Career Journey: Learning How to Connect Artists & Brands with Andre Carroll

‍Andre leads the Brand Partnerships team at 4th Floor Creative, Sony Music UK’s in-house creative and strategy team. At record labels, Brand Partnerships teams work to pitch and develop partnerships between their artists and brands in various industries ranging from fashion to technology. In this interview, Andre gives us his best advice for aspiring industry professionals and talks about his favorite up-and-coming artists.  

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GA: Tell us about yourself. How did you get to where you are today? And, how did your upbringing impact your decision to pursue a career in the music industry?

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AC: I’ve always loved music and ended up going to the BRIT School to study, before deciding on a career on the business side of things. I started out as an apprentice for Sony Music Publishing (then EMI MP) in the Sync Licensing team and worked there for 5 years learning about rights management. It was an incredible way to begin to understand how brands and music can interact in a meaningful way.

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Upbringing-wise, I always say I come from a large family and as one of the younger cousins I know what it means to be bossed around and work hard! Similarly, my parents made us believe we could do anything, so even an unlikely career in music felt like it was possible.

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GA: What advice would you give to someone who wants to work in Brand Partnerships within a label?

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AC: Make sure you have a point of view. On music, art, fashion, tech - whatever your key passions or interests are - make sure you’re learning and immersed enough to have an opinion. It’s important for people in the brand partnerships space to have visibility across culture as we have to rely on that knowledge to determine whether a partnership makes sense for an artist campaign.

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GA: What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your career, and how did you overcome them?

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AC: I had no experience in the partnerships space when I started in my role - so it felt like I was thrown in at the deep end a bit. Figuring things out took me a minute, but not being afraid to ask questions, building relationships with artists and managers and not being afraid to work hard helped me find my feet.

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GA: What are your favorite partnerships or campaigns you’ve worked on?

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AC: It’s been 9 years so there’s been a few! I always love working on projects where the partnership actually impacts the artist campaign - so Paloma Faith and Skoda will always stand out for me. I love her and the entire team across the project so it's always fun to get to work with everyone involved. Outside of Paloma, getting to work across early signings that have gone on to do incredible things is a massive highlight - Tom Grennan, Cat Burns, and Joy Crookes are all some of my favorites.

GA: What’s one piece of advice you’d give your younger self about working in the music industry?

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AC: I’d just tell myself to make sure I’m celebrating the wins. It's really easy to get bogged down in the day to day hustle of things and overlook when the hard work actually pays off. It's important to review the work not only to figure out where things can be improved, but to also note where you did well so you can replicate moving forward.

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“Make sure that there really is a value exchange happening outside of a fee.”

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GA: What advice would you give to a brand or artist looking to create meaningful and mutually beneficial partnerships in the industry today?

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AC: Make sure that there really is a value exchange happening outside of a fee. Whilst there will always be deliverables from a client and payment needed for an artist's time, there are so many other factors that hold value for both sides. Take time to interrogate what the other side finds useful and use it as a way to build on those basic elements.

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GA: Who are your favorite new artists on Sony’s roster that you are most excited about?

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AC: I’m from Croydon so I’m a little biased, but I’m a massive Pozer fan. He’s one of the most exciting artists in the industry- full stop. He’s got a real perspective and clear taste level that's setting him apart from any of his contemporaries. The Robots and Humans team are working incredibly hard to help him win and it’s really paying off.

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Also, she’s not necessarily ‘new’ but JADE is killing it right now! From the music to the visuals, the quality is outstanding and I know there’s so much more to come.

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GA: What advice would you recommend to aspiring professionals looking to build meaningful connections in their career journey?

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AC: Networking and building connections is only as good as the quality of your output when you have to work with people. It's all well and good making friends and being in the right rooms but when the time comes, if you’re not focused and capable of the job at hand the rest is irrelevant.

“Networking and building connections is only as good as the quality of your output when you have to work with people.”

Also, Cassandra (President of 4th Floor Creative) has always encouraged me to take every meeting - it doesn’t matter what level someone is or where they work, you can always learn or help someone else learn.

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