This weekend is the music industry’s biggest weekend. Or is it? Do people really care about The Grammys right now? They certainly didn’t care about the Golden Globes. All of the typical tentpole moments in cultural marketing (NBA All-Star Weekend, SXSW) feel like one long Blurrrrrrrsday. It’s almost impossible to make these events connect without a physical presence. On the other hand, you have an interview with Megan Markle and Prince Harry cutting through the mainstream like a knife to dominate …
NFT Music Boom
We are living in a historic time of transformation.The art and music world is changing before our eyes thanks to the potential of NFTs and social tokens. It’s a massive boom that is paving new roads and rewriting the rules. The blockchain is proving to be a truly disruptive and innovative way to track payments, ownership, royalties, and the relationship between artist and fan. How is this possible? By attaching these pieces and releases to the blockchain, creators are able …
The Future Of Brand Partnerships in Music
The first notable brand partnership in music was forged in 1964 between the Rolling Stones and Rice Krispies following the meteoric rise of television. The 1980’s brought the first mega-deals, with Pepsi’s endorsement of Michael Jackson leading the way. But until recently, brand partnerships were considered taboo in music. Now, instead of being seen as “selling out,” artists have brands “buying in” to their vision. Brand partnerships exploded in 2020 and this year we will see even more of that growth …
A New Type of CEO
Last week, I published an article in AdAge on why brands need a chief entertainment officer. I’m glad to see it resonating with many of my peers. The truth is, even though this role doesn’t exist within many companies yet, it’s crucial that companies and their executives start thinking more along these lines. The entertainment landscape has gotten harder than ever to navigate. It’s ever-changing and very dynamic. Whether it’s content creation, events, licensing, influencer marketing, or capitalizing on key …
Music Moments of Super Bowl LV 🏈🎶
Super Bowl LV weekend has passed. This one was definitely different. I wasn’t chancing it at a Super Spreader Sunday event. We are nearing the end of this thing and it would be a shame to get Covid now. I’m imagining a magical Summer and “the new normal” soon thereafter. Watching from the comfort of my own home had its benefits. I was more involved in the game’s intricacies than in year’s past. As always, many cultural touchpoints throughout the …
The Memes of Wall Street
The most exciting thing in culture this week is…the stock market? It’s obviously more complicated than “Reddit is wreaking havoc on Wall Street,” but it’s also true. There has been major disruption in the finance industry thanks to a relatively small group of savvy users who discovered weaknesses in the market and exploited them using technology designed to democratize the trading system, namely the Robinhood app. The “subreddit” WallStreetBets consists of over 4 million people. Their collective buying power sparked …
Tech’s Newest Unicorn 🦄
One of the biggest success stories of the pandemic has been an app called Clubhouse. Clubhouse, which officially launched in February 2020, took off in late Spring and has since become the place to hangout, network, and connect. All day and night there are conversations taking place on a wide range of topics from crypto secrets to racial injustice to the NFL playoffs (with top players from the league!) The founders, Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, first raised money and …
The HeART & Soul of 🇺🇸
Welp, well made it to Inauguration Day. President Biden has declared his top priorities to be Covid, Covid, and Covid! He has vowed to deliver 100 million vaccines in his first 100 days. I’m hopeful that an expedited, coherent vaccine rollout will take place in America and that herd immunity will be achieved by year’s end. From there, the real work of rebuilding will begin. Right after “democracy,” culture is America’s most important export. The pandemic, the insurrection, and general …
America Is Growing
After another crazy week in America, the world is beginning to transform. The Democrats won both seats in Georgia and took the Senate, so the direction of the country is becoming clearer. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but having a little stability is exciting, especially as we business plan 2021 and look for new, cutting edge opportunities for growth. One glaringly overdue area for improvement is climate change. I am hopeful this will be a time for deep reflection and …
New Year, New Goals for Beats + Bytes
I’m excited to leave last year in the past. 2020 is truly just hindsight now. Although there aren’t any surefire signs of rapid change, all roads point to the return of events, parties, conferences, and live music by the end of the year. At worst we will be back on by 2022. Will we ever return to the normal we once knew? I don’t believe we will. The future will be about adopting a new normal. We are now in …
Jesse Kirshbaum’s 2021 Music Business’s Predictions & Rising Trends
It goes without saying that the music business started the year in a very different spot than it finished. After serious declines in recorded music for most of my career, the business was seeing unprecedented, double-digit growth going into 2020. The live business was booming and more artists were touring, resulting in higher ticket sales. The festival business was continuing to expand globally in interesting ways. Social media was allowing artists to make meaningful connections with their fans, creating easy …
Beats, Bytes, and Brands: The Series
In this time of quarantine and hardship, music is more important than ever. It’s the universal language and the great connector. In a world where there is so much noise online, music is also an undervalued asset when it comes to marketing products and embedding them in culture. Brands often have social media and sports strategies, but having a music marketing strategy can be hugely impactful with great ROI. That said, it’s a complicated industry to navigate and leverage. Over …
Post MusicGamingCon Glow
Hot off the back of MusicGamingCon, we’re finishing the year as strong as possible. The next few weeks will be about reflection, insight, and making the most of the holidays in Covid times. That said, a lot of things are taking shape for 2021, which we’ll touch on in the coming weeks. Today, though, I’m still on my MusicGamingCon high. Gaming is the most exciting area in entertainment and the pandemic has accelerated this in ways typical marketing and investment …
Is Holiday Season Cancelled?
Is the holiday season cancelled? Thanksgiving weekend is my favorite weekend of the year. Although turkey day itself is based on an idea I’m questioning more than ever, the weekend is always filled with the people and things we love the most. Sure, it’s tough to embrace the holiday spirit with the pandemic’s second wave crippling the country and the world, but there’s always something to be grateful for. I’ll miss my family dearly this time around, but it feels …
Beats, Bytes and Brands at Social Media Week
When Crowdcentric Media — the company behind Social Media Week and the recently launched streaming platform, SMW+ — approached me about hosting and executive producing a series, I was excited about the idea. Now, the final product has me even more hype. Beats, Bytes and Brands is an eight-part series about the future of music marketing and the intersection of music, culture, technology, and social media. Episodes bring together leaders in music, technology, and marketing, including: Triller’s Chief Growth Officer, …