It wasn’t long after Universal Music Group’s songs left TikTok that many users heard creator Jarred Jermaine’s voice for the first time.

Jermaine is known for his TikTok videos that showcase the evolution of song interpolations, compare versions of the same song, and rank artists’ discographies—usually letting the music speak for itself. After TikTok’s licensing agreement with UMG expired in early February and the company’s music was pulled from the platform, his account was suddenly full of muted posts, which led him to speak up—in a fake-crying voice—to ask UMG to “please, put Taylor Swift back on the platform.”

“At first, I thought it wouldn’t be too bad, but as time has progressed, I see how much it has definitely affected me as a music creator because UMG owns a lot of songs,” Jermaine told Marketing Brew. “Sometimes there are songs I want to use, and I can’t even upload that video because I didn’t know that it was a UMG artist.”

Due to the lapsed agreement—and the failure to come to a new one, which UMG said was due in part to royalty payouts and AI-generated music on the platform—songs from big-name UMG artists like Drake, Olivia Rodrigo, Lady Gaga, and The Weeknd are no longer available for use on TikTok (although there appear to be some exceptions). As some marketers wait to see the long-term effects of the changes, some creators say they are already feeling the squeeze—and are finding workarounds to keep audiences engaged.

Continue reading here.—KH, JS

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Protein shakes are stereotypically found in the hands and ’grams of gym and fitness influencers. Muscle Milk is out to put an end to that.

The PepsiCo brand has been using the tagline “Own Your Strength” for years and primarily targeting people with “intense weight-lifting regimens,” according to Marissa Pines, senior marketing director for PepsiCo’s Gatorade portfolio, which includes Muscle Milk. In its latest campaign, the brand pivots to a new tagline: “Strength For It All.”

“All sorts of consumers are looking for more protein in their diet,” Pines told Marketing Brew. “They may be a pro athlete, or they may be super early in their fitness journey, or they may not be using it for working out at all…We want to make sure that Muscle Milk, as a brand, is approachable.”

Pro-file: Muscle Milk is embracing an “approachable for anyone” brand persona these days, Pines said, but that doesn’t mean it’s abandoning athlete starpower. The “Strength For It All” campaign, which started running on TV, online video, and social on April 1, features Las Vegas Aces forward Candace Parker and Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez, with additional creative featuring US Men’s National Soccer Team captain Christian Pulisic coming this May.

The pro athletes lead the ads, but the creative also depicts everyday people working out, playing with kids, or both, in the case of the shot of a woman running while pushing a stroller in the spot starring Rodríguez.

Read more here.—AM

For many sports fans, following their favorite athletes on TV, social media, and even at games in person just isn’t enough. The majority of fans also consume sports audio content via podcasts or radio, according to a new report from SiriusXM Media, GroupM, and Edison Research.

Those listeners present an opportunity for advertisers that could be going untapped, according to Melissa Paris, VP of sales research at SiriusXM.

“Sports audio listeners, we saw from this study in general, are more agreeable to advertising, they’re more likely to take action on advertising, and just as a demographic, they’re an attractive audience,” Paris told Marketing Brew. “There’s a lot of different ways to engage.”

Listen up: According to the report, 64% of self-identified sports fans said they “frequently” or “occasionally” listen to sports content. A larger majority (89%) said they watch sports content that often.

• Sports podcasts are the leading audio format among Gen Z fans, 42% of whom said they “frequently” or “occasionally” listened to one in the past year, per the report.
• Millennials listened to sports podcasts just as often as they listened to AM/FM sports radio over the air.
• Older generations—Gen X and baby boomers—listened to AM/FM sports radio over the air or via online streams more often than podcasts.

The audience for sports audio is more heavily composed of self-identified sports superfans than the audience for sports video, which skews more toward average sports fans, the research shows. While the audiences may differ, the channels pair well to “expand audience reach in a way that’s complementary,” Jen Soch, executive director of channel solutions at GroupM US, said.

Continue reading here.—AM