7/18/13- Only So Many Names

[Niveous]

QotD: Have you dealt with bands with the same name as yours?

Back in the myspace days there was a band called Niveous but they didn't last very long. But there's still a Niveous Records out there that makes EDM.

This question was inspired by looking to see if Jon Eric has a website and finding Jon Eric, super banjo guy. And by looking for Lunkhead in my jukebox and seeing that there's also a Japanese Lunkhead (who does one heck of a Nirvana cover).

[Lunkhead]

Yes. Curse that J-Pop Lunkhead band!

[JonPorobil]

Yeah, this happens to me all the time.

There's the semi-famous actor, Jon-Eric Hexum, who accidentally killed himself on the set of a TV show in the 80s.

The guy who owns the domain joneric.com is a guy named Jon-Eric Lehman, who sells houses.

There's the banjonist, Jon Eric, who's actually really good. Back when I had long hair, people had difficulty telling us apart.

And then there's li'l old me. My domain expired a while back and I haven't been able to afford to renew it, so right now I'm hosted (thanks to Mike Lamb) over on http://joneric.table2.com/ and I'm not able to update my "News" or "Blog" sections. Oy vey, what a mess.


Still, it could be worse. I could have chosen the name John Benjamin.

[fluffy]

I went to great lengths to determine that there was no existing band named 'Sockpuppet' when I decided to claim that one. And I did my due diligence.

Then a few months later I got a message from someone on Myspace saying, 'Oh, hey, we're using this band name too now, sorry!' They were just a shitty cover band, though, and they imploded after two months.

A few months after that, someone registered that band name on Facebook. and released one track. and then disappeared.

Then a few years later I found some digital distribution site that I wanted to register for, only to find that the band name 'Sockpuppet' was taken, and when I saw their page they had a mini-rant that implied that I'd stolen the name from them, never mind that the timing was wrong (like, I'd released my first track - Bad Cat - several months before they claimed to have even gotten together). Of course they've never released a single track anyway.

Most recently, a video game remix artist started releasing his tracks under the name 'Sockpuppet,' and got a huge amount of popularity via OCRemix. So that's why all of the 'top tracks' on my last.fm page are things like 'Ganon's Leage of Evil' and whatever. At least he's actually making decent music, although I still wish he'd actually bothered to, you know, CHECK FIRST.

Oh, and hey, here's yet another one (although at least they have a couple of demo tracks).

[Billy's Little Trip]

No one has ever used Billy's Little Trip. And why would they? That's just nuts.

When Dee and I first talked about taking our collaboration to the next level, I wanted to simply call ourselves The Psychotics and I still do. It fit us really well, lol. But there is an old 60s band called the Psychotics, even though they're not active as far as I know. So Billy and the Psychotics was born. I once more wanted just The Psychotics, but now, even though there is that 60s band, some hard rock band weren't as courteous as we were and use the band name The Psychotics. Who knows, maybe they found out the old band doesn't care or something.

Now I've grown found of the whole BatP play on words, logos, etc. And it's not nearly as disgusting as BatPoo.
...although one of the album titles on our list is "GUANO".

[Caravan Ray]

Apparently Ray-Ban make a pair of sunglasses called "Caravan" - which is the main thing I see when self-googling. I doubt anyone else would have it as a band name.

I did get an email a few years ago though from a Tex Beaumont who asked me to stop using his name - so I did, which is fair as he clearly pre-dated me and he didn't want people googling him getting me (though I did explain to him that I came about the name by using the "first pet - street where you grew up" porn-star name method - an innocent coincidence).

[roymond]

There's some Korean or Filipino Roymond out there who plays bass. I don't really care about band names. Just like real names, it's what you do that counts. There are only so many names to go around, it's fruitless to lay claim to something like a name. Like domain names, today it's .com, .net, .org, .info, etc...tomorrow we're gonna be like "WWW" what the fuck was that? Make something good and people will find you. Worried about being ripped off might be a concern, but PROs resolve all credits to real people, and how many of us are in any league to truly worry?

[HeuristicsInc]

Most people don't know what heuristics are, so I don't think that's an issue.
-bill

[fluffy]

Most people don't know what heuristics are, so I don't think that's an issue.
-bill

What, can't they take a scientific guess?

[jb]

it could be worse. I could have chosen the name John Benjamin.

Hey, talk to my parents. Besides, it flows a lot better than "The John Nolt Band".

Anyway, my main competition is a psych prof from Tennessee. The bastard. The erudite, erudite bastard.

J

P.S. Jon Benjamin's real first name is Henry. Hmph. http://www.chacha.com/question/what-doe ... -stand-for

[Lunkhead]

There is kind of a ring to "John Nolt!" though (if pronounced like "Steve Holt!" from Arrested Development).

[fluffy]

BTW, fuck Gabriel Iglesias

[roymond]

BTW, fuck Gabriel Iglesias

When we think usernames mean anything (and domains, etc.), it's just sad. Whiny internet dweebs, the lot of them.

[Caravan Ray]

BTW, fuck Gabriel Iglesias

When we think usernames mean anything (and domains, etc.), it's just sad. Whiny internet dweebs, the lot of them.

Easy for you to say, http://www.roymond.com

Look what someone has done to me:
http://www.caravanray.com

I feel violated



...which reminds me, one of these days, I should probably remove that site from my signature line.

[Billy's Little Trip]

BTW, fuck Gabriel Iglesias

Sorry that's stressing you, but I think it's kind of cool. First off, I am a Gabriel Iglesias fan and he tweeted on your tweet thingy. He wasn't being rude or anything. His fans were a bit. But they were still pretty mild.

I want to see this link later to see if anything else interesting is said. You may end up in one of his bits.
Also, offer to sell him your tweet name for....um...........1 MILLION DOLLARS!

[fluffy]

It looks like he deleted the contentious tweet, and several of the people who harassed me have been suspended. Hooray for that. Hopefully he won't do that shit again. (Also I have no idea what you mean by him having "tweeted on my tweet." If he ever posted anything other than the original "THIS PERSON STOLE MY NAME AND HATES ME" tweet I never saw it.)

I wouldn't even joke about offering to sell my Twitter username, because selling names is against the Twitter TOS and I don't want to give anyone any leverage to steal the username from me. This isn't just a hypothetical; people lost valuable domain names in the past because companies would say "Hey can I buy your domain off of you for $100?" and the person would respond with a sarcastic, "No, how about $1 million?" and the company would forward that email onto the registrar and make the claim that they were "clearly" cybersquatting or engaging in extortion. So then the company would get the valuable domain for free and the individual would be screwed.

I care a lot about the rights of individuals and I consider celebrities to essentially be corporations who already have an advantage. I'm not going to give them an inch.

[JonPorobil]

Has selling usernames always been against Twitter's TOS? And didn't Iglesias (or his "people") offer to buy that Twitter handle from you once? For, like, an insultingly low amount?

[fluffy]

Yes, and yes.

Sorry this is all frustrating for you.
Gabriel actually wanted me to reach out and see if you would be willing to sell the username to him on twitter?
Would you take $500 for it?

Best,
Lance

[Billy's Little Trip]

Well fluf, if you ever turn down a million bux because you're worried of hurting twitter's TOS feeling, I may never talk to you again.

...I know what you're thinking. This could be a win/win for you. But I was kidding, I'll still talk to you anyway. Bazinga!

[fluffy]

If they legitimately offered a million dollars I'd consider it. But my point was that making a counteroffer (even a sarcastic one) can be seen as a violation of the TOS and then I'd end up with nothing.

[jast]

I'm having a hard time figuring out why this is so awesome.

[roymond]

BTW, fuck Gabriel Iglesias

When we think usernames mean anything (and domains, etc.), it's just sad. Whiny internet dweebs, the lot of them.

Easy for you to say, http://www.roymond.com

Look what someone has done to me:
http://www.caravanray.com

I feel violated

Libel and vandalism are separate matters (not sure which your reference implies). If someone has a domain or username that you wish you had...so be it. I have had mine since very early on in the whole www thing, but if I was 20 years younger and still wanted to use my (fake) name I'd just use a different username or domain or whatever. Marketing should be about product, not branding. Branding is a device used to market product.

(yes, these are rules. OK, my rules. But really...)