Where y’at?Because I’m in New Orleans. Well, I was last week… It’s one of the greatest cities in the world. It’s charming and unique, and every time I visit I have an absolute ball. If you like music, food, and culture, it’s pretty much impossible to have a bad time there. Alex K (my brother and business partner) went to school and got married there, so we’ve all felt connected to the city for decades.Did you know that New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz? And that it’s the birthplace of rock n’ roll?! New Orleans has a one-of-a-kind story.I was reminded of all this the past week when I attended the first NOLA MusicTech Summit organized by Melissa O'Brien, one of the legendary curators of SXSW back in its heyday. Now, she lives in New Orleans and brought the party home, timed gloriously with the start of JazzFest, the first one in three years.Like many major cities, New Orleans has its share of problems. Times are tough in every corner of the country. But from my perspective, on a big picture level, what’s holding New Orleans back might just be a branding problem.Mississippi claims to be the birthplace of American Music and Cleveland built the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but New Orleans could make a case for either. In 2022, the artists of New Orleans have mixed feelings about being pinned to the genre of jazz. Jazz? I love Jazz. America loves jazz. Jazz might be more relevant right now than it's been in decades. Still, the New Orleans scene is unsure whether it wants to claim jazz as its be-all-end-all.Nobody likes being put in a box. Pop music and jazz don’t really jive, so what’s an emerging NOLA artist to do? Of course, there’s deep rap history – from Master P and Lil’ Wayne to the bounce scene – and mainstream acclaim for artists like Trombone Shorty and recent grammy winner, Jon Batiste. The city’s sound evolves but it’s always distinctly New Orleans.Mardi Gras, Essence Fest, and other big-ticket events pay the city’s bills, but there’s more to New Orleans than those tentpole moments. What’s needed is the infrastructure for innovation and IP to flourish. The rest of the story will write itself.New Orleanians are resilient as hell and some of the most creative folks I know. As things settle back in post-pandemic and the great migration continues, New Orleans is well-positioned to become a U.S. powerhouse for culture and entertainment. There’s nothing I’d like to see more.
BEATS
Concert Tickets Reach New Price HeightsConcert ticket prices are soaring thanks to a variety of factors, but mostly because the music industry wants to capture sky-high sales on reselling platforms like StubHub and Vivid Seats. (Future Party)
Deadmau5 and Steve Aoki Are Among the Investors in LimeWire 2.0LimeWire has continued to successfully garner funds for its relaunch as a digital collectibles marketplace. Its latest funding round, a private token sale led by Kraken Ventures, Arrington Capital and GSR closed at around $10.4 million. (Music Tech)
Web3 Will Be A Building Block For Every Musician In The FutureJustin Blau, aka musician and producer 3Lau, got the music industry talking last year when he closed a $55 million Series A round for his blockchain-based music investment platform Royal. (Music Business Worldwide)
The Attention Recession Has Hit Spotify TooSpotify added two million subscribers in Q1 2022. Yes, this incorporates the impact of 1.5 million lost Russian subscribers and is set against Netflix having lost 0.2 million subscribers over the same quarter. (Music Industry Blog)
Music Artists Are Making What They’d Earn From 1 Million Streams In ‘2 Minutes’ With NFTsMany celebrities have touted NFTs recently, either promoting their own collections or hyping a new investment. But up-and-coming musicians are increasingly turning toward the space as a more appealing way to earn a living than the options they may have in the traditional music industry. (Fortune)
Billionaire Jay-Z Just Participated In The $33M Investment Of This Beauty BrandJay-Z just backed premier beauty brand Madison Reed in an investment totaling $33 million, Forbes reports. The round was led by Sandbridge Capital and Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners also participated in the round. What’s more, the investment brings the San Francisco-based company’s total capital to nearly $220 million. (Afro Tech)
Coachella Artists Went on a Fender Bender Thanks to Guitar Company’s Rebrand PushGearheads were first to take notice of the market penetration that Fender had at the festival, with some reasoning that the brand is a favorite of indie-rock bands, which have typically been a big draw for Coachella crowds. (Variety)
Could The Music Catalog Rights Boom Generate Windfalls For Non-Superstars? The proposition that’s been driving this cavalcade of superstars to the bank is simple enough: Revenue from streaming provides cash flow that investors can count on, not just speculate on. (Music Business Worldwide)
Snap Partners With Live Nation To Launch AR Experiences at Select Concerts and FestivalsSnap is partnering with Live Nation to enhance the experience of going to concerts and festivals via its AR technology. The company says the multiyear partnership with Live Nation will “elevate performances beyond stages and screens.” (Tech Crunch)
Study Explores Major and Indie Shares of Top Spotify PlaylistsAmong the findings: over the last four years, majors accounted for nearly 70% of the tracks added to ‘New Music Friday’ – 30% for UMG and 19% apiece for Sony Music and WMG. However, it notes that April 2022 is currently “a pretty extreme outlier” with 63% of the playlist’s tracks coming from outside the three majors. (Musically)
Spotify Shares Now Selling at Less Than the IPO Price 4 Years AgoI don’t expect Spotify to go bankrupt. Despite my gloomy prognosis, I’ve never predicted that this company will disappear. In a way, that’s a shame. The music ecosystem would probably be better off without Spotify and other predatory streamers. (Ted Gioia)
Yo! MTV Raps Is Coming Back – 25 Years Later, the Legendary Hip-Hop Program Lands on Paramount+True to its original iteration, the series’ return will feature live performances, interviews, lifestyle content, and more from newcomers to the game and longtime favorites alike. MTV Entertainment Studios will produce the series for their sister company’s streaming service, Paramount+. (Digital Music News)
Pop Culture Brand Partnership News And Insights You might be asking why sponsorship marketing is so important to marketers. Hollywood Branded explores why sponsorship marketing is vital to powerful brand marketing, and what brand marketers need to know to get started. (Hollywood Branded)
Meow Wolf and Live Nation Partner for Innovative Festival Experience 'Vortex'Santa Fe-based arts and entertainment company Meow Wolf and Live Nation have come together to create a unique outdoor festival experience, Vortex, at a secret location in the heart of Denver. (Festival Insider)
SZA Celebrates Mental Health Awareness Month With Her Own Crocs CollaborationWe’re patiently awaiting the day that SZA confirms the release date of her highly-anticipated album, but before she blesses our ears with new tunes, she’s opted to bless our feet with new kicks alongside Crocs. (Hypebeast)
Artists Turn To TikTok Creators To Launch New MusicForget radio DJs and renowned music journalists, TikTok (and its deep bench of influencers) has emerged as the most important platform for music marketing. Now, labels and artists are working hand-in-hand with creators to best strategize a way to turn singles into bonafide trends. (Future Party)
BYTES
Have you ever wondered how your favorite playlist was made? Do you miss the days of mixed tapes? Join us on this nostalgic journey with Saidah Blount to learn why music discovery is so important, how human curation provides warmth that technology simply cannot, and why context is so important to content.
In a recent interview on MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber, the music exec discussed how he acquired Taylor Swift’s masters and her response to that deal. The famous blow-up online saw Taylor Swift taking to Tumblr to write a disparaging post about the deal. Braun also discussed how he felt like Taylor Swift weaponized her fanbase against someone she doesn’t like.
Emerging services like gigmit, Gigmor and Gigstarter are giving fledgling DJs a direct line to clubs and promoters, so even little-known artists have a chance to snap up top gigs. The promise: a fast track to musical fame.
More than two years after the release of her debut album, 070 Shake returns with her new single, “Skin and Bones.”The song, which was produced by Dave Hamelin and mixed and mastered by Mike Dean, arrives alongside a Noah Lee-directed visual. “Skin and Bones” marks 070 Shake’s first new material since last December. (Complex)
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!