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Joe Button is a UK-based drummer with over 700,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram alone. Joe has partnered with Activision, Download Festival, and Bad Monday Apparel, to name a few, and his video content has received over 150 million views to-date. Be sure to check Joe out on TikTok and Instagram, and go to joebdrums.co.uk to learn more.
Tell us about how you got started on TikTok.
I started just before lockdown. So I played drums in college and growing up, went off to uni and did marketing and wanted to keep the drums going. So yeah, I started with just general covers and then it just sort of spiraled from there really.
What’s your favorite cover that you’ve performed to date?
The first video that did really well was actually a video with my Nan. I’d seen a musician do a similar thing, so I had her sort of dance behind me. I think the song was Stayin’ Alive or something like that and it got 50,000 views and the video both just went crazy. And from there, I just got a hunger for… I mean, people loved it and wanted to see us, so we kept doing it and since then obviously I’ve done the more heavy metal stuff, which has been received really well. So yeah, there’s a lot of videos I could pick, but that’s probably the one that really got it going.
You’ve worked with brands including Solo Beat. How do you decide whether you want to collaborate with a brand on a specific campaign, or not?
It really depends. I mean, at the start when I first went viral, I had a lot of brands reaching out to me. I think that’s sort of changed. I’ve spoken to other creators as well and it seems that they’re having to do a bit more legwork to sort of get brand deals.
So if a brand reaches out to me, it’s really about if I think my audience is going to resonate, if I can offer some value. If I’ve reached out to a company, then obviously I’d like to work with them and those deals tend to go really well. But yeah, the main thing is that my audience is going to react well to it so I feel quite good about having good engagement.
What’s the weirdest pitch from a brand that you’ve received?
I had one literally yesterday. I don’t know if it’s the weirdest, but it’s the most recent. It was some kind of garden equipment and I was thinking, “How do they expect me to get this into a drumming video when I’m sitting inside, playing the drums?” I don’t know.
Photo courtesy of Joe Button (YouTube)
The first one I got was doing bottles of water. I thought it was weird at first and then it occurred to me that I could integrate it drumming one hand and drink in the other. So I didn’t do the video, but there’s been so many weird ones. I’ve done quite a few weird ones to be fair. But yeah, garden equipment.
How do you structure your average day so you can get all the content created that you want to create and have some time for yourself?
I’m final year of uni and I’ve got two kids as well who I live with, so it’s hectic. It’s just a lot of planning. I’ve got a diary, a daily planner. Not a lot of sleep with kids, but it’s all good. Yeah, I just try and make time out of my day with it really. It’s okay.
What are some of your goals for this year as it pertains to your brand, as it pertains to drumming, or brand partnerships in general?
I’ve wanted for a little while to branch out from the TikTok and do more longer form content. I think it’s quite easy, with this stuff, if you’re getting views to just to stay doing what you’re doing.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy it, I love these short form videos, but when you’ve got creative ideas, I think it’s quite easy to be disheartened and sort of put off if you don’t get the views on this different stuff straight away. So I’m trying to branch out and try different content.
YouTube’s going to be a thing. I’ve got a couple of brand that are lined up, one being with Download Festival, so I’m going to go and meet some bands, which will be really cool. That’s in June. And then I’ve got another project, which I can’t talk much about, but it’s separate from the drumming stuff, but also kind of linked to influencer marketing in a way.
At the end of the day, when you kick your feet up, what are you listening to?
You know what, I’ve been listening to a lot of Eminem lately. A lot of hiphop, Logic. There’s a guy in Britain called Ren who’s really good. I still bang the metal playlists frequently. I’ve got my own one, which is sort of put together by my Instagram community, which I listen to. Everything to be honest. But yeah, hip hop as of late.
Note: Influencer Spotlight interviews are edited for time and clarity.
Andrew is the Head of Client Services for Intellifluence and has a background in communications. He is committed to helping brands get the most out of their campaigns and is the co-host of the Influencer Spotlight series.
