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Jonathan Emmins wants to turn consumers into fans. “People become brand fans because they want a sense of belonging – for us it’s about arousing their passions, about unleashing the attachments they feel for brands,” says the founder of London-based Amplify.

Major brands such as Marriott International, Volkswagen China, and Lenovo have all sourced pre-licensed music for marketing from CueSongs, the music-licensing hub for online and digital media usage launched earlier this year. Marriott picked up a well-known track from CueSongs for its corporate communications/PR video shown to external business partners and internal staff, while Chinese production agency Gwantsi licensed recordings for a number of online and digital marketing activities for Volkswagen China and Lenovo.

UK butter brand Lurpak and Last.fm have launched a new online tool, FoodBeats, which uses the online-music site’s scrobbling feature to create customised playlists. Arla, which owns Lurpak, says it hopes FoodBeats will connect with that part of its audience which likes to cook and listen to music at the same time. “Just like adding a pinch of freshly ground spice or a juicy squeeze of lime, you can bring out the best in your dishes with FoodBeats,” says Lurpak.

Coca-Cola has launched its Olympics My Beat Maker app, which detects the movements of users’ phones and converts them into music so they can make their own beats. The music is based on the official Coca-Cola anthem for the London 2012 Olympic Games – Mark Ronson featuring Katy B’s Anywhere in the World. And when that beat is ready, users can upload and share it to The Global Beat, the brand’s global musical collaboration.

To celebrate 40 years of the Originals Desert Trek and the boot’s role in Jamaican culture, shoe brand Clarks has joined forces with reggae record label Trojan Records to roll out new branded songs, writes Steve Mullins. For the #OriginalsRemixed campaign, Clarks will take Trojan’s hit Let Your Yeah Be Yeah from The Pioneers and task four DJs and producers – Tokimonsta, Mighty Crown, Riva Starr and Toddla T – to produce new tracks which will made made available for exclusive free download on the Originals site in July.

Universal Music launches T. Rex’s official timeline on Facebook and has launched a crowdsourcing initiative to get fans creating the ultimate resource and history for the band, writes Steve Mullins. “The T. Rex timeline makes the most of Facebook’s latest innovation and enables fans old and new to experience and relive the fascinating history of T. Rex,” says Johnny Hudson, head of marketing for Universal Music catalogue.

Spotify users might get a whole lot of Coca-Cola branding with their music-streaming experience soon in the wake of a new strategic partnership between Spotify and Coke. The two allies say the venture will help users discover new music, plus connect with other music fans around the world. Spotify will provide the underlying technology for Coca-Cola Music globally, while Coca-Cola will integrate Spotify into its Facebook timeline.

The Chevrolet has been around for 100 years. And in the past few decades, the brand has been slotted into a fair number of music videos. There’s the 1966 Camaro in the Kings Of Leon’s Camaro, the Camaro Z-28 in Chevrolet from ZZ Top, Elton John’s Corvette Sting Ray in Dreaming Of My Chevy, and let’s not forget Prince’s red-hued Corvette either.