Chainsmokers perform live in Berlin in 2018 (Photo: Frank Hoensch / Redfurns)
US DJ / producer duo The Chainsmokers are not just successful electronic musicians and actors. Like many of their colleagues who have built sustainable careers in the fast-changing music industry, Alex Paul and Drew Taggart have had to be closely involved in the business side of their creativity, using social media and helping to make a living by dealing with brands. .
With the shift to the streaming of the music industry and the huge impact social-video platforms like TikTok and YouTube have had on musicians connecting with fans, it’s no surprise that brands are reaching out to Paul and Taggart on a regular basis for partnerships. But dealing with a brand involves much more than a simple ‘yes’ followed by an online video post.
As I returned to the huge VidCon Influential Conference today at a private event in Anaheim, California, I interviewed Paul via email earlier in the week. We talked about how The Chainsmokers use the brand-collaboration platform PeerPop, which songs are actually successful to fans, which brands they want to deal with, and much more. Chainsmokers love peerpop so much, they invested in the company.
PeerPop has announced a partnership with social-video metrics company Tubular Labs to connect retail data from Amazon.
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Fans of the pair, for example, are four times more likely to buy books at Walmart than the average social-video viewer. Other news outside of Chainsmokers includes:
- About 20% of viewers of comedian Kevin Hart have made purchases for electronics on Amazon within 30 days of watching a video of him.
- Mr.Bist, the creator of the hugely popular YouTube and philanthropist, has more than four times the average audience for buying a tennis racket on Amazon.
- For Instagram star viewers Somar Ray Within 30 days of watching one of his videos, Amazon is 7.4 times more likely to buy a mouse pad.
The tubular-peer-pop partnership represents a potentially big step for manufacturers like The Chainsmokers who rely on brand deals, but need to show their partners what works, Paul suggested. Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation:
Forbes: How are chainsmokers using peerpop and tubular? Any examples of a project where data and other information helped drive your business and industry?
Paul: We’ve used Pearpop’s original function more than once with our recent release. It was an amazing resource for us not only to sow the seeds of ideas and songs on Tiktok, but also to track what is connecting or not. In our view, Pearpop helps simplify, organize and strategize releases and, more importantly, expand it when you see something click. We haven’t had a chance to use the tubular yet but we’re pretty excited about the possibility of it. Much can be achieved on both sides of the equation from such services. I think it’s something that Pearpop always does a great job of looking at things from both sides, what the supply and demand is, what the expectations and needs are and so on.
Forbes: I understand you are also a peacock investor. What has led you to invest in the company and where else have you and Drew invested in technology and entertainment? Where does it fit between your creative work and your strategies for the business behind your work?
Paul: Yes, we have invested privately. I hinted at this somewhat in the last question, but for us, we acknowledge that peer-pop is about bringing information and energy forward, but not just for one party involved but for everyone. This is the nature of great business for us and they understand that it balances with social (video) and consumerism. As investors, we are the first people, we like to invest in people who are looking at things from a new or different perspective, trying to disrupt stability or coming up with better experiences. We like it a lot when we invest in social and consumer but the other things we have invested in are Fanhouse, Slush, Royal, Beacons, Steer, Popshop Live, Underdog Fantasy and more. All of these investments (in) business (which) in some form or shape really tap into a new experience, and it’s a good one between social and consumer.
Forbes: Talk about the challenges that chain smokers face in getting enough data about their projects, especially when working with brands. This is a common complaint, but how can peer pop / tubular connection make the situation easier?
Paul: Well, I can’t imagine a creator, artist, or you a name tapped for a potential brand deal or campaign that didn’t think to itself, “Despite the financial compensation, more importantly will my fans relate to it?” At the end of the day, whenever you aggressively offer services to your fans that do not connect, you are not only harming yourself and your relationship with your fans, but also your business relationship. It sounds pretty obvious when you say it out loud, but in all of this, there are a lot of gray areas where you’re just guessing. We’ve made a lot of deals where we can better understand what our fans actually wanted. Tubular will remove all mystery and conjecture and allow really healthy, productive deals to move forward where both parties are interested in participating. If I knew that we were promoting a clothing company that was worn or bought by a large percentage of our fans, I would be more interested in going above and beyond the minimum promotional requirements.
