The IPO market right now has not been as fruitful as one can hope or thought it would be. This year, the IPO market has not been as fruitful as predicted.First, we saw my friends at WeWork hold back their IPO. Next, Peloton took their shot and tumbled right out of the gate. Then, top-tier talent agency William Morris / Endeavor had to pump the breaks on their IPO plans for a second time in 10 months.I’ve been watching this closely and Friday I was called on to share my thoughts with Yahoo! Finance. You can watch the clip here.In regards to Peloton, I believe they rushed to market. They’re currently being sued by the entire recorded music industry over the fact that they don’t have licenses for all of the songs they’re playing. To go public without having that in place -- while ripping off artists and labels -- doesn’t feel right to me and clearly doesn’t feel right to the investor market either. Man, I hate when companies devalue music. What would Peloton be without the songs?In terms of Endeavor’s IPO, I think it’s genius. This has been Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell’s master plan for many years and I believe they’re doing it for two reasons. First, to future-proof their business. I know from experience that a talent agency does not represent the pinnacle of business security. The big question in talent management is not if you’re going to get fired, it’s when. On top of that, you can’t really raise money and build a big brand as a talent agency, so WME smartly shifted to a platform model and started merging and acquiring properties to bulk up their offering and make it more attractive for the public marketers.But they’ve run into some obstacles. I go deep on their IPO delays here. The main issue is that the talent is their primary revenue stream. I understand that the entertainment business is built on conflict of interest, but who does the senior leadership team have a fiduciary responsibility to? The shareholders or the artists? If you were an artist, would you want your representation focused on you or their stock price?These are questions WME will need to answer as they wind up for a third swing. If they pull it off, which I believe they will, their place as the most powerful players in Hollywood...and maybe of all time, will be cemented. Chess not checkers.
BEATS
33 Ways to Improve Fan-Artist Engagement on Social MediaSocial media for an artist is power. An artist’s share of voice and ability to mobilize a large community of people online is a powerful tool for promoting records, selling tickets and building the profile of an artist. (Amber Horsburgh)
Holograms Tours are the Future of the Live Concert Experience...Should We Be Concerned?Powered by an overhead projector, tilted piece of glass and mylar screen, Tupac Shakur was received with an eruption of cheers as he yelled “What the fuck is up Coachella?” to tens of thousands of spectators in The Palm Desert. The rapper’s posthumous comeback, nearly 16 years after his death, kicked off with a rendition of “Hail Mary.” (Okay Player)
Banksy Could Be Coming To NYC This Week For Massive AttackIf the conspiracy buffs are right, you’ll want to be on the lookout for witty graffiti popping up around New York City this weekend. That’s because British trip-hop group Massive Attack, fronted by vocalist Robert “3D” Del Naja, is playing Radio City for a three-night run starting Thursday. (NY Post)
Meet SoundCloud Rival Audius, Free & Anti-Takedowns Launching Todayt was SoundCloud’s opportunity to lose and now it’s ours,” says Audius CEO Roneil Rumburg. Plenty of musicians and fans are sick of SoundCloud’s expensive hosting costs, haphazard content takedowns and lagging user experience as the site’s status withers. (Tech Crunch)
Live Music’s Top Creative DirectorsAs live music continues to be a main driver of revenue for major artists, the entertainment value provided by their tour productions has become an essential part of the formula for lasting success. Who’s at the top of the stage game? These 10 elite creative directors — along with Silent House founder Baz Halpin — bring style and spectacle to music’s biggest tours. (Variety)
YouTube Revamps ‘Music Foundry’ Program, Names Latest Class Of 14 Emerging ArtistsIn 2016, to help emerging musicians bolster their YouTube presence, the platform launched the YouTube Music Foundry, offering tools, workshops, mentorship, and exposure to up-and-coming artists. (Tube Filter)
Everything Amazon Announced at its Alexa EventAs is now typical just ahead of the holidays, Amazon just inundated us with a whole new lineup of hardware devices, including new Echo smart speakers and screens, at its Alexa event today, plus other smart home and connected devices from its brands Ring and Eero. There were also a slew of surprises, like Alexa earbuds, glasses, and a smart ring. And oh yeah, a new Alexa-powered oven, too. (Tech Crunch)
Global Live Music Ticket Sales to Top $25BThe value of ticket sales for live music events will exceed US$25 billion for the first time in 2023 – with total industry revenues set to reach a record $31.5m the same year, reveal the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) figures. (IQ Mag)
Releasing A Single: 10 Best Strategies For 2019 & BeyondReleasing a single track in 2019 is a very different animal than it once was, and presents a set of unique challenges and opportunities. In this piece Chris Robley offers the promotion and distribution tips needed for planning the release of your next standalone track. (Hypebot)
Clio Music Director Michael Kauffman Talks #Clio60, The 'Visceral Power' of Music As the glittering advertising honors turn 60, their younger music arm recognizes savvy marketing moves around the sounds of Billie Eilish, Meek Mill and Elton John.Known as “the Oscars of Advertising,” the Clio Awards have saluted the world’s ad masters since the industry’s Mad Men-era heyday on Madison Avenue. (The show’s fictional adman Don Draper nabbed a Clio for TV advertising in the AMC series’ fourth season.) (Billboard)
Will The Future Of Sample Clearance Be As Easy As Tagging Friend On Facebook?When rapper Lil Nas X, the artist behind the viral chart-topper Old Town Road, together with record-label Sony, were sued in July over unauthorised samples in the song Carry On for $25 million, it served as a fresh reminder of the long-standing complications of sample clearance that numerous creators and producers face daily and the potential consequences of releasing works with uncleared samples. (Music Tech)
Jennifer Lopez, Shakira to Headline 2020 Super Bowl Halftime ShowIt’s a pretty great time to be Jennifer Lopez.Fresh off her much buzzed performance in the movie “Hustlers,” the multi-talented performer has announced she will be hosting the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show alongside Shakira.The duo follow in the recent footsteps of Maroon 5, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga, who have headlined the biggest show on American TV. Super Bowl LIV will take place at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Feb. 2, 2020. (Variety)
The 12 Types of Content Marketing in a Marketer's ArsenalWhen it comes to content marketing, it can be tough to know which ones to use and which ones will make a statement. There are a variety of content marketing types that marketers can choose from. For example, Southwest likes to mix it up by posting gifs, blog posts, commercials, and retweets on their Twitter page. Delta has recently been on a video and gif kick, posting strictly commercials, videos, and gifs about flight. (Hubspot)
NHL Announces a Major Two-Year Partnership With Green Day — Is This Hockey’s New House Band?“Fire, Ready, Aim,” a song from Green Day’s upcoming album, Father of All…, will be used as Wednesday Night Hockey‘s opening track beginning on October 9th. The song will also be utilized during this season’s NHL on NBC games. Plus, other songs from Father of All… will be featured in NHL promos, commercials, and replays. (Digital Music News)
BYTES
CEO of Complex Rich Antoniello chats with Recode's Peter Kafka about co-founding and building a powerful youth culture brand that's leveraged its popularity into viral video series's like Hot Ones and Sneaker Shopping and major events like ComplexCon.
The advent of music streaming was one of the most revolutionary changes to the music industry in the last decade. As we covered yesterday, during a recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney of The Black Keys broke down how album bundling is a sham, but they also broke down how artists are getting screwed over by streaming services.
Spotify has given its Spotify for Artists a makeover on iOS and Android devices with a refreshed design, new "Home" tab and expanded-real time statistics for current listeners. The new app will be rolling out this week on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
Kirk's success adds to DaBaby's magnificent year. The rapper leaped on to the scene with his breakthrough project, Baby on Baby. The record spurred hits like "Walker Texas Ranger," "Babysitter," and "Going Baby." It was his smash single "Suge" that grabbed the world's attention. "Suge" peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard's Hot 100 before reaching platinum status. (Complex)
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!