Category Archive

If you know me, you know I love mixtape culture. I think I’ve been making my Fourth of July mix for 10 straight summers, and this year is no different. My passion for finding new music and sharing it in a digestible, curated format knows no bounds. The industry continues to evolve as does music production and lyrical content, but curated mixes are more important than ever in an era where tens of thousands of new songs drop daily. I’d …

Coming to you live, Air Force 1’s on the ground from NFT NYC. There’s a lot to report 🙂 First, a good deal has changed since the last NFT NYC in November. It’s at least doubled in size. The sentiment is definitely different, too. The hype cycle is over and it’s time to build something real. Surprisingly, the big players want prices to come down and to rid the space of the folks who jumped in solely because it was …

It’s build mode! I’m not going to sugarcoat it: It’s tough out here. Recession is looming. There’s a political divide in the U.S. that makes water cooler conversation nearly impossible. A war is going on overseas that feels like the door to a nuclear abyss. Inflation is the highest it’s been in 40 years and it’s going to be painful on the economy to slow it down. Supply chain issues continue to be a factor and ruthless sonsabitches are using …

Is anybody else feeling overwhelmed by Discord? There has to be a better option! If you’re launching a project, a DAO, or community in Web3, Discord has become the de facto place to connect and share info. But with so many worthwhile projects and communities, I feel like I’ve already hit my quota. I can’t open Discord anymore. There were a lot of pluses to Discord at first. It was Slack for Web3, and it was doing a great job …

Snapple Elements is launching its newest line of beverages in an unexpected and refreshing way: with an NFT series. Snapple has partnered with Billboard music artist-to-watch, Tierra Whack; renowned street artist, Bradley Theodore; and digital artist extraordinaire, Glassface, to make the impossible possible. Each artist summoned their personal style to create NFTs tied to one of the three Snapple Elements flavors: FIRE, AIR, and RAIN. The collection will be known as Snapple ElemeNFTs. The NFT market is a groundbreaking landscape, so it’s exciting …

Today, Clayton and I are bringing our Beats, Bytes & Brands concept from URL to IRL, doing a masterclass on livestreaming on the stage at Social Media Week. Together we designed a power-packed class with tons of insights, how-to’s, and actionable takeaways. (Clayton is also graduating this month with a master’s from the NYU Music Business program, and I’m so proud of him.) I’ve been working as a Social Media Week collaborator for over a decade. SMW might sound a bit “ok …

Where y’at? Because I’m in New Orleans. Well, I was last week… It’s one of the greatest cities in the world. It’s charming and unique, and every time I visit I have an absolute ball. If you like music, food, and culture, it’s pretty much impossible to have a bad time there. Alex K (my brother and business partner) went to school and got married there, so we’ve all felt connected to the city for decades. Did you know that …

Recently, I took the opportunity to look back at the major deals 2022 has yielded thus far and highlighted some of the relevant trends. Every month I deep dive into our industry for an Adweek column I co-author with Clayton Durant; we get insights from some of the top players at the top companies to help tell the key stories of the moment. Check out the full article here. We did see a couple of key themes emerging in 2022 that …

Welcome to the Greenest Week of 2022, where 4/20 and Earth Day fall in the same 7-day window and Spring emerges. There’s certainly a lot to appreciate. Since the SAFE Banking Act passed the House (for a fourth time) in April 2021, the Cannabiz has had its challenges. The bill’s fate in the Senate remains unclear, and we won’t know more until August at least. This bill would allow financial advancements in the industry, specifically the use of bank loans …

As Web3 continues to ripple through culture, I’m thinking about what history can teach us in this moment. Similar to the internet’s first two booms (Web1 and Web 2.0), Web3’s growth will be about adoption and usability. The public won’t care about the blockchain or the metaverse until they need to, and that will only come with undeniable use cases. Napster upended the Web1 entertainment world and Spotify revolutionized streaming in Web 2. In many ways, music is again becoming …

Over Grammy weekend, the winner of the Best Música Urbana Album award wasn’t in Las Vegas, he was in Miami performing before a super sold out crowd for the third night in a row. The post-show party spilled into the streets with people singing, dancing, and having the time of their lives. I got to see Bad Bunny on Saturday night at FTX Arena. It was a phenomenal show. Miami was the last stop on his El Último Tour, promoting …

Tomorrow I head to Dallas, home of this year’s Wrestlmania. Besides the Super Bowl, Wrestlemania is the biggest single-day sports event of the year. This year, I’ve been tapped by my former client and long-time collaborator, Wale, to help executive produce WaleMania. WaleMania is the quintessential hip-hop and wrestling event, taking place (almost) every year during Wrestelemania. Now in its sixth year, WaleMania had to take a few years off because of Covid. It’s so exciting to be coming back …

Spring hasn’t quite sprung in NYC, but we don’t have that problem in my new hometown of Miami 🙂 The Miami scene is going crazy right now. Miami Music Week, Miami Tech Month, and The Miami Tennis Open are all going down in the span of a couple weeks. But I’m really excited about the Miami NFT Conference on April 1st. NFTs continue to be one of the most exciting areas of growth in media, entertainment, and culture, and Miami …

It’s fascinating to see Hollywood’s latest obsession with fallen CEOs and con artists. There’s a barrage of hit shows, ranging from The Tinder Swindler to Inventing Anna, that are dominating the TV discourse. Do we really need docuseries on Elizabeth Holmes, Travis’ Super Pumped days at Uber, and Adam Nueman’s We Work rise and golden parachute fall? Need ‘em or not, all of these shows are out this month on major streaming platforms with major marketing campaigns behind them. They’re …

What’s happening in the world is very disturbing. It’s horrific to think we’ve gone from a pandemic to the most devastating European ground war since WWII. Ukraine has shown tremendous resolve in the early days of the invasion, and world powers have stepped up. This is now a global war that will be determined not only by militaries, but by economics, the Internet, and the power grid. It feels like a shot to the heart. Like the characters in A Fiddler …