Why the Drama?

From Andrew Rudy to The August Drama. Why I am changing my name as an artist and what does that mean?

The idea of changing my name as an artist is one that has plagued me since I started music. I put so much pressure on myself to get it right on my first try because of how difficult and complicated it would be to change it down the line. But here we are. And there is absolutely no shame in following your heart and changing the direction of your art.

You may be asking “Why is it a big deal to change your artist name?”. To that I would say that there’s so much that goes into changing your artist name that it really needs to be something you know you will commit to. It is a huge deal to try to keep all of your followers and streams on streaming platforms like Spotify. You can’t just edit your name on your Spotify artist page the same way you would on Facebook. There’s so much metadata in streaming libraries that you simply cannot just go in there and change it yourself. Think of it like a public library. If Colleen Hoover decided they wanted to change their pen name to The Hoover Drama, the library cannot simply go to all of their previously written work and change the name printed on it. What they can do, however is receive any new works written under the new pen name and make sure it is available in the library for people to check out. The issue arises however, when the more casual book fan sees the new pen name and doesn’t realize it is the same author. That is essentially the same issue with changing your artist name. It’s possible but it disrupts the artist’s discography by separating newer releases from older releases and causes potential confusion for new and old fans.

Social media platforms are a tad bit easier to work around an artist name change but even with that, what if you wanted to keep your normal name for a social media account and also have a social media account for your artist or band name? In that case you’d be starting from scratch with one of those accounts. And that is a really scary concept. While I am not personally very famous on any platform, the streamers and followers that I have amassed in my years of music making are ones that I worked really hard to attain. It has always been a very scary thought to start from zero again.

TLDR; In the majority of cases, using a new artist name means starting from scratch in some way shape or form.

When I started making music, my inspirations were mainly pop stars who all went by their real names. My music was in this pop realm and I decided to follow suit and release under my real name. Also, I was completely on my own; creating, playing, and releasing music by myself. As I got older and my tastes changed I found myself resonating with and loving the pop punk genre of music. This was also a time when I started performing with a live band consisting of my classmates from the university we were all attending. It started feeling very strange to look like a band and sound like a band, but say “We are Andrew Rudy”. I released one more album under the name Andrew Rudy until I decided that something about the name needed to change.

Additionally, I started writing music with my bandmates, not just playing my already written songs live. So now the process turned even more collaborative and less “solo”. While I could have just remained with my solo name and continue writing and playing with my bandmates, I didn’t really want to. My bandmates are my friends. They are all people I have gotten to know and love over the years. They are people I would want to continue creating and performing with forever.

Things didn’t start changing until relatively recently. During 2023 to 2024, I played a few shows where we went by Andrew Rudy and The August Drama. This felt better but it still didn’t feel right. I didn’t like separating myself from the band. I wanted to be included. So I spent many weeks toying around with the idea of going by The August Drama. Some days I would think on it and come to the conclusion that it was a bad idea and that I should just keep doing what I already am doing. But as time went on, I started thinking about cute ways to brand The August Drama and I got to a point where I felt more inspired and motivated to go by that name rather than my own. I felt like I could build a world around The August Drama in a different way than with Andrew Rudy.

What would a change like this mean? It would mean a new instagram, a new tik tok (if it still exists by the time we start putting out music) it would mean brand new streaming platform profiles, including Spotify. A brand new YouTube channel with 0 subscribers. It’s kind of scary thinking about all the new pages we would have to build a following and yet, it still feels like the right move. I am still ready to do it. My Andrew Rudy pages aren’t going anywhere either and I do plan on announcing the name change and new pages when we get closer to releasing our first single.

This pretty much brings us to present day. I would call where we are right now the “soft launch” of The August Drama. Substack is the only platform that has the most insight and info on the band… so that’s pretty cool! We are still writing and recording the first August Drama album and I can’t wait for you all to hear it (our first single might be coming sooner than you’d think).