Jazzmatik: Developing a Brand Identity
Over the course of the summer of '25, a good friend of mine since childhood (Prismatica on streaming platforms) and I (Alphalpha on streaming platforms) began undertaking a new music project under the name of Jazzmatik. Jazzmatik can be defined as an experimental fusion of many genres including jazz, hip-hop, breakbeat etc., while not being bound by one specific niche. Our nights and weekends quickly became filled with discord discussions, password management pow-wows, music listening/critiquing sessions and developing the framework for our combined brand. It's common knowledge that it is not easy to carve a path influentially... and that idea seemingly folds over on itself ten times in regards to the music industry.
Jazzmatik is not a new idea by any means, which is why trying to carve a path using the stepping stones laid by some of the biggest influences in our lives is very important to us as a brand. Learning how to stick to a core set of values and ideas has been the easy part, as our interests, influences and goals as a duo are very in-line due to having very similar upbringings. One of the hardest aspects of having strong values and ideas is having the ability to manifest those ideas into a medium that people can relate to and become inspired by. To try and tackle the issue of converting our ideas into content, we devised a sort of brand style-guide for Jazzmatik. Our style is not something concrete but rather tentative and project based. As an experimental-jazz-fusion influenced music group, there is a lot of factors playing into the aesthetic of our brand from the inspirations visually, to the very sound of the music we create. One core factor stands out however, is trying to be visually appealing and representative enough of our overall sound, while implementing our identity and persons into the content strategy. This shift from using graphic art not containing us as individuals, to implementing our person into the content as the face of the operation is a change we knew needed to happen to be able to use as an anchor for the aesthetic of our content. We believe and our experience shows that the audience we want to generate wants to be able to put a face to the music we create which will (in theory) drastically increase our engagement.
Overall, Jazzmatik isn't reaching for the stars yet. It is a rigorous and continuous journey that will get worse before it gets better. Keeping our expectations in check is what will help us reach the milestones we set as a music group and as a brand moving forward. A tip for anyone wishing to start something similar to Jazzmatik, keep your goals realistic and don't fly too close to the sun.
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