# So my band has the same name as a rapper..advice?



## sezna (May 27, 2016)

So I just submitted my band's first album to go to spotify, itunes, etc (via DistroKid). I then discovered, by searching our name, that a not-so-well-known rapper goes by the same name as my band. It's too late to cancel on DistroKid, and we would have to pay a bit more ($15) if we canceled and resubmitted under a different name (and we would have to pick a different name, which causes all sorts of hassles on facebook and whatnot).

Any advice? Distrokid's support page says (paraphrased) "avoid it but if it happens, it happens, and here are some tools to make sure you aren't grouped as the same artist on Spotify".

We are a totally different genre and probably don't have a lot of listeners in common, but still, I hope this doesn't become a bigger problem...


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## Dantas (May 28, 2016)

My instrumental/post-metal band named '2faces' have the same problem, but we kinda don't care too much about it haha....there's a french rapper with the same name, but somehow places like Spotify, Last.fm and Google differ us from him very well...probably happens because we are searching from our country. 

It can be a problem if the rapper is from the same country as you. You may keep your name, and see how far you go with it.


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## scottro202 (May 28, 2016)

Are you guys in the same area?

I'd change it. Even though legally you should be OK (assuming the rapper is in a different region of the country as you) since neither you nor the rapper probably filed trademark claims for the name, you guys are both within your rights to use the name in your local regions. 

The problem is the grouping on sites like Spotify/iTunes/etc. They group artists based on the name and they won't split it up unless they are told, and either way you don't want to be mixed up with someone of a different genre, not good for exposure. 

My band's name in high school/early college was Skittle Biscuit. Worst band name ever, but it was so bad it was great because we always popped up on search engines which helps to point pretty girls* to our Facebook page 

*Well, that was the hope anyways.


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## MoshJosh (May 28, 2016)

Yeah just change your name to something no one else wants, like Unicorn Dildo Orgy. . . More like a name everyone wants, am I right?


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## scottro202 (May 28, 2016)

MoshJosh said:


> Yeah just change your name to something no one else wants, like Unicorn Dildo Orgy. . . More like a name everyone wants, am I right?



That was our second option, but we figured it'd be easier to play our high school's battle of the bands with Skittle Biscuit.


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## sezna (May 28, 2016)

Hum...I'll have to talk to the band about it. I don't want to start a new facebook page and throw away all of our glorious likes and whatnot, you know?

I'll have to start brainstorming stuff. Unfortunately, we aren't heavy enough to get away with names like "unicorn dildo orgy".


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## scottro202 (May 29, 2016)

Better to do it before you release any material, that way you won't have to redirect people to your older material with your old band name.


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## Alex Kenivel (May 29, 2016)

What's the name? As long as it isn't Kanye West and the Public Enemies, I think you'll be okay. There are a ton of artists out there of different genres, languages, and goals, from all over the world, at anytime past or present, that might have the same name as each other. It's bound to happen and I wouldn't worry too much about it.


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## odibrom (May 29, 2016)

Lol, that problem is one of the reasons my band is still nameless after 1 and 1/2 year. The "good" news on this is that we haven't made any gig nor released any material, so we're ok, for now...

Now, a related question, where do you guys search for already existing band/musicians names, so those can be checked out. I'm mainly searching MySpace, SoundCloud, and YouTube, but I'm sure there are more sites to search...


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## scottro202 (May 29, 2016)

Think about it like this:

A band name is just like any other name for any other business, it's a trade mark.... a "mark" for your "trade," if you will. It's usually the first impression people have of your music. In order for them to hear your music, they have to know what band to search on the web, for instance. If somebody looks up your band name and finds a rapper with the same name, their hunt for your music will probably hit a brick wall there, and they will never actually hear your material. 

If your name isn't original, how are you going to convince somebody your music is?

With all that said though, a slight modification to the name could do wonders. For instance, if your name was "Horsedick" and that rappers name was also "Horsedick" then you could change it to "The Horsedicks," "Horse and the Dicks," "SeaBiscuit and the Lil' Dickies".... You get the jist


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## Hollowway (May 29, 2016)

So here's the problem: you could change it to something novel, but there's no guarantee someone else won't adopt the same name later, and you're up a creek again. Even if you trademark it, you likely won't have enough resources to squash anyone else taking the name. If the name is awesome, I'd keep it. But if the name is meh, use this opportunity to change it. So what's the name?


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## Lorcan Ward (May 29, 2016)

Add "of fire" to the end, worked for Rhapsody.


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## A-Branger (May 29, 2016)

sezna said:


> Hum...I'll have to talk to the band about it. I don't want to start a new facebook page and throw away all of our glorious likes and whatnot, you know?
> 
> I'll have to start brainstorming stuff. Unfortunately, we aren't heavy enough to get away with names like "unicorn dildo orgy".



you can change facebook pages names. I did with my photograhy page ages ago and I had no drama


also if you band decided to change names, first do a big research on the internet, google, and any music page you can find to see that no one has your name, not even another kind of business or page or anything, so if someone google you, you would be the only link


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## sezna (May 29, 2016)

scottro202 said:


> Better to do it before you release any material, that way you won't have to redirect people to your older material with your old band name.



Unfortunately, I found out about this by releasing our first album yesterday!



> So what's the name?



The Alchemist. This is our album:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-alchemist/id1118623158
This is the confused artist page:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-alchemist/id28446224

I'm leaning more towards changing it to the alchemists or something. I definitely think it is a problem, but I just don't want to go through the process of thinking of a name again 



> Add "of fire" to the end, worked for Rhapsody.


haha, does that make us infringe on Full Metal Alchemist? Alchemist of Fire? 



> Think about it like this:
> 
> A band name is just like any other name for any other business, it's a trade mark.... a "mark" for your "trade," if you will. It's usually the first impression people have of your music. In order for them to hear your music, they have to know what band to search on the web, for instance. If somebody looks up your band name and finds a rapper with the same name, their hunt for your music will probably hit a brick wall there, and they will never actually hear your material.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I get the business aspect, but the issue is that we already released the material and I'm not sure if it is worth it to go through the hassle.

I'm gonna look into changing fb page names now.


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## odibrom (May 29, 2016)

You could keep the band name and change only the facebok page or any other social media site to something like *"[YourBandName]"* + *"[***]"* + *"[AAA]"*. 

[AAA] could go for:

music
band
in the webz
online
whatever...

and [***] could go for:

-
_
.
--
__
You get the point...


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## Hollowway (May 29, 2016)

Don't take my opinion with too much weight, since I am hardly an expert here, but I routinely encounter conflicting names when I search for something. It's rarely a problem. I mean, search for Ghost on itunes and there are 4 or 5 different artist listings. If you were a metal band, and found another metal band named The Alchemist, then that might be an issue. But who is going to get The Alchemist rapper mixed up with you guys? Plus, even if you did change it, that doesn't bar someone literally tomorrow from adopting, inadvertently, your new name. So I'd personally keep it, but make sure it's clear on your material who you are. Like, don't do an album cover with a dude rapping. 

EDIT: OK, so it appears (and this may be your original question) that itunes is commingling the two The Alchemists. I'm not sure how you'd sort that out, but the bio for the rapper pops up in both instances. At the very least, I'd call Apple and explain the situation to them. That's something I'd think they'd want to fix, since Apple Music is generally ripped for being sucky on the user experience end.


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## Axayacatl (May 29, 2016)

seems to me like this rapper guy is blatantly stepping all over your turf....you know what to do....My buddy Robert had the same problem in the mid 90s with his thrash prog metal outfit Tupac. Robert took care of his problem, that's for sure, but sadly he was never as committed about the song writing part and so his band never took off.


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## Rachmaninoff (May 30, 2016)

I'd change it... and remember to use Google. When we were choosing a name to my band, we had a hard time, because every cool name was already taken... that's life.


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## MFB (May 30, 2016)

Go the 80's metal route and go from "The Alchemist" to "Alchemyst." That sh_i_t is WAY more metal.


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## AxeHappy (May 30, 2016)

Alchemyst of Fyyyre!


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## Edika (May 30, 2016)

Or Full Metal Alchemi....Oh wait!


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## Malkav (May 30, 2016)

Don't change the name, start a flame war, just call him out on social media and be douchey with each other about the name thing. Contact him in advance so he knows it's just for lolz and see if you can both get more exposure by just being complete cvnts to each other


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## scottro202 (May 30, 2016)

Hollowway said:


> EDIT: OK, so it appears (and this may be your original question) that itunes is commingling the two The Alchemists. I'm not sure how you'd sort that out, but the bio for the rapper pops up in both instances. At the very least, I'd call Apple and explain the situation to them. That's something I'd think they'd want to fix, since Apple Music is generally ripped for being sucky on the user experience end.



That's the problem, the sites don't sort out these matters on their own, they wait until somebody alerts them about it. And who's to say they won't give the other Alchemist page preference in search results because he was there first?

I say steer clear of any name that is too generic/common sounding. Less chance of somebody coming up behind you and taking it.


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## TedEH (May 30, 2016)

I say keep the name if you like it. 

But at the same time, the name of one of our bands has been a bit of a pain at times for two reasons. One is that there's another band in a vaguely similar genre with the same name, that uses some similar imagery in their logos and CD art, etc. That part has never been a problem much since they're in another country (they're in the US, we're Canadian), but also because they're not any better known than we are and have no content on iTunes/Spotify/etc. so there's no issue with searching. Maybe they noticed us and changed names, cause I haven't seen them pop up anywhere in a while. Problem #2 however, is that the name is the same as a Testament album name ("Signs of Chaos"), so whenever I've tried to post about it in forums, all of the replies tend to be something along the lines of "Came here for Testament content, was some small band I don't care about, left disappointed".


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## Alex Kenivel (May 30, 2016)

Change it to Full Frontal Alchemist


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## scottro202 (May 30, 2016)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alchemist_(musician)

Just googled "The Alchemist music" and this popped up. 

Dude's gotten some credentials, original score for GTA V, and he's worked with some big names in the rap game (Mac Miller, Migos), and he's Eminem's official DJ. 

Full Frontal Alchemist gets my vote


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## Low Baller (May 31, 2016)

Looks like the prophecy is true...Metal bands sharing the same names as rappers it's the second wave of Numetal. We feared this day, I think I hear Fred Durst coming quick no one give out your a/s/l.


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## bostjan (May 31, 2016)

Low Baller said:


> Looks like the prophecy is true...Metal bands sharing the same names as rappers it's the second wave of Numetal. We feared this day, I think I hear Fred Durst coming quick no one give out your a/s/l.



A/S/L would make a great name for a Numetal/rapcore band.

Prior to the ubiquity of internet searches via google, I had a knack for choosing band names that were already taken, and finding out about them on tour.


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## abeigor (May 31, 2016)

Lorcan Ward said:


> Add "of fire" to the end, worked for Rhapsody.



Phew...looks like Kanye West and the Public Enemies Of Fire are in the clear.


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## bostjan (May 31, 2016)

abeigor said:


> Phew...looks like Kanye West and the Public Enemies Of Fire are in the clear.



"of Deathmetal" also works

That's why my next project is going to be either _Electric Light Orchestra of Fire_ or _Elton John of Deathmetal_ or _the Eagles of Deathmetal of Fire_...


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## CapnForsaggio (May 31, 2016)

I'm a fan of "proto- <name>":

Protoalchemist

It literally implies you are the first.  Good luck.


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## bostjan (May 31, 2016)

There was also the cartoon called "Ghostbusters," which had nothing to do with the movie. When the people who made the movie wanted to make a Saturday morning cartoon, they had to call it "the Real Ghostbusters," so, to be safe, you could be "the Real Protoalchemist of Fire of Deathmetal El Paso III."


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## abeigor (May 31, 2016)

bostjan said:


> "of Deathmetal" also works
> 
> That's why my next project is going to be either _Electric Light Orchestra of Fire_ or _Elton John of Deathmetal_ or _the Eagles of Deathmetal of Fire_...



Dude.

The Elton John Of Death Metal is absolutely .... plus.


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## JamesM (Jun 1, 2016)

Dude, you know that The Alchemist is famous as fvck, right?

"Not-so-well-known" is hugely off point here.


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## sezna (Jun 2, 2016)

MFB said:


> Go the 80's metal route and go from "The Alchemist" to "Alchemyst." That sh_i_t is WAY more metal.


  I actually don't dislike that, even though I'm pretty sure you were being facetious. 



Axayacatl said:


> seems to me like this rapper guy is blatantly stepping all over your turf....you know what to do....My buddy Robert had the same problem in the mid 90s with his thrash prog metal outfit Tupac. Robert took care of his problem, that's for sure, but sadly he was never as committed about the song writing part and so his band never took off.


I've already called my guys.




TedEH said:


> I say keep the name if you like it.
> 
> But at the same time, the name of one of our bands has been a bit of a pain at times for two reasons. One is that there's another band in a vaguely similar genre with the same name, that uses some similar imagery in their logos and CD art, etc. That part has never been a problem much since they're in another country (they're in the US, we're Canadian), but also because they're not any better known than we are and have no content on iTunes/Spotify/etc. so there's no issue with searching. Maybe they noticed us and changed names, cause I haven't seen them pop up anywhere in a while. Problem #2 however, is that the name is the same as a Testament album name ("Signs of Chaos"), so whenever I've tried to post about it in forums, all of the replies tend to be something along the lines of "Came here for Testament content, was some small band I don't care about, left disappointed".



Yeah, we actually are going to rename again. It's just that it takes so long to get everybody in the band to agree 



> Looks like the prophecy is true...Metal bands sharing the same names as rappers it's the second wave of Numetal. We feared this day, I think I hear Fred Durst coming quick no one give out your a/s/l.



In my defense, he has a pretty metal name.



> Looks like the prophecy is true...Metal bands sharing the same names as rappers it's the second wave of Numetal. We feared this day, I think I hear Fred Durst coming quick no one give out your a/s/l.



Also, in my defense, I know less about rap than my cat knows about poetry. I am slowly beginning to see he is rather large.  


I'm actually gonna pull our stuff because I'm afraid of him noticing, and then figure out what to do. 

Here's a message we just got:


> Why is your album on Spotify under the true Alchemist- Daniel Alan Maman?



We are not trve!!!!!!!!!!111!1!!


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## MFB (Jun 2, 2016)

I will however say this, since you're correct, my answer was pretty minimal in sincerity - any time you guys get close to a band name you like: GOOGLE IT. IMMEDIATELY.

I've thought of half a dozen different good ones, and a quick Google search has told me if it's worth even considering for another second, because if someone else has it - then it's no good to you. It's 2016, we've got the world at our fingertips so there's really no ground for you to stand on if you don't do that and say, "Well, how was I supposed to know someone was named '______.'"


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## sezna (Jun 2, 2016)

MFB said:


> I will however say this, since you're correct, my answer was pretty minimal in sincerity - any time you guys get close to a band name you like: GOOGLE IT. IMMEDIATELY.
> 
> I've thought of half a dozen different good ones, and a quick Google search has told me if it's worth even considering for another second, because if someone else has it - then it's no good to you. It's 2016, we've got the world at our fingertips so there's really no ground for you to stand on if you don't do that and say, "Well, how was I supposed to know someone was named '______.'"



Yeah. This is one of those band names that has been with us since 9th grade. _We were young and dumb back then_.

Honestly the more I think of Alchemyst the more I like it.

Also, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemist_(band)


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## Alberto7 (Jun 2, 2016)

bostjan said:


> There was also the cartoon called "Ghostbusters," which had nothing to do with the movie. When the people who made the movie wanted to make a Saturday morning cartoon, they had to call it "the Real Ghostbusters," so, to be safe, you could be "the Real Protoalchemist of Fire of Deathmetal El Paso III."



I still miss the rep system sometimes, because damn it, you deserve +rep for each and every post you've made in this thread so far.


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## TheKindred (Jun 2, 2016)

there is already a metal band named Alchemist as well and they've been kicking around for a while. 


edit: as pointed out by Sezna 2 posts up :derp:


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## sezna (Jun 3, 2016)

I've got all the info I need. We gotta rename...

Guys I'm gonna rework this thread. Help me think of cool band names for instrumental djenty stuff. Alchemy-related optional. Facetiousness also optional. Originality required.

the Real Protoalchemist of Fire of Deathmetal El Paso III is up there as a favorite, but perhaps it has too many words. Perhaps we could make it an acronym and not ever explain the acronym.

"We are TRPOFODEPIII!!!!!!".


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## sezna (Jun 3, 2016)

TheKindred said:


> there is already a metal band named Alchemist as well and they've been kicking around for a while.
> 
> 
> edit: as pointed out by Sezna 2 posts up :derp:



Honestly I really like that music but the name "Organasm" makes me uncomfortable.


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## Edika (Jun 3, 2016)

TRPOFODEPIII sounds kind of cool but I'll support Full Frontal Alchemist(...of Deathmetal?).


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## Ebart (Jun 4, 2016)

Sue the rapper into oblivion!


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## russmuller (Jun 5, 2016)

Challenge him to a rap battle for the right to continue using the name.


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## sezna (Jun 6, 2016)

Ebart said:


> Sue the rapper into oblivion!



"Yeah, uh, we came up with the same name as you years after you established yourself as a prominent rapper. We want you to stop using the name. Because we are metal. Totally going places."


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## Murdstone (Jun 6, 2016)

I'd just go with Alchemy. There are two of them on Encyclopedia Metallum but they're inactive. Still probably common in other genres however.


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## abeigor (Jun 7, 2016)

This is why bands nowadays name themselves "Carebear Barber Squad Pumpkin Latte Little Sister" and such.


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## bostjan (Jun 7, 2016)

So used to be The Originals. And we had to change our name actually... Well, there was another group in the east end called The Originals and we had to rename ourselves, The New Originals, and then, uh, they became... The Regulars, they changed their name back to The Regulars and we thought well, we could go back to The Originals but what's the point?


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## mrspacecat (Jun 7, 2016)

Like other people have already said, The Alchemist is a pretty well known rapper. It's probably a good idea to change the name. I like that Full Frontal Alchemist idea.


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## scottro202 (Jun 7, 2016)

russmuller said:


> Challenge him to a rap battle for the right to continue using the name.



/thread

Oh..... and you must take a video and post it to ss.org


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## Alex Kenivel (Jun 7, 2016)

Full Frontal Assault sounds cool. Seriously, I'm not in an original metal band anymore so I won't get pissy if any of my ideas get taken. Untie Me was one I made up I really like.. Or there's Oriental Rental 

Emocore? Easy...Slits The Wrists


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## Low Baller (Jun 7, 2016)

bostjan said:


> A/S/L would make a great name for a Numetal/rapcore band.
> 
> Prior to the ubiquity of internet searches via google, I had a knack for choosing band names that were already taken, and finding out about them on tour.



A/S/L would be a great name *light bulb*

Hey lets cash in on this second wave numetal would you want to join A/S/L just make sure your pants are low.

If that names taken I got more for the second wave Numetal rap core group that pay homage to those glory days of the late ninties to early 2k

Anti Skip (the space age Walkmans that didn't skip now they're five bucks)

Phortz (pants or shorts our shorts covered our legs where they still shorts?)

Pacivic rim (we loved putting crazy rims on old civics back then)


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## sezna (Jun 8, 2016)

Can we make some sso.org parody collab bands with some of these names? That'd actually be great


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## abeigor (Jun 9, 2016)

bostjan said:


> So used to be The Originals. And we had to change our name actually... Well, there was another group in the east end called The Originals and we had to rename ourselves, The New Originals, and then, uh, they became... The Regulars, they changed their name back to The Regulars and we thought well, we could go back to The Originals but what's the point?



So your new band name is The Original Originals.


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## bostjan (Jun 10, 2016)

sezna said:


> Can we make some sso.org parody collab bands with some of these names? That'd actually be great





Low Baller said:


> A/S/L would be a great name *light bulb*
> 
> Hey lets cash in on this second wave numetal would you want to join A/S/L just make sure your pants are low.
> 
> ...




Cool! I'll play whichever instrument no one else wants to play: bass, turntables, or smacking a 55 gallon drum with a baseball bat.



abeigor said:


> So your new band name is The Original Originals.




Or the Real Proto-Originals of Fire of Deathmetal El Paso III...


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## p0ke (Jun 14, 2016)

I would just spell the name differently, for example Alkemist (without the THE too). 
Or you could just grab any term from the alchemy article on wikipedia, it's got a whole bunch of viable band names in it


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## bostjan (Jun 14, 2016)

How do the rules work with umlauts? For example, is Älchemist distinct from Alchemist?


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (Jun 14, 2016)

Well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRY8wp_Y0L4


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## Dekay82 (Jun 14, 2016)

My band ran into the same problem a while back, we just amended our name. Nothing is going to keep Better Pearl Jam from the top!


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## r3tr0sp3ct1v3 (Jun 14, 2016)

Necrogenesis -thank me later.


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## Jacksonluvr636 (Jun 14, 2016)

Get the rapper to join your band?


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