Indie Ambassador

Though no one has figured out the musician’s business model of the future, most are certain that partnerships with brands through licensing and/or any other type of collaboration will play a large part.  Travis York and his partners decided to take action on this vision in 2009, and have since built what the world knows today as 1band 1brand.  Every week, 1band 1brand pairs a band and a fashion brand together, the band giving music away for free and the brand offering discounts of its products. Through the process, bands receive a platform to promote their material and are introduced to brands with which they can collaborate for any number of things down the road. Pretty neat, huh? In the interview below, Travis explains the background of 1band 1brand, provides some band/brand pairing success stories, tells us what to expect from the company in the future and much more. Give it a read, and head over to their website today to download some tunes from Casio Kids and get 20% off on clothing from Altru Apparel!

Indie Ambassador: What inspired the idea for 1Band 1Brand?

Travis York: My partners were at SXSW two years ago when they came up with the name 1band 1brand. It didn’t have a lot of meat to it then, however there were a lot of things that we were collectively doing based around independent or emerging artists. My wife and I hosted something at our house called the 138 Listening Lounge that we started in October of 2009 – invitation only concerts with well-known bands. What we realized was that no matter who the band was, the crowd always came because they trusted we were going to put something good in front of them. We recognized there wasn’t much of a growth model by doing that in our house, but if we put it online, it could have some legs, and it went online in March of 2011. We kind of of smashed up the name 1band 1brand, brought fashion into it, and introduced it to the digital world.  It was about establishing an audience of people that are passionate about something and trust you to unveil things to them.

Indie Ambassador: What led fashion to be the other half of the project?

TY: A number of us had interests in fashion, whether we were dabbling in starting a fashion brand or creating some sort of application for fashion. We realized that if we allowed 1band 1brand to be too broad, it would be very challenging for us to differentiate ourselves or to find an audience, so we thought fashion was the perfect tie-in. We had to try and come up with something that was pretty easy for bands to embrace, and fashion’s a big part of what musicians do, whether they admit it or not.

Indie Ambassador: How do bands apply, or do you seek them out? Is it the same process for brands?

TY: A little of both. It started out with us curating bands and brands proactively. We put together some strict criteria that bands and brands had to meet to even qualify, and tried very hard to figure out a ranking system to evaluate them. But soon enough, we started getting inundated with bands and brands coming to us pretty quickly, and decided that if they (submitting band or brand) fit, then we’ll further evaluate it.

Indie Ambassador: What considerations go into the pairing process? Is it just whoever has been in your sights the longest or do you try to pair a band with a similar brand and vice versa?

TY: Everyone has a little bit of a different philosophy on that. Some are really just featured next to teach other, and other than being complimentary, there’s no real relationship or interaction between them. At other times, bands and brands want to be paired with somebody they can work and collaborate with. In many ways it really depends on what the band or brand might be looking for.  What we try to do is make the pairing complimentary to the viewer in some way, either based on where somebody might be from, what kind of style they’re into, etc. A lot of it is based on what style the band is and aligning them with the appropriate brand. In many cases, the band and the brand didn’t know each other before we featured them together.

Indie Ambassador: Has your band/brand introduction ever lead to further, independent collaboration between the two parties? Can it be more than just a download and a discount?

TY:  Tons of them have. Love Nail Tree, the clothing and accessory company, put out a product called Your Cold Shoulders that was inspired by Gold Motel who they collaborated with through 1band 1brand. Sometimes the brands send clothing to the bands. Terra Naomi, as an example, wore all of the brand’s clothing (The IOU Project) in her music video. Allen Stone went on the Conan O’brien show and wore Super Sunglasses which was a brand we hooked him up with. Kopecky Family Band did in-store appearances for Hlaska. Everything from in store appearances to collaborative products to wearing merchandise in videos or on TV shows. What we’re trying to get more serious about moving forward is helping bands and brands once they’re in the 1band 1brand family.

Indie Ambassador: Are most of the band discounts free or pay what you want downloads? How much freedom do bands get in selecting their deal or do you nudge them in a certain direction?

TY: We’ve always required bands to give 5 songs at a name your price offer. However, we are considering other methods but that’s the way it’s been done so far.

Indie Ambassador: As for your own business structure, what led you to go with the free subscription model?

TY:  In today’s day in age there’s so much clutter out there. We still believe that having somebody opt in for something and provide an email address and actually have an intimate experience in his or her inbox is the most valuable interaction we can be having other than face to face. We think that is the ultimate kind of relationship we can be having, and that all the other communication mediums are supportive of that and can help to augment that. Ultimately, we don’t want to tax our audience. The more we can offer the audience, the better.

Indie Ambassador: What’s on the horizon for 1Band 1Brand?

TY:  We are going to be involved with some SXSW events, and we are going to be upping our content in terms of the different kinds we give out. We’re looking to align with some consumer brands that aren’t music or fashion that will help us broaden our distribution channels.