Doom based off the Lord of the Rings series)
• A movie - Same as a book. Just don't call your band "The Matrix", Star Wars or anything ridiculous or I swear I will punch you in the stomach. (Ex: 36 Crazy Fists is named after a Jackie Chan movie)
• A video game - I haven't heard of this happening yet, but I am sure it exists. Try naming your band after a video game or even a character or location in the game.
• Song name - Some bands have a group of songs before they name their band. What about using a song name? What about a band that influenced your band, you can use one of their song names? (Ex: Carnal Forge is named after a song by Carcass).
• Lyrics - Maybe your favorite line in yours or someone else's lyrics are a good band name. (Panic! At the Disco was named after the song Panic by Name Taken)
• Sometimes a name of a historical figure or town is good. (Ex: Abigail Williams is named after one of the girls involved in the Salem witch trials)
• Mythological creatures also work, but they're almost all taken. (Ex: Chimaira is named after a greek mythological beast)
• Dead languages - There's a lot of extinct languages. Think of a word that describes your band and see if there's a translation of it in a language. Latin is a good place to start. (Ex: Dimmu Borgir means Dark Castle in Norse. The language is very well alive though).
• Astrology - There's a lot of stars and constellations in space. Try naming your band after these.

I hope this article helps you start you creative muscles.