similar band names

dairyairman

Platinum Member
hey all you band experts, i have a question for you about band names. recently i embarked on a new original band project (here we go again!) with some guys i've played with in other bands. we've rehearsed a few times and come up with some songs that sound like hits to us (of course!) sound familiar? anyway, our lead singer suggested a two word band name that seemed totally random to me. the other guys immediately started creating facebook pages and web sites with our new band name. i couldn't imagine another band could have a similar name, but i was wrong! sure enough, there's another fairly well known, internationally touring band out there with a name that's the same as ours except for one letter in one word. i'd never heard of them, but i've definitely heard of their drummer. he's played in some other very famous bands and i've seen him discussed on this board before.

i don't want to say what their name is or what our name is, but i do want to ask, what are the chances that this other band might send us a "cease and desist" letter? if they did would there be any legal ground for it? our band names are different, even though it's only one letter.
 
If they're a current touring act with any sort of following, I'd say there's every chance they'll want to protect their brand. I know I would.
 
If they're a current touring act with any sort of following, I'd say there's every chance they'll want to protect their brand. I know I would.

i'm a little concerned. my bandmates don't care, but this band is pretty popular. their youtube videos have hundreds of thousands of hits. we are small pototoes, but our web sites are just as visible as theirs and i think it's possible some of their fans might be drawn to our web sites by mistake and that might lead to trouble.
 
Personally speaking, just as they're every chance to preserve their brand....in the same way I wouldn't want my band confused with another either. Once I knew that a band name I'd chosen was being used by an established band, I'd drop it and find another name.

Different story if you'd been using the name for years and only just stumbled across these guys. But considering you're only just forming and have very quickly become aware that an established act is already using the name, I'd alleviate the confusion from the get go and come up with something else.
 
Personally speaking, just as they're every chance to preserve their brand....in the same way I wouldn't want my band confused with another either. Once I knew that a band name I'd chosen was being used by an established band, I'd drop it and find another name.

Different story if you'd been using the name for years and only just stumbled across these guys. But considering you're only just forming and have very quickly become aware that an established act is already using the name, I'd alleviate the confusion from the get go and come up with something else.

it's not exactly the same name, but it's very close. only one letter in two words is different. it'd be like a female artist calling herself "lady gago" or something like that.

i agree with you, but my bandmates want to go ahead with the name. i may end up being the guy saying "i told you so" when we get that cease and desist letter.
 
This is why you always do your web searches BEFORE you buy domain names.

It's so not worth the hassle to get told no. Web presence will make you pretty quickly known and word gets around fast.

Case in point: I used to do a webcomic. One day a syndicated comic strip "spontaneously" came up with a daily installment that more or less was exactly like my webcomic, so much so that the title of the cartoon was the name of my webcomic.Dozens of people emailed me to tell me about it, and the comic's creators themselves published a note and apologized - - all within 12 hours.

In fact, if you haven't started getting email already, I'd be surprised...
 
Case in point: I used to do a webcomic. One day a syndicated comic strip "spontaneously" came up with a daily installment that more or less was exactly like my webcomic, so much so that the title of the cartoon was the name of my webcomic.Dozens of people emailed me to tell me about it, and the comic's creators themselves published a note and apologized - - all within 12 hours.

In fact, if you haven't started getting email already, I'd be surprised...

wow! that's a good story. we haven't gotten any email yet, but i think it's just a matter of time. i'm sure one of their fans will find us and bring our band name to their attention.
 
I would change it. Though one of my favorite concepts for a band name is Metallica 2. I have never liked metallica and respect other peoples opinions and recognize their accomplishments, the nod to a band I wasn't interested was just hilarious to me.
 
Depends on whether there is likely to be any confusion between the groups. that's why Counting Crows and Black Crowes co-existed nicely, and were not confuse with each other, Sheryl Crow, or the old group The Crows ("Gee".)

But naming a group The Beetles will result in an immediate C&D from Apple, and not the fun organization. Not to mention that The Beetles was one of the cash-in bands when the Beatles first hit America.

Bermuda
 
Catatonia is a welsh alt rock band. Katatonia is a swedish metal band. This is evidently not a problem!
 
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