Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

Does anyone on BandMix have an endorsement deal with a musical instrument manufacture? This can include the actual instrument and/or accessories (strings, sticks, etc). I'm at a point that I want to request and endorsement, but I don't know what to include in my request. Thanks guys and gals!

Well, you've got product, & that's certainly something they'll take into consideration when you contact them.

Good luck with this, PG.

Ask Kramer. I'll bet he got some info on that stuff when he went to that seminar awhile ago.

What's in it for the company that's endorsing you? How are they going to make money endorsing you? Are you playing in front of thousands of people every month? Are you selling thousands of CD's every month? Is the company going to get huge publicity by you wearing a shirt with their logo? By you saying on a CD cover that you use their instruments? By you endorsing their products on a website that gets thousands of visits per month? What are you going to do for them to increase their profits? It's all about profit my friend, nothing else matters.

Yeah I got a horizon cables deal.
they just send me random stuff to test and use on stage. Probably 90% of the stuff i dont even know what its for.

To get an endorsement ... you usually have to be somebody with a name. I know Pro's that are on several #1 hits LP's and still have no endorsement.

Hey Viking. If you don't mind, would you shoot me an email with your Horizon Cables contact rep's info? I'm at pocketgroovesgso at gmail dot com. Thanks brother!

philbymon wrote:Well, you've got product, & that's certainly something they'll take into consideration when you contact them.

Good luck with this, PG.

Ask Kramer. I'll bet he got some info on that stuff when he went to that seminar awhile ago.

Thanks for the advise Philby. I have a free account, so I can't PM. Do you have a way to contact Kramer for his input? Thanks bud!

A bottom tier endorsement is ussually just a product discount.

You can apply for an endorsement with any company and they will probably give you some sort of discount. Our bassist had a Dean endorsement. I think they knocked 45% off purchases. Im pretty hard headed about what i use so I dont apply for any, But when I was racing motorcycles there were whole networks set up that you could place your racing resume on and results. My son and I put these up anywhere we could, most charge a simple fee once a year. They were good for disounts from 10% to 50 %. My son has a boot deal for 60% off which is pretty good in my book.

But in all things its buyer beware. A savvy shopper can ussually beat the endorsment deals if you take the time to check around. In bike racing they hook the kids cause they all say Im Sponsored by so and so. I found with my son if he wasnt too brand conscious that I could ussually get better deals than the "sponsorships"

Back to me, my living isnt even close to being derived from music so I buy what I want to use. One of our racing sponsorship deals had a list of dos and donts. We were at a National Race one year and some guy came to make sure we had the stickers they had sent on our trailer. I said if we hadnt put them there what would have happened, I was joking, he said read the contract you signed. It stated if we broke their rules that they could ask for all the discount money back. That was the last year I let my son sign up for one of those deals.

Good Luck and if you get some sort of endorsment going please let us know about it.

Thanks for the input JW. I want to get endorsements from companies that I already own product from, so a discount endorsement would be perfectly acceptible. The main things that I'm looking for with the endorsement are the perceived credibility of future clientele and the marketability of being "sponsored" by a brand. I want to be able to advertise myself as being an official artist of XYZ Equipment, and have my potential clientele confirm this on XYZ's website. For people who research like you do, this gives me instant perceived credibility as a player, even though they may have never heard anything that I've played. I don't want an endorsement for free gear; that's not realistic considering that I'm not on a major tour with a mainstream act.

For me, not being in a band makes advertising more difficult because people who go to record their projects aren't thinking far enough ahead to think about players (at least, not in my area). This is a business move that will happen to have some personal validation as well.

PocketGroovesGSO wrote:Hey Viking. If you don't mind, would you shoot me an email with your Horizon Cables contact rep's info? I'm at pocketgroovesgso at gmail dot com. Thanks brother!

you like horizon cables too? I love their stuff!
When I get back from my deloyment Ill get the info. You'll also get a million stickers with every random thing they send you. Oh, and its only a 50% discount for the stuff you want or want custom.

Where are you Viking?

AirViking wrote:you like horizon cables too? I love their stuff!
When I get back from my deloyment Ill get the info. You'll also get a million stickers with every random thing they send you. Oh, and its only a 50% discount for the stuff you want or want custom.

Chippy wrote:Where are you Viking?

AirViking wrote:you like horizon cables too? I love their stuff!
When I get back from my deloyment Ill get the info. You'll also get a million stickers with every random thing they send you. Oh, and its only a 50% discount for the stuff you want or want custom.

Im at qatar, its a little sliver off of saudi. you can google map us.

Keep well Dude and sorry for asking. By the way I talk to myself all the time. I make so much sense.

Again, keep well.

AirViking wrote:

PocketGroovesGSO wrote:Hey Viking. If you don't mind, would you shoot me an email with your Horizon Cables contact rep's info? I'm at pocketgroovesgso at gmail dot com. Thanks brother!

you like horizon cables too? I love their stuff!
When I get back from my deloyment Ill get the info. You'll also get a million stickers with every random thing they send you. Oh, and its only a 50% discount for the stuff you want or want custom.

Thanks Viking. Horizon is good stuff. I've been using Mogami lately, but I'm almost afraid to take that expensive @ss cable out of my gigbag! 50% is fine by me.

Stay safe out there brother!

Pocket sounds like you are on the right track.

I guess you could take every piece of gear you have and research the companys. There should be some sort of email contact point that you could send and email to asking for help. Start with your guitar, bass or drums, whatever you play and then go thru each piece of gear.

I talked to our bassist last night and he said the Dean endorsement a few years ago they used his image in an advertisement. He also has one of those electric stick basses. He had sent some info to the manufacturer and they put his name on an add for that also.

I think you have a great idea. Being associated to gear companys should help build credibility.

Good Luck