Fast Talk: Band Plays a Brand-New Game

Jonny Dubowsky

Lead Singer and Guitarist, Jonny Lives!
New York, New York

Jonny Dubowsky, 29, has exploited corporate partnerships to get exposure for his indie band, Jonny Lives! The band debuted its single, "Get Steady," on an EA video game, teamed up with Nokia to film a music video with one of its cameras, and then launched the video at 900 American Eagle stores.

"Our song 'Get Steady' was chosen out of the blue to be on EA's MVP Baseball 2004, which wound up selling 3.5 million copies. EA paid us $30,000 dollars; I used that money to fund a tour in England. Two years later, we can still feel the exposure. When we released our debut album, people said, 'We know "Get Steady" from the game.'

I have a manager now whose only job is to do corporate sponsorships. He made the deal with Nokia, in which we used its digital video camera to make the 'Get Steady' video. I'm really fascinated with technology and the way it's shifting how we experience music as a culture, so it was a no-brainer. It was really cool because the company understood our indie-rock sensibility. Plus, when you work with a corporate sponsor, it falls outside your deal with a record label. That makes it a great revenue stream. It's all about trying to get the music out there as many ways as you can."