New releases have always been the lifeblood of the music business. The pop charts drove the charts, and the anticipation you could build around an artist delivered reliable results. But right now, catalog music is what’s running the industry. Roughly 70% of streams come from songs 18 months or older, and huge multiples are being paid for them. Everyone is looking to acquire songs and “classics” are more valuable than ever. Everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Bob Dylan is getting in on the action. The David Bowie and Prince estates could be next. Blockbuster deals are making headlines weekly and there continue to be large, institutional cash infusements. It’s not our traditional definition of “exciting,” but it’s a pretty remarkable trend. I remember when the music business was off limits for investors. Now, it's a growth industry again. Even the innovation side of the business is focused on breathing new life into catalogs. This week, Nas sold portions of his Grammy-winning album as a digital asset to collectors and fans. There are many reasons why, for the first time in my career, old music is more prevalent than new music. With 60k new songs dropping on Spotify daily (and even more on YouTube), it’s impossible to keep up. It’s like drinking water from a firehose: there will always be another drop. We need help parsing it. We need time to experience before we’re on to the next. In this world, curators are as important as creatives.Another factor is the rise of nostalgia as a genre, which presents the opportunity to build off old ideas. Cobra Kai is a perfect example of this: it feels like comfort food but still surprises and delights. Last week, the When We Were Young Festival poster went viral. This lineup of emo bands is getting more buzz than Coachella’s lineup and still gaining steam. The new Avril Lavinge is…exciting?That said, new music is clearly crucial to the sustained growth of the industry. So how do we help new artists and songs shine? Playlists, IG Stories, and, of course, TikTok are where trends begin. But how can something become bigger than a trend? Music is supposed to be timeless when it connects. I’m bullish on the gaming sector and how music resonates more in games. In fact whole worlds can be created around the songs of artists. NFTs open this door, too. The cadence is much slower in NFT world and when you collect, it means something to you. The relationship between fan and artist is stronger, not to mention the inherent closeness of investment and ownership aspects.Artists will need to be developed differently now. They’ll require different skill sets and A&R’s will need to change in kind. Communities are king. This is all very “inside baseball” talk. It will take time for audiences to adjust. Personally, I want bite-sized curation. In a Wordle world, I want a new app that drops one song a day in every genre. I want something I can trust. “Did you hear the song of the day?” We want our music watercooler moments back, baby!
BEATS
DAOs Primed to Play Key Role in Artist-Fan Relationship: ‘It’s Not About Remaking the Old Industry; It’s a Whole New Thing’The relationship between artist and fan is ever evolving and how it will look in the years to come will not at all resemble its past. So as music and Web3 intersect, questions are being explored. (Variety)
How To Balance Virtual And In-Person Events To Engage More FansThough online concerts have been the most viable option for live music during much of the pandemic, some artists were reluctant to ever try virtual experiences, seeing them as merely a stand-in for the real thing. (Erica Campbell)
NFT Platform Blockparty Strikes First Major Label Partnership With Warner Music GroupThe partnership announced today (January 21) grants WMG artists access to what Blockparty calls “cutting-edge Web3 technology in the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs)”. (Music Business Worldwide)
Driift’s Ric Salmon On What’s Next For LivestreamingLivestreaming will play a supporting role in the live industry’s return to touring, according to Driift CEO Ric Salmon. In an interview with IQ magazine, Salmon said Driift is getting a “steady” level of inquiries for livestream events in 2022. (IQ Mag)
Peloton Launches David Bowie Collection, With Full Catalog, RemixesHot on the heels of the David Bowie estate’s $250 million-plus deal with Warner Chappell Music publishing, Peloton has announced that it struck a deal for the artist’s entire catalog as well as various remixes for its cycling, strength, yoga and running classes. (Variety)
Neil Young Tells Spotify To Remove His Music Over Joe Rogan Vaccine MisinformationAfter the gold rush of signing Joe Rogan, Spotify now has to deal with the harvest. The latest difficulty in reaction to Spotify’s controversial star turn comes from singer and songwriter Neil Young, who says he’s extremely unhappy to be sharing a platform with Rogan. (The Verge)
Meta’s Fred Beteille Predicts ‘A Revolutionary Phase In Music’What is the real potential for music in the metaverse? As head of strategy, audio initiatives at Meta, Fred Beteille has plenty of opinions about that. He shared them in his keynote at the NY:LON Connect conference on Friday, interviewed by Mirek Stiles, head of audio product at Abbey Road Studios. (Musically)
2022 State of Music: Is TikTok the New SoundCloud?The music business saw its ups and downs in 2021. Live events remained a rare treat, but more music was streamed in total. (Digital Music News)
Music in the Metaverse: ‘Moving Away From Audiences And Toward Communities’With Meta’s Fred Beteille having set the scene for NY:LON Connect’s fourth day with a keynote about music and the metaverse, a panel moderated by CrossBorderWorks’ Vickie Nauman continued the thread. (Musicallly)
How Gunna Maximized the Moment with DS4EVER and PVirality is random and hard to predict. Countless artists, even the biggest ones with the most devoted fanbases, have started TikTok dances and pushed catchphrases that never took off. Gunna did all the right things for P to catch on, but the unpredictable laws of the internet worked in his favor. (Trapital)
Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Straps On A Brick-And-Mortar StrategyRihanna’s Savage X Fenty is leveraging its online success by expanding into stand-alone retail stores. By going brick-and-mortar, Rihanna may have the ability to build experience in-store that matches the creativity she brings to her fashion shows. (Future Party)
M&Ms Take the Place of David Bowie, Kacey Musgraves, H.E.R. and Rosalía in Iconic Album ArtIf you’ve been on the internet over past week, you might have seen the big M&M’s controversy: They changed the shoes that the green M&M wears. (Flood Magazine)
Nigo’s Radically Straightforward Vision for KenzoThe front row at Nigo’s debut show for Kenzo, which took place in Paris on Sunday, was basically a menswear Mount Rushmore. There was Pharrell, Julia Fox (wrapped in a Kenzo fleece blanket scarf), Ye, Tyler, the Creator, and Pusha T. And in the middle of this fivesome was Nigo himself. (GQ)
Viberate's State of Music ReportUsing the largest verified music database of artists, festivals, tracks and playlists, we crunched the annual numbers behind every relevant music and social media channel, from Spotify to Beatport and TikTok. See what 2021 was like for the music industry and what we can expect in 2022. (Viberate)
22 for 2022: How We’ll Experience 2022As far as the internet is concerned, 2020 & 2021 are wicked stepsisters. And the culture seemed to think that when the clock struck midnight in 2022, a fairy godmother would wave a wand and make everything better. (BMF)
BYTES
Dan Runcie and Troy Carter talk about trends in the music industry and how things need to change moving forward. We also discuss the role that record labels serve, Web3, Troy’s work with Venice Innovation Labs, and his approach to angel investing.
Our first Marketing for the Now of the year is dedicated to all things TikTok!!! During this two-hour show, a crazy talented roster of brand marketers and creators are set to join us for this and share their answer to the question, "What's your unlock for TikTok?"
Twitter today is introducing a new feature that will allow users to show off their NFTs, or non-fungible tokens — a way to certify digital assets stored on the blockchain.
On her new album CAPRISONGS, twigs finally lifts the veil. Once an aloof video girl; baroque lounge crooner; sword master; pole dancer; and wushu artist, twigs chaotically layers her previous personas on top of one another to reveal Tahliah Barnett, messy but free. (NPR)
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!