By Emma Hameau, International Project Manager
Whenever a brand needs sound, it generally has four options:
- Stock music (or library music)
- Sync licensing: placing a known artist’s track against visuals
- Artist collaboration
- Bespoke sonic identity: a tailor-made sound system deployed across every brand touchpoint — and our expertise at Sixième Son
Here’s an honest look at the pros and cons of each approach.
Stock Music (or Catalog Music): Convenient, But Is It Really Enough?
It’s simple, inexpensive, and therefore extremely tempting, especially in a world where digital content is multiplying rapidly. The downside? It tells no story—at least, nothing about the brand.
And that’s perfectly normal: this type of music was never created for that purpose. Also known as generic or off-the-shelf music, it’s a bit like using a stock photo that thousands of other companies can access to represent you. In this case, music serves purely as decoration. It fills one void while creating another: the absence of identity.
It may be technically polished, but it is entirely interchangeable. Such music is not designed to convey a brand’s values, DNA, or heritage.
Synchronization: Using an Artist’s Music. Good Idea or Bad Bet?
Synchronizing a well-known song is often a deceptively attractive idea. It amounts to licensing a popular track at a given moment and relying on the most common way people judge music: “I like this song, so it will work.”
However, the Musical Performance Barometer has repeatedly shown that personal preference alone does not guarantee the effectiveness of a sonic identity. In fact, it is less effective than a custom-made approach.
Of course, a brand can occasionally pull off a major success. In the 1990s and 2000s, brands such as Apple, Nike, and Levi’s were true music trendsetters. They used sound as a powerful tool to capture attention quickly and build emotional connections with audiences. Many people still remember The Ting Tings’ Shut Up and Let Me Go in Apple advertising, which became iconic.
But that was a different era. At the time, music was not yet the highly democratized consumer product it is today. People listened to it on the radio or recorded it onto cassettes. In fact, advertising music compilations were popular.
Today, the landscape has changed. Few brands still manage to surprise audiences through synchronization. More often, they follow trends rather than set them. Sync tracks are tied to a particular campaign and a particular moment in time.
They are rarely distinctive because they were never created for the brand. Nor are they exclusive. Artists such as Ed Sheeran or The Weeknd have been synchronized dozens of times around the world—for cars, pizzas, ketchup, and chocolate. The problem? People remember Shape of You, but not necessarily the brands that used it.
And did we really want Nina Simone’s sublime and iconic Feeling Good to become the sound of Volvo or Campofrío? A song can lose part of its soul when detached from its original context, diminishing some of its emotional and intimate power. There is also an ethical consideration: Nina Simone was a committed activist, and her image may conflict with purely commercial campaigns.
Synchronization can also be very expensive. Brands must clear rights, ensure that artists or their estates approve the intended use, and pay licensing fees for specific media, territories, and time periods. Costs can escalate quickly.
On social media, using a trending track for a Reel follows the same logic: virality takes precedence over identity. There is no exclusivity, and the brand risks getting lost in the crowd.
Finally, using a famous artist’s music means associating the brand with that artist’s image. As we have seen repeatedly, that association can quickly become problematic if the artist becomes involved in controversy.
Artist Collaborations: Opportunity or Risk?
Increasingly, marketing activations pair brands with iconic figures from the music world. Examples include Miley Cyrus with Maybelline, DJ Snake with McDonald’s, and digital-content projects such as Jain’s live performance for Boucheron’s mini-series or Mark Ronson’s curated playlists for Gucci fashion shows.
Some collaborations go even further. In 2023, Louis Vuitton appointed Pharrell Williams as its Men’s Creative Director.
Collaborating with an artist is fundamentally a game of influence. Because it is more customized, brands generally have greater control over the outcome. It offers an opportunity to strengthen brand image by leveraging the artist’s cultural influence and ambassador status, encouraging audience engagement, and enhancing the brand’s reputation beyond the product itself.
However, this approach is not without risks. If the balance between the brand and the artist is off, one can overshadow—or even harm—the other.
A classic example is the Pepsi and Madonna campaign built around Like a Prayer, which was withdrawn following controversy surrounding the music video, which some considered blasphemous.
Another example is The Weeknd ending his partnership with H&M in 2018 after criticizing a campaign perceived by the public as racist.
Shared values must remain the cornerstone of these partnerships, but achieving true alignment is not always straightforward.
Sonic Branding: How Can Sound Become a Strategic Asset?
To overcome the lack of exclusivity associated with synchronization, brands can create their own sonic universe.
If you are reading this, you are probably already familiar with the concept of sonic identity. The idea is to build a unique sonic signature through a custom-designed sound identity. Think of the SNCF jingle or McDonald’s famous “ba-da-ba-ba-ba,” both instantly recognizable.
So why create a sonic identity for a brand? Because a distinctive and unique sound can powerfully communicate brand values, capture attention, and drive engagement. It leverages the emotional power and universal nature of sound to make the brand heard everywhere. Rather than treating sound as a gimmick, brands can view it as an incredibly powerful strategic asset.
A sonic identity is also highly adaptable. We often speak of a sonic ecosystem. This flexibility allows it to be deployed across every touchpoint where the brand interacts with its audience, ensuring people immediately recognize who is speaking. In short, we help brands answer the key questions of why, when, where, and how through sound. Consistency and longevity are essential.
What If We Did Things in the Right Order?
Music is no longer just a decorative layer—it has become an essential component of branding.
Whether through artist collaborations, synchronization, or custom sonic identities, every musical choice contributes—more or less effectively—to expressing a brand’s DNA, reinforcing its distinctiveness, and building a strong emotional connection with its audience.
Depending on how a brand approaches and uses sound, it can become a strategic advantage—or not.
For music to have a real impact, it must be part of a coherent, long-term strategy aligned with the brand’s values. A custom sonic identity should come first, followed by targeted activations and collaborations that balance impact, agility, and consistency.
This combination offers the best of both worlds. The brand remains distinctive and sustainable over time while still being able to take advantage of viral opportunities. That is the purpose of activations.
If a brand has not first established music as a core element of its identity, its efforts further down the funnel will inevitably be less effective.
With the right strategy, sonic branding can offer brands far more than visibility. It enables them to stand out, build recognition, and most important remain memorable.
Would you like to turn sound into a true strategic asset for your brand? Let’s talk.
