The Chainsmokers performing live in 2018 in Berlin (Photo by Frank Hoensch/Redferns)
The U.S. DJ/producer duo The Chainsmokers are not just successful electronic musicians and performers. Like many of their peers who’ve built sustainable careers in a fast-changing music industry, Alex Pall and Drew Taggart have also had to closely attend to the business side of their creativity, leveraging social media and deals with brands to help make a living.
Given the music industry’s shift to streaming, and the outsized impact that social-video platforms such as TikTok and YouTube have had on musicians connecting with fans, it’s no surprise that brands are routinely reaching out to Pall and Taggart for partnerships. But doing a brand deal involves far more than a simple ‘yes,’ followed by an online video post.
With the massive VidCon influencer conference returning to an in-person event today in Anaheim, Calif., I interviewed Pall by email earlier in the week. We talked about how The Chainsmokers use brand-collaboration platform Pearpop to figure out what songs actually succeed with fans, what brands they may want to do deals with and more. The Chainsmokers like Pearpop so much, they invested in the company.
Pearpop just announced a partnership with social-video metrics company Tubular Labs to connect retail data from Amazon
The duo’s fans are, for instance, four times more likely to shop for books on Walmart than the average social-video viewer. Other tidbits beyond The Chainsmokers include:
- Nearly 20% of comedian Kevin Hart’s audience shopped for electronics on Amazon with 30 days of watching one of his videos.
- MrBeast, the massively popular YouTube creator and philanthropist, has an audience that’s four times more likely than average to shop for tennis rackets on Amazon.
- The audience for Instagram star Sommer Ray is 7.4 times more likely to shop Amazon for mouse pads within 30 days of watching one of her videos.
The Tubular-Pearpop partnership represents a potentially big step for creators such as The Chainsmokers that rely on brand deals, but need to show their partners what works, Pall suggested. Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation:
Forbes: How are the Chainsmokers using Pearpop and Tubular? Any example of a project where the data and other information helped drive your business and art?
Pall: We have used the original function of Pearpop multiple times with our recent releases. It was an amazing resource for us not only to seed ideas and songs to Tiktok but also to track what seemed to be connecting or not. In our eyes, Pearpop helps facilitate, organize and strategize releases and even more so, when you see something clicking, amplify it. We haven’t had the chance to use Tubular yet but we are quite excited about the prospect of it. So much can be gained on both sides of the equation from a service like this. I think that’s something Pearpop always does a great job on, seeing things from both sides, what is the supply and demand, what are the expectations and demands and so on.
Forbes: I understand you're also Pearpop investors. What led you to invest in the company, and where else have you and Drew invested in tech and entertainment? Where does this fit into your strategies for your creative work and the business behind your work?
Pall: Yes, we invested personally. I alluded to it a bit in the last question, but for us, we recognize that Pearpop is about bringing information and the power with it forward, but not just to one party involved but to everyone. That to us is the nature of great business and they understand the balance it strikes with social (video), and consumerism. As investors, we are people first, we love investing into people that are looking at things from a fresh or different perspective, trying to disrupt the status quo or bring a better experience forward. We are pretty picky when we invest in social and consumer but some of the other investments we have made are Fanhouse, Slushy, Royal, Beacons, Stir, PopShop Live, Underdog Fantasy and some others. All these investments (are in) businesses (that) in some shape or form really tap into a new experience, and a better one at that, between social and consumer.
Forbes: Talk about the challenges The Chainsmokers have faced in getting adequate data about their projects, particularly when working with brands. It's a common complaint, but how might the Pearpop/Tubular connection ease the situation?
Pall: Well, I can’t imagine a single creator, artist or you name it that gets tapped for potential brand deals or campaigns that hasn't thought to themselves, “Despite the financial compensation, more importantly will my fans relate to this?” At the end of the day every time you aggressively service your fans something that doesn't connect, you are not only hurting yourself and your relationship with your fans but the business relationship itself. It seems pretty obvious when you say it out loud, but in between this all, there are so many grey areas where you are just making assumptions. We have done many deals where in retrospect we wish we understood a little better what our fans were actually wanting. Tubular will remove all the mystery and guessing and allow really healthy, productive deals to move forward where both sides are excited to participate. If I knew a clothing company we were promoting was worn or bought by a big percentage of our fans, I would be much more inclined to go above and beyond the minimum promotional requirements.
