That sort of in its broadest form, right?
But I think probably what's most important and relevant for
this topic is good sponsorship.
And generally good sponsorship is one that lives between the objectives in
the brand and the objectives of the artist,
with the relationship that sits in between that help to accomplish both.
>> So why would an artist decide to work with the brand in the first place?
>> Ultimately is an artist, and
I mean you generally are in need of two main things, right?
So I think one is amplification or promotion, and
the other which is resource.
Money to help fund a tour, money to help fund a music video,
to help fund a new record or whatever it may be, right?
So I think generally speaking, there's two things that brands have.
One is money, to help you realize those objectives.
And with that comes the caveat that they're trying to do something with that
money too.
because they're meant to invest it in advertising program or
something like that that's going to make their board happy.
The other thing that most brands have that you might end up working with is a level
of resources that lead to promotion.
So if you consider someone like Nike,
the reality is they have massive social channels.
They also have a level of spend that they will do behind a campaign that will get it
out to people that you may not reach otherwise.
And some of them, I think the ones that most people
are interested in with partnering with, also have a dedicated consumer base.
So if you think about someone like a Converse,
there are people that love Converse.
And those are people that, if you're not reaching them already,
you can actually reach them through that brand.
>> That being said, do you think that a brand can break a band
in the sense that record labels use to or are responsible for?
>> To be candid even though I think it would be a really convenient answer
to say yes.
I think breaking a band is really hard and takes a lot and a lot of different people,
and a lot of different touch points.
So the artists that tend to do well, and tend to kind of get into that public
consciousness, are just seen a lot, in a lot of different places.
If you think about an artist that you fall in love with, you probably see them 30,
40 times before you actually press play and actually listen to them.
So I think one place where a brand really helps is it's another place that you
can as an artist, create a touch point.
But I think there are things that a brand lacks as it relates to
breaking a brand, right?
So radio, great example of something that you're going to need a label for
generally.
And a lot of music, as much as radio is sort of moving away from being as relevant
as it once was much music in the top 40 today is still driven by radio,
which is an important metric in driving charts.
>> So I want to take a couple steps backwards, and
just kind of have a conversation around howa band decides to work with a brand.
Or even starts to identify the types of brands that they would want to work with.
>> So I mean I think it first starts with who you'd like, right?
So I think there's this traditional stigma about artists not selling out, right?
But I think it's always an ironic conversation,
because you know the artist they're talking about not selling out?
They're already wearing a pair of Converse, and
already playing a certain type of instrument.
And already sort of have a affinity for certain things, right?
So like they're drinking the orange juice, wearing the shoe, doing the thing, and
talking about how they hate brands.
Which is sort of the basis of living in society, right?
>> Right, right.
>> So I think a key first step is to just think about what you actually like,
what brands make sense for you as a human being?
What fit with your values, what fit with the values of your audience?
I think another question is, what brands have something that you need or want?
And that's not just money, because I think if you're just going after the money,
so is everyone else, good luck.
You need to really think about other things that a brand can offer, because
that's what that package is going to look like when they offer it to you.
And I think you also want to think about who you're a fit for, right?
So just because Red Bull has a good amount of financial resource and
a good amount of promotional resource.
You may not be an artist that's similar to other ones that they've
covered in the past.
There may be a moment in time where they're promoting primarily urban and
hip hop artists, and you are a hard core band.
Then it's probably not the right time for you to reach out to them.
It's not to say that you shouldn't meet people and have conversations,
because you always should and that's the best way to learn their objectives.
But I think it's a bit of common sense,
it's the same as if you were to meet someone on a human level.
You'd be thinking about would this person be a good friend to me?
Would I be a good friend to them?
>> Right.
>> Are we into the same things?
It's sort of all the same types of concepts.
>> So what can kind of a burgeoning young band that's just kind of starting out,
what are some steps they can take as they're kind of developing their identity,
their image?
What are some things that they should be thinking about?
Or steps they can take to kind of think about the future of positioning themselves
to be able to partner with the brand and make themselves more attractive to brands?
>> Yeah, another important thing to think about is just they had
the negotiation, right?
So generally speaking,
if you look at most negotiations the party that reaches out to the other party
is immediately on their back foot when it comes to the relationship.
>> Right. >> Right?
Because you're sort of chasing them.
So I think you want to get a place as an artist where brands are reaching out to
you, and you have a choice between multiple that you can use.
And decide what's waiting on your timeline, that's the goal, right?