NME has announced a partnership with PledgeMusic to champion emerging artists.
The move comes in the wake of the closure of the print edition of NME and a digital-first strategy for the brand.
As part of NME’s continuing championing of new music, the deal with the direct-to-fan e-commerce platform will offer emerging artists and bands funding, marketing and promotional support.
It follows last year’s launch of NME Emerging, a platform on NME.com that enables new acts to reach the site’s 3 million unique monthly users.
Now NME Emerging artists will have the opportunity to build their own campaign and develop their fanbase across the PledgeMusic community. The 50,000-plus artists who have already run PledgeMusic campaigns will also be able to access the NME.com audience.
NME has a rich history of supporting unsigned and independent talent
Malcolm Dunbar
NME digital director Keith Walker said: “Working with PledgeMusic is a natural fit for the NME. It benefits fans and artists by introducing a new way to bring them together on NME Emerging.”
All NME Emerging artists working with PledgeMusic will have access to dedicated campaign management tailored for their latest release, tour, video or any other musical project. Their NME Emerging page will now be linked to the PledgeMusic portal to help acts develop their career.
Malcolm Dunbar, co-founder and president UK & Europe PledgeMusic, said: “PledgeMusic is delighted and honoured to be linking up with NME Emerging in this new initiative to assist and work with developing artists and bands. NME has a rich history of supporting unsigned and independent talent and the PledgeMusic model of rights-free funding is perfectly aligned with that. All of us at PledgeMusic very much look forward to working with the NME team on the project.”
PledgeMusic will communicate the partnership to artists across its newsletter and social media platforms.
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