Do gear manufacturers not give products to "endorsement artists"?

[brassplyer]

An indie artist who I bought an album from is once again passing the
hat, saying Sennheiser is offering her an endorsement deal but on
condition that she have and use a Sennheiser mic. In itself of course
this seems logical and reasonable. She says they'll give her an
"artist's discount" on a mic. She's apparently trying to raise $600 to
get the mic. I've emailed her to ask which mic she's eyeballing, no
response as of this time.

If someone is considered prominent enough to be worthy of an
endorsement deal, do they not just give the artist a piece of gear? I
assume the markup from manuf to retail is pretty substantial. I assume
an endorsement deal means they're compensating the artist for
advertising their product?

[malachi[_5_]]

"brassplyer" > wrote in message
...
> An indie artist who I bought an album from is once again passing the
> hat, saying Sennheiser is offering her an endorsement deal but on
> condition that she have and use a Sennheiser mic. In itself of course
> this seems logical and reasonable. She says they'll give her an
> "artist's discount" on a mic. She's apparently trying to raise $600 to
> get the mic. I've emailed her to ask which mic she's eyeballing, no
> response as of this time.
>
> If someone is considered prominent enough to be worthy of an
> endorsement deal, do they not just give the artist a piece of gear? I
> assume the markup from manuf to retail is pretty substantial. I assume
> an endorsement deal means they're compensating the artist for
> advertising their product?
>
Sounds like a "paying gig" here in Nashville. That's where they charge you
a really reasonable fee to play.

[Mike Rivers]

On 4/5/2011 7:26 PM, brassplyer wrote:
> An indie artist who I bought an album from is once again passing the
> hat, saying Sennheiser is offering her an endorsement deal but on
> condition that she have and use a Sennheiser mic.

Well, of course. Otherwise, where's the endorsement?

> She says they'll give her an
> "artist's discount" on a mic. She's apparently trying to raise $600 to
> get the mic.

> If someone is considered prominent enough to be worthy of an
> endorsement deal, do they not just give the artist a piece of gear?

Usually not. Artists who's really prominent enough to do the
company any good for publicity doesn't need a donation of
gear. They can borrow what they wan to try, make their
choice based on what works best for the show, and pay for it
so they don't have any commitments in case they need or want
to make a switch. Often, too, it works the other way - if a
prominent artist chooses a particular piece of gear, the
manufacturer may ask for an endorsement in exchange for
something like extra support. The artist gets his name and
picture in an ad and the gear manufacturer gets their gear
in a picture with a famous artist.

$600 after the "artist endorsement discount" (which might
actually not be all that substantial) suggests that she's
looking at one of their better wireless systems. Those are
so ubiquitous that they really wouldn't get much benefit
from endorsement by an indie artist. If Sennheiser had a
$300 wireless system targeted to the indie artist, they
might be interested in getting a few around and noticed, but
that's not really where their business is.

What sometimes works for them is to sponsor a venue - offer
a discount on a batch of mics knowing that not all of them
will be used exclusively, but that artists who come through
will have an opportunity to try various mics and may decide
to buy some for themselves.



--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com - useful and
interesting audio stuff

[Nate Najar]

On Apr 5, 7:26*pm, brassplyer > wrote:
> An indie artist who I bought an album from is once again passing the
> hat, saying Sennheiser is offering her an endorsement deal but on
> condition that she have and use a Sennheiser mic. In itself of course
> this seems logical and reasonable. She says they'll give her an
> "artist's discount" on a mic. She's apparently trying to raise $600 to
> get the mic. I've emailed her to ask which mic she's eyeballing, no
> response as of this time.
>
> If someone is considered prominent enough to be worthy of an
> endorsement deal, do they not just give the artist a piece of gear? I
> assume the markup from manuf to retail is pretty substantial. I assume
> an endorsement deal means they're compensating the artist for
> advertising their product?

the artist may herself be confused or using the wrong terminology.
Many companies offer artist direct pricing and discounts, usually
based on the idea that you're not just playing in your bedroom, but
you have a reasonable amount of exposure. Some companies will add you
to their website as a "user" or "artist", but the benefit is that you
don't have to pay retail for the stuff. It's not an endorsement,
which these days still is free gear, but that's becoming more rare
except in the upper tiers of commercial performing.

I can think of a few companies I've dealt with who give me artist
direct pricing, which, at least with them is a substantial discount
off of retail, and I'm grateful for the opportunity. One in
particular has no problem sending out demos and loaners to me too.
very cool.

N

[Scott Dorsey]

brassplyer > wrote:
>An indie artist who I bought an album from is once again passing the
>hat, saying Sennheiser is offering her an endorsement deal but on
>condition that she have and use a Sennheiser mic. In itself of course
>this seems logical and reasonable. She says they'll give her an
>"artist's discount" on a mic. She's apparently trying to raise $600 to
>get the mic. I've emailed her to ask which mic she's eyeballing, no
>response as of this time.
>
>If someone is considered prominent enough to be worthy of an
>endorsement deal, do they not just give the artist a piece of gear? I
>assume the markup from manuf to retail is pretty substantial. I assume
>an endorsement deal means they're compensating the artist for
>advertising their product?

It depends entirely on the vendor.

There are at least a couple of microphone vendors who will basically give
an endorsing artist anything they ask for. The problem is, these are people
who basically don't make very good microphones. Most of the cost of their
products go into marketing anyway, so it's effectively savings for them to
give out free product to endorsers.

There are a whole lot of microphone manufacturers who just won't do
endorsements. You will never get an endorsement deal from DPA, Josephson,
or Schoeps. They don't need endorsements, and most of the cost of their
product is in actual manufacture, so endorsements cost them a whole lot.

Then there is a large body of vendors in-between who will give discounts on
endorsement deals, which vary a lot depending on who the performer is and
what products they want. My guess is that folks like Sennheiser would be
a lot more willing to give heavy discounts on mass-produced products than on
their handmade products.

I don't know who your performer is, but have them get a 431 and a 441 on
the used market, and they will never, ever be disappointed with them. Ever.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[joe h]

There are as many types of endorsement deals out there as there are
legal ways to construct them.

Steinway has an interesting "Steinway Artist" arrangement. If
Steinway decides to sponsor you, they won't pay you to use their
pianos, but they will make sure a well-conditioned, tuned Steinway is
ready to go for you when you walk on stage.

[DougD]

In article >, brassplyer > wrote:
>An indie artist who I bought an album from is once again passing the
>hat, saying Sennheiser is offering her an endorsement deal but on
>condition that she have and use a Sennheiser mic. In itself of course
>this seems logical and reasonable. She says they'll give her an
>"artist's discount" on a mic. She's apparently trying to raise $600 to
>get the mic. I've emailed her to ask which mic she's eyeballing, no
>response as of this time.
>
>If someone is considered prominent enough to be worthy of an
>endorsement deal, do they not just give the artist a piece of gear? I
>assume the markup from manuf to retail is pretty substantial. I assume
>an endorsement deal means they're compensating the artist for
>advertising their product?

Waaay back when in the early 80's, their used to be something
called the "Dealer Accomodation Program", (or something like
that), that if you worked for an X amount of time as a prof. audio
"person", you could purchase any of the products of the folks
that belonged to the program for the manufacturers cost plus
10%!! There were some pretty amazing discounts that could
be had, I bought a pair of JBL studio monitors for my home
use, with that discount, I basically was getting two speakers
for the cost of one. And pretty much all the major manu.
participated in the program. I know of a few guys that were
able to buy their first big consoles using that program, as
well as mic's etc. for their studio's. Not the same as a endorsement
deal, but sure wish it was still around!

d.

[hank alrich]

brassplyer > wrote:

> An indie artist who I bought an album from is once again passing the
> hat, saying Sennheiser is offering her an endorsement deal but on
> condition that she have and use a Sennheiser mic. In itself of course
> this seems logical and reasonable. She says they'll give her an
> "artist's discount" on a mic. She's apparently trying to raise $600 to
> get the mic. I've emailed her to ask which mic she's eyeballing, no
> response as of this time.
>
> If someone is considered prominent enough to be worthy of an
> endorsement deal, do they not just give the artist a piece of gear? I
> assume the markup from manuf to retail is pretty substantial. I assume
> an endorsement deal means they're compensating the artist for
> advertising their product?

Depending on stature of the artist the kit might be free, or the offer
might be to purchase at wholesale. That's roughly the range.

--
shut up and play your guitar * http://hankalrich.com/
http://armadillomusicproductions.com/who'slistening.html
http://www.sonicbids.com/HankandShaidriAlrichwithDougHarman

[geoff]

DougD wrote:

> 10%!! There were some pretty amazing discounts that could
> be had, I bought a pair of JBL studio monitors for my home
> use, with that discount, I basically was getting two speakers
> for the cost of one. And pretty much all the major manu.
> participated in the program. I know of a few guys that were
> able to buy their first big consoles using that program, as
> well as mic's etc. for their studio's. Not the same as a endorsement
> deal, but sure wish it was still around!


The classic would have to be the Yamaha NS10 deal, where the highly visible
and identifyable monitors got an exposure that itself generated a totally
false 'aura' and mystique.

Rumour is hat many of these were 'donated' to hi-profile, hi-visibilty
studios.

But thast could be an urban legend.

geoff

[Scott Dorsey]

geoff > wrote:
>
>The classic would have to be the Yamaha NS10 deal, where the highly visible
>and identifyable monitors got an exposure that itself generated a totally
>false 'aura' and mystique.
>
>Rumour is hat many of these were 'donated' to hi-profile, hi-visibilty
>studios.
>
>But thast could be an urban legend.

We got a pair from Yamaha when I was with Master Sound, but then we got
a whole lot of stuff on evaluation or beta testing that we were just asked
to keep afterward.

I still regularly have companies that offer to give me free stuff for
reviewing it in magazines, which is an offer the better magazines won't
let reviewers accept. On the other hand, none of the free stuff I was
ever offered was really any good. That includes the NS-10...
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Pat]

In article
>,
brassplyer > wrote:

> An indie artist who I bought an album from is once again passing the
> hat, saying Sennheiser is offering her an endorsement deal but on
> condition that she have and use a Sennheiser mic. In itself of course
> this seems logical and reasonable. She says they'll give her an
> "artist's discount" on a mic. She's apparently trying to raise $600 to
> get the mic. I've emailed her to ask which mic she's eyeballing, no
> response as of this time.
>
> If someone is considered prominent enough to be worthy of an
> endorsement deal, do they not just give the artist a piece of gear? I
> assume the markup from manuf to retail is pretty substantial. I assume
> an endorsement deal means they're compensating the artist for
> advertising their product?

I had a chat and a few beers with Sennheiser's Canadian Artist Relations
guy a couple weeks ago. Like everybody in this business, he has a
budget. For an indie act, a Sennheiser sponsorship typically means
equipment purchase discounts, and sometimes loaners, demos and the
occasional freebie. It really depends on your profile. If you're selling
out arenas, stands to reason that it's easier to justify giving you
stuff than if you're playing 100-200 seaters.

For $600, i'd guess it's either a Newmann handheld condenser mic or some
sort of wireless kit.

--
My newsreader kills all posts made from google groups
http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/

[DougD]

In article >, flatfish+++ > wrote:

>> Waaay back when in the early 80's, their used to be something
>> called the "Dealer Accomodation Program", (or something like
>> that), that if you worked for an X amount of time as a prof. audio
>> "person", you could purchase any of the products of the folks
>> that belonged to the program for the manufacturers cost plus
>> 10%!!
>
>I used to get gear via that method when I worked selling high end audio
>back in the 70's.
>It was mostly the gear sent to reviewers to write articles in magazines.
>
>I got some really good deals on Marantz stuff back then.
>Even a poor college student, me, could afford it.

I was working at a huge studio design/build company in Mpls.
and they (the head of sales) would give us a list of all the
participating companies and then take our orders, and then
COD. It was a very good program, not sure when it ever
ceased, the last item I bought on it was in about 82. I
remember him joking that neither our company, or
himself could buy the gear at the prices that we were
paying, and we were a huge JBL, Tannoy, Studer,
etc. rep.

d.