How do you bounce back from eight days in the desert? You don’t. Staying awake until the sun rose over Massada on the final, crazy night of my “trip of a lifetime” felt like a Herculean accomplishment (as did coming into the office yesterday after landing in New York at 4:30AM). But being surrounded by illuminating, beautiful people that were masters of their respective crafts made it worth every second of lost sleep.There were Crypto Kings and futurists. There were hologram creators. There were self-proclaimed “Most Famous Artists” and free-thinking XR Wizards. What is XR, you ask? It’s the new buzzword encompassing VR, AR, and MR.So many realities, but none as challenging as the one you wake up to every day. I may appear to be the definition of an extrovert, but this journey revealed my introverted side. I can be more open. I can go bigger. I can take even more chances. The trip, focused on emerging technology, was appropriately titled REALITY Israel. I’m definitely feeling the reality check.--One way to bounce back? Listen to awesome music. We'd like to invite you to the second monthly edition of our new series with Soho House, Nue Sounds, featuring Chase Cohl on Wednesday, July 18th.RSVP by Wednesday at 10am to [email protected]Some info on Chase is below. She’s a beautiful soul.—Finding enchantment in the melancholic Laurel Canyon bliss of Joni Mitchell (“a fucking wizard,” in her estimation) and Jackson Browne as a child, the singer, songwriter, artist, fashion designer, and Littledoe creator crafted a vision of dream folk with moments of rock ‘n’ roll energy that brings the Summer of Love’s gloriously stoned spirit to the Coachella generation. At the center, this troubadour pens poetic narratives of love gone awry, loneliness, and loss over a subtle backdrop of acoustic guitars, banjo, and piano.In the midst of presciently building Littledoe into a Vogue-endorsed early progenitor of the modern Boho movement sported by Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and other fashion icons, she penned countless songs. Between performing alongside the likes of Cory Chisel and Cameron Avery as well as on a series of Best Fest shows, she released singles “Windsong” and “Blue Eyes” to early praise from Nylon, Exclaim, and more. In the middle of a 2016 tour with Lissie (and a breakup), she started to work on the songs that would eventually comprise her 2017 independent full-length debut.
BEATS
Why Apple Music Is Starting to Win Spotify’s GameThe company’s previous success with iTunes showed that it could guide the music industry into a new digital waters, but in the digital-downloads era Apple didn’t face a competitor like Spotify. With its free tier, Spotify’s global user base comes to more than 170 million users with 75 million subscribers, so at least globally, the Swedish company remains on top. (David Turner – Slate)
Aggressive Content Bundling Might Be Spotify's Only Chance of Competing With Apple, AmazonBut even if Spotify were to follow up on all of these partnerships and integrations, it would still glaze over the fact Amazon and Apple’s long-term competitive advantage lies in bundling music with proprietary hardware and services, not with third-party content. ( Cherie Hu – Billboard)
Can Kobalt's AWAL Rewrite The Rules of A&R?When it comes to A&R and artist discovery, however, AWAL does things slightly differently. It’s a model which could eventually force major labels to adapt their game – in the same way that Kobalt’s tech-led publishing revolution coerced the major publishers into getting with the times. (Tim Ingham – MBW)
Amanda Palmer Has Earned $2.8M With 'Punk' CrowdfundingFor some artists, asking fans for money is a bridge too far. But if they'd followed the career of Amanda Palmer, who has raised more than $2.8 million by "making art" and forging a genuine relationship with her fans, they might feel differently. (Hypebot)
No other major streaming service -- across Apple Music, Tidal, Pandora, Deezer, etc. -- breaks down Big Apple listening data in this manner. (Cherie Hu – Billboard)
Big Bank: What Drake Could Rake as a Free Agent on the Open MarketExpect another record-setter from the Canadian rapper, possibly to the tune of $20 million per album. (Shirley Halperin, Jem Aswad – Variety)
By extending the length of videos from 1 minute to ten, and for some users to an hour, and the launch of its ITV video hub, Instagram hoped to unleash the kind of creativity that attracts and retains users. Jaden Smith just used it to exclusively release a new EP. (Hypebot)
How Ads Get Away with *Almost* Plagiarizing Existing MusicAfter the recent Jase Harley-Childish Gambino controversy, we asked industry experts where the line falls between imitation and inspiration. (Hattie Long – Noisey)
Prime Day is more than just a one-day sale with blue tags placed all over the Amazon website. It’s pinned to data, research, and results the company has aggregated over the years about precisely what moves the needle for online sales. And it strategically reflects the changing ways in which Amazon has altered shopping. Brands have inherent strengths, and in Amazon’s case, they’re leveraging a habit and behavior they’ve helped create. (Fred Jacobs – Jacobs Media)
Pakistan’s biggest and most popular annual music platform, Coke Studio, under the banner of its exciting new initiative – Coke Studio Explorer – cuts through the mainstream and brings previously undiscovered music talent to the public eye. (Sonya Rehman – Forbes)
Book Excerpt: How Music Fan Built The Internet This chapter turns to fans, asking how they spent the twentieth century, and how it is that they find themselves now in such an unprecedented position to set the terms for interactions around music, including those between themselves and musicians. (Nancy Baym – Wired)
BYTES
Troy Carter talks about growing up in Philadelphia, working with Lady Gaga, hip hop's dominance, and Spotify's approach to working with artists. From his brief career as an artist to going through a tough time with Will Smith to spending his last pennies on dinner to win the business of Lady Gaga, the interview is packed with surprising stories and wisdom for the next generation of artists and managers.
There are few music careers like that of Scott Storch. The esteemed producer-songwriter is a Nova Scotia native who grew up in the US, making his initial mark in Philly as a key member of the Roots. A great start, but just the beginning of a wild ride to the top. Storch’s way with crafting hooks and shaping melodies, as well as his knack of being in the right place at the right time, brought him to Cali, where the inspired keyboardist began shaping the sound of pop, hip-hop and R&B, working with an array of artists that stretch from Dr. Dre and Beyoncé to 50 Cent Christina Aguilera. The hits rolled in, the money stacked up, and creativity exploded.
The rapper has teamed with tech entrepreneur Summer Watson, who has worked at TuneIn and Playdom, to launch hip-hop app heir. The app, which is now taking sign-ups for early access, lets people vote hip-hop tracks up or down. Users who show that they have an ear for what people will like earn digital currency known as Crown. But voting for a track that the majority of users don't like can cause a person to lose their Crown.
Childish Gambino, also known as Donald Glover, delivered his own heat wave Wednesday morning with a pair of tropical, sexy new songs, “Summertime Magic” and “Feels Like Summer.” Collectively the duo make up Summer Pack, according to the labeling on streaming services.
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!