If there’s one thing that I didn’t see coming for the shared video community, it was Musical.ly, the app that turns everyone into a lip-syncing, karaoke star for a brief amount of time. The proliferation of selfies and live videos means that it shouldn’t have been a surprise, but regardless of the fact, it’s yet another place to create an account and explore content in. That also means you’re going to need the best username for you when you sign up for Musical.ly, and Appamatix is here with a list of ideas and thinking prompts to get the wheels turning. If you’re struggling to come up with a rock-solid username for Musical.ly, keep reading!
You might be wondering why an username for a simple video service would be such a big deal, but the thing is, Musical.ly is way more than that. You’ll certainly have the most fun enjoying its lip-syncing and video-sharing entertainment features, but the entire thing is practically its own social network platform at this point. If there’s one thing we can all agree upon when it comes to social networks, it’s that usernames and profile building are hugely important if you want to succeed, regardless of what your definition of “success” is.
For most people on Musical.ly, success is tantamount to fun! You’ll be drumming out videos with you and your friends purely for enjoyment, rather than any attempt at viral success with a particular recording. However, it’s absolutely possible to promote yourself well enough to become famous. Look at Baby Ariel and the success that she’s had with Live.ly, the companion app that allows you to broadcast live performances featuring you and any friends you manage to drag into the frame. There are hundreds of similar success stories, and beyond those, thousands of users who don’t care about popularity but are enjoying Musical.ly anyway!
However, before you can get started with having a great time in the app, you’re going to need the foundation of your experience; the stepping stone that carries you into Musical.ly that everyone you meet will interact with.
Your username.
As with any other social media platform, a lot of your enjoyment and success (or potentially the opposites of both) stem from the quality of your username. It’s representative of you after all, and even if you can get over having a subpar username, that doesn’t mean that the rest of your contacts in the app are going to share in the same perspective. Below, I’ll provide an entire buffet of food for thought and some guiding questions that will help you to drum up an username that suits your needs and style, your preferences and personality.
What’s in a Name?
How we’re seen and known on any type of social media comes down to how we present ourselves, and more than almost anything else, perception begins with your username. It’s how people find you, it’s how people know you, and it’s what will always come to the front of their mind when you make something new on Musical.ly, or when you share it on Live.ly. Because you can choose practically any username you want (barring something that’s explicit or already taken), that means that everyone’s beginning perception of you on Musical.ly is totally in your hands!
That’s all good fun, but it’s also the reason that your choice deserves a bit of attention. After all, you’re pretty conscious of how you introduce yourself to people out in the real world, right?
Your Musical.ly Username
First, a couple of things that you should know about Musical.ly usernames before we get started:
- Your username has to be unique
- After 30 days, you can change your username (and may do so every 30 days, after)
- The username is how people will find you
- When you follow other users (or popular artists!) your username is how they’ll see you
That’s it! There’s more nuance to it, of course, and we’ll get into that momentarily. The above things are what you need to keep in mind while you’re picking your name. The decision making process from her breaks down into two different idea–are you making a Musical.ly account for fun, casual, and/or private use, or are you planning to promote yourself heavily? Depending on your intent, the criteria for picking an username could differ quite a bit.
Promoting Yourself
If you’re planning on promoting yourself–and many do–then you need to think outside of the box a little bit and examine the success of other musicians and artists. We’ll forego waxing poetic about dreams and wish fulfillments about becoming a musician or performer, but it is important to look at the way that successful people promote yourself.
For starters, do you want to go by your own name, or do you have a nickname, moniker, or performer name that you use when you’re making music? Rather than think of a name that’s temporary or something that comes to mind at the drop of a hat, go for something that you could see yourself using for a while. Say it out loud. Sound good? Then you’ve made a good choice! And this doesn’t mean you can forego the name generators that pick a name for you! It’s more about enjoying your name on a long-term basis, and being comfortable with people recognizing your work by it, than coming up with something 100% the product of your own creativity.
Purely for Pleasure
Here’s the category that most Musical.ly users fit into. If you just want to have a good time with your friends, create videos for hobby-sharing or pleasure, or even host a private account for a few people close to you, then you can sweat a whole lot less about the criteria and use of your username.
If hopping on Musical.ly is your idea of a good time (like it is for millions of other people), then just do it! Try out one of the recommended username generators below, or mix and match based on some of the ideas in this list:
- Your name
- A favorite meme
- Important ideas
- Special moments or experiences
- Your favorite place
- Significant words
- A solid-gold pun
The list could truly go on and on, but I hope the point is clear–for a casually inclined Musical.ly account, your username can be whatever you’d like it to be, without any limitation based on the way that possible followers might perceive you. After all, if you’re not aiming to generate tons of followers, it becomes a lot easier to have fun on this particular social media service. Go wild, and generate something unique!
Name Generators
Speaking of generating unique things, it’s about time that we recommend some username generators that will help you on your way. There’s no reason to feel bad about using a name generator to come up with a title for yourself. After all, the best of them tend to take your own ideas anyway, and cobble them together into an username that’s both fitting and personal (even if the final product wasn’t arrived at through your own creativity.) Thousands of people do it, and there’s nothing to be lost by joining them in it.
If you’ve looked around online for a good username, you’ve likely come upon quite a few lists providing hundreds of potential choices. Here is a full list of 200 usernames and Appamatix has cultivated quite a few, too. However, my best recommendation arrives through a service called SpinXO. The site’s username generator asks for certain personal information–your name or nickname, personality, hobbies, interests, important words, and significant numbers–and then creates a list of potential usernames based on the information you’ve given.
It reliably gives you some surprises, too! Instead of just using the words that you’ve provided, it assembles usernames from similar and related words, also, which helps to ensure that you get a list of possible usernames that’s relatively unique as well! Just type in your requisite information (you can withhold anything you want to, of course) and click “Spin!” You’ll get a personalized result of potential usernames stemming from the information you’ve provided.
While an username is important, what’s even more important is having fun on Musical.ly! Even though the subject deserves plenty of thought and planning (hence, the reason for this article), it’s over as soon as you choose an username (or, until you decide to change it up in 30 days!) Then, it’s time to dig into the features that have caused the app’s popularity to skyrocket: the lip-syncing, personal videos, surprisingly hilarious video effects, streaming, and more! In addition to following your friends, you can find some pretty noteworthy musicians and artists on Musical.ly and Live.ly. Treat it like any other social media platform, and split your energy between following the greats and keeping up with your friends.
After you’ve given our ideas a perusal, hit us up with some of your best Musical.ly username choices! Post in the comments, and don’t forget to share this article with your Musical.ly friends!
