Endorsing artist?

[geeza]

What does it mean to be an endorsing artist? What does it do for you? How do you get to be one?

[dean owens]

hate to tell you but you're going to get some short comments that read something like...

"do a search"

this topic gets brought up every now and then. basically you have shown a company that you like their product and will help them sell it. you have to be good and visible. so if a company allows, you endorse them. in return they give you a discount - lots of time at cost - on the products you're endorsing.

for more details do a search and you'll find many threads on the topic.

[geeza]

I did do a search first. It didn't turn up much.
The rest of your explanation is very helpful, thanks.

[dean owens]

Originally Posted by geeza

I did do a search first. It didn't turn up much.
The rest of your explanation is very helpful, thanks.

not saying you didn't. just seems that there are some guys on here that love to tell people to do a search without ever actually helping them out.

if you think you're good enough and will give enough exposure, contact the companies you'd like to endorse and see what they would have you do.

[TSanders]

I do not play full time right now, but did for a while.

I had a Gallien-Krueger endorsement deal. What I did was: called GK and spoke with artist relations. I then followed up by sending the Artist Relations rep a promo pack that included my bio, some pics, a list of GK gear that I was using at the time, and my gig schedule.

As an endorsee I got discounted gear. It wasnt free but the discount was great.

In return for the endorsement deal, companied want exposure, plain and simple. The more exposure you can give a company, the more likely you are to get an artist deal.

[JTE]

It depends on the deal. And the deal depends on the company and the artits. First, let's get some terminology straight, because if you understand the terms then you'll better understand the deals. "Endorse" means to recommend or approve. So the artist endorses the product, not the ohter way 'round. It's about telling people that you like this gear. It's got nothing to do with the company endorsing YOU. Make sure you're straight on that in any discussion of endorsements.

dean owens is an endorser of Spector and GK. It says so right in his tag line. Does he get anything from either company? Probably not. I'm an endorser of Laklands. And Fenders, and Eden, and Peterson, etc. I don't get anything from them (well, I got a free clean, polish, set-up, and set of strings from Dan Lakin in exchange for giving him feedback on the prototypes of the Skyline 5's...). So in one sense, we're all endorsers of what we use that we tell others we like.

Now as to formal endorsements-
The deal can be just that you get to buy gear at dealer cost, or they might give you free gear. A common thing isn't free gear, but free USE of gear if you're on tour. So if you're in East Bumble, Alabama and need a spare amp for a night, they get it to you. When I was in retail, the Ovation endorsement was that the artist could buy one guitar a year for dealer cost, but if they ever had any problems on the road, Ovation took care of it. An Ovation endorser was playing in town and his Custom Legend had a problem. The road manager called Ovation. Then Ovation called us, asked if we still had a Custom Legend on the wall. Since we did, they sent the road manager to our store, we swapped the broken guitar for the one on the wall. That way the artist had a guitar immediately. We shipped the bad one to Ovation, they shipped us a new one for stock and paid all the shipping charges and a little bit for our trouble. My understanding is that the only Ovation endorser to get a free guitar was Glen Campbell, and that was a special gift from Charlie Kamman after years and years (maybe 20?) of Campbell using the gutiars.

Yeah, some deals involve payment. But I think it's a lot less often than the more cynical people in the music biz think it is. Does Marcus Miller need the few dollars per guitar that FMIC might pay him? Does Victor Wooten get paid by Hartke now? I'm not jaundiced enough to think that's why he chose Hartke. But I'm not going to second guess the details of that part of the biz, I just don't assume endorsments are that commonly bought.

And what effect does this have? I've never been one to want a particular instrument or amp because someone else uses it. An endorsement from a player whose SOUND I like will encourage me to try something if I'm looking, but it won't make me buy it. I got into Eden partly because at the time Nathan East and Gary Willis both endorsed them. I like how they both sound every time I've heard them (including hearing Nathan live a few times). I'm not foolish enough to think they used Edens in the studio work I love, but the fact that they always sound great to me made me sniff out Eden. Then a buddy who grew up here said he thought I'd like them too. Eventually found a dealer and played through the stuff. It was the sound I'd been hearing in my head for decades. So, the endorsement encouraged me to try it, but the gear is what made me buy it.

jte