Corporate Sponsors

            My dad works for Nissan North America and he just got back from a trip to Las Vegas with his company. They travel to Vegas every year for a national conference that allows top employees to celebrate their achievements and for senior management to discuss the direction of the company. Well this year was a true treat because Blake Shelton was a special guest and played a private concert for the fewer than 1,000 Nissan employees in attendance. Nissan is a corporate sponsor of Blake and has even given him a tricked-out Titan truck. Although I am unsure of the deal Nissan and Blake Shelton have, it is a great topic to discuss for an artist.

            Only for big superstars, do corporate sponsors give an artist cold hard cash as support. Generally, it is in the form of equipment or something else tangible. It is important to know that sponsorships are not actually free. In return for supplying capital to the artist, the artist will be required to do a variety of possible things like:

·      Supply free concert tickets to the company

·      Corporate meet and greets

·      Play private shows

·      Put the company logo on the printed concert ticket

·      Use the product

·      Give away a company “goodie” to fans at shows

·      Allow the company to have booths at each show

·      More…

If you are not careful, you could be giving up way more than you are getting in terms of support. When corporate sponsorships first began, it was thought of as an artist “selling out”. Today however, one of the most coveted endorsement deals is a Pepsi commercial. Corporate sponsorships are here to stay but along with reading the contract to make sure you are actually getting something worthwhile, pick a company that will represent your ‘artist brand’ well. It has to be a match that will make sense to your fans and will not be entirely disruptive to who you are as an artist.