Credit: Brandon Cox With album and single sales not what they used to be, Linkin Park wanted to change their approach to the ever-changing music industry. To do that, the band decided to move from their outside management and brought everything in-house through their own Machine Shop company. In order to get the most out of Machine Shop, Linkin Park took a page out of Rivers Cuomo's book and went to Harvard.
"Our goal was to build an internal team of diverse talent to support the non-traditional endeavors the band plans to pursue in the coming years," says guitarist and vocalist Mike Shinoda.
In an essay for the Harvard Business Review, Machine Shop Executive Vice President Kiel Berry explains how working with Harvard Business School helped turn Machine Shop into an "innovation company," through a semester-long case study on all things Linkin Park. Professor Anita Elberse and three students looked at the investing success of Thirty Seconds to Mars' Jared Leto and Trent Reznor's partnership with Beats as examples of successful innovators in the music industry.
"We restructured Machine Shop, moving it from a brand agency model to a multi-pronged innovation model based on four verticals: video content, global brand partnerships, merchandise, and venture capital," Berry writes.
That led to the formation of Linkin Park's venture capital firm, Machine Shop Ventures, which launched in May. So far, the firm has invested in the ridesharing app Lyft and coffee company Blue Bottle Coffee.
"To be clear, we are still in the music business, but creating and selling music now plays more of a supporting role in our overall business mix," Berry writes. "Of course we'll play the shows and meet with fans, as we've always done. But along with continuing to make great music, today's Linkin Park is now better positioned to operate in the ever-evolving cultural and business landscape."
Linkin Park will be touring all summer, including a headlining set at Summerfest and five shows in China.
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