As the dog days of August race to an end, I’m blown away by how much has changed. Summer 2018 was packed with personal growth, eye-opening adventures, and lots of extended hours. I get the feeling that we’re all collectively bringing the music business back to its glory days.
But you don’t only see growth in the backend metrics. You can literally hear it. 20,000 new songs appear on Spotify weekly, music companies are eyeing IPOs (Sonos went public last week!), and I hear more and more about the potential for music blockchain and music-partnered branding to turn the market on its head.
In my bones I feel opportunity bubbling. The live space is booming, musicians are in demand for exciting campaign launches, and I now have friends blowing up my phone asking how to transition into a career in music. Think about that. Five years ago it was a dinosaur treading water.
One last, wild weekend at Billboard Hot 100 followed by the VMA’s NYC extravaganza should do it for me this summer. I’ll be taking the rest of the month off from scouring the trades and dissecting the dailies. Next stop: Martha’s Vineyard. After that, maybe Burning Man? Maybe. I always opt out right about this time of year. I’m open to more testimonials if any evangelists are in the congregation…
One Love,
P.S. Tonight, we bring back our hit web series, CRWN, with the Queen herself, Nicki Minaj. Peep the livestream on Tidal at 9PM EST and look for the full and edited episodes next week. This is our first livestream of the show and you never know what knowledge Nicki will drop, especially with Elliott Wilson manning the interview decks. The taping takes place in NYC, so hit me if you want to attend.
P.P.S. The beautiful thing about the playlist generation is the ease of editing. I’ve updated Nue’s Songs Of The Summer with an August Deluxe Edition featuring 10 new bangers. Let me know what you think!
No Fields Found.Also published on Medium.