Music News

• 😵‍💫 What the hell is going on with Scooter Braun?

  • Rumors have swirled that Justin Beiber, Demi Lovato & Ariana Grande have all moved on from Scooter Braun as their manager. There are many conflicting reports, but try and keep up here.

• 🙅‍♀️ Taylor Swift has turned down the Super Bowl halftime show.

  • She apparently wants to wait until the SB is in Nashville…

• 1️⃣ Oliver Anthony Music’s viral song ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

  • The song has certainly sparked plenty of backlash though.

• 🔊 Karol G is having a MOMENT

  • Last week, she became the first female artist to sell out SF’s Levi’s Stadium after performing for 45,000 fans.

  • She then topped that by earning the highest-grossing concerts by a Latin female artist in history: $12.8M & $12.65M each night at the Rose Bowl.

  • And this week she broke the record for most Billboard Hot Latin Song entries by a woman in the history of the chart. Go off queen…

• 🚬 The Chainsmokers broke L.A. Historic Park’s attendance record, which saw 18,798 fans in downtown Los Angeles. Hate ‘em or love ‘em, they certainly still sell tix.

Entertainment News

• 🔥 Fyre Fest is (unfortunately) BACK: Fraudster Billy McFarland has announced Fyre Fest II, targeting the “end of 2024 in the Caribbean.” Tickets are on-sale now (no I won’t be adding the link for those) despite no date and no lineup. Oh did I forget to mention there is no exact location either!

  • According to their website, Tier 1 tickets selling for $499 are sold out, though they only put up 100 tickets for purchase.

  • The next tier of tickets are priced at $799, and increase incrementally to a staggering $7,999. Only 777 tickets will be sold according to their website. Can’t wait for Season 2 of the Netflix series!!

  • At least the now-infamous Andy King is confirmed 💦

•  ⚔️ Hollywood Remains On Strike

  • WGA leaders met with key CEOs from Disney, Warner Bros., Discovery, Netflix and NBCUniversal on Tuesday. That meeting was categorized as “a lecture designed to get us to cave” by the Guild.

  • The “single and only counteroffer” from the AMPTP wasn’t accepted by the WGA, which would have ended the nearly 4-month strike.

  • The Studios ended up releasing details of what it calls a “comprehensive package” which includes an “the highest wage increase for writers in 35 years”. Read more here.

  • The SAG-AFTRA (Actor’s) strike is on its 42nd day, and doesn’t look to be ending any time soon unless things drastically change.

• ✖️ Elon Musk to hide headlines from news articles and remove the “block feature” on his social media platform “X” (formally Twitter). Editor’s note: I’ll never call it X… sorry space boy.

• 🤖 Last Friday a U.S. court ruled that AI-generated works can’t be copyrighted.

  • This will certainly be a hot-topic for music and entertainment in the coming months. Read more here. 

Interview with Elissa Ayadi: Global Head of Social Media Marketing at Spotify

Elissa Ayadi is a proudly BIPOC LGBTQ+ music executive, currently serving as the Global Head of Social Media at Spotify. She oversees Spotify’s social handles including @Spotify, @SpotifyPodcasts, @RapCaviar, and more. Ayadi began her career managing recording studios and artists before transitioning to the start-up space. As an early employee of Machinima, the original gaming YouTube network, she helped them become the second channel in history to cross 1 Billion views. Ayadi was also a foundational employee of theAudience, the first multi-platform influencer agency working with creators like Madison Beer and Baby Ariel. Prior to Spotify, she oversaw the Fan Engagement and Digital Marketing Department at Warner Records for artists like Dua Lipa, Saweetie, Anitta, Omar Apollo, and My Chemical Romance.

Our conversation is below:

AvA: How did you get started in the Music Industry?

Ayadi: I went to Emerson College and majored in Audio Engineering, thinking I would become the next great mixer/producer. I wanted to be Sylvia Massy or Bob Rock. The recording studio I interned at hired me right after I graduated. I packed everything and moved from Boston to Los Angeles… only to find out the studio declared bankruptcy the day before I was supposed to start! I got a job as a telemarketer (gotta pay the rent somehow) while I desperately tried to find another recording studio that was hiring. It took over a year but I finally was hired as a runner. The job wasn’t glamorous - I fetched food for artists, restocked the lounges, cleaned the the bathrooms, and all that kinda stuff. But I did get to see how a real life studio worked, get used to being around artists, and start to build my professional network. There is no easy way into music, no matter where you start. It’s one of the things that bonds us all, I think. We have all been through it.

AvA: What are your primary responsibilities as the Head of Social Media Marketing at Spotify?

Ayadi: My job encompasses a lot, which is nice since it’s never boring. I drive social strategy across our social channels, how we work with other teams inside and outside Spotify, and what we are doing to engage and excite the people who follow us. I think the part I like most is overseeing my team. They are the ones who are creating the posts y’all see on our channels day-to-day. (So go leave them nice comments.) I see my role as making their jobs easier and more fun to do. If I can help them solve big problems and remove obstacles, they can do their absolute best work possible. Everyone wins - and we all have fewer headaches.

AvA: How do you continue to stay on top of trends as the landscape of digital and influencer marketing seems to change daily?

Ayadi: I don’t touch grass. Seriously, I am chronically online and I don’t even apologize for it anymore. I spend most of my free time watching content on my phone. I think you have to use social platforms heavily to really understand them. There is a level of cultural fluency that is uncrossable if you don’t spend time with the audiences and platforms.

I also acknowledge where I’m an expert and where I’m not. If we need to go hard on a platform I don’t know well, I’ll try to find any internal “superfans" to come brainstorm with the team. It’s impossible to know everything or to keep up on all the constant changes on my own. Actively seeking out the people who are passionate about a platform or artist or audience or whatever has always helped me come up with the best ideas possible. I’ve learned I don’t have to be the smartest person in a room to build something powerful. I have to open the room, invite the smartest people, and get them feeling safe and inspired enough to collaborate.

AvA: Where does the balance exist between analytics and creativity in your decision making?

Ayadi: I love a good metaphor so here’s one for you. Imagine we are in a band together and we’re trying to plan our set. Will we have pyro? Dancers? Is it just acoustic? We need to know what venue we’re going to play to make some of those decisions, right? The type of show we’d put on if we headlined Coachella is very different than what we’d be able to do at the Viper Room. The best shows take into account the venue as well as the artists’ talent.

It’s the same with analytics. Data and best practices give you the shape of the room you’re playing in - how big your audience is, what they like, what you technologically can and cannot do. It gives you guidelines of what is likely to work and what’s probably gonna bomb. You can test out ideas and get real feedback to let you know if you should double down or not. It means you’re always playing around, always testing, always learning. Analytics are freeing, not restrictive. I ground my decisions in analytics and I doublecheck my results against those analytics. But everything in between is creativity and collaboration.

AvA: What are some creative ways your team has engaged fans at Spotify?

Ayadi: A lot of the best ways to engage fans are, honestly, pretty simple. On social, it can feel like you’re screaming into the void a lot of the time. We try really hard to listen and talk to fans, not just post. We’re not just up in the comments of our own posts or only replying to our mentions. We’re constantly scrolling through the music and pop culture conversations at large, trying to have conversations as fans with other fans. I think that’s set us apart. We also try to showcase this listening by taking Twitter and Threads replies from our followers and showcasing it over on our Instagram. It’s really simple but it’s another way to show followers that we aren’t just out here trolling for comments. We care about what they are saying. Plus, most of them are funnier than me!

AvA: What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone just starting out in the business?

Ayadi: It’s not a straight path to your dream career. It’s rare to start as an intern and stay at that company for 30 years until you are CEO. Is your goal to work at a DSP, record label, or talent agency but you haven’t been able to get in the door? That’s okay! There are so many other companies that do work with Entertainment, like social media agencies or technology start ups. You can start somewhere adjacent to where you want to be and get some experience before trying to make a move. That’s true at any point in your career. I have left music and come back multiple times over the course of my career, having gained new skills that made me better at my job.

💡Music is all about perseverance and problem solving. If a traditional solution isn’t working, try something else.

👋 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.

Get in touch! Email us at [email protected].

Want to partner with us? Email [email protected].