Breaking new talent has become an "obsession" for Shoot Music as the crossover between sport and music grows ever stronger, founder Tom Roberts has told Music Week.
The sport & music promotions business, which boasts a client base including Coldplay, Wolf Alice, Calvin Harris, Sam Fender and Ed Sheeran, has worked across sports such as football, Formula 1, cricket, golf, rugby league, ice hockey and the NFL.
“It’s taken time, but sport organisers now see themselves as entertainment brands,” said Roberts. “That’s the shift. Formula 1 isn’t just racing, it’s an entertainment experience. That investment in the matchday experience and the overall entertainment brand that each of these sports is becoming relies very heavily on music and music culture now and I can only see it going one way.
"We’ve got a World Cup next year in America and it’s probably going to be the biggest entertainment show we’ve ever seen in sport.”
Shoot specialises in getting artists onto playlists at sports stadiums, TV or radio appearances, performances and more, and is now increasingly moving into digital.
"The big area for us that we’ve really focused on this year is the attention economy and digital usage," said Roberts. "It’s an area that’s been a wild west for a while and sport has not used a lot of music digitally due to those rights issues, because there isn’t a blanket licence to use commercial music. But more and more major labels are putting music into football and brand channels for us and we’ve developed a clearance system for independent artists where it’s more of a value exchange.
"Football fans are all looking at their phones whilst they’re watching a match on the telly, and that’s our gateway to get music to them.”
The Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition was a defining moment in sports television
Tom Roberts
Speaking in the October edition of Music Week, Roberts said a key focus for the firm this year has been women’s sport via the Women’s Euros and the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
“We’ve been working and plugging the sports media world for a long time,” said Roberts. “It’s been very male-dominated and we’ve intentionally worked with the women’s side of each game over the last few years. We had a target for this year of producing some sort of parity in what we’re doing.”
Roberts, who was a radio plugger through the ’90s and into the ’00s, working with Oasis, Kasabian and Muse, among others, launched Shoot in 2008 and recalled the track that provided its biggest breakthrough in the early years.
“The Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition was a defining moment in sports television," he said. "It was heavily synced. It was 2009, so a year into our activity, and [the group’s UK label] Infectious and Korda [Marshall] were intent on making that sporting moment. That changed the game for us, certainly in terms of TV usage, stadium DJs and opening doors.”
Shoot is also focused on new talent, working with TalkSport on a weekly live session by a new artist.
“Breaking new talent has become a bit of an obsession of ours, alongside women’s sport," said Roberts. "The idea behind the TalkSport Breakfast Show Session is that it’s new artists coming through, getting an opportunity to play a big show. I can’t see many of these opportunities out there in the music world. Although it’s a talk radio station, they’ve provided a platform that has already helped out about 15 artists this year."
For us to work a record, there’s got to be a reason to take it to sport
Tom Roberts
In 2019, Shoot launched F1 Tracks, a playlist project that added a live element in 2023, with new acts supporting established names at the British Grand Prix. This year, Sasha Keable, Dirty Blonde, Nonô and Mia Kirkland opened for Sam Fender, Raye, Fatboy Slim and Becky Hill.
"F1 see it as a great opportunity for artists but as they’re an entertainment brand, they want to be responsible for using that reach and prove that entertainment value," continued Roberts. "Discovery is going to get bigger and bigger and F1 are looking to make that a bigger partnership.”
Roberts explained his company had opted to "stay very much in our lane as a promotions and plugging business" despite opportunities to move "more into branding or long-term sync".
"When there’s a big sync that requires fees, we take it to the publisher and they deal with it," he said. "When someone comes to us from a brand, we take that to the commercial team at a record label. That’s the strength of our position. Our business is very unique and we have the support of commercial and other sections of the industry that will monetise those areas."
He added: "For us to work a record, there’s got to be a reason to take it to sport. Everything comes down to whether we’re going to find that bit that works well for telly or a stadium, whether the artist likes sport. We’ve got to have a story.”
Subscribers can read the full interview with Roberts in the latest edition of Music Week.
