Pop superstar and fashion icon Rihanna is adding another feather to her hat and smiling to the bank at the same time. Her new album is reportedly getting a huge pay off from electronic giant Samsung. According to The New York Post, Rih and Samsung have inked a $25 million sponsorship deal.
Via New York Post
Rihanna, known for hit songs such as “Umbrella” and “Rude Boy,” is signed to Roc Nation, run by rap mogul Jay Z, who has had a long and profitable relationship with Samsung.
The Rihanna deal follows seven months of talks and is the biggest music-marketing tie-up in recent memory. Hammering out the details took longer than expected in part because Rihanna made some last-minute tweaks to the album, sources said.
Samsung couldn’t immediately be reached for comment, while Roc Nation declined to comment.
Rihanna, the 27-year-old beauty from Barbados, is releasing an album in the next few weeks, reportedly titled “Anti.” It will be her eighth studio album. She has talked about wanting to approach an album release in a fresh way.
Both her manager Jay Brown and Jay Z were integral to the deal. Jay Z was pictured on Twitter earlier this month leaving Samsung offices, prompting speculation about whether he was there to sell Tidal, his streaming music service, but sources suggest he was instead trying to nail down details of the Rihanna partnership.
Samsung wants to use Rihanna to help promote its Galaxy line of products and wants exclusive use of Rihanna-related video content to release via its Milk Music radio service, sources said. An open question is whether Jay Z’s Tidal streaming music service will gain any exclusivity given that Rihanna is a backer.
Samsung, which has also cut deals with NBA player LeBron James, will be integrally involved in any Rihanna tour, sources said.
The deal is bad news for marketers, said one source, noting that few have pockets deep enough to afford such multi-million dollar global tie-ups. “No-one wants to have $25 million deals in the market place,” said a source.
But event sponsorship is a huge growth area. IEG notes that spending in the space will rise 5 percent in 2015 to $1.4 billion.
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