I can’t begin to describe how excited I am to get back out there and experience live music again.When I was a talent agent, I would hit up at least five shows a week and sometimes three in a night. Our agency was arranging 50+ gigs per weekend in the Spring and Fall college months.When I switched lanes, I kept the pace, attending events, shows, and premieres nightly. For as long as I can remember, that’s been my lifestyle. Nightlife is truly a perk of the business, especially living in cities like New York and Los Angeles.The year off has had its advantages, but nothing can replicate the magic of being “in the room” or the serendipity of a chance encounter that leads to new business, fresh ideas, and, on occasion, a lifelong relationship.Live music makes every event better. I learned that very early on in my days as a high school party promoter. The question now is, when will it be time for events to come back? Is it too soon to say this Summer? I don’t think so!This is a market-by-market question. Some college markets are ready to book live shows already. Some are keeping this semester digital. Cities like Miami and Austin are hosting events pretty regularly although attendees are being instructed to keep it off social media. Barcelona just did the first large-scale European show, a social experiment that appears to have been a success! Diplo, on the other hand, did a DJ set this weekend that was disastrously received.There is increasing discussion of a “4th wave” hitting younger people who have not been vaccinated, but the vaccine rollout is feeling phenomenal under President Biden. He has declared the 4th of July weekend to be America’s return to normalcy.There will certainly be new rules, new experiences, new consumer preferences, and a new vibe. The days of packing clubs to the gills may be behind us. I know I’ll be craving an experience that reflects my mindset and values. I’m certainly approaching this with caution. But I want to support artists in every way I can.That’s one of the reasons we’re so excited to partner with Blended Festival.Blended is an all-encompassing festival blending everyone’s favorite social experiences into an unparalleled, two-day, three-city outdoor event. For music lovers, Blended features a main stage with chart-topping acts and local talent. Festival-goers will also get a taste of each city, with popular food vendors and a culinary stage featuring today’s hottest chefs. It will all be paired with great wine and alcohol selections. Doesn’t that sound...lovely?Blended takes place this Summer and Fall in Nashville, Austin, and San Diego. Get your tickets here.
BEATS
Nike and Skepta Officially Reveal Butterfly Wing-Inspired SK Air Max Tailwind VAfter the arrival of a recent teaser, Nike and Skepta have come together to officially reveal their latest collaborative sneaker. The all-new SK Air Max Tailwind V mixes the silhouette’s early 2000s futuristic aesthetic — complete with a striking heel counter and chrome Swooshes — with an eye-catching colorway. (Hypebeast)
Justin Bieber, ‘Justice’ Campaign TeardownJustin Bieber’s Justice is the 6th studio album by the Canadian mega popstar. It was released on March 19th by SB Projects (RBMG, Schoolboy), UMG and Def Jam, 2021 debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 14 featured artists on the deluxe. In terms of music marketing, it doesn’t really get any bigger than this. (Amber Horsburgh)
Why Is Tower Records Coming Back Now, of All Times?If Tower can become the place people go to buy vinyl, it might carve out a nice niche. But there are a lot of problems here. First of all, streaming and digital downloads still make up about 90 percent of music revenue. To sell records is to play in a relatively small sandbox. (Slate)
Tencent Music Stock (TME) Suffers Double-Digit Dip Amid Regulatory ConcernsWhen the market closed on March 25th, Tencent Music stock was worth $20.36 per share – a decline of 12.17 percent from yesterday’s closing value and a roughly $11-per-share falloff from Tuesday’s high. Building upon the point, Wednesday brought with it an approximately 20 percent value reduction for Tencent Music stock. (Digital Music News)
Fat Joe & Jim Jones Star In Hpnotiq’s Animated Web Series ‘The HQ’The HQ centers around the alcoholic beverage brand opening a club under the direction of fictionalized rappers Fat Joe and Jim Jones.The two New York City Hip Hop legends and other characters appear in a nightspot filled with Hpnotiq bottles. Special celebrity guests are expected to show up in future episodes of the 10-part series. (All Hip Hop)
'It’s A Statement Of Exclusion' Music Festivals Return To UK but Lineups Still Lack WomenAs the UK festival industry gets back on its feet after a fallow, fun-free year, the issue of gender equality on lineups has fallen by the wayside, Guardian analysis of 31 events has shown. Friday marked a mini-boom for festival bill announcements, all heavily weighted towards male performers. Headlined by Liam Gallagher, Snow Patrol, David Guetta and Duran Duran, Isle of Wight offered a 73% male lineup. (The Guardian)
Amoeba Music’s Co-Owner Answers All Your Reopening FAQs About the New Hollywood Store and What Physical Media Means in 2021The music lovers of Los Angeles no longer need to pray for their mecca to return. Amoeba Music’s Hollywood branch is reopening April 1, and hoping to make fools of everyone who would maintain that physical media is dead. (Variety)
Why Did Live Nation’s Stock Price Hit an All-Time High Without Live Music?Earlier this year, the company’s stock price hit an all-time high—then kept rising. Why would Live Nation’s shareholders value it most when its core industry was shut down? The simplest answer may also be the scariest: They believe that this global conglomerate doesn’t need to worry about competition. (Pitchfork)
Swizz Beatz and Timbaland bring Verzuz to PelotonAnchor Muted BackgroundThe home fitness company unveiled its new "Peloton Verzuz" music collaboration series on Monday. Verzuz (pronounced "versus") is the immensely popular webcast series that pits hip-hop and R&B legends like Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Teddy Riley against one another in friendly competitions to determine whose music catalog is superior. (CNN)
Why It Took the Grammys to Send Cardi B Back to No. 1When I watch the Grammys every year, I like to play a chart-nerd parlor game I call “Grammy Bump.” It doesn’t happen every time, but in many years, a song, an album, or even a whole genre will see a conspicuous rise on the Billboard charts the week after the show. (Slate)
Lil Nas X’s ‘Satan Shoes’ Will Contain Drop Of Human BloodThe classic Air Max ’97’s have been revamped by collaborators MSCHF with the underworld in mind, coming in a limited edition stock of 666 pairs, each individually numbered “x/666” in red embroidery. The kicks will also contain 66 CCs of red ink, as well as one drop of human blood. (Page Six)
How Roc Nation Is Thriving With Artist-Brand CollaborationsStrategic brand partnerships for music artists have become a lucrative alternative to live performances during the coronavirus pandemic. At Roc Nation, one standout collaboration last year was Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and producer Alicia Keys and American Express AXP for the company’s Unstaged digital music series that featured a virtual concert ahead of the artist’s Alicia album drop last fall. (Forbes)
Nas Writes A Letter To His Daughter In Hennessy’s New “Dear Destiny” CommercialHennessy is continuing its partnership with Grammy award winning rapper Nas. Their latest campaign, titled “Dear Destiny,” is a two-minute commercial that features the 47-year-old lyricist writing a letter to his daughter — also named Destiny. (Revolt TV)
Signed Jay-Z Trading Card Sold for a Record-Breaking PriceLast week, a 2005 Topps “Signs Of Stardom” trading card signed by the Jigga Man was up for sale by Goldin Auctions. The 1-of-1 card was initially lingering around the $2,000 mark on the online auction site before one buyer started to heat up the race. Eventually, the sale closed at $105,780 which is the most spent on any non-sport/TCG card. (Complex)
Cash(ing) Me Outside: Bhad Bhabie Selling Iconic Meme as NFT on 18th BirthdayAccording to a release from Bhabie's team, her "ETH Me Outside: A CASH ME OUTSIDE NFT" retrospective will feature an original collection of digital icons based on 2017's most searched meme, hitting the auction block as NFTs (non-fungible tokens), the unique blockchain-supported digital objects that have become the hottest commodity on the crypto market. (Billboard)
Meet the Experimental Musicians Who Built Their Own Streaming Service What if we got together and built an alternative platform that prioritized the needs of independent musicians? What if we made the rules about who gets paid, and how? And what if we owned the company ourselves? (Pitchfork)
Apple Leads $50m Investment Round In Steve Stoute’s Unitedmasters, Joined By Alphabet And Andreessen HorowitzIndependent artist distribution platform UnitedMasters has secured a $50 million Series B investment. The round is led by Apple with additional funding from two existing backers: Google parent Alphabet and Andreessen Horowitz. Today’s news marks another significant financial milestone for New York-headquartered UnitedMasters, following the company’s $70m funding round led by Google/Alphabet in 2017. (Music Business Worldwide)
Are You Ready To Rock? Music Festivals Prepare For A 2021 ComebackSpring is usually the beginning of the music festival season — but things are different once again this year. The giant behemoth SXSW was online-only again this month. Coachella reportedly has been moved to 2022. No word yet on whether Lollapalooza is happening at all. (NPR)
BYTES
In this live episode of Ad Age Remotely, Jeanine Poggi is joined by Detavio Samuels, CEO of Sean "Diddy" Combs' cable network Revolt. Samuels was elevated to CEO earlier this month. He had previously served as chief operating officer.
Recently, I saw something I didn’t quite believe I ever would get to see: An openly gay music superstar indulging in a sex-and-drugs-and-sin video fantasy. In his instantly viral music video for his latest single, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” Lil Nas X is unabashedly queer and unmistakably horny (literally and figuratively), ending with a barely clad Nas giving a lap dance to the leather-clad devil, before he snaps Lucifer’s neck.
Beeple Generator lets you render your randomized creations into downloadable images, but McKelvie (co-creator of Beeple Generator) says soon you, too, could become a multimillionaire via open-sourced artwork.
DJ Cassidy’s viral “Pass The Mic” series is going primetime. Cassidy recently inked a deal with BET to air six specials, and the first will air on Saturday after the NAACP Awards. Cassidy is mum on the surprise lineup for Saturday, but we hear it will include SWV, 112, Dru Hill and Sisqo.
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!