You’re looking at Guitar Player Magazine and every other page depicts a guitarist holding a shiny new guitar or standing in front of a new half stack with some killer new pedals.  How often have you wished that you were in that magazine or internet ad?

Maybe you don’t even play that particular guitar or use their brand of amp but the exposure you’d get from appearing in the ad would be priceless right?
Think again….

Keep reading to learn more about our guest writer and guitar extraordinaire, Brev Sullivan..

We musicians are picky. Finicky is actually a better word.  We need this guitar with those strings and that pedal with a certain setting or we can’t perform at our best. I should know.

Often I get invited by various companies to demo a guitar or amp where I don’t have my own guitar available. It’s different than a gig. I can’t bring  my trusty Gibson guitar if I’m doing a demo for Ibanez right? When invited to do a product demo performance, the company that I’m doing a demo for will hand me an unfamiliar guitar that has questionably high action or isn’t set up to my tastes. If your lucky you may get a few minutes to test out the product your demoing but more often than not you have to do it on the fly and hope for the best.

What does this have to do with getting an endorsement?

Be careful what you wish for.

If you play a guitar or have a favorite amp and you’ve played it and loved it for 20 years, stick with it.
However if you try to get an endorsement with the company that makes your pedal, guitar, or amp, do your research.

A Few Tips for Getting a Guitar Endorsement

1) Find out what kind of endorsements the company offers:
Most companies do NOT give away products for free especially the big stuff like guitars and amps. Heck, even strings are hard to get for free sometimes.
They will however give you an artist pricing discount(typically 40 percent of the price of the product) if they decide to endorse you.

2) Ask if the company will post your website link?
Musicians listen up!! Cross promotion is the lifeblood of your career. Will you ever be famous? Maybe, if you use the internet enough it’s possible to promote your career all on your own these days. Wouldn’t it be great if your name were on a few sites?

Even If you can only get a company that sells something as small as a guitar pick it will get your name out there and it’s a start. Many small companies (and a few of the big corporate ones) will actually talk to you and may take interest in your career which is the point in the first place.

3) Actually use the product
Don’t try to get an endorsement with Shecter if you love and play a Fender.
Do you want to have to play gigs AND appear with a guitar that you feel lukewarm about  when you just want to play your trusty old Fender Strat? Getting an endorsement will not make you famous. The people you see in the Schecter magazine or website ads holding guitars are already famous or have great management. That’s why they’re chosen for the ad. Many companies save their top endorsement slots for top 10 bands only. That counts us Shredders and Jazz guys out!!

4)If you do get endorsed, find out if your contract is exclusive or non- exclusive.

Say you get that Dean endorsement, you’ve got your wings! Now what? Better check your contract. Dean may want you to appear with your Dime Razorback at every show you play, and appear with it in every photo you take for the next 3-4 years. You may have obligations to fulfill such as clinics and  appearances.

Cool. Now who pays for your hotel and plane ticket? You do.

Many artists complain that they don’t get paid but actually have to subsidize all their trips. Ouch! At first when you get an endorsement, that new bass or guitar is the greatest. However when the newness of the experience wears off, you start missing that old Strat and now you may be stuck with a guitar for a 3 year obligation that you don’t like so much after all. How often do I hear of stories of artists never really using the gear they appear in the ad with? More than I care for.

HOW TO ACTUALLY GET THE ENDORSEMENT!

Again, do your homework, and use your  common sense. Unless you have a top 10 hit, or you are a absolute freak of nature on guitar or your group is blowing up the touring circuit it may be hard to walk up to Fender and say please endorse me. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible but certainly any huge company like Fender is looking at the big picture.

They’re are going to want to know the 3 big questions?

How often do you play?
Where do you play?
Do you expose their product to huge amount of potential customers on a regular basis?

Even then, they may not give you a discount on products but may put you on their site if you have videos and blog about them often. That’s a positive 1st step.

Who knows, if you keep promoting yourself with your beloved Fender, set yourself on fire, throw monthly parties at your home in Fenders honor then jump through flaming hoops while performing the fight of the Bumblebee they may eventually sign you as an endorsed artist. Doing that might make the evening news!

Here’s How I Did It

Remember the part about musicians being picky? Well there’s a downside to this. Picky and finicky can turn into ego and ego leads to selfishness and…
(does this sound like turning to the darkside in a jedi movie?)
Be nice to everyone you meet in the business. Express interest in what they’re doing not just what you’re about. They may have music careers too. I’ve met a ton of artist reps for companies. Their
big pet peeve is when musicians try to use the phrase” I play with so and so!” Or. “My band opened for Metallica,” and “I’m the shredder of the month” They do not want to hear that info unsolicited. Let a manager do that for you. Just be the artist and stick to what you know: making good music.

Look, if you’re a celebrity they’ll know about you. If you’re a relatively underground musician who loves and plays the product, be honest. Tell them you use their guitar or amp everywhere, and you’re plastered YouTube with videos appearing with their product. That is enough in the case of some companies to get you a small endorsement deal or acknowledgment on their website as one of their users.

I’ve narrowed down my choices to a very few select products. I have my favorite guitar, my favorite amp,
my favorite pedals, my favorite guitar cable all picked out and I have endorsements with all the companies.

Why? because I got to know the people behind the product and used and promoted their product long before I ever dreamed I’d actually meet in the person the people behind the product. And above all when I finally met them I was nice!!

Namm

Yes. It’s important to go there and meet the people behind the company who build your instrument at the namm booths. Over 90 percent of my endorsements are the result of doing free promotion for booths at namm. Ultimately the deals I got were all because both parties felt they could mutually benefit. Their decision to work with me was out of my good intentions and integrity for promoting their product for so many years on my own accord, not how many top 10  hits I have or that I hung out with Slash at a party once.

And often there were no formal contracts,  just a quick scribbled agreement written on a napkin, followed by a friendly handshake and me saying “I work for you.”

To find out more about Brev, check him out at his website:

http://www.brevsullivan.com/

If you want to learn more about what it takes to become a professional guitar player, check out our audio interview series, Studio Guitar Secrets: Making Guitar Your Career.

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