Yesterday at Hamptons Tech Week, I had the pleasure of having a fireside chat with Matt Medved, CEO and Co-Founder of NFT Now.Alex and I are investors and advisers to NFT Now. We are big fans and dear friends of Matt and his two co-founders, Sam Hysell and Alejandro Navia.Matt is living this NFT world; chronicling it; galvanizing it; building it…and clearly loving it!But it’s a major grind and it’s moving so fast. As he said on stage, “In the NFT world, days are weeks and months are years.”Over the past five years, Matt built Billboard’s Dance Division and was EIC of Spin Magazine, all before selling and running content for Modern Luxury. He’s also a damn good EDM DJ who was early on crypto.When Covid hit, he fell deeper down the rabbit hole of NFTs and Web3 culture. Matt, like myself, has already been through three up-and-down cycles of Crypto.As our discussion highlighted, Matt’s biggest regret over the past five years has been not paying as much attention to the space during its bear markets. As he put it: “I know how this movie ends!”Are we in winter, or is it just a cold? That remains to be seen, but it was great to interview him. It was like watching his tweets come to life. Some of Matt’s key talking points were:
Bear markets are for building! That's what he and the NFT Now team are doing in spades: making some key hirings to grow the vision and the team.
Under the mentorship of the late, great Virgil Albloh, Matt and his co-founders realized they are building the NFT Now platform for “both The Purists and The Tourists.” His goal is to super-serve the experts while also onboarding more and more Web3 newcomers.
Matt feels the big difference between audience and community is that a community is a group of people who want you to win, whereas an audience is simply a group of people who are waiting to see if you’ll win. Community is such a buzz word, but isn’t it great to build with people that are rooting for you wholeheartedly?After a day of excellent panels, there was an after-bar jam session with Toby Daniels, which was also enlightening as we talked media and the future. Toby recently left Adweek as the Chief Innovation Officer after selling Social Media Week and is now building a very exciting Web3 media vision. It was great to compare notes. My main takeaway is that in Web 2, “People are more likely to share a headline than a brand” (Toby’s words), whereas in Web3, ownership of a brand (platform) makes people more loyal to the platform than the headline. If media companies can pull that off, that's a fundamental shift in media and virality.Salute to Hamptons Tech Week for pulling off a year one event. It’s a major undertaking to get things like this off the ground and I know they will take it to new heights in the future.
BEATS
A Company Called Meta is Suing Meta for Maming Itself MetaAn installation-art company called META (or Meta.is) announced Tuesday that it will be suing Meta (or Facebook) for trademark violation, alleging that Zuckerberg’s name change violated the smaller company’s established brand. (The Verge)
Doechii to the Front of the Class The rapper from Tampa is about to be everywhere.Doechii is at the precipice of one of the most exciting times to be an emerging artist. She has been releasing music for six years, amassing an audience on SoundCloud drawn to how cleanly she can switch from saucy and seductive croons to aggressive, staccato raps. (Vulture)
Social Radio App Stationhead Closes $12 Million Series A With Support From DiploMusic-focused social platform Stationhead has announced the completion of a $12 million raise that drew support from Diplo and others. (Digital Music News)
The Roots' Black Thought Joins Impellent Ventures As A General PartnerBlack Thought is prepared to take his talents into venture capital (VC). In 1987, the rapper — whose real name is Tariq Trotter — formed The Roots band alongside Questlove in their hometown of Philadelphia, PA. (AfroTech)
This New Startup Aims To Build The First ‘Decentralized, Physical Museum’An organization called Arkive, which launched out of stealth mode on Wednesday, aims to use the power of the internet to build what it calls the first decentralized, physical museum. (Fast Company)
Your Ticket to Ride: Why Web3 is Poised to Create a Persistent Bridge Between Artists and ConcertgoersAs many industries consider Web3 and how to engage with it, ticketing seems to be one application almost destined to evolve through the technology. (Variety)
How WithOthers Is Driving Change Through MusicEmotionally and often physically, music moves people. It’s the core concept of WithOthers, an events platform for artists and fans looking to change the world. (LA Confidential Mag)
The Unintended Side Effects Of A Grammy NominationAfter you've wiped away the tears and thanked your mum, you can expect to sell a lot more records. Even a global blockbuster like Adele's 21 saw a 207% sales increase after it won best album in 2012. (BBC)
Why Mood Is The New Musical GenreHow would you describe your taste in music? Is your instinctual response a genre? A musician? A general vibe? (ZogBlog)
Mcdonald’s Welcomes Fans To Its First Virtual Summer CampCalled Camp McDonald’s, this month-long experience is not your traditional camping adventure. Instead, it is a virtual event that features the hottest lineup of food deals from the restaurant chain, limited-edition merch from partner brands, and music performances from amazing artists. (Geekspin)
Spotify's Betting Big On Being More Than A Music ServiceSpotify has invested deeply in podcasting both for creators and consumers, it has delved into the world of audiobook, it acquired a company to build a live-audio product and in general it wants to be the home of audio online. (Protocol)
Amazon Prime Subscribers Remain Flat In 2022 Following Price Hike — An Interesting Data Point For the Music IndustryAfter increasing the price of Prime, Amazon has reportedly seen the service’s U.S. member total remain flat – raising interesting questions about music streaming platforms’ ability to hike their own monthly costs without sacrificing user growth in today’s difficult economic climate. (Digital Music News)
10 Years Ago, There Were No YouTube Videos With A Billion Views. Now, 317 Music Videos Have Reached That Mark.Psy‘s groundbreaking music video, which played a significant role in the global expansion of K-pop, arrived on YouTube on July 15, 2012. In November of that year, ‘Gangnam Style’ became the all-time most-watched video on YouTube. (TubeFilter)
BYTES
Jay talks to Steve Stoute, a music executive responsible for shaping the careers of the biggest stars in recent memory. Nas, Mariah Carey, Will Smith — Steve Stoute's résumé rivals the best of the best.
Jay-Z has been a legend for decades. He has sung, written, and produced some of the most influential music of the 21st century. But when does it become too much? Kevin Hart sits down with Jay-Z to discuss his retirement status and what led him to need a break from the industry.
Founded in January 2020 by the French developer Alexis Barreyat, BeReal is a photo sharing app for iOS and Android. Every day at a random time that varies by country, the app sends out a push notification — ⚠️ Time to BeReal. ⚠️ — and users have two minutes to take their pictures.
In today's digital age, following a recipe from a book may seem pretty archaic. So if you're not in the mood to read the ingredients and measurements, then a playlist might be for you.
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!