About
About Mick Benjamins
My way into this world was behind the decks, DJing in clubs and at festivals across Europe. That’s what pulled me into the gear behind the sound: synthesizers, drum machines, and plugins. That world became my career.
I spent over nine years on the marketing side of music tech, building and running influencer and affiliate programs at Native Instruments. I came into it from the inside (as one of the people these products are made for), and that’s never stopped shaping how I work.
How I think about this work
Most brands rent audiences. I build relationships.
These four principles come from years building these programs. The rest I know because I was one of them long before I marketed to them.
How I work
I like to know what I'm doing before I do it. I prepare properly, I think in systems, and I'd rather build something that runs cleanly than patch the same problem twice. But preparation doesn't make me cautious, I built this whole function from nothing, which meant jumping into the deep end and learning fast.
I trust my instincts, but not blindly. If someone makes a better case, I'll happily change course. I read things the way the other person will, not just the way I meant them. And I build things to last: the systems, the relationships, and the processes. They all still run after I've moved on.
Above all, I'm honest with people. Creators and artists work with me because they know I'm not just feeding them a marketing line, and that's the whole basis of the trust I've built with them. It's also why I'll tell you straight when something won't work, and if I push on something, it's because I have a reason behind it.
“Since 2018 Mick has been one of the most professional and dependable people I've worked with in the music industry. He saw my potential when I was just starting out, and the affiliate program he ran was an excellent way for me to earn a commission when I shared new products with my audience.”
Background
I led influencer and affiliate marketing at Native Instruments (and its sister brands iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx) from 2017 to 2026, when the role ended following the company's acquisition. There was no influencer function when I arrived. I argued for it during my hiring conversations and built the function from scratch. The affiliate program I started grew to nearly €11M in tracked revenue, anchored by a network of 250+ music industry professionals I chose myself: not contacts in a database, but people I worked with repeatedly and stayed close to for years. I handled all of it personally: every creator relationship, brief, and payout.
Beyond that core work, and even though Artist Relations wasn't part of my role, I placed Native Instruments hardware on the stages of major touring acts through relationships I’d spent years building, earning visibility no paid placement can replicate, running across stadium screens, music videos, live broadcasts, and social media.
That network is still mine. It was built person to person rather than through a company, which is why those relationships continue regardless of where I work. I'm now looking for the next place to put them to work.
"I've worked with Mick for almost a decade, and what sets him apart is that he's not just checking boxes for a brand, he genuinely knows the gear and the scene. Brands change and partnerships end, but I'll keep working with Mick specifically, wherever he lands, because the trust is with him."
Next
The program, the infrastructure, the tour stages, and the parts that never showed up in a brief.