Why Is It You Change Your Avatar So Often

I always thought of my Avatar as a form of brand recognition. I am on at least a dozen sites. My Avatar is the same on all of them.

When the Real DJ Puzzle showed up here on this site a few weeks ago I knew it was him because I seen his avatar on other sites. I also checked his profile to be sure.

I've see people here change their Avatars almost every two weeks approximately. If you are a hobbyist then the reasons are clear.

I am not saying that there is anything wrong with the changing of avatars so frequently. I am just trying understand why do some of us change avatars so frequently that's all.

Your avatar is pretty much your signature that everyone will know you by. Why change it, you will just end up fooling a lot of people

Changing avatars is just the same as getting a new hairstyle,sometimes an improvement sometimes not...it's when people change their names that things get confusing,I only found out the other day that Ipsycle,popsycle whatever was actually a reincarnated Neobane....why do people do it,well how long is a piece of string you might ask..I'm old school,get a name stick with it..I still can't figure out why anyone would put DJ before their moniker..all the real DJ's turned their toes up back in the eighties didn't they.

Hi friends!

I think about two reasons can make people change their name or avatar every weeks :

1. He/She 's don't knows who he/she is.

2. In this society, you can get fame with a good looking, a good name, a good buzz and a good agent without any talents, so a lot of people think they just have to get the wright picture/avatar/name (more dark, more sexy, more fashion...who am i?)to get famous.

In fact, there's a third way : i changed my artist name one time there's 13 or 14 years ago because too many d-j's and producers chosed the same as me in the same time (don't know why). So i stay the same...

@ Planetjazz haha Nice.

I change my avatar sometimes based on mood or what's going on in my life. But when i make it, then i'll have just "one" to represent me. I've seriously been through too many phases though. Sometimes i can't make up my mind about it. That or my name.

Imagine if a band's entire discography all had the same cover. Eeeew.

Imagine if your favorite products had fresh re-imagined logos everytime you shopped for them. Eeeew.

they both suck. marketing sucks. which is why we all work in it!! blackle suckinusin!

heh. re 1. He/She 's don't knows who he/she is.
http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/435064-soul-searching-sophmore

oh yeh. point is change it or don't change it. until you are the Tide or Hershey's of music, it probably won't matter. Well ok it will, like, a good avatar you see first on the whole screen if it's done right, and if you scored good points with a viewer/listener before, they'll be like OH a piece of candy.

It's too bad we can't still see who played a track. Eh?

However, once you are the size of Tide n Hershey's, they'll start measuring that metric (brand recognition) but by that point I say it's immeasurable, the complex, too many factors.

Here the factor is: someone who knows you didn't listen to your song. Or did because of your avatar. And then maybe like 5% that listen to it because they can read your name.

Which by the way. Don't change your name, you schizofrenic little hamster. Unless the Gmail versions taken. Then. i mean really. You want people emailing some other ? Sorry. If this doesn't make sense read my other post and know that I am finished making music for the evening. :D

haha complex factors. hey you seen this sh before? check.

I only changed my avatar once, just now. Because I was Cardflip loooong before I was Spade (http://soundcloud.com/spadeofficial) I only changed it so people could recognize me from both sites, because I have no idea as of how to change my artist name without losing everything I've uploaded.

"Imagine if a band's entire discography all had the same cover"...thats part of it

people make a lot of Assumptions, jeez....for some it is no different than changing the 'status' tagline in your profile, its a moodring...branding, at this level of notoriety is kinda ridiculous, might as well have fun with it

if you wake up one day and your avatar no longer fits, or you think it sucks, you need the freedom to change it

I got put in a movie score because of branding which wasn't ridiculous. You do what can do to get noticed. This guy remembered seeing my Avatar on youtube and then here. He asked me are you the Real Mr. Funktastic AKA Joe Funktastic and I said yes.

Now if you are a hobbyist or you are just having fun with then point taken. If a video company or music company needs to find me or research me, I just mad it easier for them. I am trying to make some more money here while having fun with it.

Oh the movie that I was in:

http://findingthefunnymovie.com/Crew.htm

http://findingthefunnymovie.com/index.htm

Look and see who is at the Top of the Movie Credits section. The guy seen and heard me elsewhere and made contact with me on this site. He made mention of my avatar.

@MarijuanaDro
That's been pretty much opinion in a nutshell if you will, kudos!

@Planetjazzbass
I agree with nearly everything you said but I never call out people by name anymore. InPSYcLe took in stride. But what I like most about what you said is the "DJ" thing. There is this beautiful singer on this site I met. I told her what's with the DJ thing. You sing very beautifully and you should consider dropping the DJ thing I told her but I did not insist. It would be like saying "DJ Taylor Swift" what? Yeah so I agree with you there.

@CalifKen
Ken, I think we got two things going here with your statement. I agree Cover Art should be different from album to album. But I look at the avatar as if it was a business card. Trust me if I make a CD you will not see Jimi Hendrix anywhere on the cover art. Each Album cover would be unique, but I will keep my same online avatar.

@Cardflip
I too only made one name change but Jimi was still there on the old avatar. I changed names because I went from being a loop based only producer to a Midi Music Creation based producer to include making, producing and posting my own loops on this site.

thats all well and good, congrats

to take it further you might want to consider some of the basic tenets of branding, and the difference between a brand and a logo...you need to set yourself apart somehow, be your own person, your own creativity, as it is now you've got the caricature (none too flattering imo) of Jimi and even his name IN your avatar...if it is an homage that's nice, but hardly a brand and if you are trying to ride his coattails, that's where it gets ridiculous him being one of the greatest founding funkists ever

something to think about

Thank you for the advice simmer I will take what said into serious consideration!

Peace.

Just expanding on the perceived coolness attached to names(real or unreal),these days I think people are getting a little sick of the slick PR suit style and want 'real' as in normal identities without the usual Hollywood makeover..I mean who does Keith Urban think he is,a new wave garbage contractor or something...weirder still on filling out the site captcha just now ..it was KINGWEED...now tell me of any self respecting head nodder that wouldn't want that as a tag line!...free to the first taker (toker) lol

I change mine often, probably drives people nuts.

I simply don't care.

I do this as a hobby so my looks and recognition doesn't mean much

...AND my Super Mario hat is pretty sweet ;)

I change mine whenever I start a new project. It's usually an idea or "cover art" that keeps me going towards the completion of the pieces.
I get the whole branding and whatnot, but I reckon the music will speak for itself.
Changing names however, is a big no-no

I guess I found the answer I was looking for. I've been getting serious with this music thing for quite sometime. I guess I was wrong about the Avatar thing. So as a temporary stop gap measure I used one of those royalty free online Avatar creation sites and dumped my old avatar.

My hope is to change it just once more to a photo pic which is something I have been avoiding. My previous avatar may have had copyright issues. After reviewing Simmerdown's reply I reluctantly change my avatar immediately and I am doing the same on my other sites. Peace

I have never changed mine because i feel people recognize mine and i have been here for a while. I feel if i change it alot of people may not realize im the same person.

I have two main pictures that are pretty much plastered all over the internet. The one you see here and the one with the hat. That hat is very much a branding thing anything formal I attend as an artist I wear the hat. The one I use here is more personal I'm very often using those headphones when I'm logged into the site. It's a comfort zone thing for me. For the looperfam what you get is what you see. Random I know but there it is lol

I made music as RawHead for over ten yrs. Once I realized that there were,and still are,alot of other artists using that name,I decided to change it. I was very attached to that name and kinda struggled with finding a new title that would properly characterize me and who I am..Turns out,it doesnt really matter. My real first name is Holly,and trust me,Ive gotten into my fair share of fights back in the day.people would say,man I bet your parents mustve hated you,to name their son Holly.I would explain that it was also my fathers and my grandfathers name and it was of Native American origin and Blah..Blah..Blah...

Fact is,the name Holly doesnt define who I am. It just give people a way to indentify me. when its go time,it doesnt matter if my name is Brutus or Sue.I either have what it takes to take care of business or i dont..same goes for my artist name..nobody knows who the hell SS3LDOG is.most dont even know how to pronounce it. the radio add for my last gig,billed me as Sleddog.lol. first thing i thought was,man i need to change my friggin name.....again. Not gonna happen.as long as i continue to do what i enjoy doing,and people keep coming to see me do it.Eventually the name will be picked up by those who know and appreciate what i do.

As for avatars...I am on FB,simply becuase I moved 3000 miles from my kids,family,and friends.its the easiest way to keep in touch and share pictures of events in our lives,and let me tell you. people on there change there avatar on a weekly basis. But because we are a bit more concerned with being Noticed,then everybody else is. We find that it is important to maintain a certain look or symbol to capture and keep a following.

continued...

I have profiles on several different music sites. My avatar is not the same on all the sites and no logo i have ever created or uploaded,has ever done jack squat for me.lol. Do I think people will mistake me for a Fake me.not really.who the hell would want to be a fake me anyway,lmao.

The biggest thing Ive noticed as far as musical artist branding is FONT...think of groups like ZZ Top,Kiss,AC/DC...cover art may change.symbolism may change,but you can usually indentify an artist immediately by the type of lettering they use in their name.and once again,in the world of artistic talent,its just us music maniacs that do that. Can you imagine if actors did that sht,and the name Samuel Jackson was always presented in a bright yellow Bold italic font...now that sht would be hilarious.but us music types like to think that we and our services should be a recognized brand like Nike or Budweiser...we are a product of the industry,looking for product placement.

Personally,until i become rich and famous.im not gonna give it too much thought.it could bog me down and make my brain hurt,and i dont like that.lol.....So I am off for now,flying back to the States to spent some time with Family and Friends..take care all fine citizens of LooperVille,and Ill be back on the loop around the 17th of Dec.

SS3LDOG }:)-

(notice the unique symbol I always put after my name....catchy hey?)