NBA, UnitedMasters announce partnership to assist independent musicians

NBA fans around the world will now be exposed to music from a wide variety of independent artists thanks to a new partnership between the NBA and UnitedMasters, which was officially announced on Thursday.

The global partnership will provide UnitedMasters artists the opportunity to have their music featured across the NBA’s suite of digital properties and social community of 1.5 billion, including NBA.com and the NBA App, as well as league and team social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch and Snapchat.

“We’re excited to partner with UnitedMasters to give up-and-coming artists a massive digital stage to share their music,” said Jeff Marsilio, NBA Senior Vice President, New Media Distribution. “With this partnership, fans will now have a new way to discover music while they enjoy NBA highlights across our social and digital media.”

UnitedMasters was launched in Nov. 2017 with a mission to empower independent artists by giving them the tools they need to thrive in the music industry, while still maintaining ownership of their material and creative freedom of their art.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with the NBA to empower independent artists and provide them the opportunity to reach a global audience, amplifying their music at scale,” said Steve Stoute, Founder/CEO of UnitedMasters. “This unprecedented partnership speaks to the ecosystem we are building to directly connect brands and UnitedMasters artists so that their music can be heard around the world. We are proud to provide a platform that has the potential to significantly further their careers.”

This partnership creates a direct line between artists and the NBA, resulting in access to worldwide audiences and the ability for artists to amplify their music at scale. While many up-and-coming artists are playing their music in front of tiny audiences in local venues, UnitedMasters artists will now have a chance to be heard from all corners of the globe as the NBA audience continues to grow.

When an NBA fan watches select highlight videos, the artist and song will be tagged or mentioned with a link provided back to the song directly, so viewers can follow the artist and learn more about their work.

So the next time an NBA fan checks out the highlights of their favorite NBA team, they may also hear the music of their next favorite artist and have the ability to learn more about them and hear more of their work immediately.