Nue lives at the intersection of music, technology, and brands. We love entrepreneurs and we’ve designed the agency to help both artists and brands thrive in that environment. That’s why we are particularly excited about a new partnership that was announced this week between Kesha and HipDot.HipDot is a beauty brand that creates vegan and cruelty-free makeup and beauty products at an affordable price. They are known for their dreamy, vibrant eyeshadow palettes and to-die-for formulas.We see what’s happening with this space, especially with stars taking ownership of their brands and partnering with responsible, tech-savvy partners. From Rihanna x Fenty to ColourPop and Kylie, this is BIG business and HipDot knows that. They see themselves as a tech company as much as a makeup producer. They understand target marketing and built a top-notch team with designers from Tom Ford & Pat McGrath. They have some exciting things in the pipeline.When we met over lunch with Rachel Springate and Assia Grazoioli, founders of the VC, Music Capital, we discussed the potential in this space for the right artists. They told us about their portfolio companies and HipDot struck a chord.Kesha is an artist we have known since her “Tik Tok” days. That was her first smash! She and Mike Posner were labelmates so we got to see her on a bunch of gigs. By chance, in more recent years, her management and Nue’s offices were on the same floor. Chalk that up to destiny, relationships, trust, and data. Now, after a year of mind melding, something special is finally on the way. I’ll let them tell the story when they’re ready!What I can tell you is this: Kesha Rose Beauty consists of a 12-pan eyeshadow palette, two dual-ended waterproof liquid eyeliner pens, a lipstick, and lipgloss. The launch date is set for December 3rd on the HipDot website, a month before the release of her new album, The High Road, in January 2020. Perfect timing for the gift-giving season!There’s more info here. Go support two great brands taking a chance and collaborating. Pre-order it today!
BEATS
The Effects of Shortening Attention Spans on the Music IndustryDo you realize that popular music songs are getting shorter?Well, they are, and the shift is dramatic. Between 2013 to 2018, the average song on the Billboard Hot 100 decreased in length by 20 seconds. Additionally, while only 1 percent of hit songs were 2 minutes and 30 seconds or shorter in 2013, this number rose to 6 percent in just five years. And this change goes across genres. From rappers to pop stars and country singers, the average length of hit songs is decreasing. (Medium)
An Exhaustive Timeline of the Most Important Dates in Music Merch HistoryAs we’ve seen with contemporary acts from across a variety of genres, music merchandise is now a vital piece of the equation when evaluating the success of both an album and a subsequent tour. While recorded music itself remained the highest source of revenue (according to a 2016 study), merchandise grew year to year (2015-2016) by 9.4 percent. (High Snobiety)
A$AP Rocky Returning to Sweden — Four Months After Getting Released from a Stockholm JailRapper A$AP Rocky is turning the other cheek by returning to Sweden to perform only four months after his month-long incarceration in the country.The show will take place on December 11 at Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Swedish Network of Refugee Support Groups (FARR). Fans can begin to buy tickets for the show on November 12 through Live Nation at 10 a.m. local time. (Digital Music News)
Why Hundreds of Music Stars Are Giving Fans Their Phone NumbersIn August, as OneRepublic took the stage at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside of Denver with the Colorado Symphony, giant monitors displayed what appeared to some fans to be too good to be true: a phone number for the band. (Billboard)
Drake Launches Cannabis Brand More Life Growing CompanyDrake recently teased More Life Growth Company by sending flowers across Toronto. It turns out, More Life Growth Co. is... a cannabis wellness company. The new brand is a collaboration with Toronto’s Canopy Growth Corporation. (Pitchfork)
Vevo Unveils Its Artists To Watch For 2020Vevo has announced its 2020 Artists To Watch list, and is once again partnering with MBW to showcase this year’s cohort over the next month. First, though, the really important stuff. (Music Business Worldwide)
Three Supply-Side Indicators that Signal the New Music Industry Has ArrivedTo some extent, the biggest disruptive battle in this ever-increasing supply is songs versus artists. Sound ridiculous? It isn’t – it is at the heart of what changing consumption and distribution habits mean for the economics of the music industry, and what it means to make a living as a professional artist. (Midias Research)
Spotify Ad Revenue Jumps 29% As Podcast Listenership BoomsSpotify's ad sales growth indicates that the company's efforts to monetize its ad-supported service have become a key source of revenue. While the company experienced some operational hiccups in migrating from Google's ad platform, it expects to overcome those technical hurdles and restore its ad-delivery rate. (Mobile Maker)
From DMX to DaBaby: A Brief History of Rappers Releasing 2 Albums in 1 YearTo answer these questions, we decided to take a look at the most celebrated rappers (and Frank Ocean) to release two solo studio albums in one calendar year. We also looked into why these artists flooded their fans with new music and whether the decision paid off.
Sony Launches Spotify Data-Driven Personalized Merch For Bring Me The HorizonSony has launched a line of customized merch created by Spotify data for the fans of UK rock band . The ‘Amo in color’ initiative connects streaming with physical merch utilizing Spotify data to generate unique T-shirts based on fans' listening habits. (Hypebot)
The State Of Music-tech Startups, Through The Lens Of Its Top InvestorsWhat role could music-tech investment firms play in encouraging more business-model diversity for both artists and startups? Part of the potential solution is rethinking what a “music company” even means — not just in terms of business models, but also in terms of target customers and use cases. (Cherie Hu)
Daniel Ek: 3 Things We Learned From The Spotify Boss In His Latest InterviewEk believes that the globalized world of 2019 will see two victors in business: those with massive global scale (like Spotify), and those niche products which super-serve small audiences. Those in the middle, he explains, are in danger of getting squashed. (Music Business Worldwide)
BYTES
Mike Weissman, President of SoundCloud, came on the Trapital Podcast to talk about the streaming company’s business model, how it compares to a tech accelerator, SoundCloud’s growth in the Middle East, SoundCloud rap, and what sets the company apart from its competitors.
Musician, artist, and designer Kanye West and Yeezy designer (and sneaker icon) Steven Smith sat down with writer Mark Wilson at the 2019 Fast Company Innovation Festival to discuss moving production to America, legally changing his name to "Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West," and why he might run for president in 2024.
Unlike other third-party Apple Music apps that are already available, Next isn’t precisely an alternative player to the built-in app. Instead, the app focuses on helping users discover more about their music library with automatically generated dynamic playlists.
At this point, there’s no denying that the 27-year-old Charlotte artist is the year’s biggest breakout rapper. Since dropping his album, Baby on Baby, in March, DaBaby has bulldozed his way into the upper echelon of the rap game. In celebration of DaBaby’s hot streak, here are the 20 best songs in his catalog, ranked.
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!