winning back the fans

​read in browser​

Hey! This FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried scandal should be a healthy reminder to shoot your shot. Please. If you have a big goal that you keep putting off, try to make it happen. Every few months, there’s another bad actor who gets exposed for their crimes and unethical behavior. Don’t let them get all the funding that could go toward your legitimate business. Go get yours.

Today’s memo is a guest essay by Denisha Kuhlor about Usher and the future of music residencies. Before we get started, one quick thing:

Last week Thursday’s memo incorrectly said that Miguel is an LP in Andreessen Horowitz’ Cultural Leadership Fund. He is not. This has been corrected in the web version as well.

Let’s dive in to the Usher piece!

Was this forwarded to you?

SPONSORED

with DICE, fans can experience more of the shows they love

Buying concert tickets can be exhausting. It’s easy to miss your favorite artist when they’re in town, and fans have to watch for hidden fees and resellers who drive up ticket prices–all while hoping one of their friends can attend. You deserve better as a fan.

On DICE, you can find quality, live shows tailored to you. DICE will tell you what’s happening in your area and offer a personalized selection of shows.

Artists love to partner with DICE because they provide a complete and fair experience for fans through their Waiting List and technology that locks tickets to smartphones. Plus, DICE’s robust analytics help artists better understand their audience.

Venues and promoters love DICE because of their data-driven tools, customer service, and direct connections to fans across the world.

Want to learn more? Check out DICE.

the residencies of the future

by Denisha Kuhlor

Usher’s Las Vegas residency has continued to be top of mind these last few months. Whether he is serenading Issa Rae, being featured in the videos of content creators, or giving Chris Brown his flowers, fans far and wide have trekked to Vegas to see the Atlanta superstar.

Residencies in Vegas are nothing new. However, based on the demands for consumer attention, it has become significantly harder for an artist to embark on a residency. The dominant artists all have dedicated fanbases and strong catalogs that they’ve been building for years (e.g. Adele and Bruno Mars).

And although more artists have prioritized festivals, one-off performances, singles with short shelf lives, and inconsistent album rollouts, for those who eventually may want to do a residency it may be worth it to incorporate that desire into their strategy from the beginning.

the elasticity of music

Many fans on Twitter were shocked at a recent clip of Steve Lacy performing where fans stopped singing after he performed the viral TikTok part of his song “Bad Habit.” While spectators were shocked to see the real-world implications of consuming music in digestible snippets, it’s a serious reality that artists face today when building and growing a music catalog. While virality can be a robust tool for discovery, it also can have adverse ancillary effects: Consumers often end up only liking a small snippet of a song instead of the entire track or the artist who recorded it.

The continued loyalty between platforms and users (TikTok, Twitter, Instagram) make it difficult for artists to garner the attention share that they need with potential fans to expose them or encourage them to spend more time listening to their music. Unfortunately, many artists have found that great TikTok virality doesn’t always translate to album sales. For modern artists exposing their music to a new audience, it is imperative that they find creative ways for fans to discover their music beyond a snippet.

winning back the race for consumer experiences

After two years of staying home due to the pandemic, many fans are eager to see their favorite artists both emerging and established. Numerous festivals have surfaced that allow fans to see their favorite artist while also getting to travel and explore a new city. Popular rap festival Rolling Loud has even created Loud Club, for fans seeking a premium experience, which is largely associated with the brand of the festival or festival promoter versus the artist itself. As a result, many artists who are heavily focused on club appearances are also forfeiting critical knowledge about crafting a tour from inception to end and getting to think out of the box when it comes to the innovative fan experience.

Recently, a Beyonce fan tweeted that she hoped her friends were saving at least $1,000 for the Renaissance world tour. They described the concert as one part of a larger experience and this provides great insights for artists looking to customize the fan experience. If done correctly, all the great things associated with the experience (dinner, photography, drinks) will be associated as part of a favorable time seeing the artist.

For this reason, artists should prioritize a hybrid strategy so that they can begin to iterate on which types of experience make the most sense for their fans.

what do residencies of the future look like?

Reflecting on the past begs the question: How can residencies be most valuable in the future? As globalization helps make people feel more connected, the intrinsic pull of Vegas reduces. In the future, I believe that artist residencies will be more similar to DJ residencies where artists choose a few key cities (in different countries) and play multiple shows there each year (e.g. spending a different quarter in a different city).

The benefits of a residency for an artist cannot be understated — less travel costs and logistics, better quality assurance as a result of venue familiarity, and the ability to build out more intricate sets. Additionally, I can see an artist having a club or hospitality partner to help curate an end-to-end fan experience, especially for fans visiting from out of town. While an experience like this would be more intricate for an artist to plan, it would yield greater fan loyalty and potentially even greater revenue as they would be able to take a cut on the total experience.

Denisha Kuhlor is the founder of Stan, where artists learn how to find, grow, and engage a global fanbase.

Hope you enjoyed this memo. If so, please share. Forward this email to someone who should read it. Text it to a friend. Drop the link in the group chat.

Share on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook or copy and paste the link below.

​https://trapital.co/2022/11/14/building-a-fanbase-for-the-residencies-of-the-future/​

money moves

• Pink Floyd wanted $500M for its music. What went wrong?​
• Lorde explains how touring’s rising costs and pressure to keep costs low has cut into artist profit margins​
• The global value of music copyright is now nearly $40 billion​
• If you haven’t yet, check out The Culture Report, a new report from Trapital!

enjoy Trapital? share it with a friend

Tell them to sign up. I'll send them next Monday's memo. Hit the link below to share:

Or share Trapital quick via text, email, or Twitter.​

coming soon from Trapital

Podcast: The Billions Clubs - A breakdown on Spotify, YouTube, and the respective playlists with 1 billion streams and views. What does it say about each company? Drops on Thursday!

want your company featured in Trapital?

We are looking for a few more sponsors in Q4 who want to reach the artists, creators, and execs who read and listen to Trapital on a regular basis. Want your company to reach Trapital's audience? Reach out to us here.

​