It’s challenging to keep all this stuff straight. Very first, every band on the planet wanted so badly to be signed to a main label (and really, a lot still do). Then it became hip to be independent (“indie”), and everyone thought you were a loser if you even mentioned ‘major label’ and ‘sign’ in the very same sentence. Indie DIY was IN! Key Label deal was OUT! The revolution was ON!

Then we all looked about at our pretty little MySpace pages and Facebook profiles, and contemplated the question – did the indie revolution actually pay off?

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Zoom in to the present time. For some, the answer is ‘Yes’. For others, the pros and cons are still being weighed. But for the rest, the question is ‘if we’re really not benefiting from the indie revolution and have gone as far as we can go on our own, then can brands be of any help to us’? Let’s discover that a small bit in this post.

Everyone in business is attempting to reach an audience. You (or your band, if you are a manager) are attempting to reach men and women who you can turn into fans and, subsequently, buyers. Brands (organizations) are trying to reach potential consumers in order to turn them into consumers of their merchandise / services. Seeking an alternative to advertising, brands initially sponsored events like conferences, conventions, sporting events, galas, concerts, etc., that attracted prospective customers. Whilst numerous brands continued to sponsor events, others decided to bypass the ‘middleman’ and began putting together their own branded events in order to reach buyers directly. In the method, businesses discovered that bands had a way of connecting with fans on a much a lot more emotional level than could be carried out by way of interruptive advertising. Thus, the ‘brand-and-band’ partnership was born.

So, what specifically attracts your band to a brand? The most critical factor is a good fit between your fan base and the brand’s existing or possible customer base. If your band is attracting a demographic (of considerable size) that a brand is also attempting to reach, then that would make a excellent fit in their eyes. Identifying the demographic to a brand needs bands and their managers to proactively survey their fan base in order to get some demographic information (e.g., age, gender, geographical location, annual household income, hobbies, spending preferences, etc). Many bands are unable or unwilling to do this given that it can scare away potential fans and needs existing fans to take time out to fill out surveys. But, if provided as an option along with a gift or discount give (like an exclusive song download or a discount on tickets or band merchandise), then the information you collect will prove to be invaluable both to direct your advertising activities as properly as to influence a potential brand partner.

But as with most other partnering scenarios, the much more ‘buzz’ you have about your band and the bigger and more loyal your fan base, the more brands will want to partner with you for their campaigns. And just like the 3 bears in the children’s story, most medium-sized brands like you to be ‘just right’ – not too cold (i.e., not a entirely unknown artist), but not too hot either (i.e., not a key label artist). This is simply because they like bands that have a loyal and sizable following however are unencumbered by several of the legal entanglements inherent in the major label program. Of course, significant brands normally associate with main label artists simply because they are interested in the global reach that comes with that association.

Some brands have gotten into the game of artist development, creating a new type of record business that funds band’s recordings and tours. Some have even set up recording studios where their artist ‘partners’ can record. In these instances, the relationship is mutually beneficial, with bands contributing the ‘hip’ factor and ‘emotional connection’ and brands providing significant amounts of money no longer readily offered from standard record businesses.

The band-and-brand relationship also has some considerable perks for bands. Unlike what generally comes with signing to a label, bands in band-and-brand relationships do not typically give up any of their rights because the brand is primarily interested in reaching the audience and selling them their own items and/or services. The band gets to keep their copyrights, trademarks / service marks, logos, etc, as properly as maintain their creative freedom in terms of recordings, logos, videos, tour production, merchandise design, and so on. One more perk is that mid- to significant-size brands have a tremendous quantity of reach in terms of distribution because their products already have a pipeline into the marketplace, thus streamlining the procedure of acquiring the band’s CD’s, downloads and merchandise to the fans. Brands also have a lot of advertising expertise and know how to get the attention of fans as nicely as the media.

Over time, most fans have come to recognize that brands and sponsors are an important component of the equation when it comes to putting a tour together, and have come to tolerate a specific quantity of brand exposure as lengthy as the messaging and interaction isn’t too heavy handed. This is helping to create a new model where some firms are considering coming up with a particular ‘sound’ for their brand (like a soundtrack to their item), which could work in your favor if the sound they are looking for happens to be what your band is already doing.

So, if you’re interested in partnering with a brand, maintain on growing your fan base even if they aren’t presently purchasing CD’s, downloads or merchandise in significant amounts. Create fascinating YouTube videos with keywords / key phrases that attract a lot of ‘eyeballs’. Construct genuine friendship and loyalty with your fans so that they follow your movements and spread the word out to their friends. Videotape your shows and capture the emotional connection you have with your fans. Conduct demographic surveys and maintain a tally of the number of fans on your mailing list. Produce as much buzz as achievable wherever you can and you will ultimately appear on a brand’s radar when the fit is correct. Even though most of these deals are at present structured between significant brands and main (or ex-significant) label artists, we can look forward to medium-sized brands getting more active in

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