Warner Music has partnered with text message marketing platform Community, marking Community’s first deal with a major music company.
The partnership will see select Warner Music artists given the power to “personally text with fans” via a 10-digit Community number – about exclusive releases, ticket sales, merch, and more, “free”, according to a statement “of social algorithm interference, spam, and ads”.
Founded in 2019 by Matthew Peltier and Josh Rosenheck, Santa Monica headquartered Community is used by celebrities including Barack Obama and Ashton Kutcher, as well as a number of superstar artists. It counts 28 million members, with 6 billion messages having been sent through its platform.
The company raised $40 million investment from Salesforce Ventures in April, bringing its total amount raised, since launching in July 2019, to nearly $90 million.
Other Community investors include the likes of Twilio, Sound Ventures, Live Nation, Sony Innovation Fund, and others.
Warner Music says that its artists have been early adopters of Community including Warner Records’ Ali Gatie who, according to Warner, “regularly texts with his fans, sending them personal birthday messages and exchanging selfies”.
Labelmates Junior Varsity have also been “”steadily building their Community presence”, according to Warner, through their A F$*KING WEEKEND pop up shows in New York City and Los Angeles, which fans exclusively RSVPed to and got location details for by texting Junior Varsity’s Community number.
Community says that its average open rates are upwards of 95% within the first three minutes of receiving a text message with a 59% average click through rate.
“Community’s model helps us cut through the noise and gives us an authentic, personal, and unique way to reach the superfans.”
Scott Cherkin, WEA
Scott Cherkin, SVP, Global Audience Strategy, WEA said: “Community’s model helps us cut through the noise and gives us an authentic, personal, and unique way to reach the superfans.
“The direct line helps our artists get to know their fans better and opens up opportunities for them to plug their priorities – whether it be merch, concert tickets, or a new single – knowing they have an engaged and eager audience on the receiving end.
“Some artists are already promoting their numbers at shows to really great reception and we’re excited to offer Community to even more artists in the Warner Music family.”
“Our partnership with Warner Music unlocks additional opportunities for artists to drive engaging conversations at scale with their fans.”
David Ross, Community
David Ross, SVP, Growth, Partnerships and Revenue, Community, added: “Our partnership with Warner Music unlocks additional opportunities for artists to drive engaging conversations at scale with their fans.
“Deeper connections with fans ultimately results in increased sales, greater content consumption, deeper artist affinity and additional opportunities for Warner Music’s roster and brands.”
Last week Warner Music Group (WMG) and Twitch struck what the two companies call a “first-of-its-kind” partnership – marking the Amazon-owned livestreaming platform’s first partnership with a major record company.Music Business Worldwide