It’s Indie Music Week!Although I enjoy working on a regular basis with major labels, the indie music scene is and always will be the lifeblood of the music business. It’s where transformation happens and high growth opportunities arise.It’s hard to replicate this inside a major. The cultural shifts that happen outside “the machine” are the result of nimble, crafty players with equal parts taste and survival instinct. But what does being indie mean today? Everyone is signed to someone in some capacity. It takes a village to break a band (or brand, for that matter). At this point, the way I define independence in music is simple: you’re not signed to the Big 3.The pressing question of the moment, of course, is how do indies fit into the NFT world? Is there a place? That’s the topic we’ll tackle today at A2IM’s Indie Music Week conference. My panel is at 4:10PM ET. I’m interviewing some very bright artists, managers, and label execs.I know first hand that there are opportunities for indies in NFT world. They may not have the resources of the majors, but they have the creativity and it only takes a few buyers to make an impact. 85% of NFT transactions are coming from 10% of the consumers. The goal is to get the attention of that 10%.There are many ways to do this. I recommend Gary Vee’s rant about his NFT project. Gary runs one of the most successful indie advertising agencies in New York and this clip is mind blowing. Congrats to him and the team (Andy, Phil, D-Rock, Boyd) for once again crushing it!There’s more great advice on this week’s NFT Now podcast featuring Dillon Francis. He does a good job of summing up the limitlessness of the current culture.Another good example is Nue Agency’s work orchestrating indie artist Pia Mia’s first NFT release this week on One Of. The collection got so much attention prior to the drop that the pre-sale sold out in a matter of minutes.As for today’s panel, I’ll speak with creatives like Aluna from Aluna George, Chloe Jenicki who’s behind Deamau5’s massive NFT innovations, and Claude VonStroke. Although it was pre-taped, I'm really looking forward to re-listening to these artists' fresh perspectives today in this ideas jam session.Due to Covid, the event is virtual. Tickets are still up for grabs here. Come get all the game!
BEATS
Independent Musicians Are Making Big Money From NFTs. Can They Challenge the Music Industry?Hundreds of musicians are following Allan into this world. On Catalog, 140 artists have sold over 350 records for more than $1 million combined. In the digital collective Songcamp, dozens of musicians from across the world are forming teams to crank out music and multimedia creations. (Time)
Deadmau5 And Richie Hawtin Raise $4.5m To Build ‘The Leading Music Metaverse’News of Epic’s acquisition of Rock Band creator Harmonix last month added more weight to the firm potentially becoming music’s metaverse king, after it claimed that, as it works “to build the metaverse”, the Harmonix team’s “expertise is needed to reimagine how music is experienced, created and distributed”. (Music Business Worldwide)
Drake Turns Down His Grammy Nominations — So What’s Next for ‘Music’s Biggest Night’?It’s a move that would seem unthinkable to most artists. But earlier today, Drake took the extremely unusual — and potentially unprecedented — step of actually turning down his latest Grammy nominations. Even more interesting is that the Recording Academy, which oversees the Grammy Awards, complied with the request. Accordingly, Drake is no longer a 2022 Grammy nominee. (Digital Music News)
Someone Spent $450,000 for ‘Land’ Next to Snoop Dogg’s NFT HouseWant to be Snoop Dogg’s neighbor in the metaverse? It could cost you about $450,000. That’s how much one NFT collector spent on Friday, Dec. 3rd, to own a plot of virtual land in the Snoopverse — an interactive world the rapper is developing in The Sandbox, an Ethereum-based platform for creating and monetizing online hangout spaces and gaming experiences. (Rolling Stone)
How Hip-Hop Artists Become BillionairesJay-Z, Rihanna, and Ye (Kanye West) are on the top shelf of rap’s new-money class. They became world-famous millionaires through the music industry, but realized they would have to sell more than music to become billionaires. The “Run This Town” trio used music as the gateway, then capitalized on their influence at the height of their fame. (Trapital)
Jack Harlow on How Reading Harry Potter Made Him the Competitive Rapper He Is TodayWhile accepting his award for Variety’s Hitmaker of Tomorrow, Jack Harlow gifted the audience with a story from his childhood, revealing how a reading program stoked his competitive side, and how he’s been a voracious reader since he was a little kid. That combination, along with a little Harry Potter, made him the artist he is today. (Variety)
How ‘Fancy Like,’ Walker Hayes’ Ode to Fine Dining at Applebee’s, Became the Accidental Sync of the YearCountry star Walker Hayes is surprised to be earning the Sync of the Year award from Variety for “Fancy Like,” as part of this year’s Hitmakers event. But that’s only because he’s still a little surprised at having even gotten an advertising sync with the song, period. (Variety)
Wiz Khalifa's Preferred Bong Water? It's Liquid Death!Liquid Death's wild marketing stunts include producing a campy horror film with its aluminum containers as villains, painting skateboards with Tony Hawk's blood, and infusing its water with demons and spirits. Today, however, the brand mellows out in a major way. Liquid Death shares some herb action with rapper and cannabis entrepreneur Wiz Khalifa in a relaxed, stylish :30 that spoofs commercials for luxe products. (Muse by Clio)
Diddy Wants to Buy His Sean John Brand Out of BankruptcySean ‘Diddy’ Combs has plans to continue to grow his fashion business. According to reports, the 52-year-old music mogul has bid $3.3 million to buy the assets of Sean John, the fashion and lifestyle brand he founded in 1998, out of bankruptcy. (The Jasmine Brand)
Music Streaming Service Audiomack Launches ‘Supporters’ Direct Monetization Feature, Warner Named As First Major Label ParticipantMusic streaming and discovery platform Audiomack has launched a new feature that lets fans fund artists directly by purchasing ‘support badges’ for individual song and album releases. Audiomack says its new monetization tool, called ‘Supporters’, is “a first-of-its-kind feature in music streaming”. (Music Business Worldwide)
BYTES
The Fader has just released the second part of their short podcast series with Pharrell Williams. Pharrell, as well as the podcast’s host Mark Ronson, dive further into his career and discuss the history of the music industry. Don’t miss out, take a listen to the new episode here.
This isn’t a collaboration I was ever expecting, but Jimmy Fallon, Ariana Grande, and Megan Thee Stallion have teamed up to release a new single. The song is entitled “It Was A… (Masked Christmas” and is both a hilarious christmas tune and a way to encourage getting a booster shot. Watch the music video here.
In conjunction with the nonprofit Girls Who Code, Doja Cat has taken her most recent music video of “Woman” and turned it into an interactive coding experience. This is such an amazing project with a great cause to bridge the gender gap that is currently found within the coding industry. Learn more about the initiative here.
In this week’s issue of Harper’s Bazzar, one can find a personally curated playlist by Fred Brathwaite, otherwise known as Fab 5 Freddy. The collection of music is exclusively available on Apple Music; check it out.
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!