Last night we partied on Mulholland Drive for Khalid's 21st birthday, and we did it in 21st century fashion. The Nue family provided an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the bash for our client, Live.me, and their global audience of 20 million active users. The self-described “best social platform for creating and viewing live videos" requires only one cell phone (that’s all we had last night!) to broadcast this unique kind of content. No surprise that one of the hottest young artists in the game is using hot new tech to build an exciting, positive movement and find new ways to promote his consistently killer music. After a long, amazing Grammy weekend, I'm ready to get back to the office. Please, baby, no more parties in L.A. - Jesse K.
BEATS
Khalid Celebrates 21st Birthday With Bash at Beverly Hills MansionIt’s official: Khalid no longer can even pretend to be “Young, Dumb & Broke”: On Monday, the “American Teen” finally turned the legal age to drink, celebrating his 21st birthday. (Variety)
Apple Music Unleashes a ‘Memoji’ Grammy Campaign Featuring Ariana Grande, Khalid, and Florida Georgia LineApple promoted its animoji technology during last year’s Grammys with characters lip-syncing Childish Gambino and Migos. This year, the tech company is broadening its ‘memoji’ concept with professionally animated versions of several artists. (Digital Music News)
Why Every Rapper is Heading to Las Vegas (and Why That’s a Problem)BLUVegas residencies are more popular than ever, but the city's changing demographic will force artists to be strategic before they go all in. (Trapital)
A Storm Is Coming to the Global Music Industry — and More than $100 Billion Is at StakeUp to half of Universal Music Group is for sale – and all indications are it’s going to bank an astronomical sum of money. This could spell amazing news for the other two big labels. (Rolling Stone)
Zach Katz Teams With Scooter Braun To Launch Music Business Investment Group Raised in Space The music industry has been a-whispering about what the next move from Zach Katz would be ever since the exec stood down as President of BMG in the US in December. (Music Business News)
Cakin’ Off Cookie Commercials! Wiz Khalifa And Son Sebastian Featured In New Oreo Ad Congratulations to Wiz Khalifa and his superstar son Sebastian who are the stars of a brand spanking new Oreo commercial. We love that Wiz is getting checks writing cookie jingles AND that Bash is getting his time to shine in the spotlight. (Hip Hop Wired)
A History of How Hip-Hop and Fashion Brands Started Working TogetherOnce upon a time, high-fashion brands shunned hip-hop. Yet today, these same luxury designers are drapping and dripping rappers in their exorbitant threads. How did the dress code switch happen? (XXL)
2019 Grammy Winners: The Complete List The 61st annual Grammy Awards were on Sunday. Here are highlights from the show (NY Times)
Google Pixel’s AR Playground Now Lets You Dance With Childish GambinoEarlier this week Apple premiered a new series of Memoji ads starring animated versions artists. Now they're back to showcase Google Pixel‘s latest Playmoji spot featuring none other than Childish Gambino. (Highsnobiety)
Goldman Sachs Bets On Hip Hop And Millennials For Music RevivalStreaming platforms take center stage in Goldman Sachs latested forecast that music revenue is going to more than double to about $131 billion by 2030. (Forbes)
State of China's Recorded-Music Industry, As Seen Through One Of Its Quietest Yet Most Powerful CompaniesRecorded music in China has undergone an unprecedented amount of globalization and transformation over the past decade -- and one company has been at the forefront of some of the sector’s most defining success stories. (Billboard)
BYTES
Business of HYPE is a weekly series brought to you by HypeRadio and hosted by jeffstaple. For the Season 4 premiere, Jeff sits down with Fear of God founder and recent Nike collaborator Jerry Lorenzo.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek joins "Squawk on the Street" to discuss Spotify's acquisition of podcasting companies Gimlet Media and Anchor.
Calm is the leading app for meditation and sleep. Experience lower stress, less anxiety, and more restful sleep with guided meditations, sleep stories, breathing programs, masterclasses, and relaxing music.
After much anticipation and repeat plays, Lucky now drops off II, a four-track follow-up that effectively continues a consistent streak of funk-infused bops, delivered with the soul of veterans.
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!