There’s a lot of hype across the electronic music industry right now about the importance of developing a strong artist brand. Finding your signature sound, establishing a recognisable aesthetic, creating engaging content and building a consistent presence. All important, but I think we’re missing something far more fundamental.
Before you can truly understand who you want to be as an artist and how to put that out into the world, you need to understand yourself.
Across my work in artist management, talent buying and mentorship, I regularly encounter artists at vastly different stages of their careers who feel they’ve reached something of an impasse. They’re producing music, playing shows, building relationships and pursuing opportunities, yet something isn’t quite clicking. Some have achieved considerable success but still find themselves questioning their direction, struggling with their positioning or wondering what comes next.
Often, when we start digging into things, the missing piece isn’t necessarily talent, ambition, or opportunity. It’s that they haven’t developed a complete understanding of their own identity, or considered how the different elements of who they are work together. They might know their sound or have a clear idea of how they want to be perceived, but haven’t necessarily connected that with their personality, strengths, values, motivations and wider ambitions.
This is genuinely one of my favourite things to explore with artists. I find it fascinating working through those different layers, connecting dots between things they might never have considered together. There’s often this wonderful moment when you can almost see the light come on behind someone’s eyes. Suddenly, things start making sense. They begin recognising qualities and possibilities that were there all along, but that they hadn’t necessarily considered in the wider context of their career. I absolutely love that part of my work.
Understanding the complete picture
When I talk about artist identity, I’m not simply referring to musical style, visual branding or public image. I’m talking about the individual behind those things.
What genuinely excites you? What drives you creatively and personally? Where do your strengths lie, and what are your weaknesses? What’s your personality, your energy, your sense of humour? How do you communicate, build relationships, and conduct yourself professionally? What do you believe in, what matters to you, and what do you ultimately want from your career?
Your experiences, influences, instincts, characteristics and perspectives all contribute to a combination that’s entirely individual to you. No two people share exactly the same qualities or experiences, yet in an industry where standing out is considered essential, artists can spend an extraordinary amount of time looking outward for a blueprint rather than exploring what already makes them distinctive.
One pattern I see repeatedly is artists identifying something that’s worked for somebody else and attempting to reproduce it. Their sound, visual presentation, choice of labels, content strategy, or career direction.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with learning from others. Understanding the market, recognising opportunities and drawing inspiration from your peers are valuable parts of developing professionally. But copying an individual element of somebody else’s success without understanding the wider context is a fundamentally flawed strategy.
It’s a bit like walking into the hairdresser with a picture of Mochakk and asking for his mullet, expecting to walk out with his career. You might get the haircut, but there’s quite a lot more going on there.
An artist’s achievements are shaped by their musical ability, personality, relationships, experiences, circumstances, decisions, and timing. I’ve seen artists spend considerable time and money chasing opportunities that look great on paper but make little sense for where they are, what they’re good at, or what they’re trying to achieve.
The more useful question isn’t simply, “What’s working for them?” It’s “Why is it working for them, and what can I take from that to inform my own approach?” There’s a big difference between understanding somebody else’s strategy and assuming their strategy should become yours.
Authenticity, audiences and the people behind the music
Developing your identity isn’t about deciding how you want people to perceive you and constructing a personality around that ambition. It’s about recognising who you naturally are and finding ways to express that confidently.
If you’re naturally reserved, you don’t need to reinvent yourself as a relentlessly enthusiastic content creator who films every moment of their existence, particularly if the thought makes you want to throw your phone into the trash.
Equally, if you’re expressive, playful or unconventional, suppressing those qualities to fit somebody else’s interpretation of underground credibility may be just as counterproductive.
People can often tell when something feels forced, and maintaining a persona that’s disconnected from who you are can become exhausting. Of course, an artistic persona can be a genuine form of creative expression, and nobody needs to share every detail of their private life. The point is to understand what feels natural to you and what you can comfortably sustain.
There’s also the question of your audience. Who are you actually trying to connect with? What do those people value, what excites them, and what draws them to particular artists, sounds, and communities?
Having spent years developing event brands and programming dance floors, I’ve seen how much thought goes into creating an experience that people genuinely want to be part of. The music, atmosphere, personalities, values and culture surrounding an event all influence the connection people develop with it. Artists need to consider their audiences with that same level of thought.
Your fans don’t have to share your personality or lifestyle, but there needs to be something in what you’re creating and communicating that resonates with them. If you’re constantly manufacturing an identity to appeal to a particular audience, you’re potentially fighting an uphill battle before you’ve even started.
And let’s not overlook the people you’re working with behind the scenes, because they’re just as important to your long-term career.
Having spent years on the other side of artist bookings, I’ve seen how much of an artist’s reputation is established away from the stage. The way you communicate with a promoter, approach negotiations, respond to challenges, treat the people around you, and follow through on commitments all contribute to how you’re perceived professionally.
An artist might have incredible music, a distinctive image and a strong following, but if the experience of working with them tells a completely different story, that can have consequences.
I’ve also worked with artists whose professionalism, generosity and approach to relationships have made them an absolute pleasure to work with. Those qualities stick with people. They build trust and create opportunities that go well beyond an individual booking.
When I think about many of the artists I’ve known who’ve remained at the top of their game for twenty years or more, there’s often a common thread. They’re easy to work with, humble, kind, and respectful of the people around them. Very little ego, despite everything they’ve achieved. Of course, talent and commercial success matter, but those personal qualities can make an enormous difference to career longevity.
It’s something I think artists sometimes underestimate. Your identity isn’t exclusively what you communicate about yourself. It’s also what people experience when they work with you.
Building a career you actually want to stay in
Building a career you actually want to stay in
I think this is where the conversation around identity becomes particularly interesting, because it’s not just about how you establish yourself in the industry. It’s about how you build a career you genuinely want to sustain.
If the direction you’re pursuing constantly requires you to behave in ways that feel unnatural, chase opportunities you’re not particularly excited about, or maintain an image that doesn’t reflect who you are, that’s an enormous amount of energy to spend over the course of a career.
And electronic music isn’t always the easiest industry to build a life around. There are unpredictable schedules, financial pressures, constant competition, and periods where momentum can feel frustratingly difficult to maintain. Even successful careers have their ups and downs.
So it makes sense that building something aligned with your strengths, values and motivations gives you a better chance of remaining engaged through those challenges.
That doesn’t mean every day will feel effortless, or that you’ll never question your direction. But there’s a difference between working hard towards something you genuinely believe in and working just as hard to maintain a version of success that was never particularly meaningful to you.
For me, that’s a big part of what career longevity is about. Not simply maintaining a certain level of bookings or relevance, but finding ways to remain creatively fulfilled, professionally engaged, and connected to the culture over the long term.
And sometimes that requires changing direction.
As artists progress, opportunities become more complex. Expectations grow, commercial considerations become more significant, and there’s often pressure to maintain whatever initially brought success.
Understanding your identity gives you a foundation from which to make those decisions. Does this opportunity align with my values? Does this musical direction genuinely excite me? Am I pursuing something because it reflects my ambitions, or because I feel it’s what the industry expects?
This becomes particularly relevant when exploring a new genre, developing a different performance format, repositioning an established project, or reconsidering the wider direction of your career. Reinvention can be challenging when you’ve spent years building recognition around a particular sound, especially when there are expectations from fans, labels, agents and promoters.
But understanding your underlying strengths, instincts and motivations helps you work out what’s worth carrying forward and what you’re ready to leave behind.
And let’s be clear, self-awareness shouldn’t be confused with staying within your comfort zone. Authenticity, ambition and resilience can, and should, go hand in hand. Understanding yourself gives you a more informed starting point from which to develop new skills, take creative risks and push into unfamiliar territory.
There’s a difference between challenging yourself to grow and constantly forcing yourself into a mould that was never yours to begin with.
An ongoing process, not a one-time exercise
I don’t believe artist identity is something you define once, write into a brand document and consider finished.
We’re constantly evolving. Our experiences shape us, our priorities shift, our tastes develop, and what drives us at one stage of life might look entirely different at another.
An artist who once aspired to spend every weekend touring internationally might eventually find greater fulfillment in producing, building a label, developing a live project or contributing to their local scene. Another might discover entirely new ambitions they hadn’t previously considered.
Neither direction is inherently more successful. Success should be measured against what you actually want, not simply what the industry has conditioned you to aspire to.
And what made sense five years ago might not make sense today. That’s fine. The important thing is recognising when something has changed, rather than continuing down a path simply because it’s the one you’ve always followed.
That’s why I think this work needs to be continually revisited throughout your career, particularly when navigating major decisions, creative changes or those periods when things just don’t feel quite right.
Of course, understanding your identity is only the starting point. The next challenge is translating that understanding into your goals and wider career strategy. How do your ambitions align with your strengths, values, and motivations? How does that fit with your music, the audiences you’re trying to reach, and what the market actually wants? And how do you communicate all of that through a brand that genuinely represents you?
There are so many interconnected elements to consider, and understanding how they work together is where things get really interesting. That’s a much bigger, ongoing conversation, but having a genuine understanding of yourself is the best place to start. The better you understand yourself, the better equipped you are to build a career that’s distinctive, sustainable and, most importantly, genuinely your own.
About JoJo Walker
JoJo Walker is the founder of Walker Music, an independent electronic music business working across artist management, talent buying, event programming, strategic consultancy and coaching. Combining creative thinking with deep industry knowledge, Walker Music connects people, ideas and opportunities, championing individuality, collaboration and the culture at the heart of electronic music. Current + past clients include DJ Mag, Brooklyn Mirage, Crackazat, palais de danse, mufi, { bash }, Defected, Glitterbox, Halcyon SF, E Komo Mai Festival.
