“building a critical mass of artists” in order to more successfully attract the right brands and sponsorships. Taylor expects that companies that traditionally advertise through celebrities, such as clothing brands, and instrument makers, could be the first types of businesses that SplinkMedia targets.
Sponsoring indie artists isn’t just a cheaper, untapped market, but could also be more meaningful, Taylor says. Fans might be more likely to connect with brands associated to indie musicians, because of the more intimate relationship between those performers and their followers. “The relationship of the indie artists is a lot more sincere and a lot more connected than these large level artists that don’t interact with their fans on a daily basis,” Taylor says.
SplinkMedia kicked off a private beta phase last spring, and has attracted about 100 artists to its online community. It might sound small, but Taylor said that crop of musicians has a total fan following of about 700,000. He’s hoping to strengthen that community as well as the business opportunities before raising outside venture funding. The company is focused on Michigan musicians, but has organically attracted artists from a handful of other states, Taylor says. It plans to take a cut from the sponsorships, and is eyeing the same 10 percent to 20 percent that traditional music agents charge.
The roughly four-person SplinkMedia team is bootstrapping the operation at present, and is able to keep expenses low by working in Ann Arbor rather than entertainment hubs like L.A. or New York. And Taylor says there’s plenty of fodder for a successful operation in Michigan. “Ann Arbor and Detroit have a lot of talent—-both in music and business,” he says.
