My focus is the intersection of entertainment, brand partnerships, and technology. I’ve been running an indie boutique called Nue Agency for nearly two decades. It started as a talent agency finding and developing artists with the belief that we had to think differently to help our artists break. I had tremendous success representing talent such as Pusha T, Wale, MIMS, Big Sean, Mike Posner, J. Cole, Logic, Action Bronson, White Panda (which spawned Gryffin), 2AM Club (which launched Marc E. Bassey), and many more.
When the internet was decimating the music business of the past—and CDs that cost pennies to make were no longer selling by the millions for $20 a pop—I could see the writing on the wall. I believed that tech was going to be the savior of the music industry. At that point, we began whole-heartedly encouraging our artists to embrace technology companies and be open to partnerships with these new platforms.
Almost a decade into representing artists, I changed my business model then, too, and began using a similar creative mindset to help break brands and launch campaigns that leveraged the power of music and its creators.
As an indie you have to be crafty and stay on your toes. That’s part of the reason I was so attracted to SPIN. SPIN is an iconic music magazine that encapsulates the spirit of indie culture. The impresarios and indies are the lifeblood of the music business, and independent artists are on the rise again, eating more and more of the majors’ market share. SPIN embodies what is cool about music.
When I met the CEO Jimmy Hutcheson a few years ago, I knew I wanted to work with him. He was a big thinker that loved music to the core. Like me, he was a talent booker in college and deeply understood digital media. He had a vision for how to bring SPIN back to its turn-of-the-century glory and beyond.
Since purchasing the company at the beginning of these roaring 2020s, he’s put together a rockstar team, even bringing back the original founder of SPIN, Bob Guccione Jr., to tap into the nostalgia of the print form of the magazine. I’m honored and excited to be collaborating with him and the team on my new column, Beats + Bytes. This is issue No. 1!
So, what can you expect from me? I’m moving at the speed of culture. I see through an artist’s lens, but I understand what it takes to service the biggest brands in the world. I love to make predictions, forecast trends, have off the record, real world conversation, chase art and connect dots. I’m a techno-optimist.
In many ways, we are in a golden era of music. Despite concerns about ‘devaluation’ of music, its new-found ubiquity has proven incredibly powerful. There are more artists creating (and owning their material), and more fans consuming and connecting with music than at any point in history. The red tape has finally been cut and new tools have helped grow the long tail as catalog material is given new life and amateurs join the fun.
The live business is healthy, with festival culture staying strong (Coachella already sold out next year) and plenty of room for boutique and niche events. Venture capital and tech investments are flowing, helping musicians build better fan experiences, while brand dollars and the creator economy provide a mechanism for financial support to reach artists big and small. Music is the #1 passion point and the top identity driver with teens, more than fashion and more than sports. All that, and the space remains ripe for innovation.
Is it perfect? Absolutely not. Is it getting harder to cut through the noise, or for a new song to stay top of mind? Absolutely yes. There was no “song of the summer” and some say this marks the end of the mainstream popularity era. I’m not sure about that, although my attention is being gobbled up by something different every week, since so much inspiring music is being released.
Looking up, there is a lot of blue sky for our industry. My personal mission is to find innovative ways to bring more brand dollars to artists, storytellers, and the music business as a whole. I couldn’t be more psyched to be here, working with SPIN to get this message out to a bigger audience of music fans.
Peace,
Jesse K.
