Takeaway Takeover: TikTok's Music Time Machine, Coachella Conquers COVID
Plus Death Row's NFT Rebirth, Snap Teams With Ticketmaster, Artist Unasigning Their Masters
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TAKEAWAYS
Salient statements from this week’s music news.
1. Warner Music Boss Steve Cooper: ‘The Emergence of Web3 Is Going to Further Amplify the Importance of Music Labels and Publishers
Web3 could be a boon for the big dogs as well as the little guy.
Takeaway: Warner Music Group recently partnered with New York-headquartered digital collectibles platform Blockparty, marking the firm’s first major-label partnership. WMG also struck an NFT-related global partnership in April last year with Genies, which dubs itself “the world’s largest avatar technology company”, while. In September 2019, it joined an $11 million investment round in blockchain firm Dapper Labs.
2. How TikTok Is Bridging The Generational Divide Through Music
The randomness of TikTok’s algorithm has Gen Z dancing to songs that are older than they are. Proof that there’s no new formula for crafting a viral hit.
Takeaway: The comments section acts almost like a classroom, with Millennials and Boomers breaking down slang or why the song was such a hit for their age group.
3. Warner Music Settles Its Big Termination Rights Dispute With Dwight Yoakam
With catalog streaming up and old songs going viral more frequently, the 35-year copyright assignment termination clause could seriously shift the balance of streaming dollars towards veteran artists.
Takeaway: American songwriters exercising their termination rights and reclaiming previously assigned song copyrights is now pretty routine. However, on the recordings side there is still a disagreement over when exactly the termination right applies.
4. Coachella Plans to Return With No Masks or Vaccines Required
With a previous hardline COVID stance and tickets long since sold out (2020 tickets are still good), we trust the decision is coming from the science on this one.
Takeaway: Coachella did not run in 2020 or 2021, and was canceled three times over the pandemic, including a rescheduled date in the fall of 2020.
5. Snoop Dogg Says Death Row Records Will Be an NFT Label
Releasing his new album as a $5,000 NFT is only the start.
Takeaway: The rapper is heavily invested in cryptocurrencies, the idea of the metaverse, and even outed himself as the person behind the wildly popular NFT speculation account, Cozomo di Medici.
6. Snapchat Teams With Ticketmaster on Live Music Discovery
Users can enter their preferences, then be suggested shows based on Snap Map.
Takeaway: This will be the first time Snap has integrated a partner to Snap Map through their new Layers technology.
