Matching Marketers With Music Talent

INTRODUCTION

For brands, selecting the right talent for endorsement deals is both an art and a science. But now more than ever, brands and music companies can use data in the process of identifying, evaluating and choosing an artist who aligns best with their brands or products. This report provides an analysis and review of data from the Luminate Artist + Genre Tracker to show how behavioral audience entertainment data can inform marketers in the scientific aspect of brand/partner matchmaking, helping them to locate artists whose fan base matches a brand’s target audience of product purchasers. Cultural capital isn’t something brands should tap into retroactively. Smart marketing means utilizing the data that puts a company ahead of the curve, shaping and participating in culture rather than responding to it after the audience has already moved on. Choosing the right talent will always have some subjective criteria, but real consumer data can help marketers to build and solidify a strong consideration set of varied artists as potential brand partners. To that end, this analysis identifies music talent who show strong affinity and buying likelihood among category purchasers in six major product categories. Furthermore, our selection process intentionally excluded the biggest stars (think Taylor Swift) as we looked to highlight lesser-known artists both old and new to the industry, whom brands may not have considered without the benefit of data to support decision-making. This signals the power of data to help brands widen the aperture on highly aligned artists to engage with, including those artists who may not be the most obvious. Ultimately, having the right data is a critical element in helping brands to make smarter, more informed decisions about the talent they choose to represent their brand or product. Data can be the first stop in identifying and vetting the right talent to connect with your target audience.Think of it as “moneyball” for brand partnerships.

About the Luminate Artist + Genre Tracker

The Luminate Artist + Genre Tracker is a best-in-class research tool to help the music industry and brands understand consumer attitudes and perceptions toward specific music artists and genres alongside evolving media usage and purchasing behaviors. Provided by Luminate Insights, the Artist + Genre Tracker provides U.S. consumer survey results and other performance metrics for over 600 artists and 100 genres or subgenres. Since September 2021, surveys are conducted quarterly online among U.S. consumers ages 13+, representative of the general population according to the U.S. Census on age, gender, ethnicity and region. The tool can help answer business questions: Which music artists, genres and media touchpoints offer the best opportunity to reach my target audience? What music audiences (e.g., artist or genre fans) are most likely to be shopping in my brand’s product category? Which artist fans are most open and receptive to brand partnerships and endorsements? How does my artist compare with others or the general population on consumer perceptions such as likability? How does media engagement differ among artist and genre fans, including social media, music and video streaming services? What is the right marketing plan to support my music investments?

methodology

Artist Selections

IN THIS .REPORT

click to download a PDF

Food & Beverage

Bailey Zimmerman

food &beverage

Ana Bárbara

Personal Care & Hygiene

Shenseea

Apps

REPORT / 2025

Matching Marketers With Music Talent Matching Marketers With Music Talent

LUMINATE INDEX

Banking & Finance

TELECOM

TRAVEL

APPS

Personal Care & Hygiene

Kenya Grace

Travel

Bebe Rexha

telecom

Lainey Wilson

BANKING & FINANCE

Luminate Index

Conclusion