The Future of Partnerships

As we head into Brandweek, I’m thinking hard on the intersection of brands and music.

I’m doing a panel with Matt Graham (co-founder of Range Media Partners) and Jennifer Frommer (SVP, Branding and Commercial Licensing at Columbia Records). Both Matt and Jennifer are long time friends, and they are masters of their craft.

Range Media Partners is a new management firm focused on guiding the most creatively ambitious minds in cultural capital. It was initially backed by Steve Cohen, the hedge fund titan and NY Mets owner, and now has a deep bench of strategic investors. Founded in 2020, Range’s clients include Bradley Cooper, Vince Vaughn, Jerrod Carmichael, Anna Kendrick, and many more. On the music side, which Matt oversees, their clients include Jack Harlow, Shaboozey, Lauv, Saweetie & Cordae. What I love most about Range is they have a new age approach to talent representation that focuses on helping their talent build IP.

Matt is a young but old school brand marketing genius. Way before he helped launch Range’s music division he was helping artists and companies launch brands. I remember when he was just getting started out of college, working at The Fader. He had his finger on the pulse and a vision for the future. He helped Nue Agency early on and his core slogan from back in the day still rings true today: “Take care of your brand and your brand will take care of you.”

Jennifer Frommer runs a division of her label that handles brand partnerships for some of the biggest artists in the world including Harry Styles, Tyler, the Creator, Beyonce, Lil Nas X, Adele, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell, Hozier, Rosalia, Solange and AC/DC. She’s truly a best-in-class brand partnerships ace who is always looking to push boundaries and do cool things.

The session will be moderated by Luz Corona, community and culture editor at Adweek, the top trade publication in advertising which produces Brandweek.

When I think about the changing dynamics of culture, I think about how well-positioned music is right now. Brand partnerships are completely en vogue and collaborations are some of the most important co-signs in music. When you authentically super-serve the super fan with products directly created by the artist, they sell and often sell out fast. The biggest stories in music of the last decade have been Rihanna and Fenty, Beats and Dre, Selena and Rare Beauty, and, of course, Kanye and Yeezy/Adidas.

The creator economy is thriving and musicians are the ultimate influencers. Their music transcends so many barriers and travels at the speed of sound. The future will undoubtedly see more artists owning their IP, owning their masters, and owning brands. With the power of social media, a creator can manufacture a brand in months. The influencer market has set the stage for this. The future of e-commerce will be grounded in brands that over-serve their niche communities. Artists can efficiently supercharge that motion.

The dynamics of the business are changing again, though. It’s no longer just Artist:Fan. It is now Fan:Fan, too. It orbits you, but is greater than you. It binds a group tightly – sometimes to incredible levels (think BTS, Phish, Taylor Swift) – creating evangelists and encouraging others to fully commit. When you feel like part of a community, it’s part of your identity. Music artists provide that in spades.

Legendary investor, Paul Graham, once put it thusly: “When I'm trying to help founders find new startup ideas, I usually start by trying to figure out what's unusual about them. What do they know or care about that few other people do? There's usually something, and it often leads to an idea.”

I love how musicians bring such a unique perspective to this arena of launching brands. With the creator economy thriving, this is the perfect time to launch brands and mission-driven products. Artists are the biggest influencers of culture and commerce with massive, active fan bases that respond to merchandise and brand collaborations with extreme purchasing power. Artists have distribution, community, and creativity; they generate PR and relevancy, all of which brands need to cut through the noise.

Artists and their teams have more and more choices in this space now as well. Artists are going from traditional endorsements to being creative directors. These days, you’ll find artists in the inner workings of a brand's DNA, helping to define the vision and mood of some of the biggest companies in the world. It’s exciting to see.

The next big decision for artists will be whether to partner with brands, launch their own, or do hybrid deals. There are pros and cons to each as brand building is as delicate an art as it is a precise science.

For brands, there are also pluses and minuses to which artists they choose. The bottom line is emerging artists can help you get exponential results if you’re early and they hit, while established artists provide a more ‘sure thing’ at a higher cost although there are many more nuances to this. The context and storytelling around the partnership is equally as important. It needs a hook! As Pharrell once told me, “Jesse, it’s not about holding the cookie for the picture.”

These are the types of things that Nue does. We work with the managers, agencies, labels, and platforms but are completely agnostic and looking for the best ideas and opportunities for our clients.

I’m excited to spend next week diving deep with so many best-in-class practitioners to explore the world of brand marketing in a fun and creative environment. Tickets are still available. So if you want to come out to Arizona and talk shop, you know where to find us.

Jesse Kirshbaum

Co-Founder of Nue