Okay, it's official! I'm now creating music under the artist name Tallfellow. Nice to meet you!

I renamed my website to www.tallfellowmusic.com and updated my YouTube channel, SoundCloud, Disco, and social media to the name Tallfellow. 

I'm also claiming this name on the big music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, etc. And that means I'll be releasing a single under that name in the coming weeks - more to come on that!

So, why Tallfellow? 

I could probably nerd out about this for way longer than anyone wants. Ok, sure. I will!

So, thinking of band/artist names is kind of like a hobby-within-a-hobby for me. Like a lot of singer-songwriters, over the years I have built up a long list of things that might be good band/artist names (or album names, or song names, or maybe just lyrics). 

But choosing an artist name has turned out to be super hard. How the heck do you pick one and marry yourself to it? 

How the heck, indeed

One of the main things an artist name needs is to be as unique as possible (and specifically, google-able) while also being easy to remember. This is why I never wanted to just use “Jeremy Edwards” as an artist name. There are lots of people out there with the same name, including many who have already used it to release music. 

I've always felt a little envious when I look around at artists who made it big with names that have that magical mix of seeming almost chosen at random, yet resonant with imagery, meaning, coolness, etc. Artists I would love just for the name, even if I didn't know their music: Tame Impala, beabadoobee, Big Thief, Clairo, LCD Soundsystem, MF Doom, The Strokes, Sylvan Esso, Arcade Fire, The 1975.  (This is just pulled from one playlist… the list goes on forever.)

So in coming up with my own artist name, I wanted one that was unique enough that nobody else had already used to it release music (at least on the big platforms) and that would probably show up on the first page if you googled it (possibly adding “music” if needed).  

Lots of my cleverest ideas died on that particular hill.  Unironic Unicorn? Taken. Champions of Breakfast? Taken. Turns out I am not the only clever one!

Apart from that, I wanted something that had some kind of personal connection to me, and ideally something with more than one meaning. If it was funny or clever, all the better, but not essential. 

And it should fit in with the universe of artists in my genre - really the most important thing if I were using my marketing brain first. Part of my struggle in previous years, I think, was that I didn't feel confident about what my genre was. I'm now reasonably sure that I belong in the indie rock singer-songwriter world, so I needed a name that would fit that vibe. Which is to say, something quirky and middle class and possibly self-deprecating, not sounding like someone who thinks they're a superstar. 

And one other criterion: easy to spell! I want to be able to say it, including over the phone, and not have to subsequently spell it every time. Which ruled out a lot of ideas that were very clever indeed, but so be it. 

Where I truly nerded out

So I had this long list. I put it into a spreadsheet, with different columns where I rated each idea on uh, hold on let me count… twelve different dimensions.  

Which were: My gut feeling, uniqueness on spotify, googleability, meaning, modern-ness, personal connection to me, cleverness, fun, brand appropriateness, genre appropriateness, ease of spelling, and freedom from unwanted connotations. 

I gave each one a +1 for yes, -1 for no, and 0 for meh/not sure. Then I averaged them all into a score and sorted highest to least.

This wasn't a perfect system. Some of the ones that bubbled to the top I didn't actually like that much. What it did do, though, was filter out some ideas that I kinda liked but that would never make it in the real world.

How did Tallfellow rank? 

• I had a good gut feeling. 
• Surprisingly (to me at least), nobody else has released music under that name.
• It's googleable. There is a publishing house called Tallfellow, and also a D&D wiki that describes Tallfellows as a type of halfling, but not much else. And importantly, no musicians!
• The meaning is twofold. First of all, yes I'm literally tall. Secondly, “tall fellow” is a phrase used in Shakespeare to mean someone who is handsome, brave, etc. And I guess it's threefold if you count the D&D connotation!
• Modern? Sure I guess. It doesn't necessarily sound like it's from the 60s or 80s, which some of my other ideas did. 
• Personal connection, yes. In addition to my own tallness, I also have a background in community-theatre Shakespeare. I had a friend who used to always quote The Winter's Tale at me: “Thou'rt a tall fellow.” And hey, I love D&D too. 
• Clever? Not that clever but I do give it a zero for having multiple meanings.
• Fun? It sounds likeable but doesn't necessarily make me break out in a smile, so zero.
• On-brand? Check.
• Genre-appropriate? I think so!
• Easy to spell? Check, although I guess making it one word might trip some people up. We'll see!
• Connotations… I couldn't think of any that bothered me. 

The final test

But science could only take me so far. At the end of the day, artist names live and die based on the wisdom of the crowd. 

So I asked my kid (the one who is into indie rock). They immediately struck down most of the things on the list, but they liked Tallfellow a lot. They also liked Merryweather, which, however, has been used a couple times already by other bands.

Then, the true boss battle: I asked my wife what she thought. She said Tallfellow was not bad! 

That was all I needed. It's honestly kind of a relief to have made a decision. Now comes the hard work of actually making it mean something.