Guide
Music marketing
This is what engagement sounds like
Music marketing is a powerful tool for amplifying your brand storytelling and strengthening customer connections, regardless of your industry. Learn how you can leverage music marketing as part of a full-funnel approach.
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In our crowded media environment, music has become more than just entertainment—it's a powerful tool for standing out, engaging, and building lasting emotional resonance with audiences. So it’s not surprising that music marketing strategies are increasingly being deployed by brands from an array of industries. From sponsored playlists and festival activations to smart speaker integrations and music releases, there are countless opportunities for advertisers to add their voices to the mix.
This guide explores ideas and best practices for leveraging music marketing as part of a full-funnel approach, including through examples of real-life campaigns.
What is music marketing?
Music marketing is a term referencing either the strategic promotion of an artist, album, record label, or live music event; or of a brand via musical pieces, music-focused channels, and music influencers. This guide will focus on the latter definition, providing insights into how all types of brands can leverage music marketing through a variety of channels, including social media, streaming media, and live events.
Why is music marketing important?
From a brand perspective, music marketing is important because it can help you reach and engage leaned-in audiences at scale. This approach offers unique advantages, such as fostering brand equity and creating memorable touchpoints with global audiences. When done effectively, music marketing helps you build authentic connections that drive not only brand awareness but also lower-funnel objectives, such as sales and loyalty.
What are the benefits of music marketing?
There are numerous benefits to music marketing that can be found at every stage of the marketing funnel, including creating emotional connections, generating mass appeal, accessibility, and measurability.
Emotional connection
Music triggers emotional responses, making it an ideal medium to resonate with audiences. Aligning your brand identity with a compelling melody, independent artist, emerging artist, signed artist, record label, or music event often means customers will remember how you made them feel.
Mass appeal
Music lives on a variety of channels—from Amazon Music to TikTok to Twitch. An integrated music marketing campaign lets you tap into billions of diverse global customers who engage with these and other services across the music industry.
Accessibility
With innovations like voice-enabled music apps, livestreams, and QR codes, music marketing now combines entertainment with accessibility. These tools empower you to engage a larger number of users with minimal friction.
Measurability
Like other forms of audio marketing, music marketing is becoming increasingly measurable—allowing you to gain better insights into campaign performance and continually optimize your strategies. For example, brands that work with Amazon Ads can measure the success of audio ad campaigns, utilizing Amazon’s first-party reporting and third-party measurement solutions to provide visibility into performance and attribution on Amazon.
Top music marketing trends
There is increasing evidence that music marketing has become a highly effective way for brands to reach relevant customers at scale, including pulling from the following audience trends.
Smart speakers are exploding in usage among music fans.
Smart speakers represent a high-potential channel for reaching and engaging music fans. In fact, consumers who listen to music via streaming services are 19% more likely than the average consumer to use a voice assistant for tasks like playing a song within the past week.1
Live music events continue to deliver significant reach to young adult consumers.
Music festivals are more than just a stage for live performances—they’re a hub for fan engagement and discovery. Gen Z is driving this trend, with younger adult music streamers being 48% more likely than older generations to have festivals on their agenda.2 This presents a prime opportunity to connect with a highly engaged, experience-driven audience.
Influencers are driving music discovery.
Consumers who listen to music via streaming services are 18% more likely to discover new music through creators and influencers3—suggesting they play a key role in connecting artists and audiences, particularly among younger listeners.
Livestreams have the potential to drive brand discovery.
Livestreaming has rapidly evolved into an exciting way for music fans to connect with each other, as well as discover new music and brands—with 1 in 3 music streamers engaging with livestreams weekly.4
Audio streaming is facilitating learning and connection for consumers.
Consumers are increasingly turning to audio streaming services as a way to gain knowledge and new experiences. According to a 2025 study by Amazon Ads, 78% of global consumers who listen to streaming audio seek out ways to access new and interesting content.5 And 3 in 5 consumers who listen to streaming audio prefer to discover new products and have new experiences, rather than stick to the familiar.6
Music marketing strategies for brands
There are many ways brands can incorporate music marketing, including through playlists, voice search integrations, interactive experiences at live music events, and creator partnerships.
Playlists
Playlists offer a tailored listening experience that attracts and retains fans. With dedicated playlists like those on Amazon Music or curated genre-based collections, your brand can find the right audience.
Pro tip: Collaborate with influencers or playlist curators to feature your music or tailor playlists specific to your brand’s story. Tools like Chartmetric can help you track the most impactful playlist opportunities in the music business.
Voice search integrations
Through simple commands like “play my favorite new music” or “find relaxing playlists,” audiences can discover tracks or campaigns effortlessly via smart speakers. Brands and artists can leverage this trend by creating voice-optimized ads or integrating mentions of their music within curated playlists.
Pro tip: Explore ad options that target specific voice-enabled platforms like Amazon Music, capitalizing on voice-first audiences.
Interactive experiences at live music events
Music festivals are a unique audience touchpoint. Beyond the performances, these events are buzzing hubs where fans engage, share, and discover. QR codes are particularly valuable, letting attendees scan for exclusive merch, behind-the-scenes access, or VIP areas. Brands can also sponsor or co-sponsor live events through Amazon Music and Twitch.
Pro tip: Create experiences that encourage on-the-spot interaction. For fintech brands, offering cashless wristbands with purchase promos strengthens the fan experience (and ties it back to your brand).
Creator partnerships
Creators on Twitch have tapped into the livestream space effectively, drawing millions of real-time viewers and inspiring fan interactions. Social media influencers are also central figures in music discovery. By partnering with these creators (including through Amazon Music and Twitch sponsorships), you can create a more personal connection with audiences and help build brand trust.
Pro tip: Encourage influencers to incorporate a track into their videos and music videos (or share behind-the-scenes campaigns for music releases) to help spark interest and engagement.
Examples of successful music marketing strategies
expert advice
Retirement services provider TIAA launched an unexpected partnership with hip-hop superstar Wyclef Jean as part of a first-of-its-kind Amazon Ads campaign to help raise awareness about the importance of financial literacy and retirement planning among the younger generation, including Generation Z and millennials. The campaign included the release of a new musical collaboration that generated significant audience engagement.
Case Study
In collaboration with the performance marketing agency, Tinuiti, Sony developed an interactive audio ad campaign to help promote the LinkBuds S noise-canceling earbuds, designed in partnership with Grammy-winning artist Olivia Rodrigo. By leveraging Alexa-enabled devices, the campaign enabled consumers to directly interact with the audio ad with the simple command “Alexa, add to cart”—creating a seamless shopping experience that not only increased the likelihood of purchase, but also helped keep the product top-of-mind for further research and consideration.
Case Study
Sportswear company Under Armour teamed up with NFL superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson and acclaimed record producer London On Da Track to record and release a new iteration of the iconic rallying cry “Protect This House” that launched on Thursday Night Football (TNF). The campaign is credited with helping raise brand awareness and affinity, including among young adult audiences.
Case Study
Lexus joined forces with eight-time Grammy Award winner Anderson .Paak and Amazon Ads to create a music video for .Paak’s “Celebrate” remix featuring the Lexus GX. The campaign debuted in June for World Music Day 2024 across ads on Prime Video, Fire TV, and Amazon.com, and also included an Amazon Music playlist curated by .Paak.
Amazon Ads solutions and resources
Amazon Ads offers various products and solutions that can help brands start or expand their music marketing efforts.
Amazon audio ads can help you reach larger, unique ad-supported audiences across first-party and third-party streaming audio services, including Amazon Music, Wondery, and Twitch.
Through interactive audio ads, listeners can take actions such as adding an item to their cart, requesting more info via email, or setting a reminder, without disrupting their streaming audio content while on an Alexa-enabled device.
Podcast ads allow advertisers and agencies to reach podcast listeners across Amazon-owned podcasts (including on Amazon Music and Wondery) and through Amazon third-party relationships.
Branded experiences with Alexa make it easier for customers to proactively interact with the brands they love using their voice, screen-tap, or remote via Alexa-enabled devices, while also helping brands engage audiences in creative ways in the connected home.
Expert production and design services are available from Amazon Ads across a range of formats and placements, including audio. In fact, audio ad campaigns that used Audio Ads Creative Studios services for script writing and production were found to deliver +2.5x greater lift in brand favorability.7
Bringing it all together: Maximizing reach and impact through music marketing
Music advertising strategies are not a one-size-fits-all approach. Brands need to combine creativity and technology with insights into their core audience’s media consumption habits. Through tools like audio ads, branded playlists, Prime Video ads, and livestream sponsorships, Amazon Ads helps brands leverage the power of music to strike a chord with audiences—for the long term.
Additional resources
Sources
1 GWI Core Q2 2024 Base: 70,899 music streamers aged 18+. Global data.
2 GWI Core Q4 2022 Base: 633 music streamers interested in music festivals aged 18+. U.S. data.
3 GWI Core Q3 2022 and GWI Zeitgeist February 2023 Base: 1,134 music streamers who discover new music through media influencers aged 18+. Global data.
4 GWI Core Q2 2024 Base: 20,054 music streamers who have watched a livestream in the last week aged 18+. Global data.
5–6 Amazon Ads custom research with Strat7 Crowd.DNA. Beyond the Generational Divide: The new rules for consumer connection. Fielded December 2024 to January 2025. Data reflects AU, BR, CA, DE, ES, FR, IT, JP, MX, U.K., and U.S. aggregated. Base: All respondents (26,400), Gen Z (6,680), Millennials (6,680), Gen X (6,668), Baby Boomers (6,372).
7 Kantar & Amazon Brand Lift Benchmarks Study, 2022.
What is music marketing?
Music marketing is a term referencing either the strategic promotion of an artist, album, record label, or live music event; or of a brand via musical pieces, music-focused channels, and music influencers. This guide will focus on the latter definition, providing insights into how all types of brands can leverage music marketing through a variety of channels, including social media, streaming media, and live events.
What is music marketing?
Music marketing is a term referencing either the strategic promotion of an artist, album, record label, or live music event; or of a brand via musical pieces, music-focused channels, and music influencers. This guide will focus on the latter definition, providing insights into how all types of brands can leverage music marketing through a variety of channels, including social media, streaming media, and live events.
What is music marketing?
Music marketing is a term referencing either the strategic promotion of an artist, album, record label, or live music event; or of a brand via musical pieces, music-focused channels, and music influencers. This guide will focus on the latter definition, providing insights into how all types of brands can leverage music marketing through a variety of channels, including social media, streaming media, and live events.