This time last year, the Crypto business was all the rage. Fortunes were being made (on paper), infrastructure was being built with abandon, and the market seemed unstoppable. Now, with Q4 breathing down everyone’s neck, the blockchain is one of the year’s biggest disappointments.How did that happen?I published a piece in April, “Rockchain Not Blockchain,” that encouraged my colleagues in the newly rebounded music business to invest in crypto and help ensure sustainable growth. “This is not a time for complacency,” the AdAge op-ed read, adding, “by applying the technical breakthroughs of these networks, we can effectively organize data about music for the first time in human history and, more important, reinvent the way artists/rights-holders get paid and value themselves.”Sadly, it hasn’t happened. It remains tough to find growth in the space despite non-stop conferences and power players like Andreessen Horowitz and Fred Wilson doubling down. More than helping artists, a lot of early adopters and successful investors are looking like scam artists.One company that is doing big crypto things, however, is ConsenSys. They’re part agency, part incubator, part VC, and remain the largest company in the blockchain. They’re helping launch and finance a ton of interesting brands on blockchain, the only catch being a strict Etherium-only policy (the founder of ConsenSys is a co-founder of the Etherium platform).One of the brands I’m most excited about is Ujo, ConsenSys’ music-centric currency. Tonight I’m sitting down with Ujo’s founder, Jesse Grushack, as well as Daniel "Dazza" Greenwood from CIVICS.com and Law.MIT.edu. The talk, which I’m moderating, takes place at The Williamsburg Hotel ballroom at 5PM as part of Brooklyn Tech Week. I’m excited to get answers to the most pressing questions on the state of blockchain and the big opportunities coming down the pike.Come thru!
BEATS
Spotify Creeps On Your Music and Moods To Target AdsIt is a known factor that one’s music listening habits say a lot about one’s personality, and that’s the idea Spotify has been using to bank on its data analytics to help marketers target consumers with advertisements over the years, according to The Guardian. (Urbi Khan – The Eyeopener)
Apple Reportedly Considers Buying A Stake in Bankrupt Radio Group iHeartMediaApple is exploring buying a stake in the largest U.S. radio group, iHeartMedia, to try and boost its streaming service, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. (Saheli Roy Choudhury – CNBC)
Music App Genius Launches Its Own Take on Stories, Aided by YouTubeGenius, the big database of song lyrics and musical knowledge, is today launching its own version of “stories,” the Snapchat and Instagram-like short form sharing format that’s been rapidly spreading to a number of sites and apps, including Facebook, Messenger, Skype, and even Google. Genius’ “Song Stories,” as the new product is called, combine Genius artist interviews with YouTube content like concert footage, music video clips, and playlists. (Sarah Perez – TechCrunch)
The Mythical Power of Streaming Playlists: Is It More Hype Than Substance?The rise of music streaming over the last few years introduced a detectable narrative which positioned playlists (and their curators) as the future of all music consumption; forget the shadowy radio DJ, meet the data-first curator. (David Turner – MBW)
Art of a Manager: Blockchain In Music and BeyondWhile the value of an actual bitcoin or ethereum has gone down this year after last year’s bubble, the amount of intelligent people working hard behind the scenes to create web 3.0 is strong and growing – Ethereum has 150,000 developers currently working on building applications for the blockchain! (Jake Udell – Art of a Manager)
Can Kobalt Disrupt the Label Game With AWAL?Not that it’s going to be easy: Kobalt is just one of many companies now jumping into the label game as streaming revenue rises. Intensifying the competition, Spotify has started inviting artists to ditch these very label-service providers and upload their music straight onto its fast-expanding platform. (Spotify’s new deal with DistroKid will soon allow artists to use Spotify to place their music directly on other platforms, too.) Making money, meanwhile, will be even harder for Kobalt than its label rivals because of Kobalt’s guiding principle and most seductive selling point: It lets artists keep full ownership of their copyrights. (Dan Rys – Billboard)
Would you buy an idea from a machine? That’s a bizarre question at first glance; it reads like absurdist poetry. Yet we hold that our ideas are discrete entities with definable intrinsic value. Is it possible a machine could generate such a thing? What’s the value of a computer-generated idea? As AI slowly seeps into business, culture, everywhere, we will be forced to answer these questions. (MBW)
An Indie Music Expert Explains Why Artists Are Turning Away From Record DealsDitto Music CEO Lee Parsons explains why more artists are following Chance the Rapper's lead and eschewing traditional label deals.(Amy X. Wang – RollingStone)
Waze’s New Audio Player Supports Pandora, Stitcher and More Drivers can now listen to their favorite tunes without having to leave the Waze navigation app. (Kirsten Korosec – Tech Crunch)
TikTok Beats YouTube, Facebook & Instagram App Downloads In October — 25% Growth In the US AloneDespite ByteDance’s controversial decision to merge musical.ly into TikTok, installs are way, way up. (Ashley King – Digital Music News)
At P.S.G., a Style Few Clubs Can MatchParis St.-Germain, the perennial French soccer champion, is using branding and Paris’s reputation as a global fashion hub to forge its 21st-century identity. (Elian Peltier, Rory Smith – The New York Times)
On The Scene: #TechOrTreat Halloween Extravaganza On The Upper East SideOne highlight was #TechOrTreat. Michael Loeb, CEO of venture capital company Loeb.NYC, hosted an unforgettable Halloween party at his Upper East Side Townhouse on Oct. 30 called the 2nd annual Tech or Treat party. Nue Agency, Bonin Ventures and Agent of Change also co-hosted the evening. (Chantell Hayde – The Knockturnal))
BYTES
In this episode, James Creech and Bob Moczydlowsky discuss Myspace’s impact on the importance of social media for musicians, the voice technology revolution, and the future evolution of music streaming services. They also speak on how social media platforms can offer deeper engagement opportunities for superfans without disrupting the user experience. And finally, Bob shares his passion for basketball culture, obscure taste in music, and excitement for content experiences to become more personalized and interactive in the future.
Vince Staples gets creative with Google Maps in "FUN!" music video. A well-executed video for a great track from one of the most dynamic voices in hip-hop today. Just maybe don’t listen with the sound on at work.
Drops is the new and fun way to learn languages, combining beautifully designed word games with mnemonic associations. It has developed a cult following to become the fastest-growing language learning app in the world. The short, engaging games make language learning a fun part of your daily routine and not a chore, making it easy to learn one or more of Drops’ 31 languages.
The Catalan singer’s potent, smart second album is more complex than any Latin pop currently in the charts: she’s a gamechanger – The Guardian
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!