Bands & Brands: How Tito’s Handmade Vodka Is Supporting Up-And-Coming Indie Artists 

Tito’s Handmade Vodka is helping make life on the road a bit easier for a few independent artists by providing $10,000 tour grants via the music program Sounds Better With Tito’s, with support from nonprofit Sonic Guild.

Music has been linked to Tito’s Handmade Vodka since the brand’s start, including sponsoring the inaugural Austin City Limits Music Festival in the early 2000s.  

“This is our way to give back to a community that really helped us over the years,” says TJ Mathias, who serves as Tito’s Director, Sponsorship & Experiential. “Being from Austin, the live music capital of the world, those early days … the bartenders, the artists at all these music venues in Austin, they were our first fans. They really carried the brand for us for many years by putting on their tour riders, taking it on their tour buses. And so, I think, you know, as our success has grown, we want to lean back into the industry that really helped support us over the years.”

Reminiscing about the brand’s musical connection, Mathias adds, “I could go back 15, 18 years ago and tell you stories about our first employee that would write checks to bands in Austin whose tour bus broke down to help them get back on the road for no other reason than those are good friends and you want to make sure they’re [OK]. And the first bar that we ever had at ACL was built by [country rock band] Reckless Kelly, just because those guys lived down the street and said they could build a bar.”  

The first artists to receive grants as part of Sounds Better With Tito’s include Austin, Texas-based alt-country duo Briscoe; New Haven, Connecticut-based neo R&B artist Aaron Page; and Nashville-based pop trio Moody Joody. 

Briscoe, Aaron Page, and Moody Joody all performed at Austin City Limits Music Festival in October and recorded live sessions at influential Austin public radio station KUTX during the event.

“It’s amazing,” Page said in a statement about being chosen as a grant recipient. “From the people to the experience, being seen and appreciated for what I’m doing in this space means the world to me. It’s a testament to the work we’ve put in and definitely a step in the right direction for where I want to be in my career. To my Tito’s fam, thank you. Being part of this program is something I won’t forget.”

The acts will be able to use the tour grant awards for expenses such as purchasing essential gear and to help cover travel and lodging. Mathias pointed out that it’s up to the artists: “If that’s costume design [for] how they want to dress when they go on stage … if that’s paying for studio time, if that’s [working] with the producer they’ve always wanted to collaborate with, we want them to use that money how they best see fit.”

The launch announcement in October noted that artists in the Sounds Better With Tito’s program will also receive a custom gear case, exclusive Tito’s branded merchandise, and a Brane Audio wireless Bluetooth speaker.

The initial grant recipients were chosen with help from the brand’s agency, The Syndicate.

While the first class of artists represent different genres and styles, Mathias notes that they share an “independent, community-first spirit that’s at the core of the Tito’s brand. … One thing in common was they were all hustling and creating and making their mark in music.”

In June, Tito’s announced a marketing sponsorship focused on supporting independent live venues and establishing the brand as the “official vodka of NIVA.” Earlier that month, Tito’s also helped celebrate indie music as a featured sponsor of the 14th annual Libera Awards in New York City.

Ahead of launching Sounds Better, Tito’s spent 18 months working on the music program by traveling around the country and talking to venues and artists. 

“We spent a lot of time over the first couple months just talking to local musicians in Austin, asking them lots of questions. What is the hardest part about being a musician? What are you struggling with? What are things that you would want to do more if you had the opportunity? … There’s a lot of feedback that it is incredibly difficult to be a musician today, maybe more than ever – and for a myriad of reasons,” Mathias says. 

He added, “We’re hoping we can just help support them get through a tough time. …. And at the end of the day, the artists can continue to do what they do best, which is playing music.”

Philanthropy has long been a cornerstone of Tito’s and Mathias explains that when building Sounds Better, it was important to the company to find philanthropy partners that could be a part of the program.  

“Sonic Guild being an advocate for musicians and them doing grant programs, working with musicians – there was a lot there that existed that we could lean into their experience,” he says.  “They’ve worked with hundreds of artists already. So, we were really looking to them as experts to help us to do this program and do it well.”

Sounds Better With Tito’s will soon be announcing another grant recipient via the brand’s partnership with Latin Grammys, as well as another round of artists in 2026. 

“We are continuing to expand this program. We have a lot of relationships with music festivals that we are taking a first pass at and saying, ‘OK, who’s going to be playing on lineups that we might be at, sponsorship-wise, that makes sense from a proximity standpoint that we could be there to support?’” Mathias says. 

“We are using this time right now to learn a lot and I think as we move forward, we’ll adapt and take those learnings and just try and get better to have a program that truly supports musicians and the music industry as a whole.”