When Creative Minds Collide.

I got an exclusive goodie for you all! A music artist and writer by the name of Klass Jones Junior hit me up about writing a piece for the site about collaborations between the creative community and corporate companies. I thought it would be perfect! A little bit about Klass, he's from both VA and NY. He has a great interest and love for music, business, and art. This is one of his first pieces to ever be online, so it's like he's dropping his debut mixtape and I'm sponsoring it! I'm so excited to present this piece and so thankfully Klass chose to drop it with me. With that said, I present When Creative Mind Collide by Klass Jones Junior!

When Creative Minds Collide

Music Culture Causes Corporate to Change the game.

by Klass Jones Junior

What is the consequence of when creative minds collide? Over the years, various individuals and organizations have come together with a common vision to create something awesome and spectacular that will be talked about for generations. Recently, many artists and businesses have teamed up, spawning creative collaborations, making new revenue streams and branding opportunities available. Here are some excellent examples of what happens when different types of talent merge together with brands on various projects, tweet #GameChanger.

Jay-Z & Samsung

It is without a doubt that Jay-Z is Hip Hop's leading entrepreneurial force that has made millions of dollars through a multiplicity of ways. Recently, Samsung partnered up with this veteran hip-hop artist to buy his Magna Carta Holy Grail album for $5 million. This allowed 1 million Samsung Galaxy users to download the entire album for free through a mobile app. This is a classic example of how a music artist has managed to still make a lot of money in an environment where music is easily downloaded for free. This is a major example of how artists are using their art to connect with consumers in an unconventional way. This Samsung deal with Jay-Z not only helped Samsung align themselves with Hip-Hop’s leading trendsetter, which gave their brand a new essence of cool, Jay-Z may have spawned a new outlook on the way artists sell their music forever. Take a look at the 3-minute long commercial that gained national attention when it previewed during the NBA playoffs. #GameChanger

Food For Thought: Personally, This deal tilts the line, somewhere between revolutionary and selling out. There has always been this underline stigma associated with artists selling out by being financed by the big wigs. Yet, in a society where the average consumer will download your music for free, and the generous one will pay you .99 cents for a song, with the artist only receiving .25 cents on the dollar, how else can artists make a living off of music? Jay-z has trail blazed a path of opportunity that should bring added enthusiasm to artists, hitting the studio, everywhere. This Samsung deal displays how the power of music can help artists build status and use that celebrity to align themselves with businesses to make money. Maybe it’s not the conventional way of connecting the music directly to consumers and profiting strictly off of album sales, but the fan doesn’t lose anything, they still get the music, and the artists is profitable. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Converse & Rubber Tracks

Boston-based sneaker brand, Converse, recently branched out into a new arena by investing in developing a 5,200 sq. ft. record studio right in the heart of Brooklyn. This full-service studio, dubbed Converse Rubber Tracks will offer free recording sessions to local bands and other music acts. What's crazy is that the studio doesn't even want ownership of the music that they help produce. Instead, the company is focused on finding other unique ways of how to profit off its investment by earning the trust and goodwill of popular celebrity musicians and bands and insulating the Converse brand into the music community. By hosting its services to bands three to five times a week, the studio hopes to make long-term relationships with the music community as a means of extending the life of the Converse brand. #GameChanger 

Rest of article after the cut! 

Food For Thought: This idea is Dope! Converse to me has  “hit the nail on the head”, if you will. Indirectly Converse is showing their core audience that they care by giving them a tangible gift, a studio, a STUDIO! Just the name alone is perfect. Rubber Tracks, a double entendre bridging the soles of the converse shoe, in relation to walking and creating tracks, to tracks that are created during recording. Hence, Rubber Tracks. Hopefully I explained that correctly. Well even if I didn’t, think about this. You’re an artist/musician, and a company that you already have an affinity towards offers you to record in their million-dollar studio for free. How would you feel about that company? Exactly. In advertising we call indirect marketing as a pull strategy, but this is beyond marketing, this is true relationship building, friendship, gratitude – the strongest human emotion.

Warby Parker & Ghostly International

Ghostly International is a well renowned creative indie record label that recently teamed up with Warby Parker to pour their talent and creativity into the fashion industry. This is a classic example of how two brands can come together to design unique fashion products for niche communities. These two leading brands were able to identify a particular demographic and consumer lifestyle that listens to EDM music and has an "artsy" way of life.

Warby Parker is being regarded as an “indie label business” by setting themselves apart from other eyewear companies through cutting out the middle men and allowing customers to receive stylish eyeglasses and sunglasses at affordable prices. Their unique philanthropic business model gives a pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair purchased. By teaming up with Ghostly International, Warby will distribute its products through a fellow "indie" company and go directly to their main customers. Take a look at “The Curtis” the official EDM sunglasses and listen to some of Ghost’s artists, which are all fused on the site, here.  #GameChanger

Food For Thought: Warby Parker is gaining so much attention because they are taking a product that seems so common that it’s almost become mundane, well at least in the buying experience, I mean, no one cares about glasses! Or do they? In the last five years or so, glasses have taken a turn from being an antidotal tool, to a lifestyle accessory. Like its counterpart sunshades, eyeglasses nowadays have to help you see as well as look better. It seems that Warby Parker has caught on to this trend and intends to capitalize on it. With that being said, how do you connect eyeglasses to a lifestyle? Warby Parker has seemed to find its niche in doing so by collaborating with different brands, bringing the eyewear’s uniqueness out. When Warby parker connected with Ghostly Intentional to make the official EDM shades, we see two progressive companies coming together to give consumers something new. It’s a testament to their mission to push the envelop, and even if creating a pair of shades and marking them as the “official whatever” doesn’t sound that revolutionary, the character of the companies behind a idea like this is.

Creative Collaboration is happening all the time, all across the world. These are just a few examples of how different companies, individuals and outlets with different visions can come together to create innovative products and services that changed the game, tweet #GameChanger.

- Klass Jones Junior

If you enjoyed this post, please share with others and comment below!

For more Klass Jones Junior, check out:
twitter.com/KlassJonesMusic
KlasswiththeTitans.tumblr.com
soundcloud.com/jonesjuniormusic

If you're a writer and would like to submit a piece/article you feel fits this site, please email me at Es@thegirltheycalles.com, with your preferred name, short bio/background, concept of article, and links (personal website, twitter, tumblr, etc.)!!!

'Always More, Never Less'-Es