woo! my band just got our first endorsement!

ishouldbeking · #1 01-08-2009, 06:50 PM

...From Eastwood Guitars. So... my lead singer already plays one, my lead guitarist might buy a 12 string but... I do enjoy my current setup so i probably don't need to buy anything. Though I would like a baritone...

Anyway, there is a question here, i promise. So I'll be attending NAMM next weekend... is it possible to use an existing endorsement to get others? Like if I walk up to say, the Lakland booth and work some magic by mentioning our current endorsement? I'm still pretty new to this whole thing, but I gotta say, I'm actually really excited for this!

NickInMesa · #2 01-08-2009, 11:40 PM

So what's your band's name and do you have something I can hear?

So that I know how good to play to get endorsed

lunarpollen · #3 01-09-2009, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NickInMesa

So what's your band's name and do you have something I can hear?

So that I know how good to play to get endorsed

You don't necessarily need to play well to get endorsed. It just needs to be perceived as profitable in some way (financially, imagewise, etc) for the company to endorse you. Or if it's a small company, they just have to like you a lot!

ishouldbeking · #4 01-12-2009, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NickInMesa

So what's your band's name and do you have something I can hear?

So that I know how good to play to get endorsed

We're called (get ready, it's slightly ridiculous): the Flying Tourbillon Orchestra.

www.myspace.com/theflyingtourbillon
www.ftomusic.com

And in response to lunarpollen, yeah definitely agree with you. Eastwood has a "DIY-artist page" that our singer had submitted himself on, so his name was under their artist list already (though you don't get a discount for that), but it wasn't until our lead guitarist re-applied (and mentioned a recent placement we got on a primetime drama) that we were offered artist pricing. A company like Eastwood is at the stage where they seem to be willing to offer endorsements to anyone who can get their instruments seen, since they're still growing. A lot of companies even mention that the main thing they're looking for is national TV exposure, most likely meaning appearances on late shows and stuff like that. And then the other half of it is how well you sell yourself.... My friends in a band called War Tapes just got a deal with Fender, so I need to talk to those guys!

Randomly, we just found out today we're going to be in a national music magazine in march... hoping we can capitalize on that when we go to NAMM this weekend... hey, i can dream, can't i?

Rocker949 · #5 01-12-2009, 05:08 PM

Ishouldbeking, congratulations to you. I hope this will be the beginning of many more successful steps for your band.

capnsandwich · #6 01-12-2009, 05:20 PM

I think NAMM will be very good for you to get some relations going but the best thing that will help you out would be getting out there and playing and touring. That's when you'll start getting some exposure. I have a friend in a band with a couple endorsement deals and he said no one cared about who he was until they started playing some bigger shows. Once they started opening up for bigger acts, that's when they got an investor and a couple endorsement deals, one for drums and one for amps IIRC.

ishouldbeking · #7 01-12-2009, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocker949

Ishouldbeking, congratulations to you. I hope this will be the beginning of many more successful steps for your band.

thank you very much, sincerely. re-reading a couple of my posts i was a little worried that i came off as self congratulatory or smug or something...... when in reality i'm just really damn excited and wanted to share with you guys! but again, thanks man, we're all really excited and just hope we can take full advantage of all these opportunities by making a kick@$$ record this year and, like capnsandwich recommends, getting out there and touring... that's the ultimate goal, really. just wanna open for bands i admire, hopefully get a lot better at performing live, and ideally, to be able to afford to take a month or two off of work to go tour would be absolutely amazing.

ccrnnr9 · #8 01-12-2009, 11:21 PM

I like you guys' stuff. Its not what I would usually listen to but its cool. It reminds me of a mix of Ingrid Michaelson and Augustana. I don't know...I like it. I really like that song "The Uniform". The female in your group has a great voice (not that the guy doesn't). It makes me melt!
~Nick

Bob Lee (QSC) · #9 01-13-2009, 09:42 AM

One thing that might help is to understand that YOU endorse the product, not the other way around. They don't endorse you.

Look at it in that light when you pitch to the the manufacturers and distributors that do endorsement deals; they look for influential players who will use their products prominently and draw positive attention to them.