This week marks the start of SXSW, with Interactive kicking off this Thursday and Music beginning March 12. This festival is always one of my favorites, as it celebrates the convergence of music and technology in culture. And as we’ve been preaching at Nue for awhile now, music is a core thread in the cultural fabric, which is why tech companies and brands alike want a piece of the action.I’ll be there with my team keeping an eye out for the breakthrough artists and brands who can capture attention amid the noise. Each year it gets harder to stand out, which means that the standouts seem to be more impressive as the festival matures.I’m optimistic about what’s in store this year. Austin has a distinct energy that’s somewhat difficult to place. It’s where new ideas are exchanged and everyone is on neutral ground for the same reason: to learn, grow and move the needle forward.I look forward to reporting back next week with some of the team’s top takeaways!P.S. Friday, March 9, Nue is producing an event for our partners at drink/nightlife app Hooch. Major announcements happening for them at SXSW. Hit me up if you’d like to join that night for the big party or panel beforehand.. both at Vulcan.
BEATS
Lyrics to Life: Lyric Encyclopedia Genius Collaborates With Dropbox on Pop-up ExhibitionGenius, a music lyrics database best known for its crowd-sourced transcription and translation of popular music, partnered with Dropbox to create Lyrics to Life, a four-day installation in Los Angeles debuting the first weekend of March (March 2-5). (Bennett Bennett – The Drum)
Spotify Cops To Its Problems And Reveals The Massive Ambitions Of Its Founder"Feels great to have the cat out of the bag. Transparency breeds trust," Spotify CEO Daniel Ek tweeted Wednesday, just after the Securities and Exchange Commission published his company's 256-page financial opus. The doorstopper document, called an F-1, is Spotify's manifesto ahead of going public, breaking down the 12-year-old streaming service's founders' hopes and dreams, its many problems and the minutiae of its accounting. (Andrew Flanagan – NPR )
iHeartRadio Preparing for Bankruptcy (Report)The radio company is saddled with $20 billion of debt. iHeartMedia Inc., the broadcast and internet radio company that owns internet station iHeartRadio, is preparing for bankruptcy that could happen as soon as this weekend. (Abid Rahman – The Hollywood Reporter)
While Twitter and SoundCloud are vastly different companies, they seem to provide similar benefits to the music industry: seamless sharing and direct engagement with fans, coupled with a blank, immediate canvas for artists to express themselves and give mass audiences a glimpse into their early creative and mental processes. Unfortunately, despite numerous attempts, the affinity between these two platforms has not translated as well financially, speaking to the challenges of building a social music strategy in service of both a scalable and sustainable business. (Cherie Hu – Billboard)
Looking Ahead at Rap's Future in Virtual Reality With Lupe FiascoLupe Fiasco, Chino XL, and Nikki Jean brainstorm the potential of virtual and augmented reality in hip-hop. (Dan Runcie – Pigeons & Planes)
Inside Steve Stoute's New Artist-First Music Startup UnitedMasters will be geared to exploit that evolutionary phase. Artists will share a cut of their revenue that will be based on the services they want. Playlisting, PR, radio promotion and consultation with Stoute will be part of a basic package, but he says these services will cost less than anything comparable on the market. Currently, about 10,000 artists have access to a beta version of UnitedMasters that offers advice on maximizing social media engagement with fans. (Hannah Karp – Billboard)
Music Startup Roundup: Stationhead, Vezt And RednoteHere are three musical startups worth knowing this month. (Hugh McIntyre – Forbes)
Editor’s Letter: Adweek Is Reimagining the Storied Brandweek FranchiseCall it a movement. Marketers have never faced such challenging times. Technology is moving fast, killing laggard companies laden with legacy thinking and ending careers of those not nimble nor entrepreneurial enough to embrace the pace of change. (James Cooper – Adweek)
Airbnb Expands Music Offering With Launch Of Dedicated Concerts PlatformAirbnb's expansion into the live music business continue to grow with the roll out of its own platform dedicated to staging concerts around the world. (Richard Smirke – Billboard)
BYTES
SoundCloud CEO Kerry Trainor talks with Recode's Peter Kafka at the 2018 Code Media Conference in Huntington Beach, Calif. Trainor replaced then-CEO Alex Ljung last summer at a time when the music-streaming company was struggling and couldn't find a buyer.
After a year in Hollywood marked by the #MeToo movement and Time's Up, this year's Academy Awards were dominated by calls for more diversity and inclusivity for women, people of color, immigrants and minorities.
Meludia Melody offers a complete program that will allow you to learn how to replay any melody in all music styles.
Young Fathers preview new album with manic song “Toy”: Stream
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!