✖ In the future musicians will be more like Bach than Kanye
And: Olivia Rodrigo and murky copyright; A social music creation app; A report on combatting climate crisis; Musicians should create a Discord server; An opportunity for a fairer music business
We’re all full of the new Kanye West record, his open work-in-progress way of putting the record together and, of course, his Donda Stem Player. This will be the future, a future of more transparency in the creative process of artists, and with amazing generative music that allows fans to become creators. And yet, each artist needs to be a content machine. Another perspective on the Donda success story is how it created tonnes of content, some of it experiential and other parts more digital. It dominated the news because it continuously dripped content into the world. This is not for everyone.
If we think back to Bach and how musicians worked, created, and subsequently got remunerated in his age then that is actually our future.
TECH
⚗️ TikTok and Snap alums launch mayk.it, a social music creation app, with $4M in seed funding (Amanda Silberling)
“Of course, for creators who might want to get a bit more serious about their creations, remixing and collaborating poses a question of ownership — if someone writes a beat and another user sings over it, who owns it? While you can’t monetize music on mayk.it, you have the right to export it and sell it elsewhere. Henriquez said that anyone involved in the creation of an audio clip or song on the app gets an equal cut, so the beat-maker would get 50% of any profit, and the singer would get 50%. Mayk.it doesn’t take a cut.”
🗝️ How NFT’s will show their true potential (David Sherry)
A great reiteration of where we actually stand in terms of broader Web3 adoption.
“NFT’s are Blockchain’s 3rd “magic moment” (After BTC and Defi). They are bringing fundamental changes to our web experience, as fundamental as the 0 to 1 moment from the pre-internet to the internet era.”
🧠 How do AI music recommendation systems work (Cyanite)
“In this article, we unravel all the specifics of music recommendation systems. We look into the different approaches to music recommendation and explain how they work. We also discuss approaches to Music Information Retrieval which is a field concerned with automatically extracting data from music.”
🤖 Here’s why musicians should create a Discord server for their fans (Janelle Borg)
“By circumventing algorithms and ads, Discord can be an alternative platform for artists and content creators who want to play the long game, and prefer organic growth over virality.”
🧶 It’s time for esports to stop idolizing traditional sports (Marty Strenczewilk)
There’s a lot music can learn from this article about how esports needs to shift away from trying to emulate good old regular sports.
“If esports are indeed pioneering the future of sports engagement, then esports teams must continue to evolve from pure sports leagues modeled after the past into sustainable entertainment companies with diverse monetization sources. With the right strategies—leaning into lifestyle “drop” culture, channeling fandom as a funnel into other products, and franchising with a global focus—esports titles are poised to top sports revenue lists in coming years.”
X
🌍 Massive Attack call for “urgent and significant reassembly” of the music industry to combat climate crisis (Scott Ng)
“The plug-and-play model would see the standardisation of equipment at all venues, implemented collaboratively to ensure that smaller venues do not struggle with improved regulation. The report also recommends that venues switch to “energy tariffs that directly support renewable energy projects.”
Get the full report here.
🤔 A once in a generation opportunity to deliver a fairer music business… (David Martin)
David Martin is the CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition and, together with the Music Managers Forum, they have put out a whitepaper. In it, they detail how they see the necessary changes for sharing streaming revenues.
“However, some fruit does hang lower than others. For instance, for record labels to update legacy royalty rates and make them fit for purpose in the streaming age, or to write off unrecouped balances after a predefined period, these are not unreasonable or unworkable requests. Similarly, for collecting societies to change how they redistribute streaming black box royalties and end the practice of apportioning such revenues by ‘market share’. Such straightforward actions feel to me like inevitable and long overdue steps towards fairness and a better functioning market.”
Download the full whitepaper here.
💨 Are we going too fast with major events? (Bethan Moorcraft)
“Live event insurers around the world want to support their clients; they want to lift them out of the pandemic slump and enable a swift, but safe, recovery. Over the past 18 months, many insurers have provided live event clients with premium relief and unique coverage solutions to help them stay afloat during pandemic-driven closures. They’ve also provided commendable service around risk management, helping insureds stay on top of health and safety regulations and setting them up for smooth returns to business. And yet, the question must be asked: Are we jumping the gun?”
🖼️ Olivia Rodrigo, Paramore, and the murky tides of copyright infringement (Kirbie Johnson)
“Isn’t there value in introducing genres or sounds to a younger generation, especially if it’s not plagiarism? Does evoking a similar “feeling” really warrant possible litigation, credit, and compensation?”
💉 Live Nation president says audiences are eagerly returning to live shows, even with Covid vaccine policies (Sarah Whitten)
“Berchtold said the company’s vaccine policy requires audience members to either be fully vaccinated or provide a negative coronavirus test to gain entry to events. More than 90% of the attendees of Lollapalooza were vaccinated, he said. Of those, 12% said they got vaccinated because they wanted to attend the festival.”
MUSIC
I’ve been enjoying the new record by Manni Dee. It’s an exquisite form of techno that sometimes veers into hardcore and other times takes a bit of a breather. As an album it works through its dynamic and soulful production.