April had some key themes and tentpole events that had our cultural calendar packed. These included Coachella (the official start of music festival season), Holy Week, Earth Day, 4/20, Baseball’s Opening Pitch, WrestleMania, and Record Store Day.Here are the 5 key trends and campaigns from April:Album Releases Pack On the Partnerships: We’ve seen this play before – think Charli XCX’s signature green for Brat Summer – but Bon Iver did his thing as an indie rocker taking the salmon color to a new level for his album release this month. SABLE, fABLE features partnerships across the board, such as:Bon Iver x Todd SnyderBon Iver x FishwifeBon Iver x Billy Van CreamyWhy it matters → The intentional use of salmon—a color Vernon connects deeply with—turns this collab into more than merch; it becomes a visual extension of the music. This reflects a growing trend where color storytelling drives emotional branding in fashion.Summer Festival Season Has Returned: Coachella set the tone as usual, despite attendance being lower than in past years. Brands piggy backed off ‘Chella’s foolproof cultural momentum by partnering with artists, the festival itself, and all of its surrounding events. Some winning examples include:Travis Scott x ErewhonAnker Supercharges Coachella2025 REVOLVE x Pizzaslime PartyRecord Store Day Celebrates Music: For the 18th year, Record Store Day’s semi-annual event designed to support indie record stores, made an impact as vinyl sales market continues to grow. Two of our favorite campaigns this time around were:Dog Fish Miller High Life’s “The Soundtrack to the High Life”WrestleMania 41 Sets WWE Social, Sales, and Viewership Records: WWE’s big bet on Las Vegas has already paid off. According to a statement from the Endeavor-owned entity, WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium reached 1.1 billion views across social media while taking place in the home of the NFL’s Raiders. Additionally, on-site sales were up 45% over the previous record-setting year, with viewership also skyrocketing by 114% compared to WrestleMania XL. The brand deals followed:Clash of Clans x WWE Minute Maid x WWE John Cena x NeutrogenaTech Was the Great Equalizer: Technology is the bridge between brands and artists. Through technology, ideas can scale and partnerships gain wider distribution. Here are a few banger campaigns from April:Peloton x Armada Music for DJ ResidencyFortnite x Sabrina CarpenterSleepy Hollow x FortniteClick the link for our full April campaign recap in Campaign US!
BEATS
Singer Chelsea Cutler Takes Lids Out to the Ballgames a cultural marketing agency, you get to wear a lot of … hats. This month, we launched a campaign with Lids and ’47 Brand called “Clean Up Season” starring singer-songwriter Chelsea Cutler. Lids wanted to reimagine baseball for “her,” blending the nostalgia of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” with modern fashion (Muse by Clio).
The Next Generation Of Independent Music Tastemakers Music streaming has an echo chamber problem. Curators with distinctive taste and compelling visual stories are filling the void (Emily White).
7-Eleven Teams With Live Nation For Nostalgic Music Festival ActivationsThe c-store chain is the first presenting sponsor of the pop-punk-focused When We Were Young as part of a bid to connect with consumers around culture (Marketing Dive).
The Pop-Up Economy: Why Brands Are Betting on Real-World MomentsThese short-lived, highly curated spaces, often open for less than a week, have become a calling card for American Express. In the past two years, the company has produced a series of branded pop-ups for some of music's most globally recognised artists, including Olivia Rodrigo, Dua Lipa, BLACKPINK, Billie Eilish, and Ed Sheeran (Ben Leibmann).
YouTube’s Latest Report Explores The World Of Virtual CreatorsYouTube’s Culture & Trends team has published a mini-report exploring these trends. “Last year a sample of just 300 Virtual Creators on YouTube earned over 15 billion views across videos, live streams, and Shorts, with one billion of those views coming from the U.S. alone,” it explains (Music Ally).
Taco Bell’s Feed The Beat unveils Class of 2025In the years since, the long-running program has backed more than 2,000 musicians and, perceptibly, teamed up with essential voices within modern rock, such as Turnstile, Militarie Gun, and Scowl (Alternative Press).
Latin Artist Are Bigger Than You ThinkOften our perception of popularity in music is shaped by what’s directly in front of us—what we hear on the radio, see on TV, or what’s fed into our feeds and playlists. It’s easy to assume that these artists are universally the biggest (The Bag).
STAT OF THE WEEK
How NFL Draft Walkout Songs Are Creating a New Stage for Music DiscoveryThis year, player-curated walkout songs soundtracked the defining moment of the NFL Draft — the walk from the tunnel to the stage, where draftees shook hands with Roger Goodell and held their new team’s jersey for the first time. It marked a historic first: the NFL allowing first-round prospects to personally choose the track that would play as they stepped into the spotlight and met their new fanbases.
BYTES
Since getting out, Young Thug has mostly laid low, to the point of sometimes wearing a mask in public. He has not said much about the last few years of his life, or about anything at all, really… until now. This is the GQ Video Cover Story with Young Thug (GQ).
Live Nation's “flywheel” business model fueled its rise to become the most powerful company in live music. But that strategy could become its downfall after the Department of Justice sued the company over its dominance.
Heap is the first artist to sign on to a new feature from AI-music start-up Jen that lets users directly borrow the feel of fully licensed songs.
“I’m still trying to take it all in,” Gigi Perez tells Billboard of her extended moment in the spotlight. Last July, the singer-songwriter’s “Sailor Song” became a viral hit and Perez’s first Hot 100 hit — and months later, the folksy exaltation of queer flirtation remains in the chart’s top 40, rising up one spot this week to No. 35 (Billboard).
This week's newsletter was carefully curated by the Nue Agency staff and our editor Rachel Meisner If you think we missed something this week or have any suggestions/comments for next week's newsletter, let us know!