Brands + Bands | Value Redefined [Next Big Sound + FRUKT]

Music industry analytics firm Next Big Sound and FRUKT, a marketing company dedicated to the creating and delivering of smart ideas for brands through strategic partnerships with entertainment influencers, just concluded an in depth study of the relationship between brands and bands. Their research illustrates a progressive shift among artists and brands alike, illuminating the path of possibility for exponential growth and gain if the partnership is properly aligned and executed correctly.

If bands and brands can set their sights further down the road of a lasting partnership instead of a one-off collaboration, possibilities abound – and FRUKT has the stats to prove it. 

"First and foremost, we have to state quite categorically that we firmly believe in artists getting paid. Period. Music has an inherent value, and talent all along the music industry chain – from songwriters to performers – have the fundamental right to earn a living from their creative endeavours. What they do is based on years of work, talent, creativity and focus – and it should be respected. Just the same way that a logo, a product, a service or a brand should be." – Giles Fitzgerald, Trends and Insights Director, FRUKT

There is no question that working with brands comes with significant financial gain for artists. Depending on the level of the brand/artist agreement, that financial gain could boost revenue in a way that downloads, streaming, and ticket sales combined wouldn't be able to match. Seeing the opportunity through to its full potential starts with artists shifting their expectations of brands by beginning to view them as a partner – not just a paycheck. FRUKT illustrates that point perfectly by referencing Bruno Mars and his agreement to perform at the 2014 Super Bowl for the shockingly low amount of absolutely nothing. That's right, $0. The upside? $96 million in advertising dedicated to his 12 minutes on stage – a brilliant success for any artist combating increasingly decreased label marketing budgets.

Bruno Mars and his value exchange is obviously a top shelf example, but there is no reason to believe it the same success isn't possible for artists on a smaller scale. FRUKT's research shows the value to artists beyond direct payment manifests itself in reaching fans, content creation, reputation enhancement, and incremental revenue boosts. For brands, the value added lies in the reaching of new and unique audiences, credibility among consumers, the creation of original and own-able content, and their reputation as a supporter of artists. 

The industry has been slowly divorcing the sales-based revenue model for quite some time now. The collaboration between brands and bands provides a bit of a financial stop gap alternative for artists on the rise and allows brands to take part in the building of their career in a way that brings value back to the brands.

FRUKT shares, "When Samsung announced their collaboration with rap mogul Jay-Z last year through a string of videos, the official YouTube channel for Samsung Mobile USA racked up more than 50 million views in a month. While the results are generally positive for artists, the impact for brands is even greater. Comparing the week prior to an announcement, to the week following, brands included the study typically see a 16% increase in new Twitter followers, a 40% increase in YouTube video views, and a 36% lift in new subscribers. Twitter mentions typically jump by about 80%, and Retweets close to 100%." With both brands and bands seeing significant upticks in social media traffic by working together, there's no good reason not to be actively working toward connecting those dots. 

With 80% of artist managers expressing interest in exploring the possibility of equity in a brand campaign, the active pursuit of collaborative opportunities suggests brand partnerships are becoming a permanent facet of artists career paths. Joe Dimuro, President of FRUKT North America said, "We now know the power of the right brand artist partnership to build tremendous value for both sides over the course of a long and successful relationship. But tactically how do brands and artists execute these complicated relationships to give both sides the best chance at success?"

FRUKT has partnered with Next Big Sound to offer the best chance of a successful pairing between artists and brands. Together, they've established three key stages all deals must go through. The first is the artist selection where they assess the compatibility of a band with a particular brand and calculate an Artist Brand Affinity (ABA) score. The second step is in-campaign optimisation where tracking of the campaigns progress can take place through the FRUKT dashboard. The third step is the assessment of value exchange. "By tracking the online activity of every artist in the world on a daily basis, we can finally quantify the impact a brand partnership has on social, streaming and sales numbers, and isolate this impact based on how activity differs from a previous baseline period."

Next Big Sound and FRUKT are currently offering campaign based subscription pricing upon request. Inquiries can be sent to joe.dimuro@wearefrukt.com or alex@nextbigsound.com. 

To access the full report, visit WeAreFRUKT.com