Music Sponsorships are one of the significant ways artists make money from their music. Brands also take advantage of Music Sponsorship to market their product or service. In other words, it is a win-win for both the brand and the artist. As a result, brands seek Music Sponsorship, and artists dream of earning great sponsorship deals with big brands.
As an artist, you need sponsorship deals to grow your trend, gain more connections and increase your revenue. This, in turn, will broadly promote your music career. Nevertheless, to take advantage of this aspect of your music career, you must understand what Music Sponsorship is and how to attract highly profitable deals. This article, therefore, contains all you need to know about Music Sponsorship and the ultimate guide on how you can land lucrative Music Sponsorship deals.
- Music Sponsorships
- Why do you need Sponsorship Deals
- Ultimate Guide to Land Lucrative Deals
Music Sponsorships
Music Sponsorships are a marketing technique aimed at achieving brand awareness and increasing revenue. Artists have a high level of influence on societal trends and people’s tastes. Also, because artists are public figures who are well accepted and respected in society, brands leverage these to gain loyalty for their products or company.
Music Sponsorships are mainly done through live event sponsorship, among many other ways. It is also done through; celebrity endorsement, Brand ambassadorship, product or brand name in music lyrics, or product placement in music videos.
Brands and companies are often interested in making sponsorship deals with artists because they stand to gain some or all of the following;
Brand Awareness: leveraging your vast fan base and fame, brands can reach a vast potential market through your social media page, song, music video, and music tour.
Sales: with a partnership or sponsorship, companies can make huge sales from your live events due to a large number of people present. Also, they can sell their product for higher prices at such events and maximize profit.
Alternative for an advertisement: Rather than pay an advertisement company for commercials, brands with Music Sponsorship can get their product on your music video, as lyrics in your song, featured on your social media page, or get you to use the product or service. A considerable number of people and media pay attention to artists, and thus the product is advertised to a vast prospect.
Sponsor mixtape: Brands want to be identified with you. Hence, making sponsorship deals with you can be to the end that you record a song for the brand or company which they can feature on their website or play at their business space.
Why You Need Music Sponsorships Deals
Knowing that brands stand to gain in sealing Music Sponsorship deals with you as an artist, you need to know what you stand to gain from Music Sponsorships. An artist will benefit almost as much as the brand from a sponsorship deal. However, your negotiation skill can make you gain more.
The following are three significant things Music Sponsorships does for you as an artist;
Benefits in cash or kind
In every deal, both parties make known what they bring to the table and their demands. Depending on your preference, you can make your demands in monetary form or service, or products. For instance, you can agree to a sponsorship offer demanding that the brand sponsor your live show or tour. You get to spend little to nothing on your event while you also fulfill the demands from the other party. You also get to bill brands according to your estimate of the value of the service you will be providing. With quality negotiation skills, you can ensure your benefit is both in cash and in-kind.
Publicity
Brands often subscribe to Music Sponsorship for the sake of publicity by leveraging on the artist’s fan base. However, as an artist, you also stand a chance to gain more audience and increase your fan base from Music Sponsorship deals. Many artists hope to sign deals with big companies and firms for this reason. Just as musicians can help brands reach potential customers through music and music events, artists can become more prominent and accepted based on specific sponsorship deals. For instance, some companies have an international influence yet seek local musicians in a country to promote their business there. Such deals will give international recognition and publicity to such an artist.
Career boost
An artist’s musical career is also built on the number of achievements in their records. Every sponsorship deal signed becomes a part of the artist’s portfolio. They can determine the kinds of deals you attract in the future and give you the experience and exposure you need to sign better deals. Therefore, apart from adding to your revenue and making you more famous, Music Sponsorship deals also develop your musical career and set you up for better opportunities.
Ultimate Guide to Land Lucrative Deals
Now that you know what Music Sponsorships are about, what you stand to gain, and what the sponsors expect to gain, we must assist you through the process of landing lucrative deals. At the early stage of your career, the deals you can secure may not be lucrative enough, but that will change if you put certain things in place over time.
You must bear in mind that sealing big and profitable deals is only possible after possessing certain attractive values and criteria. This often takes time to attain hence the need for a guide through the process. Here is the guide you need to land those deals.
Build and establish an attractive artist brand
The first thing to do as an artist is to have something to offer. Brands will sponsor you only if you possess a value that they can use to their advantage. Therefore, add value to yourself so you can have something to bring to the table. Before anything, establish yourself as an artist, define your niche and gain public recognition and acceptance. The following will make you very attractive to sponsors as an artist;
– Social Media Influence: One of the most attractive traits of an artist to brands or potential sponsors is their social media presence and influence. How large is your follower base, how updated is your page, and how massive is the engagement on your posts. This is how they can guarantee a win in sponsorship with you. You can learn how to improve your social media presence by following this link.
– Fame: Beyond the online influence, specific sponsorship deals are only for famous real-life artists. As you build your social media, work on your real-life fan base and fame. Fame will guarantee ticket sales at your events and earn you many sponsorships as an artist.
– Past Events: Your past events define you to a large extent. Negative events like a police arrest can keep many sponsors away from you. Positive achievements like awards, interviews, and shows you have performed are values that attract the right sponsorship deals.
Be Ready for Opportunities
Once you possess sponsor-attracting values, you must be ready for opportunities at any time. You must define the kind of music sponsorships you wish to attract, what you have to offer, and your demands or price. It is essential at this point to prepare a pitch in case opportunities show up. Your pitch must be short and inclusive of who you are, what makes you unique, how you can benefit the sponsor, and what you want out of the deal. If you can take advantage of opportunities with compelling pitches, you can land very lucrative sponsorship deals. Note that you have competition from other artists.
Create a proposal
Prepare proposals tailored to the company you are approaching per time. Ensure it includes; the terms of the contract, the overview of what you offer, and a summary of the agreement. Companies will take you more seriously with such formality and order. Once you have a well-structured proposal, you can reach out to a prospective sponsor company, and you can win yourself a lucrative Music Sponsor deal. You can obtain a proposal template here.
Get connected
Rather than sit back and wait for opportunities to come around, you should identify and meet people who can connect you to the desired prospect. Meet people and establish relationships with brands, businesses, and middlemen. Once a relationship is established, you can then make your intentions known. You can also send emails to prospective sponsor companies informing them of the mutual benefit in your offer and requesting a meeting. Your approach must be that of a business person; hence, don’t sound or act desperate.
Add to your value
Artists become more attractive to sponsors, brands, and companies when they possess other skills that can add value to their music and fan base. Develop and showcase other skills you have like dancing, acting, etc. one of the additional skills you need to possess is negotiation skill. Most of your successful deals will be as a result of your negotiation skills.
Follow up
Do well to contact the person in charge of contracts and music sponsorship at the company you wish to work with and keep in touch. You must follow up until you get a response to show your seriousness and interest. Also, you may not be the only artist that submitted a proposal or gave a pitch; hence, there is competition, and you must keep in touch.
Stay trending
One of the significant problems with artists is that they tend to relax after reaching a height in their career as far as fame is concerned. You don’t want to seal only one major sponsorship deal in your entire music career. You must continue to maintain your fan base and public recognition and increase it; this will guarantee you opportunities always as far as Music Sponsorship is concerned.
Music Sponsorships: Things to avoid
To guarantee success, as you do the above, avoid the following;
- Not showing interest: A major turn-off for potential sponsors is discovering your lack of interest in their brand or the deal. Make sure you only approach companies or brands if you are interested in their brand and whose values agree with yours. No one will sponsor an artist who shows disinterest in what they do.
- A weak proposal or pitch: The first impression lasts long. Your pitch or your proposal may give prospective sponsors an idea of you that may discourage them. Make sure your pitch or your proposal is well prepared and well delivered. This can either win you your dream deal or make you lose a significant opportunity as an artist.
- Unrealistic demands: Many artists make a mistake here by asking for unrealistic up-fronts or making excessive demands. Your emphasis at a meeting with a potential sponsor should be on what they stand to gain. It is a business contract, so make reasonable and realistic demands.
- Don’t be desperate or in a hurry: Being desperate often costs you the fullness of what you should be getting out of the deal. Being in a hurry will rob you of the chance to closely assess the conditions and the agreement before signing the deal. No matter how huge the deal is, take time to go through the documents, and hold a meeting with the sponsor so that you can consider the need before sealing the deal.
Conclusion
As a significant revenue generation and career-development source, you must take full advantage of Music Sponsorships as an artist. Following the information and guide provided in this article will help you to land lucrative deals. However, as you pay attention to this aspect of your career, pay attention to other aspects to ensure overall success. The process is not a difficult one, but it takes time and diligence.
