By: Carlos Ybarra, Anyi Wong-Lifton, and Sarah Molloy, TMA Entertainment Team
Your weekly look at what’s happening in music trends, partnerships, new releases, and more courtesy of the TMA Music Team.
This Week’s Music Trends
With music sales dwindling over the years thanks to changing consumption patterns (e.g. piracy and streaming), artists rely more heavily on live shows to bring home the bacon. But they also face an opponent in this arena: scalpers that scoop up tickets and resell them on secondary ticketing sites for huge profits. To make matters worse, the biggest concert promoter in the world, Live Nation, was accused of being in cahoots with resellers this year. Now, artists like Taylor Swift and, this month, The Black Keys and Tegan & Sara, are making headlines by fighting back – even when their current methods sometimes hurt or anger their fans.
- The Live Nation scandal shows the concert industry needs to learn economics from Taylor Swift
- More on Taylor Swift’s methods
- The Black Keys unapologetically turn away fans who bought tickets from secondary ticketing sites
- Tegan & Sara sell their own unsold seats and donate the money to charity
- Facebook: Friend or foe?
Partnership News
- Clothing brand Lacoste and Tyler, the Creator are collaborating to release GOLF le COSTE. The 16 piece capsule collection of looks will range from a letterman jacket to the brand’s iconic polo in shades of subtle pastels and sherbets.
- Budweiser and rapper Big Boi of Outkast are teaming up to release a series of limited-edition Big Boi Tall Boy 25 oz. cans. The new cans will be available exclusively in Georgia.
- Fresh off their extensive period of rest and relaxation, K-pop icons BTS are back and partnering with with Tokopedia, one of the largest technology companies in Southeast Asia. The deal will see the group appearing in commercial spots and participating in fan experiences. Its estimated the group generates $4.7BN USD of GDP to the country each year.
- Nigerian Breweries and Access Bank are stepping up to create a musical talent search called Access the Stars, which kicks off this month. The show, intended to create opportunities for emerging African stars, will award cash prizes for winners to further their music careers.
Pepsi to become exclusive beverage provider at SoFi Stadium
Food and beverage giant PepsiCo has done it again, and this time it’s in the form of a partnership with future Los Angeles venue SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, and major entertainment venue Hollywood Park. Pepsi and Frito-Lay are to become the exclusive beverage and snack providers for the Inglewood stadium, the to-be named 6,000 seats intimate venue, and American Airlines Plaza. Both the Chargers and the Rams have been partners with Pepsi previously, so this move only further solidifies the collaboration.
The opening of SoFi Stadium will be in July of 2020 with Warren G performing for all 3,000 construction workers who helped bring the venue to life. The first official performer to break in the 70K+ seat stadium will be Taylor Swift, who will bring her tour “Lover Fest” to Inglewood July 25th and 26th. The following week, country artist Kenny Chesney will swing by the stadium on his Chillaxification Tour with acts Florida Georgia Line and Michael Franti.
PepsiCo has already worked hard to become a mainstay in the entertainment world. The conglomerate sponsors one of the biggest annual events, the Super Bowl Halftime Show. In 2018, PepsiCo also became the exclusive non-alcoholic beverage and salty snack provider for Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall. And of course, who could forget the iconic 2010 spot featuring chart-dominating artists Enriqué Iglesias, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, and P!nk? Pepsi is making one thing clear – if there’s an event to be had, expect to see Pepsi there.
Creativity That Matters
What do National Geographic, the Michigan tourism board, Smartwater and Singapore Airlines all have in common? The answer, they have all created branded ambient soundtracks in the last six months.
In the latest example, Lincoln teamed up with musician Anders Rhedin to create an ambient soundtrack that helps people get a better night’s sleep. The entire eight hour piece was performed overnight at New York’s Seaport District.
What we’re listening to this week…
(Click image to listen) Note: may contain explicit content
About TMA Music
We help brands harness the power of music and use it to foster a deeper bond with your customers. Our team of seasoned experts helps you navigate the music industry to develop a comprehensive music strategy, ideate on creative music concepts, license songs, partner with the right talent, and execute on every facet of a music marketing program.
Larry Weintraub – President of Music at TMA, Larry is a lifelong entrepreneur who champions the customer experience with a personal passion for disruptive technologies and innovative products. As head of the TMA Music Team, Larry leads music strategy for Fortune 100 brand clients. Larry also leads innovation at the agency with an internal and client-based concentration on emerging technology to better help consumer engagement. Larry also loves sour beers, inhales podcasts, and has a massive Pez collection.
Carlos Ybarra – Born in Sterling, IL and sharpened by the City of the Broad Shoulders, Carlos followed his passion for music and joined TMA’s State Farm Music team in 2017 after spending nearly a decade as a Multicultural marketer. Shortly after, Carlos transitioned to Los Angeles to join TMA’s entertainment practice where he provides strategic music consultation to the agency’s clients. Carlos graduated from Benedictine University with a B.B.A. in Accounting and in his spare time enjoys attending shows, documenting street art, traveling and cooking.
Anyi Wong-Lifton – Anyi is a Strategy Coordinator for TMA’s Culture Marketing group who tracks entertainment trends, writes weekly music columns, and organizes diversity education programs. She grew in Portland, Oregon before it was cool and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Scripps College before moving to Los Angeles. When not making professional use of her pop culture obsession, Anyi volunteers at a dog rescue, collects pencils, and avoids driving.
Sarah Molloy – Sarah is an Operations Coordinator in TMA’s Los Angeles Office, where she and has one hand in finance and the other in entertainment. She joined TMA as the Entertainment Apprentice in January 2019. She is originally from Boston, MA and went to school at Emerson College in her home city. In her free time, she likes to go to the beach, take naps, and sing karaoke (when she has the chance).
