How does one get a reed endorsement?

[Dr G]

Contact also Tim Price, a Rico endorser, for another perspective.

Andre, just as a data point, what is your age and experience?

Why should anyone (and please don't read this as sarcasm but consider it as coming from a reed company's artist relations manager) consider you above others as a person that someone would look to as a source of reed advice?

Convince us. And maybe, just maybe, someone is watching and will embrace you as an endorser.

[andre251]

Contact also Tim Price, a Rico endorser, for another perspective.

Andre, just as a data point, what is your age and experience?

Why should anyone (and please don't read this as sarcasm but consider it as coming from a reed company's artist relations manager) consider you above others as a person that someone would look to as a source of reed advice?

Convince us. And maybe, just maybe, someone is watching and will embrace you as an endorser.

For those who don't want to read the entire post, skip to the end......

Hey Dr. G. I am 27. I have been playing clarinet since 3rd grade and saxophone since 8th. In high school my marching band made it to the state championship where I played a alto saxophone solo. I was also in the wind ensemble and top jazz band for a year of recordings playing alto sax and tenor sax respectively when the school won the Grammy in the schools national award. That was just high school. I was gigging almost every week and was indeed moving tons of reeds for vandoren. I never bought the reeds myself, but did have many many people try java and switch over after speaking to me/hearing me play.

I went to the University of North Florida on a full academic/music scholarship split. After buying a selmer super session mouthpiece on Soprano and pushing hard for people to try them, about 6 other students bought them in size F, the size I had, or G within a year. I moved many Java reeds at this time as well. I was playing alto still and around this time switched over to Tenor. When I switched over to Tenor, I found that what sounded to me like the most correct and accurate sound for Jazz was the Rico Jazz select. At this point I had to match my mouthpiece to the Rico Select sound as that was obviously the best response and sound to me. At this time, with my playing and sound I would simply give a friend one reed to try with their mouthpiece. I have seen AT LEAST 20 people switch for sure since this time. Peers that is that were playing with me. Where as the number middle schoolers, high schoolers and other college students who asked me what I was playing on and very likely went to buy a box is in the 100+ range.
When directing the second Jazz Ensemble at University of Memphis where I got my Masters of Jazz Degree on a teaching assistantship, I had about half my students go to the music store WITH ME to try mouthpieces and reeds. Though I had an influence on what they bought, they almost always went for the rico jazz select or vandoren java. Also, most of the time I would have them play Jody Jazz hr for alto or tenor. I have sold more than 15 of these mouthpieces to various students.
So nowadays, all I do is play a gig/show. People will ask me what mouthpiece reed horn combo I am playing on. It is the same deal since high school. Except now, I will let them borrow a backup piece or "trial piece" that I have in my own possession.
I have boxes of reeds that are in my home for this same reason as well.

I am currently a Doctor of Musical arts in Jazz major at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, again on a full academic scholarship. I am also playing lead tenor in the top Jazz Ensemble. I often feel that my technical playing is not up to par and practice all the time to get to where I want. But, even whenever my technique is not world class where I want it to be, I often feel my sound is VERY close to it and VERY personalized. So I play ballads a bunch. I get compliments for my sound constantly.

I personally really love teaching and am pursuing a doctor of musical arts so that I can effectively be a college Professor. I would have a strong influence on what gear people play on simply by letting them choose for themselves when they take what I sound like in mind. I will also have mouthpieces available for them to try in my studio. As I have been a member of this great website for at least a few years I really do have an idea of what gear is out their for them to try. As much as I want them to try gear, I also want them to take the straightest possible path to success.
****************************************************************************************************
For those who do not want to read the entire post. I can play pretty well, I sound very good and I have IN FACT moved hundreds and hundreds of dollars, and likely thousands or dollars, of product for companies that I "personally endorse". Having this info on paper would just be nice.

[RootyTootoot]

Andre: Is that you in the avatar? I only ask because it looks like it might be a different person from your photo on myspace (??) The reason I mention that is because I think some of the things people have said to you in this thread might in part be referable to your avatar and (less so) even your sig. I know that may seem superficial but when it comes to "selling yourself" which is what we are talking about after all, people really do judge by appearances. We really are that shallow. If I look at that avatar I do not think "hey that looks like the kind of guy who will could sell lots of reeds".

Please do not take the above as in any way disrespectful to you and what you have achieved or your music.

[andre251]

rooty tootoot,u make a stromg and good point. My avatar and place in this forum has been purposefully more anonymous. Trust me,i have plenty ofcool action shots and promo pics. i have made suggestions about gear on his forum, but do not use this as a professional source. I hang out, talk sax and buy and sell product here.
I imagine some of the more heavy guys on this forum dont advertise themselves here.

Concerning my webpage,i havent paid for it for about 4 years. It just wont go away......lol

[Dr G]

"Every performance is an audition for your next gig."

[RandyJ]

Andre,
So you've been playing from a very young age, you've been in "top jazz bands" since high school, you went to college on full rides, you have a masters degree so you must have written a thesis, you are currently working toward a doctorate for which you will have to complete a dissertation (considering your higher education how can you write so poorly in sentence, paragraph construction and diction?) ...and you are asking on a internet forum how to get a reed endorsement.

I don't know about anyone else reading through this thread but this strikes me as very, very strange.

[andre251]

randy,m many of my recent messages have been written on a kindle.
also,considering the good answers i have gotten so far apparently asking on a forum was a good idea.
and yes,i do have a msters degree.

[RandyJ]

randy,m many of my recent messages have been written on a kindle.
also,considering the good answers i have gotten so far apparently asking on a forum was a good idea.
and yes,i do have a msters degree.

Um, yes, exactly.

[andre251]

exactly. ;-)
-sent from my kindle.

[luispa]

Hi Andre,
I'm Hahn reeds distributor and I'm dealing with endorsers now. I can give you the questions I ask to saxophone players who ask for endorsing.
- Do you have a website, MySpace, YouTube channel, Facebook page and/or similar internet space?
- Are you a recording artist? As soloist or as a sideman? Please give us a detailed discography.
- Are you a touring artist? As soloist or as a sideman?
- Do you teach saxophone and/or clarinet? How many students? Would you sell them the reeds?
- Is there another brand endorsing you at this time?
- Did you receive an award? which one?
- Do you think our sales would increase by having you as an endorser? Why? (this is the question on which you should convince us about how convenient is to endorse you)
Having all these answers I evaluate which kind of agreement -if any- I can offer to the applicant.
If hope this help you.

[andre251]

Great answer Luispa!

By the way, I LOVE Buenos Aires!

[luispa]

Nice to know you like Buenos Aires! If you come again just let me know, I'll show you a lot of interesting things. By the way, I like Chicago very much. Are you near there?

[Call Me Rockstar]

Andre-
I was tempted to reply to this more specifically, but you have received a lot of very good advice already from folks I respect and I would only add a couple simple things to it. As it sits, I really think what's been relayed in previous posts will help you!
It's always a gamble putting out your personal info and history out there on a public forum where criticism is both welcome and, well, can be harsh! I think your progress and accomplishes thusfar are great- Especially given that I am almost 27 myself! I'm a performer; I'm not a doctoral canidate nor holder of a Masters, just a bachelors!

However, I hold 3 endorsements currently and, rather than throw out a bunch of stuff, feel free to PM me if anything you were curious about went unanswered in above posts!

Otherwise- what a fun thread! Good posts!

[GHawk]

I would also of course like to stop buying reeds!

Hmmm....maybe I should get myself an endorsement from Charmin. That stuff is expensive!

[Agent27]

So what exactly does an endorser get out of the deal? From what I've heard, there seems to be a misconception about how much "free" stuff an endorser gets. Horn manufacturers may give a few horns out to really big names, but as I understand it, run of the mill endorsers still have to pay for them. Maybe at wholesale instead of retail, but that's still paying for it. And if you're already using the product before you become an endorser, you don't really need another one, do you? A college friend of mine is a Keilwerth endorser and he plays SATB black nickel Keilwerths. This is, at the time he became an endorser, he already had the soprano, alto, and tenor. He has a Keilwerth bari now but I'm pretty sure they didn't just give him one.

Reeds are different. They can probably afford to give out free boxes to their endorsers and that's valuable to the artist because reeds can get expensive.

I know Bob Reynolds endorses Rico reeds and recently started endorsing P. Mauriat. I'll shoot him an e-mail and see if he has anything to add from his experiences.

[Pete Thomas]

So what exactly does an endorser get out of the deal?.

I don't think there's a "standard" deal. Plus, most people would consider it not good business ethics to discuss the ins and outs of a specific deal, either privately or on a forum.

I have been offered free saxophones and heavily discounted saxophones. However, As I said above, often the deal means that what is in it for the endorser is not so much a free horn but free publicity and/or subsidies for performances. E.g the might be a nice profile gig that doesn't pay much, the company may make up the fee.

A promoter could go to a company and say, "we want your artist on stage or doing a masterclass, but can't pay their normal fee, will you pay some of it?"

But therracer no hard and fast rules.

[bob reynolds]

The first thing to consider is what can you do for them. Endorsing is a two way street

As a Rico artist, I agree with everything Mr. Thomas said.

Imagine you own the reed company, andre251. If you add an artist to your roster and agree to give him your product at cost or free, would your motivation be charity? No. You need to sell reeds.

In a perfect world your reed company signs an artist and sees a return of at least 3-5 boxes sold--due to his/her influence--for every box you gave him. (Or more! I'm just pulling that out of a hat.)

Are you in a position yet to tell a reed company you can do that for them? If not, focus on getting there.

That said, should your focus really be on getting endorsements? Much better to have people approach you because of the career reputation you've built. Focus on that.

I also agree with what Steve Neff said about the Mauriat banner currently running atop this page. I don't recognize anyone other than Osby. But, I bet that to some group of people (remember, it's a big world growing more fractured by the week), they are well known.

[buddy lee]

Rant.