Watching Alan Yentob’s brilliant Jay-Z: He Came, He Saw, He Conquered, a couple of things came to mind.
1. Jay-Z is a genius.
2. The direct revenue potential of media brands, in this case Jay-Z, are becoming increasingly limited in relation to the money that can be made by activities surrounding the brand.
The clothing line Jay-Z set up, Rocawear, makes $350m at wholesale and $900m at retail. This is as a direct result of the brand Jay-Z has created through his music.
Of course he is still going to make money directly from his music through album sales but the revenue now made through his other business ventures dwarfs this, but only because of the brand he has created through the music he makes.
The incredibly powerful brand he has created and the other businessess he has set up work together because they draw on the values and lifestyle he tries to represent through his music, this translates through to his fashion business perfectly and he already has an engaged audience who are waiting for oportuities to invest furether in the brand values he has created.
Other media brands traditional output may in the future just act to support their enterprise business and in themselves not drive direct revenue.
This is nothing new but it just brings into focus how media brands, if they find the right opportunity can make real money from innovative enterprise opportunities.
