How do drummers get sponsored?

Troy Wright is endorsed by Sabian and Luke Holland by Meinl. They're the only drummers on youtube I know with "big 4" companies.

Troy Wright is more than just a YouTube drummer though; he's keeping himself very busy with gigs and sessions, and he's also a drum teacher.

And although Luke Holland got his name out there through YouTube, he also plays with The Word Alive, which is definitely a band on their way up.
 
lots of good posts here..

ANYONE can endorse by soul tone, exodus and other companies like that. Email artist relations and they will put you on the artist list and offer you a CRAZY deal. The day i pay $600 for a ride cymbal though. so they offer it to you at 200 when your an atrtists.. which is their original price anyways.

Its not worth trying to be an endorser if you have to switch to a brand most people have never even played and you don't know if you like it. If you are getting lots of exposure ask the companies you already play.

I recently sent out about 4 emails to companies who's gear i already use.. mind you.. they are pretty big companies with an intimidating roster.. I got 3 no's and a yes.

In this day and age you have to approach them,
 
Hi,
I am new here and this is how I see it. If they do not give the product for free I would not endorse anyone. I am not a pro drummer but I am a racing coach and play drums for fun.
Just my opinion.

Thank You
Paul
 
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if i was a big drummer making a fair bit, chad smith for example, i wouldn't bother with an endorsement unless that brand was the only one i liked and no other brands matched. I probably would go with a drum company as an endorsement due to them being able to make you a custom kit, like DW or tama. cymbals i wouldn't just plainly because i don't use just one brand. i use zildjian, paste, sabian and am looking at other brands to add. same with the hardware. I use a gibraltar rack with tama, mapex, gibraltar, pearl and DW stands.

If i was going to go for a drum company as an endorsement i would probably go for somebody like SJC because they don't produce hardware (as far as i know).

To be honest, i would prefer to make my own kits if i could afford it.


Old post i know but just thought id have my say;)
 
Thing is Charlie is that it's not about the gear, it's about the tour support.

If you're touring with a big-name artist it's unlikely that you'll be able to cart the same kit from Australia, to the US, back to Britain and elsewhere in the kind of timescale that these artists play. It's not uncommon for artists to finish a leg of a tour in one country and within a couple of days, play a different country.

So a lot of these deals come down to logistics. Can the company get a kit to you where you are and when you need it?
 
Hey guys, I see alot of youtube drummers and famous drummers getting sponsored "free cymbols, drums, etc" I would like to know how they go about getting sponsored, do they contact these cymbal company's? or what?

And I've heard you had to be in this big professional band but that can't be true because my friend Alexey she is sponsored by Soul Tone cymbals and shes not "famous" or anything.

She got too visit NAMM and see Chad Smith, Tony Royster, all those guys! i'd really wish I could do that too!

You are so misinformed. Drum and cymbal makers do not "sponsor" drummers. What you are are referring to is an endorsement deal. That is where drummers endorse a product and in return receive some level of support from the company. Generally this is a discount on products. Some artists enjoy occasional free products. Manufacturers also keep a stable of artists, generally between ten and twenty, that receive free equipment an top tier support. Above this are signature artists and they do receive a portion of sales of their signature product. In order to get an endorsement deal you must be able to do something for them in the form of visibility. I have a friend who endorses a stick company. He has over 40 students, plays for his church, and plays over one hundred hours of shows a year. The company actually documents this, and in return he gets some free sticks and a discount when if he buys them.
 
I endorse 4 companies: Sonor, Vater, Paiste and Porter&Davies. I dont play any other brand of drums/cymbals/sticks or thrones. I paid for all my products that I endorse....I just love the stuff I play...and Im happy to pay for and promote the companies I use.

F
 
I think a key thing that would help is endorsing products that you are already using!

Proving you already love the products a company makes I think is a huge huge thing that means so much more to a company than sending your standard press pack to every tom, dick and harry expecting an endorsement off somebody.

Make sure they know what you can do for them. It could be that you would be willing to assist in the development of new hardware, or drum sets. If you can be realistic with what you expect and realistic in what you can do for them aside just talking about them, then you may have a better chance.

Don't go in asking for Pearl Masterworks, or Sabian HHX, or DW hardware etc you get the picture. If you are an artist with not so much exposure do not ask or expect the best gear, just ask for what is suitable for your level and be prepared to bend over backwards for them.

This is all just advice as I do not endorse any companies, but I could not imagine myself playing Orange County drums when I have a special love for Mapex kits, if they won't endorse me then I'll keep the kit I've got and try again when I have more exposure or something different to offer...

Sorry for the semi-rambling
Baz
 
You can be sponsored by SoulTone. All you have to do is agree not to play anything else, and buy their cymbals which they sell to you at 70% off of the retail price - which is really the same price you can get a discounted Zildjian for at the Guitar Center or other music store dealership. They were signing guys up left and right at the NAMM show.

Now whether or not they realize that they could play whatever they want, because they're basically paying the regular prices for the cymbals, I'll never know.

I wondered why so many drummers I know personally are Soultone artists. They're in local bands for cripes sake. I guess that makes me 'Sabian endorsed' haha.
 
After your well known enough that you really dont need the sponsorship, companies will call and offer you the moon while slicing the letter of the contract as thin as possible.

...no different than anything else in this world...


...sorry...bad attitude at the moment.
 
I find it comical that some people think that they can be sponsored before earning anything. It's after you earn a visible place in the music business, that's when the real sponsorship happens. Anything less is a marketing ploy that makes people feel more important than they really are lol.
 
I find it comical that some people think that they can be sponsored before earning anything. It's after you earn a visible place in the music business, that's when the real sponsorship happens. Anything less is a marketing ploy that makes people feel more important than they really are lol.

Ringo Starr once said that when he needed everything, nobody would give him anything. When he hit big with the Beatles making an income, companies want to give him stuff!

Cooler still was what John Panazzo said when he was in Styx (Modern Drummer 1982), he said he can afford whatever he needs, but the endorsement is good for support while they are on tour. You need to replace broken parts while on the road, so that was the most important thing to him. He loved Tama at the time, and up until then had played all the big name drum kits, but he said Tama was very good about the support of his instrument. Fast forward to 2013 when I met a Sonor rep at the NAMM show who explained to me that his job was to get their big artists kits when they needed them, and he used Gavin Harrison as an example when he went on the David Letterman show. This guy was responsible for getting the exact kit Gavin specified for the show, so all Gavin had to do was fly into New York, rehearse with the band, and do the show. He said when FedEx lost the first kit, he had to scramble to piece together another one at the last minute. He really felt like he earned his paycheck for those few days!
 
I endorse 4 companies: Sonor, Vater, Paiste and Porter&Davies. I dont play any other brand of drums/cymbals/sticks or thrones. I paid for all my products that I endorse....I just love the stuff I play...and Im happy to pay for and promote the companies I use.

F

Why then is UFIP mentioned in your sig?
 
So much has been written on the subject already but here's the big stuff- an "Endorsement" by a company is a loosely structured business arrangement between an artist and that company.

The company provides the artist their product at a discounted rate or comped in exchange for visibility and "realtime testimonial" of said product.

But it's also a chance to grow with a company and be useful to them. And this business of music... it's a very small world and sometimes the person from Company A moves to Company C so it's always good to be nice to everyone because you never know when you'll have to encounter that person.
 
I find it comical that some people think that they can be sponsored before earning anything. It's after you earn a visible place in the music business, that's when the real sponsorship happens. Anything less is a marketing ploy that makes people feel more important than they really are lol.

I do too.

But I put the "blame" (for lack of a better word) more on these small manufactures who offer "endorsements" to whomever as a way to make sales.

Young drummers see other young drummers on youtube saying they endorse brand XYZ, and it seems to so easy, and such a sign on "you've made it' when all that happened is said drummer purchased a full set of cymbals, or whatever it is, and was then listed on said manufactures website as a paying customer, I mean "endorser."

It's a long way from the 80's even early 90's where there were guys playing in big bands who couldn't get en endorsement to save their lives because manufactures wouldn't give deals to anyone they felt was a one hit wonder or wasn't established enough.
 
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