What got you side-eyed in 2003 is table stakes in 2026.

observation — attributed to Brian Feit

When Feit and Starr started sending record labels' artists into brand deals, the two worlds held each other at a distance, and creating commercial opportunities for a musician was treated as faintly disreputable. The branded CD packages BMF mailed to tastemakers, themed to match an album, drew the same skepticism now aimed at nothing, because the identical gesture aimed at an influencer is a standard industry now. He did not predict the shift so much as commit to the version of marketing he wanted to exist and wait for the field to catch up. Being early looked, for years, indistinguishable from being wrong.

For operators betting on a practice the industry currently treats as fringe or premature.

industry-shift, brand-culture-fusion, early-mover, legitimacy