✖ Music is the creator economy catalyst
And: Soundcloud Player One; Live Nation sues insurer; Olivia Rodrigo's outlier status; Coachella cancelled indefinitely; #funk on TikTok; a pop-up theatre to save live music?
We all want to flip the value relationship between artist and fan; getting fans to directly pay artists without the involvement of middlemen. Every direct-to-fan argument you hear right now goes back to what’s called the creator economy. From MIDiA’s recent research into the power of UGC to Signalfire’s discovery that there’s 50 million content creators, it all stems from people making money off of a community of followers.
The above is a chart which puts together various social media based on their popularity, or how many people interact with them, and grouped together by format. It’s put together by researchers at the Knight Institute at Columbia University and shows how creator networks are the most popular media on the internet.
👉 In today’s post I will show you how music runs like a thread through the creator economy. Moreover, I’ll showcase how musicians can capture value by adding value to their fans’ lives.
TECH
♟️ I mention Twitch and Amazon Music in the article above, and just to showcase how they integrate, they have announced a cross-platform effort to focus on black stories with a Twitch Series, podcasts, and Amazon Originals.
📈 Again related to my article above, Bull Analytics has a great article into how engaging in fan dialogues has helped propel Olivia Rodrigo into outlier status for early 2021 stardom.
🎸 There’s a lot of talk about music and gaming, but here’s a new angle from MusicDataPro who found a digital community surrounding a game by searching for #funk on TikTok.
👾 Wait, did I mention gaming? Soundcloud will host a gaming tournament in Fortnite called Soundcloud Player One. It’s sponsored by Adobe. The future is here.
🦑 Axios explains why it’s both good and complicated that major platforms, like Google, Facebook and TikTok are opening up about their algorithms. For the music industry, there’s a lot to learn through better visibility and information on how to make sure your music surfaces.
CORONA
⛑️ Live Nation incurred losses as you may imagine. Now, they’ve sued their insurer not making good on those losses. There’s some great details in the legal filings about the specific impact of the pandemic on Live Nation, such as 5000 cancelled shows and 6000 postponed ones. CMU has more.
🎶 Imagine you’re a choir and you’re thinking about how to engage with your audiences and the market generally. Logical conclusion: you create an NFT and head over to the blockchain.
🎪 The pandemic forces us to be creative and a pop-up theatre that mandates social distancing and which can travel around like a circus is just the latest solution to bring back live. Is this the resilient venue we will build our future on?
⛔ Postpone, postpone again, then cancel. This is the story of Coachella and Stagecoach. I’m afraid this is a precedent that we’ll see more of this year. How sustainable is it to keep postponing? Remember those insurance risks?
💡 It’s great to see artists adapt to the restrictions of the pandemic by going direct-to-fan. It’s also great to hear them explain why and how they did it and how they see its lasting impact on them as a performing artist.
Music
A new release by the fantastic pianist Shai Maestro is always a treat. His new record on ECM is a wonderful exploration of what it means to be human through the expression of music. My favourite track:
✍️ Today’s newsletter was written by Maarten Walraven.
✖ MUSIC x: founded by Bas Grasmayer and co-edited by Maarten Walraven.
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