Same Band Name?

It's bound to happen, dozens if not hundreds of times, so should only be of concern if the two bands are in direct competition, in which case the less established of the two should defer to the more established.

Given the rather short half-life of bands, it generally is of little importance, but many of the great bands have become famous after changing their name in deference to another band which went on to be a footnote. I don't even want to imagine what the world would be like had "Earth" not been forced to change their name, ultimately choosing "Black Sabbath".

 

Anyone rember the High Numbers?

 

Who?

 

Yeah I had this problem with the last band I was in.

We had the same name as a rather well known Christian Band in the States.

We used to get emails from them telling us that we could never tour in the U.S because they held the trademark to the name...yudda yudda.....legal this...BS that.

Plus they secured all the URL's for web names making it hard to get our website up and running.

The funniest part was we used to get all these 16 year old Hillsong types wanting to be friends on Myspace.

It wasn't that big a deal to us being on different continents but would probably have been a nightmare if they were locals.

 

Whos on first?

 

Maybe...the West Coast Band?

 

Don't take my bands name "You Guys Sux". Everwhere we play about half way through the first song the whole crowds screeming YOU GUYS SUX. It's cool man but the dam beer bottles hurt. Wish thay'd just throw cans. But can beer sucks.

 

We used to have a local band called The Firm. They were all lawyers, and when the Page/Rodgers band called The Firm came to town, the local Firm made them pay up to use the name.

 

What kind of band are we talking about? A cover band or an original band?

The thing about the internet now is you can establish a band name much more quickly and effectively but, if your in the mid-west and they are on the east coast, and there is no chance of either touring outside of a three state area I do not see a problem promoting your band. Your just going to have something that seperates your bandname from theirs, like the spelling or add a umlaut over the vowel. Or just change the name of the band.

 

Well for one thing, they probably could not afford a lawyer and a lot of that stuff tends to be, more or less, media hype. Even if you have the name trademarked, that is not a guarantee that it is yours.

Money tends to change things but that does not happen often. If you have a bar band in Wyoming and there is a band signed to a major with the same name but the bar band had it first. Do you really think the bar band in Wyoming is going to be a threat to the major label signing? Do you really think they are going to have the funds to hire a lawyer? I mean a lawyer that specializes in music and entertainment not some contract or divorce lawyer. Moreover, even if they did sue, any money they would get would go to the lawyer. Not only that, both bands could not use the name until it the issue had been settled, if it ever got to that stage. Which it more than often, does not.

Common sense would tell you if the band in question has a Facebook page already, then maybe you should think about changing the name of your band. They already got the jump on you in the promotion area, and that is where it counts in this case.

 

I doubt that Page and Rodgers complained about it. Or even knew about it.

 

I have had it happen so I just picked a better band name .
Research! ( before you print up those posters and tee shirts )

 

My new band is "Paul & Tom's Green Band." I just found out that there's a reggae group in Hawaii called "The Green Band." There's also a "Jefferson (?) County Green Band." To heck with them. We are who we are and who we are we shall remain until they sic the lawyers on us.

There's another Paul Honeycutt in town who I get phone calls for from debt collectors, too. So far, that's been more of a problem.

 

I expect that they didn't. However, the local Firm made them pay up to use the name vs. taking them to court. They just saw an opportunity to make some extra cash I suppose.

 

It depends on how established they are.

I'm the type to dislike a band name if I find out too many others have it, and by my own will change mine.

given that the band I'm in hasn't been established enough.

If I was well established, I would make mention. Try to keep it. Depends on how crafty of a name it is too.

 

I was in a band from 1986-1994 with a name that --in addition to probably dozens of local bands across America-- has since been used by a band on a major label from the UK, a horror film, and a bunch of mysterious characters on a hit TV show. If I'd held onto the domain name I probably could have made some money selling it to one of those people...