In the modern media age, the great debate has always been content vs. distribution. Is it the product or how powerfully it’s broadcast? Is it the medium or the message? But the days of having to answer that question alone are coming to an end.There is more amazing content being created than ever before, and everyone’s got something to say. Each week, nearly 20,000 new songs are released on Spotify. There are endless articles, RSS feeds, newsletters, social media posts, and information resources at our disposal. There are also seemingly unlimited distribution options, from streaming platforms, to networks and media outlets, to the good old ‘Gram.I understand the importance of making great content; the cream should rise to the top. And pole positioning on content platforms -- getting playlisted on Rap Caviar or going top 10 on iHeart -- can clearly help you blow up. But with seas of content flowing on a daily basis, context, not content, is now king.How do you ingest, apply, repackage, and redistribute this wealth of knowledge and information in your life and your business? Music, for example, has deep-rooted, emotional, and often physical value. So its success can’t always be entirely about how catchy or ubiquitous a tune is. A song’s impact also revolves around how it is first experienced by an audience member; where, when, and how they see it, and the way in which it resonates based on the convergence of these contextual factors.As the creator or distributor, the experience you create -- the context -- is central to the impression the content makes. Artists used to tour to support their albums. Now they put out albums to support their tours.Face facts. The flip has switched. Make sure you’re not in the dark!This week...Last night, I hosted a live podcast with Bonin Bough and Michael Kassan at the Edrington US HQ as part of Advertising Week.Wednesday, I’m in New Orleans for a live taping of our hit web series, CRWN. On this episode, Elliott interviews Lil Wayne. Catch the livestream on Tidal.Thursday, I’m speaking at two conferences, Mondo and Digital Music Forum.See you in the mix.
BEATS
What Is Spotify Doing?Changes are coming to Spotify, the biggest music-streaming service on the market. In a way, they always have been. Streaming services are always in flux, adapting to our needs as we adapt to needing what they have to offer. While most of the disruption and constant change has tended to matter only to its growing user base, Spotify is now upping the stakes. (Dee Lockett – Vulture)
After Buying Pandora, Will SiriusXM Make a Deal for Live Nation?Multiple Wall Street analysts expect the next step for the combined company could be a deal for the concert and ticketing powerhouse. (Georg Szalai – The Hollywood Reporter)
Who Wins When Artists Upload Directly to Spotify?For now, the upload feature is available by invitation only. But Spotify said that in the months ahead it plans to expand beyond the “few hundred U.S.-based independent artists” it has already asked to participate, including Noname. When a company with the industry heft of Spotify decides to shake up how artists deliver their music into the world, the potential ramifications are huge—not just for the music business, but for music itself.(Marc Hogan – Pitchfork)
Tencent Music, Bound for U.S. IPO, Profits From Social SavvyThe company, majority owned by Chinese tech powerhouse Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) and slated for a U.S. IPO next month, made almost $400 million in earnings before interest and taxes in 2017, according to an investor document circulated in August that was seen by Reuters. (Sijia Jiang – Reuters)
Apple is in a music-streaming arms race. It’s getting closer to 50m paying music subscribers worldwide, but remains approximately 39m behind Spotify’s premium global user-base. Does Apple’s acquisition of Shazam hold the potential to help launch it towards pole position? (Murray Stassen – MBW)
Next Big Sound Brings Pandora Data to Light Have you ever wondered how an artist’s content has been performing on Pandora but couldn’t find the data you were looking for? Up until recently, Pandora data was only visible to an artist and their manager and label. In an industry where stream counts are an important measure of an artist’s success, the inaccessibility of this data publicly has meant that Pandora’s important role in many artists’ career trajectories has gone unnoticed. (Dan Wissinger – The Next Big Sound )
How Instagram Is Deciding the Future of Concerts and Live MusicArtists these days have a new concern at the forefront of their minds when designing tours and concerts: how they look not just to live audiences — but also to millions, and potentially billions, of people at home. A chief driver of that worry is Instagram. (Amy X. Wang – Rollingstone)
How Does Shazam WorkHave you ever wondered how Shazam works? I asked myself this question a few years ago and I read a research article written by Avery Li-Chun Wang, the confounder of Shazam, to understand the magic behind Shazam. The quick answer is audio fingerprinting, which leads to another question: what is audio fingerprinting? (Coding Geek)
Everything You Need to Know About Clearing Music SamplesFirst, if you are sampling someone else’s music in your song, then you need to get a license — no ifs, ands, or buts about it. There is a lot of misinformation floating around out there about “fair use,” particularly regarding the length of a sample, how transformative the use is, and whether you are making any money off of it. The fact of the matter is that fair use only works for song parodies. So, unless you’re the next Weird Al, you need to get your samples cleared before you can release your music (and P.S., Weird Al gets permission for his parody songs, too). (Deborah Mannis-Gardner – Performer Mag)
Music on The Blockchain: eMusic Makes A Compelling Case for Token-Based ListeningDigital music pioneer eMusic recently announced it was pivoting to a blockchain-based royalties management system, ICO and all. The timing of this move looks a bit like a do-or-die situation, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea.(Tristan Greene – The Next Web)
The War Over Music CopyrightsVC firms haven’t been the only ones raising hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in a booming market. After 15+ years of being the last industry anyone wanted to invest in, the music industry is coming back, and money is flooding in to buy up the rights to popular songs. (Eric Peckham – TechCrunch)
BYTES
Bernt Ullmann, one of the world's top branding experts, discusses the concept of brand equity and how it can help aspiring music artists. Part 1 of 2.
Watch Will Smith bungee jump out of a helicopter to celebrate his 50th birthday.
ANNA, which stands for Absolutely No-Nonsense Admin, is a start-up financial tech (fintech) company that will help freelancers and small and medium-sized business (SMEs) owners complete tasks such as pay and receive invoices, manage company balances and expenses, chase payments through automated emails, predict their business’ cash-flow, see company information, and more.
The latest track from singer-songwriter, Jacob Banks
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!