Contributing WriterMasks For Music is an innovative affiliate solution to help workers in the music business earn income during this pandemic. With the global cancellation of music festivals, concerts and venues it’s uncertain as to what’s to come for this industry, leaving many people job-less. Co-founder Lindi Delight and her team came up with the new program, to essentially help generate money back into the global music business. We had a chance to speak with Lindi to learn more about this new venture, partnership opportunities, Mask For Music Charity support and much more!
Thanks for connecting with us Lindi! We see that you have been working in the dance music industry for some time now, with your management agency De Light Management. The music festival + events sectors are on hold for now – in fact, everything has slowed down. Tell us more about Masks For Music, and how music industry professionals can benefit from the affiliate program?
At the moment, the music industry is in a bit of a standstill, all of the events around the world have been canceled, or just starting up again with very limited capacity. But generally, anyone that works in any kind of position related to the live events sector is not able to work consistently right now. So what we’ve done is find a way where we can help as many people in the music industry as possible, and generate some revenue during this time of COVID.
It’s super simple for someone to join. Just need to visit www.partners.masksformusic.com and register, and once approved you can start promoting your link and generating sales in only a few clicks. The revenue breakdown is very transparent: 50% of the sale goes to the partner, 10% is donated to our music industry-related charity partners, 21% for production and 19% for operations.
We’ve also given the option for an artist, organization, booking agency, etc to divert their revenue somewhere else. Say if they would like to donate all of a portion of their earnings to another charity they support, or maybe to a team that they may not have been able to activate during this time, or a nightclub that might be at risk of closing down due to lack of activity – there is the possibility to do so.
“Together with my agency team, we thought of ways to funnel existing revenue that was going elsewhere in the market and divert that into the music industry.”
Masks have become part of our everyday attire to be able to enter stores, malls and even restaurants. How did you and your team come up with the design and concept?
The way we came up with Masks for Music was really interesting. We’re working with a festival promoter and planning to expand his brand to new territories in 2020. Once COVID hit, of course that had a big damper in our plans. However, the client still wanted for us to create projects to work on.
Together with my agency team, we thought of ways to funnel existing revenue that was going elsewhere in the market and divert that into the music industry, so masks were a key merchandise choice to look at…but it needed to be more than mask sales.
We also knew firsthand, as I mentioned, that people were having as much of a difficulty as we were about finding revenue to stay afloat during this time. So we had brainstorming sessions and discussed our ideas, situations, and desire to help our scene, and ended up coming up with the Masks for Music initiative and went from an agency-client relationship to business partners.
“We also knew firsthand, as I mentioned, that people were having as much of a difficulty as we were about finding revenue to stay afloat during this time.”
Masks For Music offers a partnership opportunity for venues, music festivals or organizations to come on board, so they can support their venues or even a charity of their choice. Tell us, who’s come on board to date as a partner?
Yes, we’re really really lucky to have such a wide range of partners that have joined Masks for Music. We have a variety of partners that vary from artists such as BEC, Amine K, Simina Grigoriu, to Festivals such as Snowbombing, Caos Nightclub in Brazil, Media outlets such as Faze Magazine, Resident Advisor, EDM identity, Vicious Magazine all the way to music conferences, such as the Virtual Electronic Music Conference, the Alberta Electronic Music Conference, and The Brighton Music Conference. This, in addition to the numerous independent artists, music labels, and influencers that have come on board, makes is a well-rounded bunch. We are excited to welcome partners from every corner of the world in every position in the music industry.
“What I do see for events and festivals moving forward, though, is there are going to be quite a few more safety regulations that will need to be put in place. That would be wearing masks, getting the temperature checks, also ensuring that capacities are lower so people can stay safe.“
The typical music festivals with thousands of guests won’t be in sight for a while… Where do you see the landscape of live music in the foreseeable future?
Yes, it’s tough to see where the festival scene will go at the moment. I personally feel, along with anyone else in our industry, that we can only speculate. At the end of the day, nobody really knows what’s going to happen and when, plus things are changing every couple of weeks. What I do see for events and festivals moving forward, though, is there are going to be quite a few more safety regulations that will need to be put in place. That would be wearing masks, getting the temperature checks, also ensuring that capacities are lower so people can stay safe. I’m not sure if we’re going to be able to get to a point that’s even close to what we were used to – this year or even in 2021. But again, things change so quickly that there could be a vaccine, or there could be a possible surprise solution in the next year. But for now, I think that we’re going to start with smaller-scale events, start working up the trust of our government, and that we can prove to be safe and responsible while being social. Ultimately this relies on us as a society, to be safe with ourselves and with each other.
We noticed that Masks For Music supports a variety of charities. Tells us which charities you’re focused on, and why?
All of our charity partners are music-related. At the moment, we’re supporting the Associaton for Electronic Music’s hardship fund through In Place of War. They provide grants to small businesses and organizations for the AFEM members around the world. Also, we have the Berlin Emergency Nightlife Fund. It’s a fund for people that are not eligible for assistance through the government. We also have Bridges for Music as a charity that we support. It’s a music production school in the Langa township in Cape Town. We will also be providing donations to Music Cares and PRS Foudation.
So yeah, there’s a number of charities that we’re working with and looking for more. Just a little note that if any of your readers have a music charity that they would like to see as one of our charity partners, please email us at partners@masksformusic.com to let us know. I would like for us to have as many charity partners as we have affiliate partners because I feel like there’s so many people around the world that are related to the music industry that do need support. It’s my goal to have a charity that represents every territory our partners are located in globally.
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For Partnership Opportunities Reach Out To: partners@masksformusic.com
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