Our next iteration of NFTalks will take place this Monday, February 21st, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.We’ll have Vald Ginzburg, CEO of NFT platform, Blockparty; and Osana Ruxandra, Chief Digital Officer of Warner Music Group.Doors open at 630pm and the talk will begin soon thereafter.I’m really looking forward to sitting down with these two NFTitans who are doing BIG deals, activations, and projects in the Web3 space.We’re not livestreaming these yet so if you can score a spot, bring your notebook and come get your alpha. [email protected] for guestlist.On another note, check out the Adweek feature I co-penned with Clayton Durant on the top three takeaways from last weekend’s Super Bowl livestreams!
BEATS
3 Takeaways From Last Weekend's Livestream ConcertsEvery year, the advertising and branded-content landscape surrounding the Super Bowl is a feeding frenzy to attract consumers attention. Brands in this year’s big game reportedly spent $7 million for a 30-second spot, making the price of an ad on Super Bowl 56 the most expensive game to advertise on to date. (Jesse Kirshbaum)
Mapping the Celebrity NFT ComplexBored Ape Yacht Club, in case you don't know about it, is a collection of computer-drawn images of apes in human clothes, sold as NFTs on marketplaces like the website OpenSea; for a significant sum, you can purchase a Bored Ape image. (Read Max)
Karol G and Crocs Join Forces for New CollaborationThe Columbian singer, who turned 31 years old on Monday, has joined forces with Crocs for a new collaboration that features two signature silhouettes: the Karol G X Crocs Classic Clog ($70) and the Karol G X Crocs Mega Crush Clog ($110). (Complex)
Coachella NFT Collection Tops $1.4MThe Coachella Festival’s NFT collection drop brought in $1,474,000 according to marketplace FTX.US. Bidding began on Feb. 4th and closed Feb. 11th. Unlike many NFTs, the official Coachella NFT collection includes some tangible benefits, including lifetime passes, VIP experiences, photos that can be redeemed for physical prints and a collectible poster series. (Celebrity Access)
VNUE Completes Acquisition of StageIt to Integrate Live Streaming PlatformVNUE will marry the live stream platform StageIt offers into its existing artist-centric products and services. “Although it took longer for the related due diligence work and audit process to be completed, this is a match made in heaven, and it was finally time to make our mutual admiration a true union,” says VNUE CEO Zach Bair. (Digital Music News)
Super Bowl LVI Television Viewership Rebounds — Are Multi-Artist Halftime Shows the Future?Nielsen revealed Super Bowl LVI’s viewership specifics in a formal release this morning. As mentioned, 2021’s Super Bowl LV garnered a 38.2 U.S. household rating, compared to 41.6 in 2020 and 41.1 in 2019, at a 68 percent household share (to 69 in 2020). (Digital Music News)
Coachella and Stagecoach Festivals Drop All COVID-Related Restrictions, Including Negative Tests and MasksAfter revealing last fall that vaccinations would not be required for entry, the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals have further revealed that there will no longer be any COVID-related barriers to entry at all, not even negative tests. Nor will a requirement to wear masks figure into the picture when millions of selfies go out from the desert this April. (Variety)
The Winner Takes It All: What Does Catalog’s Dominance Mean For The Future Of The Music Business?he virtual return of ABBA to their “1979 prime” will be arguably the most compelling component of the Swedish pop act’s reinvention on the live stage in London later this year. The creators of the Voyage production say they are “blending the boundary between the digital world and the physical world.” (Synchtank)
Snoop Dogg Says Death Row Records Will Be ‘An NFT Label’Death Row Records will be “an NFT label” and the first major record company to operate in the metaverse, according to its new owner Snoop Dogg, who dropped the news during a Clubhouse chat on Tuesday (Feb. 15). (Billboard Pro)
Kid Cudi Co-Founded Interactive Live Performance App Encore Launches With $9 Million in Funding RaisedKid Cudi is introducing a new way for artists to interact with their fans by launching his new Encore Studio App, which offers artists a platform to perform in augmented reality concerts for their fans with nothing more than their mobile phones. (Complex)
Snapchat Will Start Matching You With Live ConcertsSnapchat on Wednesday unveiled a new partnership with Ticketmaster that will make staying updated on shows and inviting friends a little bit easier. The in-app Mini — a sort of micro-app inside the Snapchat app — functions a little bit like a dating service and can curate a selection of local shows tailored to individual users' interests. (Engadget)
BYTES
Kendrick Lamar will appear in an extended Spotify podcast series that examines his classic 2015 album “To Pimp a Butterfly” — premiering Wednesday (Feb. 16).
Step inside the journey of Kanye West, over twenty years in the making. jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy, the once in a lifetime three-week global event, begins February 16, only on Netflix.
Blockparty’s suite of Web 3.0 tools allows creators and brands to create verifiably unique, connected NFTs that bring utility and joy to their fans and collectors online and off.
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg have plenty to celebrate this week. In addition to the rave reviews for the longtime friends’ all-star Super Bowl 2022 Halftime Show, both hip-hop legends scored their first-ever billion-view video on YouTube in the wake of the extravaganza. (Billboard)
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!