Fred Again is crushing it.

He's a master-class in building fandom & is redefining the model for music's future.

Here's 7 things he does to create an insanely loyal fanbase: 👇

(and what you can learn) 1. Build Direct Fan Relationships

Fred has focused on direct engagement from day 1

Prioritizing lean-in locations like Discord & Whatsapp to build genuine community, know his fans & activate them in real-time.

It's not just about big numbers.
It's about deep interactions.

The music streaming system is wildly broken & feels unfair, but it's important to actually understand what you're talking about when pushing for change or improvement.

Here's what actually affects stream payout rates 🧵 First, it's important to understand there's no "set" streaming royalty. It's determined by total revenue, streamer's cut, total streams, and how that divides up amongst songs.

This is the pro-rata model currently in use.

TikTok just launched Artist Accounts.

Now available to any musician, plus new tools.

Here's the new features & how to use them to engage your audience: 1. MUSIC TAB

You can now have your music catalog as a tab on your profile that auto-adds new music as its released.

Pin your 3 focus tracks to the top.

2 of the most important music industry reports just dropped.

1. The mid-year report from Luminate
2. Goldman Sachs forecasts (Music in the Air)

I analyzed both.

Come have a look at where we're going 👇 I'll focus on 3 big opportunities I see:

1. Fandom
2. Direct to fan
3. The album's comeback

Ok, let's take a look..

Music multiplies faster than ever before with AI.

We must protect & reward artists.

Here's how: Songs are memes.

We want them to replicate & iterate.

→ Get played around the world
→ Covered a million times
→ Used in TV & film

The best survive, becoming part of our culture.

The Grammys just set new rules for AI.

Only "human creators" can win.

Here's the breakdown: Songs 𝑐𝑎𝑛 win a Grammy if they have:

• AI vocals
• AI songwriting
• AI instrumentation

But must have:

• Proof of meaningful human authorship
• In the nominated category

💁 If AI sings a song, it can't win best vocal even if a human wrote it.

Artists should think like startups.

11 principles to build a sustainable artist career:

(inspired by start-ups) 1. Do thing that don't scale

Your strategy for 0-1 is different than 1-100.

Don't try to go viral.
Do try to build a foundation.

When your moments come, fans will stay for keeps.

Streaming's model is broken.

Pro-rata is done. It's over.

Too many songs. Too much fraud. Too little connection between where fans think their money goes & reality.

100 million tracks
120k added per day
$9.99 all-you-can-eat
30 seconds to earn a royalty

But the big stat? 10% of streams are frauds.

That's $1.75B per year going to stream farms rather than artists.

Unacceptable.

We all know AI only makes this harder.

AI to create songs
AI to stream them
AI to detect the fraud

Or...

Artists must build community, not just audience.

But 90% of it is vaporware.

Here's 6 rules to build lasting community:
(+ what not to do) 🧵 Historically, community follows fandom.

It organically forms around an artist. They nod to the community, but it's not artist-involved or artist-led.

Think Taylor Swift or Phish.

The flood of AI deep fake songs is upon us.

But Ghostwriter's "Heart On My Sleeve" shook the industry.

Here's why Fake Drake meant war & how it was designed to get a big reaction ↓ WHAT: "Heart On My Sleeve"

A deepfake featuring AI Drake & The Weeknd trading lines about Selena Gomez.

Ghostwriter created the track then overdubbed their vocals with an AI model trained on the singers.

Unlicensed.

Spotify has finally done it.

They've democratized payola.

Here is an explainer on Discovery Mode & streaming's race to the bottom.
↓ Spotify's Discovery Mode is a trade.

GIVE→ reduced royalties on your track
GET→ increased algorithmic exposure

Hmm, what does that sound like? 🤔

Music's streaming model is broken.

But, the big boys are finally making noise & testing ideas.

These are the ideas for fixing streaming's broken model: The majors finally push for change.

UMG CEO Lucian Grainge said the way music streaming services pay has to change & UMG is experimenting with Deezer & Tidal.

Warner CEO Robert Kyncl just proposed a $13.25/mo rate & they are testing fan-powered royalties with Soundcloud.

ai directed music videos have entered the chat

1. Describe your vision
2. Select a style
3. Out comes a video

It takes 3 minutes. 🤯

Pay attention.. Who is providing ai-directed music videos?

@KaiberAI are 1 of the first offering this en masse.

LAST OCTOBER, they teamed up with Kid Cudi on a lyric video.

NOW their ai powered the production of LinkinPark's "Lost" video.

How?

How we consume music👇

(2022 edition) People's primary mode for listening to music:

1. Audio Streaming: 32%
2. Video Streaming: 19%
3. Radio: 17%
4. Purchased Music: 10%
5. Short Form Video (TikTok): 8% 🚀
6. Social: 5% 🤷
7. Live Stream: 4%
8. Other: 6%

Wild that social could be your main source.

Spotify asked how they can improve Artist & Album pages.

They got more than they bargained for.

Here are 23 of the best ideas👇 BETTER CREDITS

1. Full album credits - hyperlinked to producer & contributor pages 🎯

2. Search by Label - with label pages

3. Liner notes

4. List all collaborators on a song, including car mode

5. Allow more than 3 Primaries on a collab. Collabs go HUGE these days.

Web3 is coming for music.

Not everyone is convinced.

9 reasons why you should welcome music's web3 future ↓ 1. ARTIST <> FAN CONNECTIVITY

Most fans are still somehow anonymous to artists.

Streamers & ticketing agencies don't share that info. Social media controls it.

Web3 connects artists to fans directly, and makes that relationship portable & integrated across experiences.

Music NFTs are the newest master recording format.

What are the publishing rights to it?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Let's get into it. There are 2 types of ownership with songs:

1. Master (the recording)
2. Composition (writers/publishing)

Sometimes the owners are the same. Often they are not.

Each master format has corresponding publishing royalties & permissions attached.

Music is headed for a web3 future.

The people who understand it early have a huge advantage.

Here are 61 leaders you can learn from to get ahead of the game. BIG PICTURE THINKERS

@cheriehu42 illuminates the future
@_Kaspar__ breaks down music in web3
@levychain podcasts about the creator economy
@itsDaveEdwards understands how the systems work
@austin_hurwitz has one big idea
@mattmedved tells the story
@matdryhurst simplifies AI

Music NFTs present a blank canvas.

Early artists are showing what is possible with this nascent technology.

Here are some of the most innovative music NFTs so far that show what's possible. ⬇️ HEADLESS CHAOS

77 artists combine as a headless band, co-creating 45 songs & 1000s of visual layers.

Released as Chaos packs, each with 4 surprise tracks & unique cover artwork. 20k unique editions.

Using liquid splits by @0xSplits, creators can trade their share on-chain.

This chart is used to say streaming saved the music industry & we have hit all time highs.

It shows a thriving industry with few reasons to push for change.

But this is the wrong chart to look at. This chart shows reality - with inflation-adjusted numbers.

2021 revenues are less than 1990 (inflation-adjusted)

Growth is not fast enough.

While TV and video games have compounded without end, music struggles to regain 1999's high.

50+ royalty music NFTs have been released via @join_royal @decentxyz @opulousapp & others, with over $10M raised by artists.

Are these good deals for collectors?

We booted up the @dopr_ai models to run stream & royalty forecasts on 10 Royal drops to see how the numbers play out Before we start...is Dopr any good at predicting?

Dopr released forecasts on 3 Royal drops in a pilot run to 100 collectors in Jan/Feb. Here are the results after 6 months:

🎯 Nailed Ultra Black, my lord
💪 Average MAE of 0.27 is strong
📍 All fell within our likely range