artists are founders

Hey! Last week I wrote an essay, The Overlooked Levels of the Creator Economy. It's a break down on the four levels of creators, why each is its own economy, and where the best opportunities are for companies and investors. I published it on Future - Andreessen Horowitz. The response has been great, so check it out when you get a chance!

I am traveling this week! Today's Trapital Memo is quick read, but I'm covering a few topics I've been thinking about a lot lately:

• Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs
• Trapital job board (coming soon!)
• Kanye West and artist going public

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new Trapital Podcast: mailbag edition!

This week I answered a bunch of listener questions. I talked about the "middle class" of artists and how they monetize, trends with web3 + NFTs + tokens, the Astroworld Festival tragedy, how streaming payouts actually work, and more.

Tap into the Trapital Podcast here.

Bored Ape Yacht Club enters the music industry

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Last week, the music industry made two big swings with non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Both Universal Music Group and Timbaland's new company Ape-In Productions have each started new music groups comprised of cartoon ape characters from the Bored Ape Yacht Club digital art collective. UMG's group is called KINGSHIP, and Timbaland's group is TheZoo.

The metaverse in music. The Bored Ape Yacht Club has been one of the most successful NFT projects yet. The collection of 10,000 digital art tokens have generated around $1 billion and minted several new millionaires. Lil' Baby, Stephen Curry, and others have all changed their social media avatars to the apes. It's the new online flex.

These musician-based cartoon ape NFTs combine the status of digital art and the exclusivity of fandom. Timbaland plans to offer token owners access to merch, events, concerts in digital environments, and more.

Times are changing fast. Virtual ape bands aren't new. Groups like Gorillaz paved the way in the early 2000s. What's new today though, is the metaverse and NFTs.

Fans of TheZoo or KINGSHIP can likely buy NFTs for the whole group, specific band members, songs, albums, or other projects. They can display those NFTs on social profiles, the same way they would display vinyls, posters, or other signs of ownership. They can also gain a stake in the upside if the artist rises.

In the metaverse, these artists can host their own events, similar to the concerts hosted in Fortnite and other digital environments.

But metaverse or not, the music still needs to be good! Gorillaz had big hits like "Clint Eastwood" and "Feel Good Inc." You already know Timbaland's new group will have its production on point, but will the lead voices behind the ape avatars be actual people, like Gorillaz? Or will the group's singing and rapping voice be computer-generated, like brud's Lil' Miquela, the virtual influencer, or TravisBott, the A.I. creation meant to replicate the "Sicko Mode" artist.

TravisBott was still a work in progress, but A.I.-based music will become even more realistic. Soon, it will be harder to tell if the voice behind a Bored Ape is real or A.I. If you thought the Tom Cruise deepfake was too close for comfort, it's gonna get wilder.

Listen, shit's changing fast. It may still take time for these movements to reach the masses. But if Steve Harvey is out here tweeting "gm"—the unofficial greeting among web3 enthusiasts — then it may be here before we know it.

Read more about Bored Ape Yacht Club in its Rolling Stone interview with Samantha Hissong.

Is your company hiring? Post it on Trapital

Hey! I'm using this week's sponsored message to share my own message.

Trapital is launching a job board soon! I want to help companies find the best talent for their open roles, and this is a great way to make that happen.

I want to launch with a few companies (and I will offer a discount for the companies that join in the initial batch.)

If you are hiring (or plan to hire soon) please fill out this very short form by Friday 11/19 and I'll get back to you soon with more details.

Ye wants to go public

ye @kanyewest Artist are founders September 17th 2020 10,416 Retweets 99,612 Likes

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Kanye West's recent interviews on the Drink Champs podcast were full of headline-worthy moments. Just Blaze, John Legend, Big Sean, Common, and many others caught strays from the 44-year old who held nothing back.

But one thing that made less headlines (but was far more interesting) was Ye's desire to become a publicly-traded entity:

The infamous org chart. Since Donda's album rollout began earlier this year, I've revisited Kanye's Donda org chart. The ambitious and scattered diagram is Ye's takeover plan. Kanye has often said that "artists are founders." He wants to make that a reality more than ever.

Artists are some of the most influential people in the world but they have the least mechanisms to capitalize on that influence. Ye's influence is high relative to other superstar artists too. His listening sessions made more money than most tours do. His biggest event broke Apple Music livestream records. And in recent years, Gap and Adidas stocks have risen thanks to the Yeezy partnership. Kanye wants to capture more of the value he generates, and it's hard to blame him.

He may be a billionaire, but he's made his business partners—Universal Music Group, Adidas, Gap— a lot more.

$YE or (YE: Nasdaq)? In the Drink Champs interview, Ye talked a lot about SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies). These holding companies make it easier for companies to have a direct listing on a stock exchange and go public.

The easier, and most logical route, is for $YE to drop a token. It would get fans exclusive access to any unique experience, merch, Gap hoodies, stem players, tuition discounts at Donda Academy, and more. A $YE coin is a safe bet that would go crazy.

But this is Kanye. He's doesn't do safe bets. He believes that his peers are Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. These people have publicly-traded companies on Nasdaq, take big bets despite public criticism, and explore space in their spare time. That's where he sees himself.

It's a more complicated path, but not impossible. And since artist monetization has become more popular than ever, more tools may emerge for Ye and others to bring their bold visions to life. This is just the beginning.

Listen to Ye's interview on Drink Champs here.

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Job board! If you're hiring or plan to hire soon. Fill out this quick form and I'll get back to you soon!