I. Music & Tech

Yeezy Seasons Sound

As the evolution of digital music continues, it seems like the Louis Vuitton Don might be getting in on the fun. While the plans are not clear, a trademark for Yeezy Sound was filed on November 2, 2017 with proposed purposes of, “streaming of music, audio, images, video and other multimedia content over the internet.” From the opportunities he has offered with GOOD Music, it is safe to Kanye has always been a proponent for empowering young artists. Read more here.

Gucci Gang Snacks on Billboard

Like it or not, Lil Pump’s Gucci Gang has been making waves in the top 100 world. As of November 8, Pump’s youth anthem, Gucci Gang, was the shortest track since 1975 to hold down a top 10 spot on the Billboard top 100. At two minutes four seconds, this a pretty unique feat, but it is not one of a kind. From the the period of 1958 to 1967 there were a total of 57 tracks that were less than two minutes that made the Top 100. Read more about the history and future of snackable tracks here.

Musical.ly : The Sound of $1B

In the world of user generated music video apps not many have seen the success of chinese music start-up Musical.ly. The only chinese social media start-up to garner this type of following outside of China reportedly sold for a figure between $800 million to $1 billion. The app that gives users the ability to create short music videos with coordinated dance moves or lip syncing was acquired by Chinese news aggregator Toutaio. One of the rare social media start-ups to tackle the highly sought after demographic of teens and tweens is going to continue to operate independently, combining its user base of 60 million with the 120 million user of Toutaio. Read more about the details here.

iHeart Media Dipping & Dodging

After a stock dip of more than 50% down to $0.55, iHeart Media warned investors that they may not be able to sustain for another year. In its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the media conglomerate that is largest operator of radio stations in the U.S. cited “growing concerns” about their debt. They are currently in conversations with lenders to restructure their massive $20 billion dollar debt from the leveraged $24 billion buyout of Clear Channel Communications. Read more about iHeart Media and the state of radio here.   

Courtesy of LineForLine. Artists get started here.