One of the biggest success stories of the pandemic has been an app called Clubhouse.Clubhouse, which officially launched in February 2020, took off in late Spring and has since become the place to hangout, network, and connect.All day and night there are conversations taking place on a wide range of topics from crypto secrets to racial injustice to the NFL playoffs (with top players from the league!)The founders, Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, first raised money and eyebrows with an all-star consortium of Silicon Valley backers, including Andreesen Horowitz and the Cultural Leadership Fund (shouts to Chris Lyons for putting so many of us on!). The roughly $100 million dollar raise caught a lot of people’s attention: how can an app in beta with fewer than 5000 users garner a valuation like that?!The rollout was pitch-perfect and every night more and more superstars joined up to spill their behind-the-scenes trade secrets. Clubhouse quickly became the place to share ideas that weren’t in the press or on the mainstream panel circuit. It was unfiltered and safe. It was exciting and contagious. And it was taboo to record a session and post about it. People were begging for invites.This week, less than a year later, Clubhouse announced another raise, at a billion-dollar valuation. And, again, people are surprised that it’s valued so high.As the newest member of the Silicon Valley Unicorn Club, Clubhouse is still in the early innings. They are in the pole position to change culture like no social platform has since Music.ly (and Instagram before that).I don’t think Clubhouse would have worked without the pandemic. It was timed perfectly and unveiled impeccably. It’s a true testament to the visionaries at the VC firms that got involved early, bet big, and lifted this up so quickly.Now, influence is being generated in droves; networks are expanding; it’s the top hack to grow social clout across other platforms; and it’s the best place to hang out and share ideas with friends, colleagues, thought leaders, and an open-sourced community of people with common interests.Sure, it has drawbacks. There are a lot of trolls, fake gurus, and fraudsters. It can suck time. There is misinformation. Music sound quality is terrible and there are no rights agreements in place yet. A growing gripe is that it’s built off the back of its community, which is predominantly black, but users will never own or benefit from the big cash at the end of the rainbow.So where do things go from here? How does it monetize?Influencers are being created on Clubhouse and savvy brands will want to get involved. Monetization through brands and creators is coming. I see influencer marketing campaigns being built around subjects on Clubhouse. Brands are going to begin curating conversations to tap into this burgeoning audience. Imagine the Pepsi Halftime Show commentary channel, presented by Pepsi featuring Clubhouse influencers of their choosing. Every week it feels like a new idea spawns on the platform. It’s only the beginning.But the bigger culture shifter for Clubhouse, and what will make this a $5 billion dollar company by the Summer, will be its ability to revolutionize the Podcast world.The biggest streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple, and Amazon) have all shifted their focus to podcasts. Spotify wants everyone to make podcasts and is encouraging creators on their platform and uses Anchor to monetize through ads. Meanwhile, Apple is playing with the idea of creating a separate paid subscription service for their podcasts. My bet is that Amazon Music, Audible, and their podcast unit all merge under one division soon, making it a podcasting powerhouse.Once you can record your Clubhouse sessions without fear of social fallout -- and easily turn those convos into podcasts available anytime -- the heavy-hitting Clubhouse panels will become some of the most important podcasts around. This will create virtually unlimited, clearable content to feed the voracious appetite of audiences wanting more and more content. The massively rich platforms such as Apple, Amazon, Facebook/Insta, Google/YouTube, and Spotify thrive off of having more and more creators creating more and more content. It’s exhausting but it’s true.This is why I think Clubhouse’s current valuation is still extremely cheap. These companies need something like Clubhouse, and they need it badly.My thesis is a $5 billion valuation by Summer. That would put the original investors at 50x their money in 18 months, an unbelievable return. Smart money would say that’s enough, but we’ll see. A bidding war between the FANGS of tech could balloon this valuation to astronomical heights. That tide could raise all boats in the tech community.Naturally, I’ll be on Clubhouse talking about Clubhouse this Friday at 11am EST, joined by some very smart friends. Come check it out.
BEATS
We Don’t Just Need A Review Of Music Streaming: We Need A Review Of The Entire Music EcosystemStreaming is very complex, and there are smarter people than me who analysed the session (read Tim Ingham, Stuart Dredge or Eamonn Forde). The crux is that streaming — like all business — has winners and losers. And with the collapse of live revenues, the issues in how streaming pays (or doesn’t) is being discussed. (Forbes)
Why Record Labels Love Social MediaOver the last decade, the music industry’s attention centered on streaming and all of the messiness associated with that model. The constant headlines about record-breaking streaming numbers and a concerted effort to make playlists the next radio, often pushed by Spotify, have caused Apple and most other streaming platforms to mimic the playlist-first strategy. (Penny Fractions)
The Flaming Lips’ COVID-Free ‘Space Bubble Concert’ Goes Off Without a HitchBack in November, The Flaming Lips announced that they would perform “the world’s first space bubble concert,” complete with individual bubbles for attendees, in their native Oklahoma City. Now, following a roughly month-long delay, the unique gig has gone off without a hitch. (Digital Music News)
Wearers Can Update Political Messages On Carlings' Augmented-Reality T-shirtSwedish retailer Carlings has released its augmented-reality The Last Statement T-shirt, which can show a variety of political messages. Developed for the brand by creative agency Virtue, the T-shirt is nearly blank to the naked eye. Viewed through a phone, however, it sports a bold, animated design that comments on a political topic of the day. (Dezeen)
NFL Teams Up With Verzuz For First-Ever "NFL Pro Bowl Verzuz Presented By Verizon" After pioneering an all new form of immersive competitive entertainment in 2020, VERZUZ—the online series launched by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland—comes together for the first-of-its-kind partnership with the NFL to bring you "NFL Pro Bowl VERZUZ presented by Verizon". (NFL)
TikTok’s Lil Huddy Signs To Immersive Records, Drops Debut Single “21st Century Vampire”The 18-year-old — who is signed to WME and is credited as one of the co-founders of TikTok creator collective The Hype House — has dropped today his debut singled “21st Century Vampire.” Hudson’s artist name is Lil Huddy, which is the same moniker he goes by on social media, where he counts 30 million followers on TikTok and 11 million on Instagram. (Tube Filter)
7 Top Video Trends for 2021If we've said it once, we’ll say it a thousand times – video is the most engaging form of content online. Videos are eye-catching, they’re easy to watch, and they tell a story – which keeps audiences hooked until the end. (Envato)
Bopper Voice Assistant Makes Finding The Right Song For An Ad Spot Easier Than EverB2B music licensing service, Bopper, continues to drive innovation in the music licensing for advertisers field. Their latest experiment, Bopper Voice Assistant, is already turning heads in the ad world. Bopper’s voice assistant helps to make the identification and selection of pre-cleared tracks even easier for advertisers and brand managers to pair with their video and audio advertising. (Bopper)
Bandsintown's Fabrice Sergent on Their New Livestream Subscription Service and the Future of TouringWhere some see a crisis, others see an opportunity; where many see a world in which live music is facing an existential threat, Fabrice Sergent, the managing partner of concert discovery site Bandsintown, sees it simply changing shape.That belief has guided the company’s past six months, during which Sergent and his team developed Bandsintown PLUS, a new subscription service that offers users 25+ exclusive livestreams per month for just $9.99. (Paste Magazine)
Audius Has Raised Nearly $10m For Its Spotify Rival. Can Its Blockchain-Based Model Change The Game For Artist Payments?The economics of music streaming is currently under close scrutiny in the UK thanks to an ongoing Government inquiry, where the CEOs of Universal, Sony and Warner appeared before Parliament on January 19 for a headline-grabbing evidence session. (MBW)
Hip Hop Museum Set to Open in the Bronx in 2023After a couple years of promoting the concept, construction is finally starting on a museum showcasing the history of hip hop in the borough where it was started. Crews are scheduled to arrive this week on exterior street and 149th street to start the Bronx point development -- a housing and entertainment complex. (NY1)
For Big Hit Entertainment Stock, BTS Is (Still) the TicketDespite disruptions to the music industry caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Big Hit Entertainment, the management company behind K-pop superstars BTS, had a booming 2020. Last year saw BTS fully penetrate the U.S. music market, landing a No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, massive YouTube tallies, a Grammy nomination and swift album sales. (Variety)
BYTES
Social media mogul and entrepreneur Gary “Vee” Vaynerchuck will lead the hit podcast / Q&A series “Marketing For The Now” on February 25th, where listeners will hear from top marketers as they answer the question, “How do you see influencer marketing playing out in 2021?
Must see TV. Louis Vuitton’s men’s artistic director Virgil Abloh Fall 2021 Collection for the luxury powerhouse is phenomenal. Fashion Week will never be the same after this transformation of the show and dope performance by Mos Def Official. Check out this piece of Paris Men’s Fashion Week 2021 here.
Emerging music and fintech startup Djooky has launched a new HitHunter function on its app enabling music fans to win cash prizes for identifying potential hits. The new function, which is the first of its kind, follows the inception of the Djooky Music Awards this summer, which encourages app users to vote with their hearts by supporting their favorite songs. (Platform and Stream)
Kidd Lee engages popular American rapper, songwriter, record producer and “How Bout That” crooner, Quavo to unleash this beautifully crafted hip hop tune. “Champagne” happens to be her first project in 2021. Check out her new video here! (GH Gossip)
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!