sponsorships?

[greendevil]

I have some friends who go inner-tubing on our local river. to those who don't know that's like water skiing but with an inflatable tube. they made a fairly well produced home video of them doing flips and stuff and sent it to the company that manufactures their tubes and wet suits. apparently they actually got sponsored and now get free tubing equiptment. this got me thinking...

i've been told by professional musicians that i have pro talent on bass. what's the best way to go about getting some form of sponsorship for bass gear? I practice constantly and as everyone here knows, strings aren't cheap. It seems hard to believe that a major company would really look at a kids home-made video when he's not in a band on a label.

input is greatly appreciated.

 

-Russ

[Rocky McDougall]

Hi Russ, I'm not a professional musician but I will venture a thought about your question. I would say that some notoriety must come first. Corporations want their name and products associated with "Known Artists" in most cases. I'm sure there are many on this forum that can give you some great advice on things you can do now to get some recognition.

Rocky

[Max Valentino]

Well, first of all, is is not called "sponsorship". It is endorsement. And, the companies do not endorse you, you, as a professional musician endorse the company's products. This is all in hope that your endorsement of their amp, bass, strings etc. will help sell some more of their amps, basses, strings, etc.

 

Next...nothing is free. I have endorsement deals with several companies. I do not get free gear. I do get a considerable discount on stuff (and in the case of strings, this is considerable). I know of some top tier artists who are given stuff by companies, in lieu of an endorsement and in hopes that recognition of a certain artist using a certain device or brand will, again, help sell more. And a lot of artist endorsements are somewhat shallow as the artist does it just for some free stuff...often the artist doesn't even use the gear.

 

You cannot really shop around for an endorsement deal. If you are good, you need to be seen and heard. Once this happens it is just a matter of time that the A&R people from companies who's gear you are already using will seek you out (this has been my experience...I have deals with Godin and Thomastik-Infeld which came about becasue I was already using--and thus "endorsing"-- their products.

 

Advice: don't become a gear slut looking for free "endorsement" equipment. It's cheap, classless, and trashy. I have turned down a number of endorsement deals simply because I wasn't gonna use that product...even tho', in many cases, the product itself was very good(this was the case with a couple of very high-profile fx makers...) I simply could not ethically endorse something which I was not going to actually use.

 

No, you don't have to be in a band ( I am a studio/session player) or signed to a label (tho' it helps...). But you do need to be a professional with some credibility and recognition. In essence, you are helping them sell their products. They are not "sponsoring" you.

 

In the music biz, nothing is free.

 

Max

[Luke73]

I don't mean to sound rude, but if you have to ask on a forum how to get free gear and "sponsorship", then you may not deserve it.

 

Max's post above is excellent. You should take note.

 

Endorsement, and or sponsorship is the same in many areas. As well as being rather interested in playing bass, I'm also a competitive target archer. In the past I have turned down a couple of offers for free bows and gear because it's not what I would choose to use if I were going to buy it.

 

Recently, I had the good fortune to be offered a nice bow in return for my endorsement of that companies products. It came about because I actually ordered one for myself, and was quite willing (and fully intended) to pay full price for it. I had identified that is was good gear, and decided it was what I want to shoot for this season.

 

They were aware of who I was, and had noticed my recent good form in a few tournaments, and offered the bow to me for no cost. I don't own the bow, but have it for twelve months and am free to use it as my own. Next year, when the new models are announced I may be fortunate enough to be offered another one, and would be able to return the one I have now, or buy it and keep it at a discounted price.

 

The thing with these deals, is that it must be a win-win arrangement. It's no good for the company (actually bad practice) to just hand out free gear to someone because they play well. The company should be able to see a return on their investment - ie: you need to generate more in additional sales than it costs the company to give you gear or offer you a discount. You also IMHO, need to use and believe in the gear. If you wouldn't be buying it and using it anyway, in my opinion you have no place endorsing it.

 

[Rowbee]

I agree with all that has been said - I was able to buy a piece of equipment which I actually needed at a considerable discount a few years back because I hassled the UK distributor. The reason was that I was going on a reasonably high profile UK tour and therefore it was in their interests for me to be seen using that equipment on a larger stage. Not being in that position now, I would never expect anyone to offer me discounts, let alone free stuff.

[absolutpepper]

I once contacted Warwick about this sort of issue and was told that irrespective of my talent as a musician (I had sent them a video) if I was not committing to something in excess of 120 professional gigs a year I would not be entitled to any sort of endorsement deal.

 

I was a lot younger and more neive back then, I doubt I would do it now but at the time I figured nothing ventured nothing gained.

 

Basically guitars are just business to most companies so a lot of them will go for the popular artist and not the talented artist. You could be the best bass player on the planet but if you hold no influence over the buying public I doubt any company would touch you, if you know what I mean.

 

A good example of this is Pete Wentz from that band fall out boy that seem to be everywhere. I dont rate his musicality very highly but he is in a very popular band and has that influence for kids to go out and get an instrument so as a result squier have made a version of his custom Fender bass. I am sure there are thousands that are more seserving of this but business is business.

 

Chris

[absolutpepper]

* deserving

[greendevil]

hey thanks for all the advice guys. yeah i never thought i was actually deserving of an endorsement given that i command no name recognition or selling power for a company but i'm just interested in the process of obtaining one and people's personal experiences with it. it's a longterm goal of mine.

anyway thanks again

 

[jeremy c]

You will be able to get free stuff when you are already so successful that you don't need it. (I'm still waiting for that)

 

You will be able to get a discount on stuff when you are successful enough that you were going to buy it anyway. (I'm in that class)

 

You may be able to get a beer company to sponsor your tour if you already have a hit single and you don't mind beer banners all over the stage. (I would mind that)

[...]

A really simple rule about endorsements: Do you play in front of thousands of people on a very regular basis? If not 99% of the companies that would give you a deal are not interested.

 

It has to be worth it to them in advertising (by you) to give you a deal. If you're not out in front of a ton of people showing off how great their product is then why would they want to give you stuff on the cheap?

 

Other option is a boatload of album sales where you explicitly state "I heartily endorse and use XYZ product on this album". Again it has to be a lot.