Artist’s guide to contacting brands for sponsorships, collaboration

In the still unstable music economy, collaborating with and getting sponsored by brands is one of the most lucrative opportunities for bands and musicians, regardless of where you’re at in your career. Still, reaching out to these organizations and companies can be intimidating. Here, we break down how it’s done.

Guest post by Randi Zimmerman of Soundfly’s Flypaper

Reaching out to brands to ask for anything can be intimidating. Especially in an age of social distancing, brand sponsorships and collaborations are some of the most lucrative opportunities you can get.

No matter what level you’re at in your career, there’s a brand out there who needs exactly what you have to offer. It’s up to you to put yourself out there.

How to Contact Brands for Sponsorships and Collaborations

Before You Reach Out…

Before you ask for anything, you need to build relationships with whoever you’re trying to work with. Reach out to your peers and put out some feelers for brands they’ve already worked with. Whether that’s a close friend or a friend of a friend, brands will be more keen to work with someone who is even slightly familiar to them.

Be sure to engage with their work!

Like, share, comment, and warm up to them by telling them how much you appreciate their content. Don’t be scared to suck up. Think of it like trying to make a new friend. Be warm, show off your good side, and let them know you actually care about forming a relationship with them.

Crafting the Perfect First Email

Now, you’re ready to reach out via your first email. I know I don’t need to tell you how to be friendly here… but if you’re struggling with getting started, try something like this:

Hi [insert name here],

My name is [ your name here ]. We’ve been chatting back on forth on Instagram for a while, and you are absolutely killing it with [ insert something specific that they do ].

I’d love see what you think about collaborating on [ whatever you want ] with you!

…..

With this email, you want to give them as little work to do as possible. Next, include any similar collaborations you’ve done with other brands. (If you don’t have any, include any positive growth you have from month to month.)

In addition, now is the time to add in stats like your engagement rate, monthly views, and audience demographics. If you have an EPK, feel free to link it here.

Note: Brands are interested in what you have to offer them. This isn’t charity work… How are you going to drive growth for their brand?

Don’t leave it up to them to come up with ways for you to get involved. That’s your job!

The key here is authenticity. Include a personal tidbit you like about them or a personal compliment on a specific project they’ve done. Brands can tell if you’ve copy and pasted something a hundred times.

So, What If They Don’t Respond?

Don’t freak out. If they don’t respond right away, it’s not the end of the world. Brands get tons of emails every day, so it’s not uncommon for your email to have simply slipped through the cracks.

As a rule of thumb, wait at least a week or two before following up.

+ Read more on Flypaper: “10 Hilariously Bad Examples of Product Placement in Music Videos.”

In Conclusion…

Sponsorships, partnerships, influencer ads, these can all feel like elusive opportunities for musicians, but make perfect sense for both parties. Established musicians see high engagement rates and follower counts across social media platforms and have the perfect audience that many brands spend all their time trying to penetrate.

According to MusicWatch:

• 51% of Twitter users use it to follow or get updates from music artists and bands
• 56% of Instagram users are viewing and engaging with posts from artists and bands.

Of the top five categories of celebrities or public figures followed, musicians and bands lead the way with 57% across all platforms. These figures should convince any brand that musician partnerships are the best way to advertise online, and many brands have already tapped into this incredible market.

When it comes to reaching out, it’s important to lead with confidence. Show that what you have to offer is worth their time. Show them how working with you can help them increase sales, engagement, etc.

What’s the worst they can do? Say no? Exactly. Then you can move on to the next opportunity and try again.

As they say, every rejection is just a redirection.