Music News

• 🤖 A.I.-Generated Drake & The Weeknd song submitted for Grammy Nomination

  • Although the controversial track was pulled from streaming services in April, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason, Jr. said “it’s absolutely eligible because it was written by a human.”

  • This decision and result will certainly set a precedent for years to come in the conversation revolving around A.I.

• 🪨 Rolling Stones announce new album

  • Hackney Diamonds, coming October 20, will be their first album of new music in 18 years, and will feature Lady Gaga

  • Check out their first single & music video, "Angry” here

• 💩 New York’s Electric Zoo 2024 was a complete disaster (to put it lightly)

  • Failing to secure proper permits in time from the Department of Parks & Recreation, the NYC EDM festival cancelled all of Friday’s programming.

  • They were forced to open the gates late on Saturday, and exceeded the festival’s 42,500-person capacity limit by 7,000 tickets on Sunday, turning away fans before they arrived.

  • Nightmare situation for the team behind Avant Gardner and The Brooklyn Mirage, as the New York City Mayor Eric Adams has promised to take action.

• 🤠 Stagecoach drops lineup

  • 2024 lineup will feature Morgan Wallen, Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, Post Malone (playing some Country covers I guess?), Willie Nelson, Jelly Roll & more.

Entertainment News

• 📉 Film, TV and Music Business Sheds 17,000 Jobs in August as Strike Impact Hits Hollywood Labor Force

  • Beyond the striking workers, the impact of the strikes has led to layoffs at other businesses in Hollywood, including production companies, talent agencies, and businesses that have traditionally relied on the Hollywood studio system for their income.

  • So far the strike has cost California’s economy a staggering $5 billion, with Warner Bros Discovery declaring annual earnings will be $300-$500 million below forecast.

• ❌ Warner Bros. Suspends Overall Deals of A-List Stars

  • Names include J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, Greg Berlanti, Mindy Kaling, Bill Lawrence and more.

  • The latest news of suspensions comes months after Warner Bros. TV, along with Amazon, HBO, Warner Bros. TV, NBCUniversal, Disney, CBS Studios and other major struck studios already hit pause on some first-look and overall deals amid the ongoing writers strike.

• 👑 Ava DuVernay makes history at Venice Film Festival

  • She is making history this week as the first African American woman with a movie in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

  • DuVernay was the first African American woman to win Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival, be nominated for a Best Director Golden Globe, direct a film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, and direct a film with a budget over $100 million. Iconic.

  • Read a full review of the Venice Movie Reviews here

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Interview with Jake Posner, CEO of The Culture Theory and GM of A R I Z O N A

I caught up with Jake Posner who went from discovering the band A R I Z O N A in 2015, to now leading a full-scale music management company for artists, producers and songwriters as well as an incubator for future execs. His clients have had major cuts with artists like Bella Poarch, Kygo, David Guetta, Sigala, Jamie T, Rosa Linn, Kah-Lo and collaborative partnerships with Apple, Netflix and more. Previously, while simultaneously running his company, he was also the SVP of A&R and NYC Ops for Hallwood Media alongside CEO Neil Jacobson.

Our conversation is below:

1) How did you get started in the Music Industry?

The tl;dr is I've loved music my whole life and never stopped trying to find a way in until June of 2015 when i discovered A R I Z O N A on Reddit and the rest is history…

The longer version is that I've loved music ever since i was a kid; I started on drums and played instruments all through middle & high school, eventually getting into music production senior year into freshman year of college at Indiana University…

My aspirations career-wise had always stemmed from the creative side of music, but after about a year in the Producer chair I realized (especially at that time) that I was too impatient (classic New Yorker) to teach myself all the nuances of Production & Engineering that I needed to learn to execute musically at the level I wanted, so I decided to learn as much as I could about every other side of the business so I could be a light for great music and artists in other ways.

In late 2009, I shifted into the world of editorial where I wrote for various popular college music blogs until about 2013, along with working with my school's concert committee and interning literally everywhere in music I could; and though I hoped to get a full time role in music after graduation, the reality of our industry is .0003% get proper music jobs right after school…and I was not one of the lucky ones. Instead, I went into advertising for a few years as I have always had a love for brand marketing, and rode the wave as long as it felt right… soon enough it was 2015 where I was back to looking for something (whether it was a brand or an artist) to sink my teeth and whole heart into, and the universe + reddit took it from there…

2) What has it been like to watch the growth of A R I Z O N A from discovering them on Reddit to headlining tours and playing the Main Stage at major festivals?

Surreal to say the least.

The stats and major stages are of course wild to witness over the years, but I genuinely mean it when I say the best part of it all is watching people form their own special connections to the band & their music, and to have seen it grow from 70 followers on a Soundcloud to what it's become now is a constant reminder that anything is possible!!

3) What project(s) are you currently working on with the Culture Theory?

So many things!! and so grateful for it all. Development has always been my mission, so we've grown our roster now to a very carefully curated crew of ~10 artists, songwriters & producers who are all rockstars in their own respective genres and disciplines.

There are many incredibly exciting projects we are deep on that I can't talk about just yet for confidentiality reasons, but one of my favorites to talk about at the moment is King (currently the biggest artist in India) who we are developing alongside Warner India.

He saw an incredible rise over the past year starting with a massive viral moment around his song "Maan Meri Jaan", at which point our crew was tapped via our incredible songwriter/artist Natania (who is originally from Mumbai herself) to create a global version of the song, which we brought Nick Jonas on for, and as of this past week just released the next single called "CROWN" (which features Natania) to begin his next album era around the body of work we've all created together over the past number of months….many exciting things to come there too that I can't speak of just yet, but I can certainly promise you will all be hearing about King more and more in the very near future :)

4) How do you see the music industry continuing to evolve in the next 5-10 years?

A lot of major evolutions and shifts are inevitable.

We are still very much living in a world where TikTok is the sun, though I have a lot of faith that in the next few years we are going to see an editorial shift back to balancing the scales between artistry and pure social/viral presence.

I also think AI is going to change everything in a major way - the amount of artists leveraging AI creative is going to see an exponential increase to the amount of music in market, which will also be a major driving factor in establishing laws and standards when it comes to copyright, compositions, ownership, etc. I personally have always been tech obsessed and think AI will open so many doors of productivity and creativity in ways we have not even yet imagined…

5) What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone wanting to break into the business side of the music industry?

Be passionate, be bold, and above all don't be afraid to put yourself out there! I always tell people getting into your dream role within music is like following the North Star…As long as you keep your sights set on your goals and dig deep into what you love you will get there - it all just takes time and there is no conventional way which means trust your gut and act accordingly!

👋 Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter and see you next week!

This newsletter is written by Warner Bailey (connect with me here). Edited by Malik Figaro.

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