LJ Gutierrez discusses the future of brands and music, and it's about to get archival

"For us, within the music industry, we’ve been looking a lot at gender equality." In this week's issue of You've Got This,  General Manager of Brand Partnerships US at Universal Music Group LJ Gutierrez shared her thoughts on questions about branding and sustainability, voice search and audio, and increasingly interactive audiences. Read on for her answers, and don't miss our next guest, longtime podcaster and Vice President of Marketing Catalog for Atlantic Records Tom Mullen.

Victoria: "When did you realize that music and branding weren't just a passion for you but also a career?"

LJ: "It was actually when I was a senior marketing manager for Virgin Entertainment Group. Virgin had six of the most heavily trafficked retail locations in the world. The Virgin Megastores were the global hub of music.

"We soon realized that - with a million customers going through a store - we could market these music audiences to other brands looking to launch new products ."

One of our first partnerships was launching the Amex Blue Card. And from that experience we saw that the music audience is a very captive audience that brands are trying to reach to tell a story. A big part of the concept for Virgin Megastores was discovery. You had these beautiful listening stations curated around different types of music. We realized that if we had calming listening stations, that there are brands trying to get their product known and associated with that. So we continued that through the stores, using them as a place to not just launch products but also promote them via endcaps and listening stations. In my role as senior marketing manager, I was dealing with all the record labels as I came over from a record label myself. And that’s when it started to spark, especially with Universal, that this was something that we should be tapping into. 

I did work briefly at Atari, my first job solely working in brands for video games (which was at the time for me ancillary to music). I quickly learned that the video game world was very different than the music industry! So the folks at UMG knew of my experience with music and brands when they were starting this department, and that was 18 years ago."

Victoria: "What role does LinkedIn play in your day-to-day?"

LJ: "So for me, nowadays it actually plays two roles: the first is as a good way to search for credible contacts. And more recently LinkedIn has become a news tool and a way to stay up-to-date with what other brands and marketers are doing."

Victoria: "Where do you see experiential branding going in the future?"

LJ: "For me one of the biggest shifts is going to be a demand for sustainable events. We’re starting to see that with a lot of our artists and the tours they’re doing, how they’re approaching them to make them sustainable, as well as the brand partners they work with. When you think about experiential events in general, making them sustainable wasn’t at the top of people’s minds, but I think we’ll see a demand for that. And then the other thing is the greater need for personalization. To really have an experience for a larger group of people that isn’t the same thing for everyone. And technology is really allowing us to do that, to create customization and personalization within the event itself. "

Strategist and executive coach Mary Stephenson asked "I’d love to know LJ’s perspective on Female Brands in the era of #metoo and #timesup. I see so many of my female clients aiming to redefine themselves and feeling overwhelmed at the same time. Any advice or strategy would be welcomed!"

LJ: "For us, within the music industry, we’ve been looking a lot at gender equality. And I think it’s important for brands to realize that when you’re trying to achieve equality, it should be an open discussion beyond the individual company doors. So there are incredible organizations, one I’ve started to have conversations with, #SeeHerHearHer. And these organizations and networks out there have incredible tools to help in this area. I also think it’s about brands and female executives looking at these types of organizations to tie into a larger conversation. It’s really important to highlight those who are doing things correctly. A lot of times it’s easier for companies to model after something than to invent it on their own. There might be times where people feel we need to say “X is wrong” and we need instead to highlight who’s doing it right. I think that’s a more positive way which gets more people engaged. For myself, I’ve researched and looked for different organizations that are approaching this problem correctly, and promoting the right message, and really giving individuals and organizations the tools they need. So when I think about a lot of these organizations, that’s where it’s taking place in our industry."

Tara Goldman, VP of Product at Electric, shared "Would be awesome to hear LJ's thoughts on what's changing about consumer trends and how that has impacted her industry."

LJ: "This started last year, but I think this year is where you’re going to see the voice effect emerging across the board.

"We’re having more conversations than ever with brands on audio identity."

I give credit to Jody, who runs our publishing group here at Universal, for understanding where this was going, and actually acquiring a company that works in audio identity. For us at UMG, a couple of years ago, a lot of the conversations we had with brands really centered around integrating music as a whole, music our artists are creating, and not necessarily creating that audio identity for the brand itself.  And this is huge, as consumers aren’t just engaging with music but also with brands. So for us, that’s changed our business model and the conversations we’re having with our clients.

For example, from a music industry standpoint, we saw a huge lift in holiday music this past year, because so many consumers were using devices that are voice activated, and it’s very easy to say “Alexa, play holiday music” whereas in the past they wouldn’t have necessarily gone through a stack of CDs. So when you see voice, it’s changing the way consumers are interacting with music and also brands.

Another one for me is we’re really coming into the age where when you’re looking at Gen Z, consumers are creators. And when we’ve approached partnerships in the past, it’s always been that our artist are the creators, that they have to supply an end output for the consumer. But now we’re really looking at a lot of opportunities that can be more collaborative. You look at this younger generation, when I was growing up, maybe 1 in 20 people were creators. Now you’re looking at 1 in 10. They’ve had technology that’s made it so much easier, so much more abundant, to be a part of that conversation."

Follow LJ on LinkedIn.

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Next week's guest: Tom Mullen

The next guest coming up on You've Got This is Tom Mullen. Currently VP of Marketing Catalog and Podcasting at Atlantic Records, Tom combines his 20+ years of experience in music with almost a decade of first-hand knowledge of the podcasting space. He's worked on a wide variety of projects: from helping to establish the Warner Music Group’s podcast network Jefferson Studios to developing, producing, and marketing podcasts like People’s Party with Talib Kweli. Tom's personal passion project, the critically acclaimed Washed Up Emo podcast, has been going strong since 2011. With that in mind, here's what I'll be asking Tom:

• Having been a podcaster for almost ten years in an industry which has experienced a recent explosion in growth and popularity, where do you see podcasts going? How have you sustained your podcast for such a long time, and what key learnings would you share?
• Working with catalogs from legendary artists like Miles Davis, Johnny Cash, Jeff Buckley, and Bob Dylan, how do you look at bringing historic work to modern audiences?
• What advice would you have for someone looking to find and build their podcast community and audience?

I encourage you to ask your questions in the comments below, and thanks for reading!