✖ The music companies going remote long-term: database
And: Spotify HiFi; Bruce Springsteen x Obama; Nyan Cat NFT sold for $500k; Live Nation stock bounces back; Roadies need support; Looming attention recession
✍️ Today’s newsletter is written by Bas Grasmayer.
2020 has turned a surging trend into a global reality: remote work. Spotify, which currently employs around 5,000 people globally, recently committed to staying remote-friendly beyond the pandemic. What other companies in music have the same intention?
👉 View database | Submit a company 👈
🎓 Learn why music companies are switching to remote long-term: article
👀 See which companies will be remote long-term: database
👩💻 Add your own company to the database: submission form
👋 We’ll be going live on Clubhouse to talk about remote work in music next Thursday: February 25, 8pm CET / 2pm EST. RSVP on Clubhouse & LinkedIn.
✖ BONUS: Clubhouse = podcasts + proximity. I wrote down my thoughts regarding one of Clubhouse’s key success factors.
TECH
✨ Lots to unpack in Spotify’s announcements yesterday:
Spotify expands to 80+ new markets.
A new HiFi tier available soon as an upgrade to premium subscribers.
Spotify signed a deal with DC Comics to do superhero podcasts.
The Daily Mix playlists are getting an expansion.
There’s much more. Click here for the complete overview or check the creator-focused infographic.
👯♂️ AI researchers have created a neural network that can make virtual people dance. This has obvious applications for virtual music events, gaming, and film. This reminds me of an (unrelated) collaboration between Club Quarantäne, IOR50 and CTM Festival to present a database of open source motion capture data of queer dancers.
😸 Nyan Cat was sold as an NFT for 300 ETH (around $500,000 at the time of writing) giving credence to the claim that something being widely available digitally can help boost its value in an auction. What will be the first music megahit sold as an NFT?
💸 Blockchain startup Opulous will let artists borrow money at low-interest rates by using future royalties as collateral. We’ve written about them before in the context of distributor Ditto Music being involved. Now they explain how leveraging royalties sets them apart from other Decentralized Finance (DeFi) initiatives.
🌥 Last week I wrote about how SoundCloud should tackle fan-artist payments. MUSIC x Patreon member Chuck Fishman made a good add-on comment by noting how SoundCloud is the only streaming platform that allows you to connect to fans directly.
CORONA
📈 It appears Live Nation stock has bounced back to pre-COVID levels.
📉 Mark Mulligan warns of the ‘COVID bounce’. No, that’s not a new dance fad like the Harlem Shake. It’s the term he’s coined to refer to the dip in screen-time availability post-lockdowns. Is an attention recession looming?
🚛 Roadies are not doing well. At all. In a recent Clubhouse chat with touring professionals, I heard stories of increasing poverty and mental health issues among this backbone of the music industry. They need more help. Some bands are rallying to support roadies.
🤗 Cherie Hu spoke to artists RAC and Zola Jesus and Patreon’s European GM Ronny Krieger and penned a piece about how Patreon is helping electronic music survive during the pandemic.
🤔 The UK government believes all restrictions on events can be lifted after June 21. This seems optimistic, to say the least. Current infection numbers are way higher than one year ago and there are various mutations that increase the infection rate (one of which is referred to as ‘the British variant’). Unless the UK employs a COVID-zero strategy of harsh lockdowns and rapid vaccination, the number of infections at the start of next summer will be higher than last year’s summer of restrictions. IQ dives into the government’s plans and reactions from UK industry organisations like the Featured Artist Coalition, Music Venue Trust, AIF, and others. Many of these organisations cleverly ask for support measures to bridge this 4 month period, which can then be extended in the likely event of Boris Johnson failing to deliver on his promise.
JOBS
Every week, Christina Osazuwa (WMG’s Director of Data & Insights - Global Marketing and founder of Measure of Music) creates a round up of new openings in the music & entertainment business on LinkedIn.
This week:
Part 1 | YouTube Music, Twitch, Warner Music Group, more.
Part 2 | Sony Music, Cameo, Triller, Netflix, more.
Part 3 | TikTok, UMG, Patreon.
Click on each part to open the relevant LinkedIn posts.
Music
Throwing in a Daft Punk favourite seemed too obvious, so I’m going with 3 remixes you’re unlikely to have heard before. See you on the dancefloor. 🥲
First, tune into Kodat’s jersey club spin on One More Time.
Next, check this baile funk remix by Brazilian producer Mu540 which samples Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, but not before giving the Spice Girls and System of a Down a turn.
If you’re ready to take the energy up a notch, check out the high BPM jersey club remix of Digital Love by djX.
✨ You can become a MUSIC x SUPPORTER on Patreon for €5 / month. Join THIS WEEK and get mentioned in the newsletter in the March shout-outs.