Why Web3, Vinyl and Elvis Are All Sticking Around
Long Weekend Special
TAKEAWAYS
Salient statements from this week’s music news.
1. McKinsey: Metaverse May Create $5 Trillion In Value By 2030
The full report reveals that Media & Entertainment are among the top categories in current and future investment, topped only by High Tech and Energy & Resources.
Takeaway: Businesses already getting involved in the metaverse could have long-term advantages, though the digital space will likely require the current workforce to learn new skills.
2. KPMG Enters the Metaverse, Invests $30M in Web3 Employee Training
The “big four” accounting firm is creating a “metaverse collaboration hub” to help ensure its future leadership in the Web3 space.
Takeaway: The companies will continue to explore possibilities in the crypto and Web 3.0 space, co-create new tools and solutions that provide critical insights, launch immersive learning and development platforms, recruit talent to contribute knowledge and help navigate the changing confluence of the physical and digital worlds, among other things, as part of its innovation strategy.
3. The Elvis Business Is Booming Into the Billions
The Baz Luhrmann film has been a boon for the estate that had been on the decline for decades.
Takeaway: In 2020, the estate’s value was $400 to 600 million, a source told Rolling Stone. Now — thanks to Presley’s prevailing cultural relevance, with a new film out Friday and publishing valuations soaring on potential future earnings — a new source tells Billboard the Presley estate is worth more like $1 billion.
4. Napster Drops Its Web3 LitePaper — Complete with a $NAPSTER Token
The plan is to raise money through its $NAPSTER token, which promises streaming as well as incentives.
Takeaway: Napster has yet to announce when it will launch its Web3 services, but it appears the music company is hoping to rely on an initial offering of 10 billion $NAPSTER tokens to help musicians thrive in its ecosystem and build a new model for artist-fan interaction.
5. More Vinyl Record Plants Opening Soon. Is It Enough to End Backlog?
New spaces with new machines will help relieve the pressure on current facilities.
Takeaway: A big problem in catching up with the back orders is still the supply chain. Getting the vinyl pellets, which is the basic material that vinyl records are made from, is still subject to manufacturing and shipping delays.
6. Spotify Is Developing AI Tools To Hook Users On Music Creation
The lead developer has described the upcoming stack of features as “instant cake” for music.
Takeaway: It’ll be really fun for sure ... assuming copyright clearance from publishers, labels, artists and songwriters gets sorted out regarding any AI modifications and mash-ups of pop music.
6. Marshall Jefferson Sues Kanye West Over Alleged Unauthorised Move Your Body Sample
The infringement could be double given the release of Donda 2 on Kanye’s proprietary Stem Player.
Takeaway: The suit says that West and his team previously admitted to representatives for Jefferson that they had sampled Move Your Body, but it claims that West did not take out a license for the song, meaning Jefferson has not been paid for use of the sample.
7. What Are Music Streaming Farms — And How Important Are They?
The practice continues despite alternative models like per-user payments that cap how much a song can earn on how much those listeners pay in.
Takeaway: Spotify and other streaming platforms aren’t losing any money from the practice — the bots that stream the music still have to use their service through paid subscriptions or through a free account that generates ad revenue. But streaming farms do effectively steal money away from artists with legitimate streaming numbers.
