Decisions, Decisions

[wyld_dandelyon]

So, right now I'm told Bandcamp is the way to go, for self-publishing music. And I now am developing the skills to record myself, so I went to look at setting up an account, which I was told is totally simple.

And the first page, almost the first line, asked for my band name.

And I stopped and stared at that. I'd always figured I'd go with my name if I managed to do a solo album, but lately I've been following the rising career of a musician named Deirdre Murphy in Ireland. And you know, that would probably be OK, she's going for a much more mainstream music career than I'd be planning, but for some things, disambiguation is a good thing.

And it also occurs to me that I've been using the name Wyld Dandelyon for a very long time now, and that it wouldn't make a bad band name, especially for a filker (since filkers use the dandelion as our symbol). Never mind that I didn't create it to be a band name.

Well, I don't have to decide today.

People's thoughts, opinions, relevant experience, and ideas about what I should keep in mind as I decide, are all welcome at this point.

Comments

[kelkyag]

Wyld Dandelyon would be a lovely band name or stage name if you want it to be. You might want to check for collisions before deciding.

[siliconshaman]

Heh, I thought Wyld Dandelyon was a band name you'd 'borrowed' as your user name!

[earthspirits]

Actually, I think your usual user name is pretty cool.

[ellenmillion]

I said it elsewhere, but I really love Wyld Dandelyon and it's already well-attached to you!

[mdlbear]

I agree with everyone else -- go for it!

That's where my mind went before I'd even finished the first paragraph.

[msstacy13]

Yeah, sounds like we're all Wyld about it...

[rowyn]

Like everyone else, I think Wyld Dandelyon is a good name for a solo act! I went with my user name when I started publishing books, myself.

[tigertoy]

(1) My thought is an unusual name is more likely to attract attention. If a name happens to float by at the edge of my perception (whether I'm skimming a list of band names or I overhear a snippet of conversation), if I don't have an instant subconscious "Huh?" I never get to the second subconscious reaction of "This might be worth paying attention to" that enables the conscious flicker of "That's an interesting name" that has to be there to continue the thought to "I should check it out".
(2) Even if I pay very little attention now, if it's unusual it's memorable, and if I remember hearing it before but I still don't know what it is that generates more curiosity.
(3) For what it's worth, I think "Wyld Dandelyon" is a good band name.

Similarly, an album cover or logo has a similar challenge. It must stand out or I'll just pass by it. Then it must be a high quality and aesthetically pleasing image or I won't keep looking for more than a split second. Then it has to have some words on it that are easy to read (because if I have to struggle to decipher the script I will already be biased against it). That puts those words into my sensorium; return to the top of the post. If there are no words, it has to be even more visually interesting to send me directly to "I'll check it out". This isn't the time for deep artistic significance. It needs to reach out and grab for just a second or two. Unfortunately, this is even more individual than the name and I have no way to guess what's going to be eye-catching to other people. People get paid big bucks to do that and fail all the time. :-)