Dear Summer, welcome back!It’s wonderful and very rare to spend a chill holiday weekend at home. I was supposed to head out east but after plans changed I got the chance to have a little staycation here in New York. I forgot how much I love The City on a holiday weekend.Amongst other things, I finished the book "Hit Makers, The Science of Popularity In An Age of Distraction" By Derek Thompson. I saw the David Bowie Exhibit at The Brooklyn Museum and I got a chance to enjoy magic hour at the New Soho House in Dumbo. All of these experiences worthy of their own separate post, but I’m going to give you some of the highlights relevant to our Beats And Bytes community."Hit Makers, The Science of Popularity In An Age of Distraction” breaks down so many interesting elements of what it takes to create a hit. This is a present day“Tipping Point” without making the same argument over and over again as Malcolm Gladwell tends to do in his revolutionary books. "Hit Makers" is a must-read for modern marketers especially ones in the music industry. Chapter 3’s “Music of Sound" breaks down what it takes to make “ear worms”, that catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person's mind after it is no longer playing. Right after that chapter, it goes into an interlude about goose bumps or what I like to call the “good art chill”, something a culture fiend like myself is chasing almost every night of the week. Another point the book makes is predicting the most valuable hits is essentially about finding people, reports, and insights that are most predictive and ignored. Predicting the future is most valuable when everybody thinks you're wrong. Unique and unrivaled access to perfect information about the future is the holy grail of profitable forecasting. There are some other great insights throughout it but the final conclusion is that the socially correct posture in this day and age is to not like any one thing too much but to be deeply aware of it all. Cultural cognizance is a global awareness of the news and opinions that make up the cultural landscape. Super awareness is the new cultural capital, which brings to why I wanted to see the David Bowie Exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.This exhibit was a like a multi-sensory history book and one of the most buzzed about art shows in town. It not only chronicles David Bowie’s life from a wet-behind-the-ears advertising executive to teaching himself music and over time by again and again capitalizing on what was happening in the zeitgeist becoming one of the most iconic pop stars ever with a career spanning over 40 years. I wasn’t a huge Bowie fan going into this exhibit but after walking out I’m obsessed. His creativity & talents are undeniable. But his magic was in his ability to reinterpret pockets of culture he found fascinating as well as capitalizing on relevant in that moment events and consistently reinventing himself by incorporating those elements. This exhibit is a must-see for artists looking to have a long career. Just know, it takes a long time to soak in the full show. It’s more like reading and immersing oneself in a history book on Bowie than going to a cool art exhibit. Artist friends, fans, and creatives, go see it before it closes on July 15th!I was also granted the privilege of having dinner at the new Dumbo Soho House. Props to the good people at Soho House for staying hot and relevant while continuing to expand their brand. This is quickly going to be one of the places to be this Summer and beyond. Its views are stunning (3 bridges). Its pool is beautiful. Its food is delicious…no place is doing cauliflower like it and most importantly the vibe is eclectic, artistic and sexy. Dumbo has never felt so cool to me. We stayed for hours exchanging ideas, greeting friends and toasting the start of summer.Back to the grind, but time to pull back out the white pants, a fresh pair of white kicks and maybe even your seersucker suit because the summer wind is officially blowing in.
BEATS
Drink-a-day Startup Hooch Raises $5M as It Plans Blockchain InitiativeRight on the heels of launching its concierge service Hooch Black, Hooch announced today that it has raised $5 million in seed funding. The company’s basic subscription of $9.99 gets you one free drink per day from a variety of partner bars and restaurants. Hooch Black (which you have to apply for, and which costs $295 per year) adds hotel deals, concierge service and other perks on top. (Anthony Ha – TechCrunch)
Vevo Is Giving Up On Its Own Website And AppsVevo, the YouTube-style video platform owned by most of the major record labels in the music industry, announced today (May 24) that it is planning on shuttering its consumer-facing website and its consumer-facing apps. It isn’t clear exactly when these items will be gone, but they are not long for this world...though that’s not to say that Vevo is disappearing or closing as a brand. (Hugh McIntyre – Forbes)
Ticketfly Co-Founder Joins Forces With Cryptocurrency Pioneers to Create New Blockchain ProtocolTicketfly and Ticketweb co-founder Dan Teree is teaming up with cryptocurrency pioneer Riccardo "fluffypony" Spagni and entrepreneur Naveen Jain to launch a new blockchain protocol that could pave the way for the eventual shift of ticketing into the same technology that powers Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. (Dave Brooks – Billboard)
Youtube Music Finally Gets It RightYouTube Music, the video service’s first full-fledged music streaming offering is here, and it’s surprisingly great. At first glance, it’s largely Google Play Music with a fresh coat of paint and music videos. But look closer, and it’s clear YouTube has been putting in the work to improve upon Google’s previous attempts at music streaming, and the foundation is here to accomplish that. (Micah Singleton – The Verge)
Nielsen’s Gracenote Uses Artificial Intelligence to Classify 90 Million Songs by StyleNielsen-owned media data specialist Gracenote wants to help music services make better mixes with fewer outliers: The company announced a new music dataset called Sonic Style Wednesday that classifies 90 million tracks not by the genre the artist is known for, but the actual style of the recording. (Janko Roettgers – Variety)
Spotify Launches ‘The Game Plan,’ a 10-part Educational Video Series for ArtistsOn the same day that Spotify’s class-action settlement with musicians gets final approval, the company is making a big push to encourage artists to participate on its streaming service – in this case, by offering them a host of educational material to help them get started. The streaming service today is launching its own video series dubbed The Game Plan, which instructs artists on how to get started using “Spotify for Artists,” and the other steps they have to take to make their music available for streaming. (Sarah Perez – TechCrunch)
There were hits and misses, and a spirit of exploration, as the Graham company tried out new technologies during a two-week Google residency. (Gia Kourlas – The New York Times)
The Boy Band Is BackRefreshingly diverse all-male musical groups like PrettyMuch and Brockhampton are expanding what it means to be an American boy band. (Sandi Rankaduwa – BuzzFeed)
At Sotheby’s, ASAP Rocky Breaks Out of the BoxThe rapper and style muse put himself through a series of physical challenges before unleashing his new album, “Testing.” (Jon Caramanica – The New York Times)
After Kendrick Lamar Reportedly Threatened to Pull His Music, Spotify is Putting XXXTentacion Back on PlaylistsBloomberg reports that the decision to change the policy came after several members of the music industry, including representatives for Kendrick Lamar, expressed frustration with the policy. Internally, Spotify employees themselves rejected the new policy, as well as its abrupt rollout. Many members of the music industry were also initially confused by the change, believing these artists were removed from Spotify altogether. In the general public, confusion over the many artists accused of sexual misconduct who weren't removed was also puzzling. (Lily Puckett – The FADER)
BYTES
Lyor Cohen used to complain about YouTube. Now he wants you to pay $10 a month for it. What changed? The very short answer is that Cohen used to run big record labels. Now he works at YouTube, as its emissary to music labels and the people who make music.
Earlier this month we partnered up with Airbnb and Bandsintown to produce an intimate, one of kind DJ set with Wale at a secret location in Brooklyn. Here's a recap of the night.
Download the official Governors Ball Music Festival App to stay in the loop with all things Gov Ball.
The moment has finally arrived. DAYTONA is here in all its Yeezy produced glory. In a refreshing turn of events, Pusha has confined the album to a concise seven tracks, dubbing it "the God Number." Though some have already lamented the project's brevity, it's difficult to argue that an era of "stream trolling" has ushered in a string of unwieldy and overlong albums. In that regard, Pusha and the GOOD Music camp are opting to alter the trajectory of the curve. – Hot New Hip Hop
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!