The creatives’ juices are flowing. New ideas are beginning to blossom. Music is starting to connect again and feel raw. The soundtrack to summer is taking shape.I’m seeing a burst of fresh apps, products, and companies, which is huge. New platforms are crucial because technology is the key to novel ideas gaining traction. Many were conceived during the pandemic; others just make more sense now.The country is finding its soul, tapping into purpose, and demanding equality. A lost Spring set up a Summer Revolution and everything feels different. Riding my bike to the office today was invigorating. I can’t go to a museum IRL, but I don’t need to. The street art downtown reflects this moment so beautifully.A “new normal” is so exciting. The first-ever ‘digital’ BET Awards were beyond phenomenal. I’ve attended in person and had a wonderful time but the creativity and message brought to the online viewing experience was beyond powerful.We aren’t going back to where we were. We’re ready for new voices and new leaders. The people want change and artists are taking note. But we need to keep going. The officers who murdered Breonna Taylor have not been charged or tried. Click here to help make this happen.So while you’re celebrating the nation’s independence this weekend, remember: nobody’s free until we’re all free.
BEATS
Hip-hop Is The Soundtrack To Black Lives Matter Protests, Continuing A Tradition That Dates Back To The BluesThe sound of Public Enemy’s 1989 song “Fight the Power” blared as face-masked protesters in Washington, D.C. broke into a spontaneous rendition of the electric slide dance near the White House.It was the morning of June 14, and an Instagram user captured the moment, commenting: “If Trump is in the White House this morning he’s being woken up by … a Public Enemy dance party.” (The Conversation)
Black Lives Matter Is Not Just A Moment For The Music Industry, Here’s What’s Going On The music industry has continued to rally and support Black Lives Matter, equality and justice. As protests continue for Black lives and defunding the police, members of the industry have brought their activism to their companies, Congress and the streets. (Forbes)
Are Concerts, Festivals, And Live Events Ever Coming Back? Here’s What 6 Experts SayFrom a live events standpoint, the question to ask is, Where do we want to be? And I don’t think one should just assume that the place to be right now is digital. We’ve come to feel fairly strongly that the experience at Burning Man and Black Rock City really is only in person. (Fast Company)
The World’s Largest Artist Management Companies 2020In this report we use data from ROSTR - where we’re tracking more than 3K MGMT Co’s - to analyse the wider MGMT ecosystem & highlight a few of the outliers. We look at roster size, Spotify & YouTube reach as well as dive into how rosters break down along genre, gender & record label lines. (Beta Rostr)
J Balvin & GUESS Share Behind-the-Scenes Look at 'Colores' 2020 Collection CampaignGUESS has teamed up with global music superstar, J Balvin, to launch a capsule collection for men, women, as well as kids.
First Look: Kanye West’s New Website Turns Shopping Into ArtKanye West will soon unveil the newest iteration of Yeezy Supply, the website that features his collection of shoes, clothes, and accessories. When it debuts, you can expect a shopping experience unlike anything you’ve seen on the internet. (Fast Company)
How No Limit Records Became Hip-Hop’s Iconic Challenger Brand You’ve heard of Challenger brands: Warby Parker, Casper, Oatly, Under Armour, you get it? These brands carve a piece of the marketing landscape as well as a share of the market for their products by using unorthodox tactics to do more with less. (Trapital)
Indie Publishing Is Heating Up. What Does That Mean for the Music Business?Last week, the ASCAP Pop Awards — a major songwriting awards show, closely watched by the entire music business — awarded Publisher of the Year to independently owned music company Kobalt. Considering that Kobalt’s songwriters helped write smash hits of 2019 like Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” and Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Old Town Road” remix, its win isn’t exactly a surprise. (Rolling Stone)
Country Stars Chase Rice, Chris Janson Spark Outrage With Videos of Packed Concert CrowdsCountry singer Chase Rice is taking heat after sharing video footage of a concerts he played in east Tennessee Saturday night, with footage showing large, packed outdoor crowds rocking out shoulder-to-shoulder with no sign of social distancing or masks. (Variety)
‘Virtual Events Can Be More Valuable’: How Venturebeat Kept Sponsorship Revenue On Par With In-person EventsGameBeat Summit 2020 ended up bringing in more money from its virtual iteration than it did as its in-person version in 2019, she said. This was not only due to a higher profit margin, but also due to the fact that her team was able to keep sponsorships prices consistent with the summit’s original in-person format. (Digiday)
TikTok Deal Brings Prince’s Entire Discography To The PlatformShort form video streamer TikTok announced it has struck a deal with the estate of late pop icon Prince to make his entire catalog available for content creators.TikTok will be the first short-form video app to gain global access to Prince’s full discography, and as part of the agreement, The Prince Estate will offer special programming on the app over the next week. (Celebrity Access)
Lady Gaga Wants You to Create Your Own 'Chromatica' With Adobe ChallengeMother Monster partnered up with Adobe and Live Nation today (June 24) to challenge her fans to illustrate their inner world based on Gaga's made-up planet rooted in equality."My fans have consistently shown their love and creativity through their art over the years, and always make me feel so happy and understood. I can’t wait to see what Chromatica means to them," the Grammy award-winning singer said in a press release. (Billboard)
Kanye Pays Tribute to Chicago With New GAP Store ArtworkKanye West unveiled our first look at his upcoming GAP partnership at the end of last week. While the collection isn’t expected land on shelves for some time, it seems the wheels are already in motion for setting up YEEZY GAP in physical stores. (High Snobiety)
Instagram Shopping Is Expanding — Artists Now Have New Merch OpportunitiesInstagram shopping is expanding to new businesses, including artists who want to sell merch.Instagram’s new ‘Commerce Eligibility Requirements’ are a set of guidelines businesses must adhere to in order to qualify. For starters, the guidelines say the Instagram account must represent the brand or product. That means artists and creators need to have an existing website for each product. (Digital Music news)
Kid Cudi Is Starting His Own PodcastCudi made the announcement after asking his Twitter followers if he should launch a podcast and after being bombarded with positive responses, it looks like the rapper will start one up soon. “Ok…im doin my own podcast then,” he confirmed. (High Snobiety)
Is Spotify Launching a Music Video Expansion? — Here’s What We Know So FarSpotify is experimenting with adding music video content to its app – mimicking YouTube Music.App de-coder Jane Wong is well-known for pulling apart new app updates and finding changes. Wong says she has discovered a new tabbed interface in the latest Spotify update. It offers different options for showing content while listening to music. (Digital Music News)
Why Is Chinese Media Giant Tencent Spending Billions Investing in Major Music Companies? Largely walled off from international competition, many Chinese media-tech firms have grown by being hybrids, with games firms spilling over into live-streaming, and e-commerce firms justifying excursions into streaming video. (Variety)
BYTES
K-pop activism is consistent with a broader trend in the superfan — or stan — ecosystem: the emergence of listeners who are asking for more of their heroes than simply music. It was there in the dust-up between J. Cole and Noname, fueled by the differing responses each rapper has deployed to the recent racial justice protests.
This is Bigger Love, visualized! A live virtual concert experience in collaboration with Wave. All of the proceeds benefited FreeAmerica, a multi-year campaign initiated to amplify the growing movement to end mass incarceration. Wave transforms your favorite artists into digital avatars, who perform live in an immersive and fantastical virtual world.
The most talked about startup of early 2020 is Clubhouse, an audio-based social network where people can spontaneously jump into voice chat rooms together. You see the unlabeled rooms of all the people you follow, and you can join to talk or just listen along, milling around to find what interests you.
The Album features Erykah Badu, Missy Elliott, Future, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Quavo, Rick Ross, Big Sean, and King Combs. The celebration for Taylor continues after a win at the 2020 BET Awards for in the Best Director category. Making the time period even more special, Taylor and her husband Iman Shumpert have announced they are expecting their second child. (The Source)
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!