This week may be the music business’ most important of the year. Littered with VIP parties, star-studded events, and heavy-hitter brunches leading up to the big dance on Sunday, The 61st annual Grammy Awards is set to honor the best, brightest, and most talented musicians of our time. Or will it? More so than the Oscars and Golden Globes, the Grammy’s appear painfully out of step with current trends and consumer sentiment. Although it remains a dream for most artists to be nominated, viewers are increasingly scratching their heads at the results, their feelings more often resembling those elicited by politicians misrepresenting their interests without consequence.And that’s before we look under the hood. The controversy surrounding the new CEO, Deborah Dugan, stepping down just five months into her tenure grows more explosive by the day, with troubling accusations of rape, rigged results, and self-dealing. This doesn’t feel like an organization with its house in order. I truly wonder how long the Grammy’s can remain the crown jewel of artistic achievement -- or relevant whatsoever -- without serious innovation.Considering music is one of the most disruptive creative industries (from the turn of the century P2P networks to today’s TikTok stars), it would only seem right for its Super Bowl moment to represent the state of the art itself. Alas, another year has come and gone without much-needed house-cleaning and self-reflection from on high.So, I’ll be watching from New York this year, rooting for the new faces and hoping the latest scandal becomes the catalyst for change. Anybody having a viewing party in the city? Let me know!
BEATS
Quadio Is The Music Platform Paving The Way For The Next Big ArtistIt’s difficult to find your audience without some miraculous viral video, and it’s hard to find people with the same mindset to collab with unless you somehow find each other on a Reddit forum à la Brockhampton. Enter Quadio, a social music streaming platform for the next generation founded by Marcus and Joe Welch. (Kulture Hub)
LÜM Launches First Direct-to-Artist Virtual Gifting SystemOn LÜM, artists can directly connect with fans, share their music, and monetize their fanbase all on one platform.The Madison-based tech startup recently closed a $1.4 million seed financing and launched its social media and music streaming app in July 2019. The platform has grown to over 16,000 fans, 24,000 artists and has over 60,000 tracks in its music catalog. (Platform and Stream)
Letter of Recommendation: ‘The Happy Song’ by Imogen HeapAs music, I could take it or leave it. It’s not great. But from a strictly utilitarian point of view? From the point of view of sheer effectiveness? Surely the greatest song ever recorded. (NY Times)
Why The Song Economy Is Just Getting StartedWhen Journey’s song Don’t Stop Believin’ was originally released as the second single from the album Escape in 1981, it was a modest US chart hit (Billboard Hot 100 no. 9). Fast forward 28 years, in 2009 the track had two very prominent syncs: The Sopranos finale and Glee (the song featured in six episodes). (Midias Research)
Calendar Of Key Entertainment And Sports EventsShorefire has gathered important events in the worlds of music, entertainment, sports, literature and culture in the calendar below below, with links to PDF, iCal, Google Calendar, and RSS Feed. They’re always updating the calendar, so feel free to send them your key events and any changes as they're confirmed for consideration. (Shorefire)
8 Examples of Influencer Marketing on TikTokSince TikTok launched in 2017, marketers have been trying to wrap their minds around the odd-ball video platform. Now, many are realizing that the key to brand awareness might involve sponsoring influencer content on the app. (Hubspot)
Jay-Z Sues Mississippi Department of Corrections on Behalf of 29 PrisonersThe rap mogul is suing these two individuals on behalf of 29 prisoners. The prisoners say the defendants did nothing to curb deadly violence that left five inmates dead over the last two weeks. Defendants DOC Commissioner Pelicia Hall and Mississippi State Penitentiary Superintendent Marshall Turner are named in the lawsuit. (Digital Music News)
Akon Finalises Deal To Create His Own Cryptocurrency City In SenegalThe singer initially announced plans to create a city in the west African country, which will use his own cryptocurrency called the Akoin for currency, at the Cannes Lions advertising festival in 2018. (Dezeen)
A Singer-songwriter Apologized, Closed His Eyes, Dropped His Head And Died OnstageSinger-songwriter David Olney, 71, died while performing on Saturday — apologizing, closing his eyes and not opening them again.During his second show of the day at the 30A Songwriters Festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., Olney became still and appeared to be pausing, Variety reported. (Washington Post)
Billboard Announces New Rules For Merchandise/Album BundlesMoving forward, in order for an album sale to be counted as part of a merchandise/album bundle, all the items in the bundle must also be available for purchase concurrently and individually on the same website. In addition, the merchandise item sold on its own will have to be priced lower than the bundle which includes both the merchandise and the album. (Billboard)
BYTES
Lucidious is an independent rapper with more than 100 million Spotify streams and a steady income. He’s also a guy helping his fans deal with serious issues of depression and suicide.
Leading up to the highly anticipated release of Bad Boys 3: Bad Boys for Life, Elliott Wilson sits down with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for an in-depth interview at the legendary Apollo Theater.
Dash Radio was created by the world’s biggest DJ’s who became fed up with the limitations of regular FM radio (and hate internet playlists that pose as radio powered by soulless computers). Together, they formed Dash with one goal: to provide the best radio platform in the world. This means all the variety you ever wanted with zero commercials… oh ya, all live 24/7, for free.
The simple fact that I’m writing this post confirms that the smart PR team at Spotify understands the viral potential when the word “pet” is added to any press release.Spotify will now create a custom playlist for your dog, cat, hamster, iguana or bird.
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!