Don’t look now, but the music industry as we knew it is continuing to crumble. The fact that selling records is a thing of the past, and downloads are fast approaching a more lucrative venture, supports the simple but terrible realization that the “OLD” music industry is D-E-A-D. Record labels were so caught up in the greed of selling records that they didn’t even realize the slow take-over the internet and illegal downloading would have over the past decade. It took a while, but finally the industry has begun to turn around. Annual loss has now started to turn back to annual gain, and it is all because of one industry, SPONSORSHIP.

Here is a prime example of the sponsorship industry coming to the rescue of record labels around the world, but more pre-dominantly the United States:

“North American-based companies will spend $1.17 billion to sponsor music venues, festivals and tours in 2011, a 7.3 percent increase from the $1.09 billion spent in 2010, according to IEG, the world’s leading authority on sponsorship.

Corporate interest in music partnerships has never been greater, said William Chipps, senior editor of IEG Sponsorship Report. Spending continues to be driven by the apparel, automotive, insurance, personal grooming, retail, technology and telecommunications categories, all of which are increasingly using sponsorship to build their brands and gain one-on-one touch points with young adult consumers.”

This was also said about sponsorship regarding the YOUTH MOVEMENT with brands:

“It’s clear that there’s massive new opportunities in sponsorship and advertising programs for obtaining the greatest reach, perception, and awareness among youth culture today. The Report, produced by Label Networks, a leading global youth culture marketing intelligence and media company, provides fresh consumer insight and analysis that indicates how, where, and why this new generation of consumers is influenced most by specific sponsorship programs, plus the state of advertising effectiveness, including what’s hot and what’s over, in addition to quantifying effective grassroots and viral marketing ingenuity via specific industries and unexpected communication formats.

“Fascinating results have been produced from our Sponsorship + Advertising Youth Culture Report,” says Tom Wallace, President of Label Networks. “Results illustrate the mercurial adaptation and success of those who have not only tapped the vein among America’s youth culture markets, but pushed trends forward through unique and creative sponsorship and advertising campaigns, while exposing the near-tragic and almost comical disconnect of others when trying to reach today’s generation of new consumers.”

Sponsorship has taken the music industry and combined consumer brands with integrated marketing campaigns not only to sell more records- scratch that, DOWNLOADS – but to grow an artist from grassroots by pairing the artist or band with a certain brand and keeping relevancy among America’s youth alive.

Sponsorship has saved the music industry for now and the numbers over the past year say “Thank YOU” in full detail.

By Brandon Edgley

Gnosiis Media LLC

Sponsorship and Developments