Anybody else feel like this is a wild time in the world of entertainment, tech, finance, brand marketing, and culture? If you think it’s crazy now, wait until 2024 as we track toward flying cars. I’m reminded of the infamous Game of Thrones quote: “Chaos isn’t a pit, it’s a ladder.”There’s so much excitement this week around NFT.NYC. I haven’t seen an event run down like this since peak SXSW or the old days of CMJ (I didn’t make this sheet, but I’ve been sent it a few times so I’m sharing it with the Beats & Bytes community). The conference and Dreamverse are both power-packed with fantastic speakers and content, and there are so many peripheral events, parties, performances, workshops, and gallery shows happening as well. So I’m headed north to be near the action. Like Puffy told 50 Cent when he was experiencing his meteoric rise, “You’re hot right now and I need to be where the flame is.”NFT artists are becoming rockstars and selling millions of dollars worth of work. Crypto conferences are selling out and packing houses like Terminal 5. The NFT community is siked to connect and that enthusiasm shows with hard ticket sales outperforming most concerts, festivals, and other events like Advertising Week. This is a new world order where lives, art, ownership, and royalties are being changed before our eyes. The ideals of the NFT and Web3 communities are inspiring and the potential is boundless. Every successful event, case study, and new idea that takes shape creates more and more uses for blockchain, which is central to building Web3. I love what Fred Wilson just said in on his blog as the go to market go-to-market action in web3 as “come for the assets, stay for the experience”.Although I’m open to the experiment, in its current iteration I have mixed feelings about showcasing NFT’s in the physical. We absolutely need to go from JPEGs to mantlepieces for cryptoart to experience mainstream adoption, but a digital frame feels a bit counterintuitive. I’m hoping to see the light this week while experiencing some cutting-edge new art and (maybe) even growing my collection. I remain convinced that it’s a better time to produce and sell NFT’s rather than to buy them, even if that means missing the boat on some big returns in the near term.Halloween, Rolling Loud, and NFT.NYC are in full effect; Covid numbers continue to drop; and as of this week, NYC officially has a new mayor. I salute you, Eric Adams! I’m eager to see where you take New York next.
BEATS
Why Are Gen Z Collecting 20-Year-Old iPods?These gizmos of yesteryear hold the interest of a global community of obsessives. One subreddit has nearly 18,000 members who are dedicated to collecting and using iPods – as well as modifying them to add mind-blowing new features. (Dazed)
Can Music Mimic Marvel? SM Entertainment CEO Sung Su Lee On Building K-Pop’s Answer To A Cinematic Superhero UniverseSM Entertainment CEO Sung Su Lee doesn’t often do interviews. So when he does speak publicly, it’s worth listening very closely to find out what makes the wheels turn at the K-pop giant he’s in charge of, whose roster features stars like EXO, Girls Generation and Shinee. (Music Business Worldwide)
How Punk Bands ‘Selling Out’ Changed the Mainstream Music LandscapeIn the conflicting age of aspiration and economic misery we’re currently enduring, most people probably wouldn’t begrudge their favourite artist somehow managing to make a living doing what they love – chance would be a fine thing. (Vice)
The Prince Estate And Superfly Are Joining Forces For An Immersive Prince ExperienceIt seems as though we are entering the golden age of legacy artist “experiences.” Just last week, the Bowie 75 experience in New York and London was announced, where fans can do everything from don a David Bowie costume (#forthegram, of course) to peruse different thematic photo galleries. (Uproxx)
Countdown To Ecstasy: How Music Is Being Used In Healing Psychedelic TripsWith Music for Psychedelic Therapy, Hopkins is the latest arrival in a growing pool of artists, academics, and entrepreneurs shaping psychedelic research and therapy with music. (The Guardian)
Lana Del Rey: How To Kill an Artistic Persona in the Social Media AgeSometimes you meet people and you are blown away by their talent and think: I just want to work with them. This happened to me with Beatriz Negreiros, who I first met while giving a guest lecture. (Music X)
Why Is Mariah Carey Teaming Up With the Winklevoss Twins? (Hint: It Has to Do With Financial Empowerment)Carey is the latest artist to (publicly) join the crypto craze, teaming up with the Winklevii on a new campaign aimed at encouraging women to educate themselves about the asset class. (Rolling Stone)
How the Government Seized a Rare Wu-Tang Clan Album (and a DAO Bought It Back)PleasrDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization "governed around a specific set of rules enforced on the blockchain" according to Cointelegraph, just made public that it paid $4 million to procure Wu-Tang Clan's Once Upon a Time in Shaolin from the federal government. (Reason)
From Bankruptcy to IPO in a Year? It's a Tune Guitar Center Might PlayMattress Firm, Claire's, Guitar Center — they're all recent bankruptcy survivors whose stores you might have passed in a mall, perhaps with their doors shuttered early in the pandemic. (NPR)
What NFTs Promise Music Creators—And What They Actually DoWeb3 promises to revolutionize the music industry by enabling ownership, community and legitimacy. This essay focuses on the first promise: ownership. More specifically, ownership of digital assets. For us in the music biz, that means — ownership of digital music. (Yash Bagal)
BYTES
This year, on her most recent album, WILLOW put out this song, “Transparent Soul,” which was co-written with her longtime collaborator Tyler Cole, and features Travis Barker from Blink-182 on drums. I talked to her about how her upbringing and her musical evolution from her early pop star days influenced the way she made this song.
On September 10th, 2021 in New York City, PleasrDAO, a worldwide crypto collective, purchased and physically acquired the most valuable piece of music on earth, the unreleased Wu Tang album, "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin." Since it's release in 2014, it shared the hands of "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli as well as the Department of Justice following his arrest.
App Annie reports that YouTube is currently the No. 3 app in terms of global lifetime consumer spend — in the non-gaming category — after Tinder and Netflix. YouTube is also the No. 1 livestreaming app by spend, taking into account both iOS and Android users, as well as the seventh most-downloaded non-gaming app ever.
The NBA superstar's first music project "Culture Jam," debuts Thursday evening. The project features some of the biggest names in hip-hop including Ty Dolla Sign, NBA YoungBoy, Lil Uzi Vert, and NLE Choppa.
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!