Your Band is a Brand – At Least it Should Be…
by Eric Sheinkop – President / Music Dealers LLC
Jim Beam and Kid Rock, Sprite and Drake, Pantene hair care products and Beyoncé Knowles—brand partnerships are everywhere you look. Why are there countless products and services partnered with musicians? The answer makes perfect sense. Each of these artists is a well-developed “brand” themselves, with built in target audiences that complement the products or services they endorse.
Successful “brands” know who their audiences are and they look for synergies with other brands that have similar audiences. In other words, they don’t only aim to maintain their current audience but also look to expand the reaches of their own fan base by exposing themselves to the clients or fans of other brands with a built in audience well-suited to their own product.
The practice of successful brand partnerships is prevalent in every form of entertainment you can think of: Peak Antifreeze and American auto racing driver Danica Patrick; M&M’s and the Indiana Jones franchise; or Michael Jordan, once the face of Gatorade and now Haines as his target demographic has aged right alongside him.
At first you might wonder what Indiana Jones and M&M’S have in common. What does a wise cracking, archaeologist adventurer movie have to do with an adorable, tasty candy? Well, they cater to the same demographic. So, Mars releases limited edition M&M’S with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull inspired colors and designs on them, and presto! Both brands have just potentially doubled their audience. Such partnerships not only can lower the media buy and save money on advertising, but they facilitate reaching more people in the same demographic that each brand would individually spend money trying to influence.
So how does this apply to you as an up-and-coming solo artist or band? Simply put, you ARE a “brand.” Your music is your product. No matter where you are in your career as a musician or the level of success you’re currently experiencing as a band, if you treat yourself as a “brand,” you can create opportunities that go far beyond just licensing a song.
You’ve spent time developing and crafting your product (writing and producing your songs). You package it (create a CD or digital download with artwork), you set it loose in the market place (get it on iTunes, store shelves or have at your shows) and you advertise it in the hope you find a consumer base to purchase it (via Myspace, flyers, posters, etc.). This is no different than what Heineken, Snickers, Apple and every other brand in existence does with its product.
So, how can you and other brands be mutually beneficial to each other? The first step would be to identify the right brand, not just any brand. An important thing to note is that just as a perfect partnership will help both brands reach new heights and large growths in success, an ill-fitting partnership can kill your own “brand” and your perception in the market place.
You might be thinking that the aforementioned partnerships only work because both sides are prominent brands carrying heavy brand equity, but consider that there are thousands of brand partnerships that utilize the unknown or up-and-coming trends in music, technology, culture, art, etc. Pepsi is currently running a contest to find hot new tech start-up companies. Coke just sent an unknown photographer to every country in Africa to take pictures with the World Cup Trophy and now that unknown artist has one of the largest art gallery openings in New York City next week.
My company, Music Dealers, has helped brands like Heineken, and McDonalds and many others discover independent musicians and partner with them in cool and unique ways. All of these partnerships make the recognized brand more culturally relevant as well as create an emotional connection to the brand. At the same time, they help to expose the current efforts of the photographers, musicians and other types of artists, while expanding their reach to their target consumers and putting some good money in their pockets to boot.
Remember, these brand partnerships only work if you know what your “brand” is. If you don’t know your identity, how will another brand be able to identify you as a good partner? More importantly, if you don’t know your audience, how can you find a brand that will be a good partner to support your career?
About 5 years ago I was in a studio with a now famous Chicago rapper when he was offered a major money making partnership with a huge and widely known brand. He spent a moment quietly thinking and then flatly said, “No thanks.” I was shocked and couldn’t believe what I had witnessed. Once the brand left the studio he explained his reasoning. He told me that it wasn’t a natural match and that his fans would not see it as authentic – ultimately, not respecting the partnership. He said his brand has certain equity because of his accessibility in rapping about real life situations. He feared that people would know the partnership was just about money and that would only hurt him in the end.
About two months later I was in the studio again when he was offered an endorsement deal with a shoe company. He pointed to his shoes and said, “As you can see, I’m already a fan of your brand. Let’s do it.” Simple and natural, the partnership was a total success. It made the shoe brand look cool to his fans and it expanded his own fan base to include the fans of the shoe.
The shoe brand benefited through association with his brand, giving them a ‘cool factor’ along with some consumer engagement and the Chicago rapper benefited from the massive media buy the shoe brand spent to advertise his endorsement, which exposed him to millions of people that might not have discovered him otherwise.
Knowing your audience will not only allow you to partner and work with brands, but it will gain you more fans as well. People want to support an ideology they can relate to. If they dress like you, support the same charities, drive the same type of car or go to the same events, they will feel a connection that goes beyond the music you’re making. They won’t necessarily buy your music because of this connection, but it will create loyalty for your future releases and it will give them reason to talk about you with their friends.
This is not to say you should change your image or start dressing in a certain way. I am suggesting though that you should pay attention to the way you do dress. If you see that you support a particular brand of jeans, shoes, etc., then you will be able to approach that brand and present your music in a way they can appreciate and perceive as a natural fit.
In order to participate in and benefit from the large scale media buys of corporations which can support or even launch your career, you have to be a brand. Know what you stand for almost like a mission statement. Know what circles you are in and support and know what they stand for. My own company, Music Dealers, has partnered with iTunes, Live Nation and Billboard. I wanted to partner with these brands because of their brand identities. When I think of them, I think of ‘top quality’ and ‘security’ which is how Music Dealers has positioned itself in the licensing industry. It wasn’t because our music is the same, but more so because of a match in ideology.
Again, these don’t have to be massive corporations such as iTunes. You can partner with a sandwich shop, an animal shelter or a charity. Think about the ones you would want to partner with. Be judicious in the partnerships you seek too. Think of brands like Potbelly or Subway. You know their demographics and they are vastly different. Which is more likely to have in-store performances or give out downloads? You know the answer because they are each a clearly defined brand. You need to be one too in order to expand your fan base, sell more songs and enhance your carrier as a musician.
5 Questions to help you understand your brand:
1. What ideology do you represent in the market?
2. Is there a company that represents the same ideology?
3. What companies do you currently use (support) that you feel would be a good supporting partner for you?
4. What companies have a user base that you feel would appreciate and become fans of your music?
5. When someone says your band’s name, what comes to mind first? Is it what you want it to be?
