Tour Sponsorships

Corporate sponsorships play an important role in the touring industry. They run around trying to link with artist to make that connection to reaching new potential consumers.

In 2008, approximately $1.04 billion will be spent on live music sponsorship. The IEG Sponsorship Report senior editor Bill Chipps stated this earlier at the Billboard Touring Conference at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York today.

True indeed many recent tour sponsorships have proven to be effective but companies aren't waiting around to just sponsor any acts. Live Nation Alliances president Russell Wallach said, We spend a lot of time with agents and managers trying to help them understand what companies are looking for.

The general idea is to link with an artist that wants to be hands on marketing of a product. This would include more then just meet and greets at concerts and participating in viral marketing campaigns and webisodes.

As an example of partnering brands with artists, GMR Entertainment managing director of global operations Bobby Oppenheim pointed to a recent partnership between rapper Ludacris and men's body spray brand Axe. Since Ludacris didn't want to participate in hands-on marketing for Axe, the rapper instead accepted a tour bus from the company, who branded the inside of the bus with Axe logos. The bus served as the primary spot where Ludacris did most of his press interviews and meet-and-greets, which automatically exposed fans to the brand, Oppenheim said.

Look at your lane of music and find a sponsor people. A nice amount of money is put aside yearly to promote corporate companies but once again they aren't knocking at doors. Seek and you shall find.

Source: Billboard