Converse Rubber Tracks Highlights the Give and Get of Great Content [VIDEO]

This is not branded content. Or is it? Converse recently released a video on YouTube showing the highlights of the first year of Converse Rubber Tracks.

Converse Rubber Tracks is a community-based professional recording studio in Brooklyn, NY, that opened last year. Emerging musicians of all genres can apply for free studio time at Converse.com/rubbertracks. If selected, artists record for free while maintaining the rights to their own music.

Converse Rubber Tracks has become a content generator for Converse. A video is made from each recording session and uploading to YouTube. Under Music on the Converse site is a variety of editorial content ranging from interviews with the studio engineer and artists along with the going-ons inside of the studio.

The content Converse got out of the community studio is a secondary benefit. By opening up the studio, Converse is also giving back to the music community that has made it a cultural brand without asking for the rights to the music itself.

With Converse Rubber Tracks, the brand now has a deeper connection with these musicians and is directly involved with their careers.

“Knowing how hard it is to make a living as a musician and the amount of money it takes to get into a studio of that caliber, it’s unbelievably generous for Converse to provide it for free,” said Ra Ra Riot indie rock band member and Brooklyn resident Rebecca Zeller in a press release last year. “Coupled with the fact that artists retain all rights to their music is a testament to Converse.”

Throughout the video, musicians are showing their appreciation to Converse for allowing them to create and record music at a quality they couldn’t afford on their own.

“Converse kinda gave me a boost,” Rapper Cezir says. “They gave me that opportunity, I’m grateful for that.”

Sometimes content marketing is not just about the content produced on behalf of the brand, for the brand. The tactic instead might be to allow the audience to create the content they want without asking anything in return.

Converse’s content strategy of allowing its fans to create content also translates to the company’s Facebook page, which celebrates the unique spirit of every Converse wearer.