Linkin Park holds a special place in the hearts of many. For me, the “nu-metal” genre provided me with an eclectic mix of hard-hitting metal with hip-hop overtones, and fed the fire for my angsty teenage days (straightened fringe included). The band was a mainstay of the late 90’s, and almost two decades later, I am constantly being reminded of how much older I am, and by the looks of it, so are the members of LP.
2015 has welcomed the existence of a new endeavour for the band, in the form of music marketing and merchandising, with a venture capital firm that seeks to develop branding and social exposure. The firm itself acts as an offshoot of the Machine Shop company the band originally founded in 1999, and deals directly with the marketing aspects of the music business. It is a far cry from the band who arguably reached their peak with an unusual collaboration, Collision Course, a joint effort with hip-hop mogul Jay-Z.
Speaking to TIME Magazine, Kiel Berry, who has acted as the bands executive vice president of Machine Shop, has given some insight into why this business decision makes sense in the current climate, and why a band such as Linkin Park feels the need to branch out in such an unusual direction. Working in tandem with the Harvard Business School, Berry revealed that the rise of merchandising skills of Tyler the Creator, and the business smarts of Jay-Z served as the main inspiration, as these are just two of a large group of artists who have established themselves as media moguls.
I’m not sure whether I should be taking advice from the group that influenced me into wearing black clothing and hailing screaming vocals, but it is definitely a sign of the times. It is clear that Linkin Park as a brand has lost a lot of their mainstream appeal, so it is only natural that they are willing to explore the minutia of the industry itself, in an attempt to figure out a technique that they can use to their advantage.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNPECkESPbU]
