Brands and bands on the move to work hand in hand

On band/branding affairs, the soda company Mountain Dew established a music “label” called Green Label Sound , solely based on singles downloads. They inaugurated their activities with releases from Chicago’s The Cool Kids and Brooklyn duo Matt And Kim, with more deals to be signed in the months to come. The chosen singles are featured on the label’s front page and are available to download for free. The much too sugary Mountain Dew (I personally prefer Canada Dry) plans on sponsoring a tour for its artists and is working on means to help them throughout these tough times.

Here is what Chuck Inglish of The Cool Kids has to say:

“Mountain Dew is not trying to push their product through music like everyone else; they just wanna support music. … And with us tying to set up our new record without a record company, Mountain Dew gives us an unexpected helping hand to get up those steps.”

Deals between brands and bands have become a pretty common practice this past year and most relationships seem healthy for both parties. It’s hard to judge what’s to become of this new emerging model. I don’t really think I would associate my image to a soda brand, then again it’s easy to be all high and mighty when I don’t have a serious project going on.

I’m definitely not a big fan of the ‘sell out’ term so I try not to judge; I truly believe that if the creative process is not corrupted in any way then bands can gain from these deals. Since selling soda has nothing to do with selling records, bands won’t have to report to music executives who believe they know it all. Instead, they’ll hopefully work with people who will trust their artistic visions and goals in exchange for promoting a company with a visible face, or in this case taste.

Again, as long as those promotion strategies are not so obvious to the point of creating a hard-association between the band and the brand, I don’t see a problem.  Although the brands’ goal is to connect with the artist’s fans, they should know that these fans will be wary about seeing them in the picture. Pushing their marketing objectives too bluntly can and will come back and bite them (as well as their image/sales) in the ass.

Whatever the brands’ master plans are, they had better not be too invasive on the short-term if they want to sustain long-term penetration in the music market, especially in the indie scene.

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How bands can market their merchandise at live shows

Selling merchandise: are bands barking up the wrong tree?

For bands that don’t have a steady fan-base, selling merchandise at gigs may seem presumptuous.”Who the hell wants to buy a t-shirt with the name of some random band that they’ve heard for the first time” is probably the reasoning that leads most bands to keep pushing off this activity. Add to that all the logistics (the cost of production, shipping and handling) and bands will wait until they “get bigger”. So are unestablished bands right to not jump head-first in the water? If they focus on portraying their name and logo above all they are. Fans are a picky (and often poor) crowd, but they WILL buy products that for some reason (either aesthetic or emotional) strike a chord in them – and that’s what indie bands should try to capitalize on. Focus on selling products that people will genuinely want, regardless of whether they are fans of your music or not.

Ways to present your merchandise

At the risk of sounding overly capitalistic, the goal here is to make money, and you shouldn’t be afraid to dissociate the products you are selling from your music – view the gig as an opportunity for you to make a sales-pitch to dozens of potential customers.

One way to do this without sounding desperate or like a salesperson is to present your merchandising efforts as a fund-raising activity, whether it be to record an album, go on tour, or pay for your doggie’s veterinary bill. People are more willing to spend money on a specific cause than on the band’s beer money, and will probably relate to your poor-musicians-that-need-to-make-some-extra-cash-to-pay-for-studio-time situation.

A good way to get people interested in your merchandise is to follow this band’s advice:

One of the best things we have done is to get one of our band mates hot girlfriends to work the merch table. Semi-buzzed guys can’t seem to say no to a babe asking him to buy a t-shirt. We also send that hottie out to get names on our mailing list…that stuff works great. If you don’t have a band mate with a killer looking girlfriend work it hard yourself. Be relentless and disciplined in working the mailing list. Make sure after every set either you or one of your band mates cruises around the club saying hi, talking to the patrons and asking them to sign the mailing list. While you are doing that, you tell the patrons to check out your merch table on the way out cause you have some really nice t-shirt designs and your CD is there as well. Make sure at least one of your band mates is parked at that Merch table. Merch is vital but that mailing list is key. I would say that 30 names on a mailing list is better than a $10 t-shirt because of the law of large numbers. Right now, we are averaging a consistent showing of about 5% of our mailing list at any given show. If I can make that a solid 5% of 20,000 names as opposed to 2,000 names, we win. We win because we can play in about any room we wish and it is there we get to sell more merch. So, sell your merch but more importantly sell yourself and your live show.
Cool Days End – www.myspace.com/CoolDaysEnd

Give them an incentive to visit the merchandise booth in the first place: have a hot charismatic bitch (calm down there, we’re doggies remember ?:) manning the booth, give out some guitar-picks with your logo on them, or set up a laptop and tell people with USB sticks to come and get MP3 versions of your songs for free. While they’re uploading your music they can check out the merch. Also, set up a few of the posters that you are selling around the venue, with an indication that they could be purchased at the merchandise booth – if they look cool, this will certainly attract people.

Sales at merchandise tables are an impulse buy, so the answer lies within this question:”What could make someone impulsive enough to buy merchandise at a show?“
A few factors come into play here:
1. Know your audience.
Does your audience spend money? Do they pay your cover charge and do they spend money at the bar?
This is important. If your guest list at each show contains more names than the phone book, you’re in trouble. By constantly guest-listing folks, they are going to expect freebies from you at every turn. Once you’ve established that your price is ZERO DOLLARS, you are never going to be able to raise your prices. Who would pay for something that they are getting for free?
2. Give your audience a reason to buy your merch.
To be blunt, be a good band. Write good songs. Play in tune. Sing in key. Have a drummer that plays for the song and not his own ego. This applies equally to guitar players, bassists, keyboard players….everyone in the band. Don’t be drunk or stoned when you play live. Practice, practice, practice and be tight when you play live. Make your audience want to buy your merchandise. Arcade Fire is a great example of this; hard work and good songs will sell your merch for you.
3. Be gracious with your fans. If they buy merch, they like you. Don’t disappoint them by acting like a douchebag rockstar simply because you’ve just played a show. Anybody can get a show. Thank them for their patronage and be genuine.Tim Van Den Ven – www.timvandeven.com

Of course none of this will bring in any money if the products you are selling are not hot.
Don’t forget that most items bought at shows are impulse purchases, and the more original, useful and/or trendy your item, the more fans will be willing to buy it and justify it through its souvenir value.
In our next post on merchandising we will suggest what to sell at shows.

Woof to the Mruff !

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Why bands could consider sponsorships with brands

Branding of the Bands

We previously posted a topic on why bands should consider music licensing as an alternative revenue model – here’s taking it a step further. Brands are starting to open up their doors to independent acts. We already had top shot mega stars in bed with brands (think Michael Jackson/Pepsi venture, 50 Cent and Jay-Z in a footwear deal with Reebok and even Axl Rose’s deal with Dr. Pepper for the release of his album ‘Chinese Democracy’ that has been in development for the last 17 years). What we are now seeing are lesser known artist hopping on the band-wagon. For instance, Apple, which had previously used U2 and Feist for iPod commercials, now chose a young unconsolidated singer Yael Naim for the release of their MacBook air commercial. In the experimental dance community, Groove Armada have just settled with Bacardi. The marketing deal encompasses recordings, touring and audiovisual content. A Barcardi representative cites:

“Essentially we are taking over the role of a record label, producing the music, promoting new music, and the artist is playing at our events.”

Brands thus can represent a good alternative to traditional record labels: they got money and they’re promotion gurus. Of course the branding will have to stay subtle enough so that the band’s image stays intact. Not many bands would agree to have a big Coca Cola sticker right on the bass drum, but hopefully brands won’t head that way. Here is an interesting article on the subject where a member of an indie bands muses:

“It’s as if we’ve suddenly become aware of the truth behind the smoke and mirrors of the record deal. Most artists now understand how the business works and who their fans are. That is always going to be valuable to a brand. It’s certainly a freer, more equal relationship. Record companies have to own everything, because their whole model is based on selling records – ‘Is it a hit, will it make us our money back?’ If brands do nothing other than free musicians from the tyranny of needing a radio-friendly smash to have a career, it has to be a positive.”

Brand your band !!

Also, consider literally branding your band. All bands do this to some extent but not all see it as something crucial for their commercial success. I mean making a good quality logo, putting up decent posters, gig swapping with appropriate bands, handing out not only flyers but business cards, perfecting your personal live sound. Everything you do to make your band go a step forward should help people remember you and you only. Branding is the art of association and the more things your fans associate you with what they relate to, the better. That’s why selling merchandise is so important. A t-shirt bought at a concert doesn’t only stand for something to wear with a cool design, more importantly it represents a souvenir, an impalpable sensation of a past well being that you made possible. Merch shouldn’t only be for the money and the promotion; it should help your fans identify their everyday lives with your music (when using or wearing your merchandise that is).

Here’s what Clif, who hosts the cool critical music blog Music in 2d has to say:

“The one thing that artists who hope to make any money via the web need to realize right now is that the people who will profit in this industry are those that monetize the attention that the artist generates. Companies desperately want to reach the people you reach. And the more people you can reach consistently, whether they buy your music or not, the more valuable you become. Whether that means revenue sharing, sponsorship, etc – or perhaps it enables you to sell something else – is up to the artist to decide.”

Mruff!

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