Sports Songs Become Products

Jesse Itzler built a business around creating and monetizing theme songs for professional sports teams, turning arena music into retail products.

Key Points:

• Initial Business Model:

  • Write theme songs on spec for sports teams
  • Cold call teams to get meetings
  • Convince teams they needed a theme song
  • First major client was NY Knicks with "Go New York Go" for $4,000

• Revenue Strategy:

  • Create original theme songs for arena play
  • Package songs with great moments in team history
  • Sell CDs at retail containing:
    • Arena-played songs
    • Original theme song
    • Team's historical moments

• Growth Strategy:

  • Used NY Knicks as calling card to get other teams
  • Built credibility through first major client
  • Eventually did theme songs for almost every professional sports team

• Exit:

  • Sold to public company SFX
  • Initial sale for $4 million
  • Additional earnout of 12-16 million
  • Sold at age 27

• Key Learning:

  • Lost money on first deal ($4,800 cost vs $4,000 revenue)
  • Worth the loss because having Knicks as a client opened doors
  • People buy into stories and momentum more than products