✖️ Why fanbases need to be networks, rather than channels
And: Spotify & Fortnite vs Apple; RapChat raises $2.3M; YouTube testing SoundCloud-style comments; Should plague rave DJs headline return to live experiments?
Hi everyone,
Firstly, a thank you to everyone on last week’s call to chat about making the ‘network’ part of the musicx.network URL actionable. It was inspiring. We’re reflecting on the suggestions and are looking forward to more chats like this in the future. If you missed it: you can always tweet ideas @basgras or wait for the next one.
Next, a thank you to the students at PXL and Initiative Pop, where I participated in two virtual lectures. We ended up talking about creating business models together with your community, which is an area that combines my communication & digital strategy background with my product development and UX background. That’s also the topic of today’s article: Why fanbases need to be networks, rather than channels.
Love,
Bas
TECH
🤺 The web is moving into a new phase and so is digital music. One symptom of that shift: Apple is being challenged on both sides of the Atlantic about its App Store practices, including its 30% cut. In the EU, this means an accusation of antitrust violations following a Spotify complaint. In the US, this means a court case between Epic Games (maker of Fortnite) and Apple: livetweet thread. For background, I recommend this thread by Cory Doctorow about how Apple’s practice stems from a practice by console manufacturers.
💻 Valerio Velardo runs one of the most popular AI & music channels on YouTube. His latest video has him exploring use cases for an Infinite Remixer app. He also goes into detail on how he built it using Python.
🎛️ Audacity, the free and open source audio editing app, has a new lead… MuseScore’s head of design Martin Keary aka Tantacrul. He kicked off by uploading an informative and entertaining video with members of the Audacity team. It goes into obscure use cases and the various challenges of running such popular software with a small team.
📱 RapChat is a social platform for making rap music with 500,000 monthly active users. It just raised $2.3 million from Sony Music and VC firm Adjacent.
💬 YouTube is testing SoundCloud-style timeline comments.
X
😷 CORONA: Some people are objecting to Sven “We Miss You In Tulum” Väth, who performed at various plague raves throughout the past year, headlining a trial event in Liverpool sponsored by the UK govt through the NHS Event Research Programme. Expect many similar discussions to emerge publicly, but also privately among organisers and bookers.
💉 CORONA: Experts think reaching heard immunity may be unlikely in the US. Contributing factors are vaccine hesitancy and new variants.
😰 CORONA: The prospect of post-pandemic life has Gen Z anxious:
“I was only 14 in 2016, and everything has felt like it's been collapsing since: climate change, state violence, racism, inequality, poverty, the whole lot.”
🌊 GREEN: What can music do during climate collapse? (Jayson Greene x Pitchfork)
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MUSIC: Fundraiser for India
India is in crisis after being hit hard by COVID-19. Some of India’s top electronic music performers came together to create this charity compilation. It’s excellent and costs only EUR 10 on Bandcamp. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Hemkunt Foundation, an NGO doing on-ground COVID-19 relief work and supplying oxygen to critical patients.