Considering an artist name to separate film/tv work from my other project

[collinjames]

Hi all, I'm new to TAXI (though I've been haunting the listings for a while and learning how to compose this kind of music for awhile now) and I'm wondering if it's possible to separate my film/tv and other music career (as a live performer), mainly for branding purposes. My main reason for doing this would be so a cue in an unrelated style/genre to my singer-songwriter project (which is under my birth name) wouldn't end up being listed in the credits if, say, I were to get a movie placement. I know, I know, that sounds very particular of me, but I see my two projects as separate entities — one as a music/composer/scoring service, the other as singer-songwriter/personal expression project — and would like to keep them that way). I know that, in a recent episode of TAXI TV, this kind of thing is discouraged but it seems to be the best method for me personally since I don't want tension/dramedy/trap cues being linked to my singer-songwriter music, which is totally different.
In any case, I'm wondering about the particulars of this kind of thing. Will I just have to register a small business and link that artist name (for film/TV work) to my PRO account? Thanks in advance to anyone taking the time to answer this question (especially if it's already been asked a million times)!

[jdstamper]

There is a website and YouTube channel Make Music Income https://www.youtube.com/@MakeMusicIncome where this has been discussed ... creating different types of music and putting it out under different brands.

I can't tell you exactly where to look, but if you do some research on the site and the videos you should be able to find out more about it.

[collinjames]

There is a website and YouTube channel Make Music Income https://www.youtube.com/@MakeMusicIncome where this has been discussed ... creating different types of music and putting it out under different brands.

I can't tell you exactly where to look, but if you do some research on the site and the videos you should be able to find out more about it.

This is very helpful JD, I'll definitely do some digging and see what I can find! Would you happen to know the kind of keywords I should search while looking through this channel?

[cosmicdolphin]

Basically you ARE your brand.

As far as cues on regualar TV there are no credits given to library music composers. You might see the name of the Library mentioned sometimes but that's about it , so nobody is going to know if you supplied Trap Cue 37 for an episode of a reality show.

OTOH if you had relationships with publishers and they somehow came acorss your singer songwriter work, and wanted to license it then I'd assume you would want them to know it was you and not just know you from some producer psuedonym.

It's up to you at the end of the day, most PRO's allow a psuedonym ( as many commercial artists use stage names ) so you could invent one if wanted , I've seen the occasional one used in some of the libaries I am in but make sure you don't pigeonhole yourself by picking the wrong producer name as you never know what you will be writing down th eline.

Mark

[Casey H]

Basically you ARE your brand.

As far as cues on regualar TV there are no credits given to library music composers. You might see the name of the Library mentioned sometimes but that's about it , so nobody is going to know if you supplied Trap Cue 37 for an episode of a reality show.

OTOH if you had relationships with publishers and they somehow came acorss your singer songwriter work, and wanted to license it then I'd assume you would want them to know it was you and not just know you from some producer psuedonym.

It's up to you at the end of the day, most PRO's allow a psuedonym ( as many commercial artists use stage names ) so you could invent one if wanted , I've seen the occasional one used in some of the libaries I am in but make sure you don't pigeonhole yourself by picking the wrong producer name as you never know what you will be writing down th eline.

Mark

I'm very glad I wasn't given named credit for instrumentals on Toddlers and Tiaras.

Mark is correct that instrumental cues almost never (99.99%) are credited in TV shows. In a feature film, often. But also keep in mind that if your two "identities" are one with vocals and the other instrumental cues, there really isn't a conflict regarding your brand. As a singer-songwriter, you would be known for your voice, lyrics, etc. If you were doing 2 types of vocal songs, one for sync and one as "artist", it could *maybe* be an issue. And as others mentioned, you can work this out with your PRO as they support pseudonyms. I think they allow you to have 2 writer PRO numbers- need to check that.

But keep in mind as a singer-songwriter, there is a strong preference at times for songs by emerging artists and the publicity from a sync placement of one of your songs would be a big boost for your career. Not talking about the cues here, talking about the vocal songs. So you may not want to separate anything you do as a vocal song.

...but make sure you don't pigeonhole yourself by picking the wrong producer name as you never know what you will be writing down th eline.

To this day, cosmicdolphin lives with the regret that he picked the name "Lil Marky Dolphin".

Best,
Casey

[jdstamper]

Basically you ARE your brand.

As far as cues on regualar TV there are no credits given to library music composers. You might see the name of the Library mentioned sometimes but that's about it , so nobody is going to know if you supplied Trap Cue 37 for an episode of a reality show.

OTOH if you had relationships with publishers and they somehow came acorss your singer songwriter work, and wanted to license it then I'd assume you would want them to know it was you and not just know you from some producer psuedonym.

It's up to you at the end of the day, most PRO's allow a psuedonym ( as many commercial artists use stage names ) so you could invent one if wanted , I've seen the occasional one used in some of the libaries I am in but make sure you don't pigeonhole yourself by picking the wrong producer name as you never know what you will be writing down th eline.

Mark

Totally agree with Mark. I don't think it's all that unusual for an artist / singer / performer to have a side-gig as a production music composer. In fact, it could be an advantage showing versatility / depth of skill / knowledge of the industry.

OTOH the idea of creating brands might make sense if you're putting out albums in multiple genres, marketing the albums, going on Spotify, etc. I mean if you can be an artist in multiple genres, then why not? But is it deceptive to the audience (and publishers / libraries) if you appear to them as fully realized separate artists or bands? So what's the best way to go about it?

Also, from a legal perspective (I'm not a lawyer), I don't know whether you need to register separate "Doing Business As" names for each brand. That might depend on your local state or country regulations. And you'd have to ask your PRO whether they need to know your brand names too.

There are some pretty famous alter egos ... Garth Brooks is also Chris Gaines ... and OMG Paul McCartney put out music as Percy Thrillington (how did I not know this!) the-15-most-famous-alter-egos-in-music-history

[cosmicdolphin]

To this day, cosmicdolphin lives with the regret that he picked the name "Lil Marky Dolphin".

I regret nothing....Except that blowhole incident

[VanderBoegh]

I've seen this same question pop up a time or two on these forums, and - not to sound like I'm denigrating your musicality, CollinJames - the question is usually posed by someone who is just getting their feet wet in this industry. The more time you spend here, and the more credits you build up, the more you'll see that Mark and Casey are completely correct: cues are 99.9% of the time NEVER attributed to the writer. So, chances of your name popping up in the end credits of a Real Housewives episode where you placed a trap cue are virtually non-existent.

If it's still a concern, then just create an alias. You can call your alter ego Buckshank McGee if you want. BMI will allow you to do this - not sure about ASCAP.

~~Matt

[SubRivers]

I'm very glad I wasn't given named credit for instrumentals on Toddlers and Tiaras.

Best,
Casey

Information is conserved in the universe so billions of years from now it will still be possible to know that it was indeed you who provided the music to TNT

googling IMDB will likely be not the method used at that point though