Music Funding 101
Local Sponsorships
A band's first instinct may be to go after the money wherever it appears, even if it is far away where the band won't have to think about it or face the sponsor too much. A sponsor's first instinct, on the contrary, is to look for bands in the city where the sponsor lives. Thus, there is a built-in discrepancy that TalentFunding.com tries to bring together. More often than not, sponsorships will end up being "local", meaning the band and the sponsor will live in the same town. There are several reasons for this:
HOMETOWN SHOWS: By being in the same city as the sponsor's product or service, the band will be requested to do most of their shows there, like they probably do now already (and thus, there is less change involved). And the band will get to do more shows, since they are now sponsored. And that's what the sponsor wants... more shows and exposure.
SPONSOR-BAND LOCALITY: At the lower levels of sponsorship, meaning local, it will make more sense to the fans of the band if the band is a local act that is recognized, than if the band is from some far off place. And as all record labels know, it takes much more money to market a band in a far off place than it does in the band's hometown. There is also the potential customers of the sponsor (who in this case we are hoping will be the same people as the fans of the band); they will think it makes more sense that a sponsor is local, like a local retail establishment, than if the sponsor is unknown and from out-of-town... even if the product or service in available locally. But again, this is at the low sponsorship levels.
SPONSOR NETWORKING: Again, at the lower exposure levels (i.e. money for marketing) that most bands will be operating at, keeping everything in the band's hometown will be important because potential sponsors can talk to other potential sponsors at the shows, appearances, radio station "remotes", and even the band rehearsals, and thus feel more comfortable about "going in" on the band, possibly even together. This will probably be the deciding factor for many sponsorship decisions.
SPONSOR SIMPLICITY: Local sponsors usually desire less complex and less demanding negotiations (after all, they only have to think about one city), which makes it easier for the average band to work with. Also, local sponsors tend to be individuals rather than corporations, which again is easier to work with.
SPONSOR FUN: Going to shows is fun for almost everyone, and that certainly includes a sponsor who has decided to put money into a band. Being local makes this easy.
MEETINGS: Local sponsors are very "hands on", meaning that they like to keep in close contact with their sponsorship project; the band almost becomes a personal art project. Once-a-week meetings are not too far of a stretch, at least in the beginning of a sponsorship campaign. Later, dropping the meetings down to every two weeks and then to every month is possible if results for the sponsorship are on target.
FANS: The whole purpose of a sponsorship is to get the sponsor's name in front of a lot of fans. When the sponsor sees this happening with their own eyes ... how many fans the band actually has (because the sponsor is able to go to the local shows) ... they are more likely to continue or increase their sponsorship.
PROBLEM SOLVING: Being very hands-on, a local sponsor will feel better about being nearby in case something goes wrong (singer gets sick, car breaks down). Once they put money into the band, they can't get it back; so making sure that things move forward is in their best interest.
WORD OF MOUTH: In addition to seeing the fans, and maybe even talking to them, the sponsor will be able to tell if there is good word-of-mouth about them and/or the band. This will tell the sponsor first-hand if what they are doing is working.
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