Could TapTunes® Music Cards have a place in the fashion world?
The idea may not be as unlikely as it sounds. Fashion and music have influenced one another for generations, but brands are increasingly turning that relationship into something more experiential, combining artists, products, content and live events around a shared fan audience.
Gap Inc.’s new partnership with rising boy band Just Your Type, known as JYT, offers a timely example.
The multi-year collaboration is the first under Gap’s new Fashiontainment platform and is designed to extend well beyond a traditional artist endorsement. Plans include a Gap co-produced docuseries, a national mall tour with live performances and fan experiences, in-store activations, social content and a Gap x JYT capsule collection co-designed by the group.
According to Gap, JYT has generated more than 450 million views in the past 90 days and built an audience of more than 2 million followers across social platforms.
Rather than simply placing an artist in an advertisement, Gap is bringing fashion, music, entertainment and physical retail into the same experience.
And that raises an interesting question: What role could physical music play in this new model?
When the Store Becomes Part of the Entertainment
JYT’s planned mall tour is particularly notable because it brings a digitally driven fan audience into physical retail.
Fans can discover the group online, follow their content, attend a performance, interact with the artists and purchase something connected to the collaboration.
The store becomes more than a place to shop. It becomes part of the entertainment and fan experience.
That creates an opportunity for something else to leave the store with the customer: the music itself.
Imagine a limited-edition TapTunes® Music Card created for a fashion collaboration. It could accompany a purchase, be sold alongside a capsule collection, become part of a VIP package or be produced as a limited signed collectible for an artist appearance.
With a tap of a phone, the physical card could unlock music, videos, photos, artist content, merchandise, social links and future updates.
No app. No download. No sign-in.
The fashion becomes part of the fan’s identity. The Music Card becomes a physical connection to the artist and the experience.
Fashion, Music and the Physical Collectible
Fashion already understands the value of scarcity and collectibility. Limited drops, collaborations and exclusive merchandise can turn ordinary products into cultural objects.
Music has operated on many of the same principles for decades through vinyl, CDs, signed albums, tour merchandise and other physical releases.
NFC technology creates another way to connect those worlds.
The Gap and JYT partnership does not involve TapTunes, but it demonstrates how easily physical music could fit within this type of brand experience.
A Music Card could be placed inside a shopping bag, packaged with a garment, offered at the register, included with a VIP experience or handed directly to a fan during an in-store appearance.
One tap could take that customer from a physical fashion experience directly into the artist’s music and digital world.
As brands look for deeper ways to participate in music and fan culture, the opportunity may extend well beyond putting an artist in a campaign.
Fashion can create the moment. Physical music can help that moment continue after the fan leaves.
And that may give TapTunes Music Cards an interesting place in the future of fashion.