New York loves a good comeback, or in the case of Webster Hall’s grand re-opening on Wednesday night, two comebacks. Not only did the legendary venue open its newly renovated doors, but it was also christened by the king of NYC, Jay-Z, and the return of his “B-Sides” concept. It was nothing short of awesome.We’re all familiar with Jay’s motivation and ambition. He’s always been more than just a business, man. I mean, he’s the richest musician in the world right now. But beyond the commercial success, he’s been instrumental in lifting people up across the culture. From paying Lil Wayne’s taxes, to helping free Meek Mill, to hiring the lawyers in 21 Savage’s custody battle with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Jay-Z is the real world godfather of hip-hop. The B-Sides concept, “revisiting old album cuts, mixtape freestyles, soundtrack loosies, and guest verses,” is visionary in its own right. This is a man who is using his success to be an agent for change, justice, and prolonged creativity.Another feather in his cap is Tidal. With streaming dominating the industry, it’s important to have artists at the table, advocating for creators. I love Spotify, Apple & Google but none of them have musicians at the helm. I believe this is an important protection for artists in the digital era.Case in point: when De La Soul’s album was recently being released without their consent, it was Tidal that lead the charge to stand up for the group. They refused to release the music without their permission and the other DSP’s followed suit.Prince presents another example of Tidal’s artist-centric approach. The Prince estate is releasing a 15-track album with Warner Bros. featuring songs he wrote for other performers. “Originals” will first stream on Tidal (June 7th-20th) before its physical release on June 21st. “In the spirit of sharing Prince’s music with his fans as he wanted,” a press release reads, “the album will be available to stream in Master quality via Tidal’s HiFi subscription tier. Members will be able to hear the recordings just as the Artist intended the tracks to sound.”These ideals are why we’re proud to partner with Tidal on our web series, CRWN. Their team cares about music and musicians and that focus clearly comes from the top down. Jay-Z, with his sprawling management business, his sports agency, countless investments, and his vision for a just world, is the greatest to ever do it; the most necessary voice in the biz.It was an honor to see him perform last week. Salute to Bowery Presents/AEG and Barclays for what they’ve done. Webster Hall is back and better than ever.
BEATS
Fuse Media Cites "Cord-Cutting" Trends in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Targeting a young multicultural audience, the largest independently owned cable television network finds itself $242 million in debt. (Hollywood Reporter)
'First On SoundCloud' Expands With Fan Created ContentFollowing the success of the “First On SoundCloud” campaigns in the U.S., U.K. and Germany, SoundCloud has announced phase two of its developing artists program. The campaign features fans and their emotional connections to the tracks and creators they discovered first on SoundCloud. (Hypebot)
Avoiding Musical Paralysis If you feel overwhelmed by the surge and variety of new music and listen mainly to music from the last decade, you’re not alone. A poll conducted by music streaming site Deezer revealed that 65 percent of 5,000 participants from various countries only listen to music they already know. (Cornell Sun)
The Future of Artist Marketing Is Multivariate Testing Via PlaylistsArtist marketing remains a costly and often thankless endeavour. Inclusive of artists and repertoire, record labels spent approximately $1.6 billion on marketing in 2017 with 73% of that ($1.2 billion) being spent by majors. (Midia Research)
Why Streaming Exclusives Are Here to StayFrank Ocean, Beyoncé, and others helped push forward the highly-debated album release strategy that continues to evolve each year. (Trapital)
How Migos & Drake’s “Walk It Talk It” Pays Homage To ‘Soul Train’ Migos and Drake surprised fans over the weekend with the official video for their Culture II collaboration “Walk It Talk It.” (Genius)
2019 Record Store Day Yields Historic Week for Vinyl Album Sales Albums by Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan & The Rolling Stones were among the top-selling Record Store Day-exclusive releases at indie stores, according to Nielsen Music. (Billboard)
This Influencer Faked Her Whole Coachella Trip Most people are just going to Coachella for the gram, right? Right. Musician and YouTuber Gabbie Hanna has long been a critic of the festival for this very reason, so her followers were understandably confused when she started posting pictures in Indio this past weekend. (Paper)
Taylor Swift’s ‘ME!’ Is Everything Wrong With Pop The star’s first single since Reputation has almost none of the elements that once made her interesting, but it does have a dolphin screech for a chorus. (The Atlantic)
Faze Clan, 100 Thieves, And How Hip-Hop And Video Games Collide With Esports Smugly sophisticated, succinct but vivid, Lord Finesse managed more in five words than this author ever could. Then there’s The Fresh Prince, who gave us, simply, “Ever since I was younger, I was into video games” on 1988’s “Human Video Game,” complete with Ready Rock C’s beatboxed rendition of the Donkey Kong theme. (Vibe)
The Sound Of Branding As Traditional Ads And Marketing Techniques Continue To Decline In Popularity, Companies Are Striving To Connect With Their Audience In New Ways: Enter Sonic Branding. (Cassandra)
BYTES
The music business has been aggressively promoting premieres of videos since MTV’s heyday — anybody remember TRL? — but Swift released her tune with the help of a new YouTube feature designed to more effectively hype up video drops like hers.
The track features Dominic Fike, Joba, and Bearface. Jack Antonoff—known for his Fun. and Bleachers work, as well as co-writes with Lorde and others—co-produced "Peach" with Romil Hemnani. Catch the new video.
Google-powered PHAROS AR app creates funky virtual world featuring Childish Gambino's music.
Sadness weighs heavy on the “Sorry” demo, both in the tear-stained instrumental loop and in Beyoncé’s softened delivery.
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!