OpenSponsorship making its move into the music sector

by Startacus Admin

Leading sports marketing platform, OpenSponsorship announces move into music sector, the first new vertical industry for the trans-Atlantic martech business.

Sponsorship technology platform, OpenSponsorship has announced that the platform will be making its move into music. Often referred to as the Match.com or Airbnb of sponsorship deals, and known for connecting brands to athletes for digital marketing campaigns, founder Ishveen Jolly has said this new venture is “the natural next step for the business.” 

On the announcement of the launch of its music proposition, OS will be welcoming artists including Disclosure, FatJoe and Juda & the Lion to the platform. This is the first new vertical industry for the trans-Atlantic martech business, putting to use some of the seven-figure investment sum it received from Serena Williams’ Venture Fund earlier this year.

Since launch in 2015, OpenSponsorship has grown the number of athletes on the platform to 14,000, including household names from an array of sports including Lebron James, Rob Gronkowski, Rickie Fowler, Jake Paul, Caroline Wozniaki and Megan Rapinoe. But it is not just athletes that its 25,000 global brand – including the likes of Walmart, Foot Locker and Levis – have the chance to work with thanks to the platform. They can also access teams, franchises, events and from today, musicians.  

While music currently accounts for just 10% of the global sponsorship industry, not only does this equate to a c.$7bn market, it is also a segment that’s growing all the time.   

Ishveen Jolly, founder & CEO of OpenSponsorship, said : “One only needs to look at Rihanna, who is arguably more of an influencer than a musician now, to understand why it is the perfect industry for us to move into. Musicians tend to be natural content generators and entertainers, which will be great for the brands already using our platform to run their sponsorship campaigns. This is a huge moment for the growth of our business and we’re excited to once again be first to market with a proposition.”

The marketing world continues to be dominated and disrupted by social media platforms. Musicians were some of the earliest adopters of TikTok for instance, and where in sport lots of sponsorship dollars go towards leagues and teams, the opportunity for musicians is more personal, particularly given the individual network of social channels. 

Indeed, while there are a number of ‘big names’ on the platform, it is also the opportunity that sponsorship brings to both early-stage athletes and now musicians that also separates OpenSponsorship from both the rest of the market, and the more ‘traditional’ way in which sponsorship deals are managed. 

Indeed, this is something that stood out to OpenSponsorship’s new Music proposition lead, Ben Baker the producer for indie pop band, The Astronomers.

He commented: “Starting out in music is unbelievably tough. To make ends meet, stay in the right frame of mind to produce music, to travel around to gigs and meets, to try to find work that can support your dreams, it’s a constant battle. So, for a tech platform to offer early-stage artists the chance to earn some income in their own time at the same time as raise their profile is genuinely a gamechanger. It’s an amazing opportunity for me to help build something incredibly worthwhile for an industry I love and care deeply about. What’s great is the calibre of artist and record labels we’re already working with. This is huge for music.”

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• #music

Published on: 16th March 2023