It’s an exciting time for the music business. Even in these dog days of summer when things are certainly slowing down, moves are being made.Last week it was announced that both Aaliyah & De La Soul’s catalogs would be added to the streaming services; Aaliyah’s this week and De La’s to follow now that the masters have come into new ownership. It’s about damn time! I expect to see a big boost for their respective brands as they become playlist staples this fall.It’s awesome to see how catalog music is finding new shine in the streaming economy. In a world where 50K new songs are being released a day, it’s harder than ever to make a new song cut through and stick.On Friday, I was asked to go live on Cheddar TV to talk about what’s happening in recorded music. What really has me jazzed, as you’ll see in the last two minutes of the interview, is the growth opportunities around NFTs, the Metaverse, and the enhanced direct-to-fan relationships that artists will have thanks to new technologies and changing industry tides.Check out the full segment here, and enjoy these last days of summer. See you soon!
BEATS
Shavone Launches Future of Creatives, Community Platform for Underrepresented TalentAn advocate of diversity and inclusion, SHAVONE. debuts her new project with the goal of elevating and offering much-needed space for underrepresented creators. A multidisciplinary group, Future of Creatives serves to amplify the stories of talent — including people of color and women creators — who work in tech, entertainment, contemporary art and fashion. (Hypebae)
Kanye West Builds in PublicInspired by engineers, product managers, and founders — building in public asks the entrepreneur, CEO, and employees to bare the inner workings of their business and product online for the world to see, especially through social media. Through this, they get feedback and share their journey and learnings through the process of making their product “perfect”. (Boye Fajinmi)
‘Tarzan Economics’: The Good, The Bad, and The Next VineTarzan Economics aims to switch your understanding of the world from thinking about transactions to thinking about consumption. Will Page argues for around 300 pages that we should all be interested in data that explains how people consume instead of data on what transactions they make. (Music x Tech x Future)
Kanye West Has Already Made Crazy Money Off 'Donda' — and It Hasn’t Even Dropped YetWhether you like it or not, the Yeezy effect is very real. While we await the arrival of DONDA, Kanye West has already pulled in approximately $7 million from the album's merch sales alone. (High Snobiety)
Big Sean’s Latest Collaboration? Teaching Kids About Finance—on MinecraftIt turns out that the unlikely answer to this omission was a multi-platinum-selling rapper and the most popular video game of all time.Since 2019, musician Big Sean’s nonprofit foundation has worked with Ally Financial to place minority college students into internships, and onto a path toward economic success. (Fast Company)
Music Distributor DistroKid Raises Money at $1.3 Billion ValuationDistroKid has raised money from Insight Partners that values the music distribution and tools company at $1.3 billion, according to founder Philip Kaplan. Kaplan and Insight declined to say how much money Insight had invested, or how large a stake it was acquiring. (Bloomberg)
The First 100 Days: Tidal Coo Lior Tibon on Life After The Square acquisitionIn his conversation with Protocol, Tibon explains what's new with Tidal, how the acquisition has affected company culture and why he isn't worried about competing against much bigger services like Spotify and Apple Music. (Protocol)
From ‘WAP’ To ‘Montero’: Music's New Sexual Revolution Is HereIt’s as if pop artists push us to the edge, so we can live happily in our everyday lives in a more progressive middle. Perhaps Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B’s brilliant sexual expressions on a larger-than-life bed have helped our small, little bedrooms feel that much more regular. (MTV)
BYTES
Steve Martocci dives deep into the Splice business, how music works in the music industry, how royalty free samples plays a huge role in the business and what is required to maintain quality and originality.
When the mayor's office decided to put on a star-studded concert to celebrate New York City's return after lockdown, Clive Davis got the call. The 89-year-old music producer signed up such artists as Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith and Paul Simon, in what is his most important project: bringing concerts back to New York.
Stationhead, a mobile app that turns its users into streaming radio DJs, just launched its latest “Fan Clubs” for collective streaming parties. The app includes features like the ability to call guests to join the show, and integration with Spotify and Apple Music.
Fat Joe secured a recording contract with the Relativity label in the early '90s, resulting in the release of his full-length debut, Represent, in 1993 (which spawned the single "Flow Joe," peaking at the number one spot on Billboard's Hot Rap Singles chart). Hear his latest mixtape now.
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!