I.B BAD: HANDS
ACROSS THE WATER
THE CULTIVATION OF COOL: It’s been two weeks since the dramatic launch of Apple Music and a year since Apple’s $3 billion purchase of Beats Electronics/Music. The ambitious, multifaceted new endeavor is getting a big look and a test drive en route to a fervently hoped-for streaming nirvana. As the media keep spinning that yet another premium streaming service isn’t nearly enough to separate the godlike nerds of Cupertino from the mere mortals comprising Apple Music’s competitors, Beats 1, which sits in front of the paywall, serves as the Apple team’s big bet to keep the brand hip. The plan is to first capture the cool kids, who will then act as pop-cultural tastemakers, spreading the word about this cutting-edge new entity, building Beats 1’s momentum to the degree that the masses will eventually be lured to this place where the cool kids are hanging out. This is same strategy found in the playbooks of both Steve Jobs and Jimmy Iovine. It’s readily apparent in all those shiny Apple products of recent years, and it’s also precisely the way Iovine ran Interscope, getting several generations of young hipsters into NIN, Tupac, Snoop, Dre, 50, Gwen, Eminem, Gaga, et al, during a wildly successful quarter century.
The next huge question is, can Beats 1 move the needle in a meaningful way? The initial answer is a tentative yes. Beats 1 quickly demonstrated that it could bring massive attention to a new artist when, on July 8, Zane Lowe played “New Americana” from Astralwerks/Capitol rookie Halsey—a song that had built a buzz in various versions on SoundCloud and YouTube but hadn’t yet been made available on iTunes. That first spin caused preorders on her August album release to explode, while at the same time serving to further enhance the station’s coolness quotient. Did Trent, Ian, Zane and the rest of the Beats 1 cabal know by a drilling-down on Apple’s analytics that Halsey had the magic when Zane said “That record is BIG. Like maybe #1 big, mate,” after playing it the first time, and have they already discovered the latest barometer for new-artist development? Although many are already saying Beats 1 won’t be a factor, that’s to be expected, because whenever anything new comes along, some will inevitably want it to fail out of a desperate need to preserve the status quo.
The aforementioned cool factor is precisely what’s been missing from Daniel Ek’s Spotify, which has marketed itself like a utility—to the degree that it markets itself at all—yet somehow attracting 15m paying customers worldwide. Will the Apple marketing juggernaut have a halo effect on the streaming business as a whole? Early indicators suggest it will, as Spotify app downloads actually surged into the iTunes App Store Top 10 immediately after Apple Music’s June 30 launch. That’s the great hope of rights holders everywhere. It’s early, but these rights holders may have managed not to be outmaneuvered by the techies for the first time since the MP3 file hit their radar.
ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS: Are Modest Management’s Richard Griffiths and Capitol Music Group ruler Steve Barnett at it again? They’re now partnering on the three-girl/one-guy group Hey Violet, who’ll be doing 80 dates as the opening act for 5 Seconds of Summer before releasing a record. Meanwhile, 5SOS and 1 Direction will both be delivering albums for fall release. This will be the last 1D album under the SYCO-Sony deal. Some U.K. pundits believe Zayn Malik’s solo breakthrough may be the next big thing to come out of the 1D camp, as Naughty Boy, Drake and Max Martin’s names begin to surface in conjunction with a project that could see a Q4 album of self-composed material. Word of said project has led to renewed chatter about the leaving-member clause believed to be in 1D’s contract with Simon Cowell’s SYCO. This scenario could make for an interesting SYCO/Sony moment, with 1D and Malik both having new music out at the same time. Concurrently, lips are flapping about 1D’s Harry Styles, who’s said to be looking for U.S. representation to help guide his solo career. Will Harry throw in his lot with a high-profile American manager? Most observers have long assumed that Styles would be the big breakout act from 1D.
It appears that everyone in the industry is wondering how big a boost the release of Adele’s next album later this year will give the business as a whole, and what part Apple Music will specifically play in the rollout. But some in the U.K. question whether Adele’s album will make it before the end of the year. For now, manager Jonathan Dickins and the rest of Adele’s team are keeping a close watch on how the new platform impacts the market; this release is so important that they want to make sure all the planets are perfectly aligned before they push the button. Additionally, a number of other big acts and their labels are believed to be scrutinizing the impact of Apple Music on the marketplace as they try to figure out how to play the new-release game.
In other noteworthy occurrences on the other side of the pond, Ted Cockle’s Virgin EMI is having another big year and is the U.K. year-to-date marketshare leader... There’s a growing buzz about who will be the next high-profile U.K. exec to try his hand at becoming a big baller in the U.S. market by coming to America... And will we continue to see a more flexible artist roster movement as the business grows more global in nature and U.K. acts continue to dominate the world music scene?
STATESIDE ACTION: Scott Borchetta came close to selling half of his Big Machine Label Group to Jay Z’s Roc Nation for $135m, but that deal—which most saw as an odd fit—did not close. According to Live Nation’s Michael Rapino, Roc Nation’s joint-venture partner, his company has no interest in owning a record label... In other Roc Nation news, rumors are circulating about a growing dissatisfaction on the parts of a number of artists and/or their managers with the management company and/or record label, as Roc Nation becomes an increasingly significant factor in the music business... Regarding Lil Wayne delivering his album exclusively to Tidal, does said album count as part of the contractual-delivery requirement of his contract with Slim and Baby’s Cash Money? Look for a battle to ensue over this seemingly unresolved issue... CAA’s Jeffrey Azoff has become a real force in the talent arena, and industry observers believe it’s only a matter of time before he joins the Big A at the latter’s management company.
CLOSING BLIND: What ranking label exec publicly threw a colleague under the bus and was subsequently forced to apologize in person to the offended party?...
NAMES IN THE RUMOR MILL: John Janick, Jeremy Vuernick, Sarah Stennett, Rob Light, Jason Iley and Jay Brown.
