The rise of music sponsoring sport is a sign for sports organisations to start targeting entities outside the most popular sponsor categories

Music and sport have always shared a powerful connection and musicians sponsoring sport (well, soccer) certainly isn’t anything new.

In the UK back in 1996, for instance, ska rock band Bad Manners sponsored non-league side Margate FC. The club have since then also attracted rock group The Libertines. In 1999, the record label Skint – from musician & DJ Fatboy Slim – started sponsoring the front of shirts of Brighton & Hove Albion FC.

This type of activity with soccer has come to the fore more recently with celebrated examples such as:

• Ed Sheeran x Ipswich Town FC: the global superstar has put his hometown club on a wider stage, using his international profile to raise Ipswich Town’s visibility and deepen community pride
• Spotify x FC Barcelona: the music streaming service has used their sponsorship of FC Barcelona to promote bands such as Drake, Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Rosalía, and Travis Scott
• La Planta x Cerro Largo: the Uruguayan cumbia band, among the most streamed on Spotify, supports their local team by sponsoring Cerro Largo FC, connecting music fans and football followers in their region.

However, the trend has started to spread to other sports beyond soccer and is taking on more of a community aspect in terms of engaging fans or helping certain demographics:

• CREED x Meyer Shank Racing — The iconic rock band partnered with the American motorsport team for the Indy 500, combining music energy with racing excitement and working alongside Sirius XM to amplify the partnership
• Karol G x Tatiana Calderon — Colombian artist Karol G, also known as “La Bichota,” backed race driver Tatiana Calderon in Formula 2 and IMSA. Their partnership included branding on Calderon’s car and collaboration with Karol G’s foundation to support vulnerable women
• 574 Studio x Colombian Basketball Federation — Artists like J Balvin and DJ Pope have supported both men’s and women’s basketball teams, providing kits and helping organize FIBA’s AmeriCup competition while also investing in community basketball courts
• Source Music x NBA — The K-Pop label launched a multi-year deal with the NBA in Asia featuring their girl group LE SSERAFIM in the “Friends of the NBA” programme to engage young fans with exclusive content.

For rights holders, the lessons from the rise of music sponsoring sport are (available in full article).