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gaming’s big moment

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Hey! Huge, huge congrats to Metro Boomin. He sold a portion of his publishing catalog to Shamrock for nearly $70 million.

His beats have been the soundtrack for streaming era hip-hop. “If Young Metro don’t trust you, I’m gon’ shoot you,” is still one of the coldest producer tags. I heard multiple firms wanted to buy catalog too, so congrats to him on the bidding war.

​This week’s Trapital podcast episode is about gaming and innovation in music. Our guest, Vickie Nauman, has worked on several projects at this intersection at her consulting and advisory firm CrossBorderWorks.

If you are working on anything innovative in the industry, this episode is a must listen. Here are a few highlights. Let’s dive in.

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why “move fast and break things” struggles in music

Last year, David Guetta did a 20-song, 50-minute DJ set on Roblox. It seems straightforward but that was hardly the case.

​This week’s podcast guest, Vickie Nauman, CEO of the music tech consulting and advisory firm CrossBorderWorks, worked on clearing the music for that project. She needed to clear 143 different writer’s shares for Guetta to play those songs on Roblox! “Titanium” alone has seven distinct songwriters and producers combined.

Here’s a clip from our convo:

Ironically, modern genres like hip-hop, pop, and R&B are at a disadvantage. Their music is collaborative, which means more people need to sign off. If Beyonce wanted to play “Alien Superstar” in a digital environment, she would need all 24 songwriters to give their thumbs up, and that’s just for one song.

This is a challenge for companies building these platforms too. They want to attract artists who can plug and play, but it’s not that way.

With the rise of AI, the industry is pressed to make moves again. There’s fear of agreeing to bad terms that can’t be undone. As I broke down in Monday’s memo, I’m still bullish on AI and music’s potential, but it won’t be easy.

We covered a lot more about the future of music and gaming in this podcast episode. You can listen here or keep reading for a few more takeaways.

when will a video game spark a big viral hit?

Growing up, video games had a huge impact on the music I heard all the time. Crazy Taxi was the game that played The Offspring “All I Want” over and over. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City sent me down an 80s music rabbit hole. And whenever I hear Joe Budden’s “Pump It Up,” I still think of Madden 2004.

Now that gaming is bigger than ever, it feels like it’s only a matter of time until a video game can turn a decades-old hit into a viral cultural moment like Kate Bush “Running Up That Hill” on Netflix’s Stranger Things or Fleetwood Mac “Dreams” on TikTok.

Sync revenue has grown tremendously. The latest RIAA year-end report shows $382.5 million in 2022 for U.S. synchronization royalties, a 24.8% jump from 2021. That growth has tracked the content explosion from TV, film, and more on video streamers.

But as streaming services begin to pull back on content, and the video streamers consolidate, there may be less shows and less traditional sync opportunities. That may pave the way for video games to be seen as a more attractive option.

reality bytes: the latest in VR adoption

Not too long ago, virtual reality seemed like the future of entertainment. Yet lately, it feels like it may fade in relevancy just like 3D TVs and Google Glasses. There will always be a mainstream adoption barrier if people have to put a device on their heads to enjoy an experience.

But Vickie has worked with some of the more successful players out there. She consulted for Beat Games, the makers of the VR game Beat Saber. The game challenges players to swing light sabers at blocks in rhythm with licensed music, similar to Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Beat Games was acquired by Meta.

We discussed two reasons for slow VR adoption:

• Wearing headsets: They’re bulky, expensive, and uncomfortable. It’s a tough sell to expect users to spend hours at a time wearing them. The friction is too high
• Lack of human experiences: Most VR experiences have been entertainment-focused: concerts, games, sports. But there’s a huge opportunity in the workplace. For instance, employee training and work meetings could be done in VR, which could add a layer of emotion currently missing in the space.

Despite those struggles, it may be too soon to write off VR 100%. Augmented reality (AR) has had increased adoption and bigger moments so far, like Pokemon GO. Blended experiences between the two may be the way to approach this.

In the rest of our conversation, we talked about:

• why a lot of music - metaverse experiences haven’t worked
• how the music industry will handle AI
• the dot-com bubble of web3 music

Listen to the episode here.

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money moves

• SoundCloud’s new CEO, Eliah Seton​
• top 10 takeaways from Spotify’s 2022 data​
• Larry Jackson announced Gamma, new $1B+ backed music company​
• what music can actually learn from gaming​
• Is Tyler Perry potentially buying BET a good deal?​

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Podcast: Big opportunities in Nigeria with Mr Eazi. The Nigeran artist, entrepreneur, and investor came on the show to talk about the massive opportunity on the African continent, his career, challenges, and more. Drops on Thursday!