3 Lessons Cause Marketers Can Learn from the Music Industry

Earlier this month, Live Nation Entertainment, Bravado International and City of Hope joined forces to launch a long-term initiative to sell a collection of collectible “Hope, Love and Rock & Roll” t-shirts from big names in music from Lady Gaga to Jimmy Buffett, Justin Bieber to KISS. 

Not less than 50% of the retail prices of these specially-designed shirts will go to City of Hope, a comprehensive cancer center located east of Los Angeles.    For those not familiar with the interior workings of the music industry (present company included) this cause marketing campaign may not have caught your attention but here are 3 lessons you can learn from this initiative.   Lesson 1:  Form Unlikely Alliances Live Nation owns merchandising rights for a broad collection of popular artists (think Madonna, U2 and Jay-Z), selling everything from t-shirts to buttons, posters and prints, no small revenue stream.  Long-time supporters of City of Hope, Live Nation’s main competitor is none other than Bravado International, who owns merchandising rights for another collection of popular artists (think Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber).  As you might imagine, this is an incredibly competitive industry.   But, for City of Hope, the two competitors agreed to collaborate on “Hope, Love and Rock & Roll”, each tapping their artists to sign on to the program with a specially-designed t-shirt.  Read More...