How music sponsorship works
Door Money helps fans, local businesses and brands fund working musicians through practical sponsorships, connected to the places the music already goes: the stage, the merch table, the newsletter, the feed.
Musicians choose what they offer, set their own prices, and approve every name and logo before it appears.
Support the work. Get something real back.
A Door Money sponsorship is a direct exchange between a musician and a sponsor. The sponsor funds a specific part of the work. The musician features the sponsor in an agreed place and documents the result.
This is not creative control. Musicians decide what is available, what it costs, and which sponsors they take.
From a fundraiser to a paid musician
The musician says what the money is for, a tour, a residency or a season, and picks which sponsorship options to offer at prices they set themselves.
A fan, a local business or a brand picks an option and pays Door Money. Some options carry a fixed price and some are open to bids; the musician decides which.
The sponsor sends the name or logo as it will appear. Nothing goes up without the musician's yes, and a musician who declines refunds the sponsor in full.
The musician is paid every Friday through the fundraiser. The sponsor gets a record at the end: the dates played, the rooms, and how the musician documented the placement.
Sponsorship that travels with the music
A useful sponsorship does not have to interrupt the show. It can sit in the places musicians and their audiences already meet. Every option below is one a musician can offer today.
- Sponsorship option
- What the sponsor receives. The musician chooses which ones to offer.
- Placement
- Where the sponsor appears: a kick drum head, a merch table runner, a newsletter.
- Price
- Set by the musician. The figures on this page are Door Money's suggestions.
- Verification
- How the musician documents that the placement ran, agreed before anyone pays.
Where the cameras already point
The stage is the part of the night that gets photographed. A mark on the gear travels through every room on the fundraiser, in crowd photos, phone videos and press shots. Each format matches the musician's own artwork.
Suggested pricing
Every musician sets their own prices. These figures are Door Money's suggested starting points, and availability and pricing change from fundraiser to fundraiser.
Kick drum head
The surface that turns up most in crowd photos: front and center, every night. One patron at a time.
- Placement seen by:
- the whole room, every show, most crowd photos.
- Offered by
- Offered by bands and house acts.
Road case spots
A sticker on the flight cases, designed to match the band's own artwork so it blends in.
- Placement seen by:
- load-in, stage-side, photos of the stack.
- Offered by
- Offered by bands.
Guitar straps
Custom straps for the front line, with the patron's mark woven in. It looks like normal gear, because it is.
- Placement seen by:
- front-on photos of the players.
- Offered by
- Offered by bands and house acts.
Amp grilles
A small mark on the grille cloth of both cabs. Covers the angles the kick head doesn't, and the amps are in every shot of the players.
- Placement seen by:
- the side angles the kick head does not reach.
- Offered by
- Offered by bands and house acts.
Riser fascia
A strip along the front of the drum riser. A small add-on that shows up in wide shots.
- Placement seen by:
- wide shots from the back of the room.
- Offered by
- Offered by bands.
Case lid
A decal inside the case lid, at eye level whenever the case is open: in the rehearsal room, the pit and the green room.
- Placement seen by:
- the players in the rehearsal room and the pit.
- Offered by
- Offered by soloists.
Where fans stop and read
The stage gets glances. The merch table and the tip jar get pauses. These options live where fans stop, buy and talk, and some of them go home in a pocket.
Suggested pricing
Every musician sets their own prices. These figures are Door Money's suggested starting points, and availability and pricing change from fundraiser to fundraiser.
Tip jar card
A printed card on the tip jar of a house act: the patron's name, the musician, one line. The natural fit for a local business backing the musician down the street.
- Placement seen by:
- the whole room, weekly, including the patron's own regulars.
- Offered by
- Offered by house acts.
Stage thank-you
Once a set, from the mic, the musician names the patron keeping the night going. A live read, delivered by someone the room already trusts. Worded by the musician.
- Placement seen by:
- the room, once a set.
- Offered by
- Offered by house acts.
Merch table runner
The patron's mark on the table where fans stop, read and decide. The stage gets glances; the merch table gets pauses.
- Placement seen by:
- every fan who stops at the table.
- Offered by
- Offered by bands and house acts.
Hang tags
A tag on every piece of merch sold, the patron's name on the back of it. The placement that goes home with the fan.
- Placement seen by:
- every merch buyer, and everyone who sees them wear it.
- Offered by
- Offered by bands.
Picks
Branded picks, band on one face, the patron on the other. Played all night, thrown to the crowd at the end.
- Placement seen by:
- whoever catches one, and keeps it.
- Offered by
- Offered by bands and house acts.
Music stand
A small mark on the stand banner, facing the room at every gig where the player brings their own stand.
- Placement seen by:
- the whole audience, plus the students and parents in it.
- Offered by
- Offered by soloists.
Where the numbers come with it
Posts, email, video and print reach the audience between shows, and they arrive with familiar figures: views, reach, opens and clicks. They also make the easiest first sponsorship for anyone who has never backed a musician before.
Suggested pricing
Every musician sets their own prices. These figures are Door Money's suggested starting points, and availability and pricing change from fundraiser to fundraiser.
Poster credit
A credit line on the poster and digital admat. Reaches every wall, window and feed the poster ends up on.
- Placement seen by:
- every wall and window the poster goes on.
- Offered by
- Offered by bands and house acts.
Posts and email
A named thank-you in the announcement post and the musician's mailing list, written by the musician in their own voice. Reach, opens and clicks come with it.
- Placement seen by:
- the musician's followers and mailing list.
- Offered by
- Offered by bands, house acts and soloists.
Vlog logo card
A logo card at the top of every tour vlog, with the view counts to go with it.
- Placement seen by:
- the musician's video audience.
- Offered by
- Offered by bands and soloists.
Rig rundown
A gear walkthrough video with the patron's product in it, made for the players who buy gear.
- Placement seen by:
- players who buy gear.
- Offered by
- Offered by bands.
Recital program credit
A credit line in the printed program at recitals and chamber dates.
- Placement seen by:
- everyone holding a program.
- Offered by
- Offered by soloists.
Practice-room videos
A month of practice-room videos carrying the patron's name on the card.
- Placement seen by:
- the player's video audience.
- Offered by
- Offered by soloists.
Touring musicians price a fundraiser per tour, typically 15 to 25 shows. House acts price per month and soloists per season. Longer fundraisers and bigger rooms scale per date, so nobody renegotiates.
One musician. One sponsor per line of business.
A coffee company may not want another coffee company on the same fundraiser. A guitar brand may want the gear slot to itself. Musicians can make that exclusivity available, and price it accordingly.
The musician makes the final call
Musicians choose which sponsorships to offer, set their prices, and decide which sponsors fit the work. A sponsorship supports the music. It buys no say in it.
- Choose which sponsorship options to offer.
- Set the price on every one of them.
- Approve or decline the logo before it goes up.
- Choose how the placement will be documented.
- Decline anything that is not a fit. The sponsor is refunded in full.
Support that can be pointed at
A sponsor should know what the money made possible and where the sponsorship appeared. Every fundraiser names the ways its musician will document the placement, before anyone pays. These are the methods a musician can choose from:
- Dated photos from selected showsPhotos from some of the shows, each carrying its date.
- Venue and performance-date listThe rooms played and the night each one was played.
- Attendance estimatesA rough headcount for the shows.
- Links to placement-related postsLinks to the posts the logo appeared in.
- Short performance or backstage videoOne clip from a show, or from the hour before it.
- End-of-run placement recordThe record Door Money sends every sponsor when the fundraiser ends.
- Another verification methodSomething else, in the musician's own words.
Each fundraiser lists the ones its musician picked, and only those. Documentation comes from the musician and appears in the Door Money record at the end of the fundraiser, alongside the dates played and the rooms.
Put money behind the music.
Find a musician whose work is worth keeping on the road, or open a fundraiser that gives people a real way to back the music.