Havas to Develop Targeting Based on Musical Taste

Marketing services conglomerate Havas has partnered with Universal Music Group (UMG) to develop targeting based on individuals' musical taste.

The newly formed Global Music Data Alliance (GMDA) will analyze Universal's massive stores of behavioural data from on- and off-line activities, reports www.mediapost.com . The firms say an understanding of people's musical taste can give a better understanding of their psyche than data on the clothes they buy or the cars they drive.

Announcing the venture alongside Havas Chairman and CEO Yannick Bollore (pictured) at the huge Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, UMG boss Lucian Grainge said: 'We want to continue to find new revenue and marketing opportunities for all of our artists around the world by leveraging our industry-leading big data tools and working with forward-thinking companies, such as Havas, to supercharge our efforts to realize previously untapped revenues from consumer brands and other new business partners.'

UMG's behavioral data - which includes music and video sales and streaming, social media and airplay data, merchandising information from its Bravado division and ticket sales data from Vivendi Ticketing - will be integrated into Havas' platforms to develop an understanding of the correlation between taste in artists, genres and songs, and consumer personality types, giving artists the chance to target their fan bases more effectively with offers and products.