This biggest growth opportunity I’ve seen this year has been in the cannabis market. Legalization and its myriad health benefits are beyond encouraging, but as a marketer, the brand-building potential is what gets me most excited.The early days of the “Green Rush” were all about getting the products right. Then came distribution and getting it in people’s hands (legally or illegally). Now, we’re witnessing a marketing arms race to distinguish between brands. It’s not going to be easy to win.As my business partner and brother, Alex, told Adweek, we look forward to the day that ‘This Bud’s for you!’ isn’t just about beer. I want to walk into Chipotle and hit a “Burrito Bowl” before the burrito itself.We laugh, but it’s coming. Coke recently announced that it’s exploring the use of CBD oil. I hear whispers of Diageo doing the same. And we know that Constellation brands (Corona, Modelo) believes: they just placed a massive bet in this space, spending $5 billion (yes, billion) for a piece of Canopy.So, we’re getting in the game, too, by investing in, advising, and all around obsessing over an amazing company called SLANG WorldWide. They have a global portfolio of cannabis brands including top-selling vapes and edibles (these forms are trending while smoking is declining), and they believe that the future is in strongly branded, quality products that are widely available for purchase. SLANG’s brands and products are currently available in over 1,500 dispensaries across 10 states, Canada, Jamaica, Spain, and Amsterdam. We believe SLANG is the first (and largest) true consumer packaged goods company in this industry. I can’t tell you how excited I am to see this company blossom.This week, Canada will become the second industrialized nation in the world to legalize recreational weed use (Uruguay was first). I’m happy for Canada and the forward-thinkers of the world. Now, if we could just convince the pesky U.S. government to jump on board ;)Maybe we aren’t that far behind...
PS: If you’re in Cali this week, I hope to see you at WORLDZ!PPS: On Saturday morning in Bushwick, I’m speaking at the Open Media Legal Hackathon - NY Node, a day-long event at the Bushwick Generator. This event is co-sponsored by the MIT Media Lab and the Open Music Initiative at the Berklee College of Music. Anyone interested in the legal tech space, Digital Rights Management, Intellectual Property, or entertainment and media in general will find value in this event! The crowd consists of industry leaders, artists and creatives, lawyers, programmers, and students looking to join this international initiative. We will explore and develop creative solutions for everything from the ownership, protection, distribution, and exchange of property rights, to data and digital assets from artists and creators in the music and media industries.RSVP on our meetup page.
BEATS
2018: The Year K-Pop Broke (In America)At this point, few people paying attention to the internet or the Billboard charts would be surprised by K-pop’s ongoing global ascent. But the edgy young girl group BLACKPINK recently managed to shock the pundits and general public alike with their sudden explosion in popularity. (Spotify Blog)
SoundCloud Finally Lets More Musicians Monetize Four Years LaterSoundCloud moves painfully slow for a tech company, and no one feels that pain more than musicians who are popular on the site but don’t get paid. 10 years since SoundCloud first launched, and four years since it opened an invite-only program allowing just the very biggest artists to earn a cut of the ad and premium subscription revenue generated by their listeners, SoundCloud is rolling out monetization. (Josh Constine – TechCrunch)
YouTube Accounts for 47 Percent of Music Streaming, and It's Not Through Its Pay ServicePeople are streaming more music than ever. The problem for the music industry is that the majority of streamers are listening for free on YouTube. (Matt Binder – Mashable )
All The Places in Canada You Can Get Legal Cannabis on Weed DayCannabis is going to be legalized in across Canada next Wednesday, October 17, but that doesn’t mean everyone is going to be able to buy and consume legal weed then. (Mack Lamoureux – Vice)
How to Deliver Exceptional Marketing ServiceAnalyzing 6 key traits of the strongest in the business (Amber Horsburgh – Deepcuts)
Here’s How Indie Artists Will Make Money with SoundCloud PremierThe Verge reached out to SoundCloud for clarity on Premier’s payment structure. A representative for the company says that creators who monetize with SoundCloud Premier will get a 55 percent net revenue share for the songs they upload and own the rights to. Additionally, SoundCloud will pay publishing royalties to rights holders and societies. This is the same rate that was given to Premier artists when the program was in beta, and it should be noted that the 55 percent SoundCloud is offering is more than the split Spotify is offering indie artists who self-upload (which is 50 percent of Spotify’s net revenue and 100 percent of royalties). (Dani Deahl – The Verge)
Rostrum Records’ Founder Explains The Label’s Effort To Bring Wiz Khalifa & Mac Miller’s Mixtapes To StreamingWhile many tapes may never migrate over, Rostrum Records' founder Benjy Grinberg is trying to make Wiz Khalifa’s and Mac Miller’s early mixtapes available on streaming platforms. On October 5, Rostrum dropped its latest reissue—Wiz’s 2011 project Cabin Fever. Genius caught up with Grinberg to learn more about the label’s efforts to bring these projects into the modern era. (Chris Mench – Genius)
Taylor Swift is speaking now. Will it matter come November? (Adam Gold – Vice)
W Hotels Launches First-Ever Hotel Music LabelW Hotels, the modern luxury hotel chain under Marriott International’s portfolio, announced last week the creation of W Records, its in-house recording label. Akin to a “small but powerful independent label", W Records will sign emerging artists and help them produce and distribute their tracks around the world (Jenna Wang – Forbes)
Five Trends for Digital Music Marketing in 2018There are three pillars for music marketing in 2018: what you do with social media; what you do with digital service providers (DSPs, principally streaming services); and what you do with your own platforms – mailing lists, most obviously, and direct-to-fan sales be it on your own site or something like Bandcamp. (Music Ally)
A First Look at The Velvet Underground Experience Which Opens in NYC This WeekThe Velvet Underground Experience opens on Wednesday, October 10 in NYC (718 Broadway) and we got an early look at the whole thing. (Pictures are in the gallery above.) The exhibit, which was curated by Christian Fevret (who founded French site Les Inrockuptibles) and Carole Mirabello, is broken up into six sections — “Welcome to America,” ” Reed and Cale,” “The Childhood of Art,” “NY Spirit,” “Factory Years,” “Banana Album,” “Reinventions of The Velvet Underground” and “Echoes of Heritage” — which tracks the band from its roots all the way to their dissolution, as well as their lasting influence. (Brooklyn Vegan)
BYTES
On the latest episode of Recode Media, Hubbard explained his new company Rival, which will publicly launch next year. Behind the scenes of live music concerts and sports events, Rival will partner with the teams, performers and event venues to help them lose less money to scalpers — and know more about their customers.
“MIA,” the new track by Bad Bunny featuring Drake, has officially become the first full Spanish-language song to go to No. 1 on Apple Music’s Top Songs Chart in the United States. – Billboard
Laugh Exchange, a startup co-founded by former Comedy Central GM David Bernath, is coming out of beta with its app that lets comedians compete for a chance to win cash from their original material and also lets viewers play for prize money as well.
Little Dragon is ready to bring some fun into the world and at this moment in time, we could certainly use it. The Swedish band is releasing a new EP entitled Lover Chanting on November 9 and if the title track is any indication, we’re going to have enough pumping beats and irresistible melodies to forget our troubles and get lost in a trance of musical goodness. – Earmilk
This week's newsletter was carefully curated by the Nue Agency staff and our editor Maria Tejada If you think we missed something this week or have any suggestions/comments for next week's newsletter, let us know!