The AvA Connection 10/1

🐝 The Weekly Buzz

1) A-List comedians are facing backlash for performing at a major Saudi Arabian comedy festival

• Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Pete Davidson, Andrew Schulz & more are getting major heat for performing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival.

• I also don’t support their decision, but I went down a major rabbit hole at 1am last night as my wife was pleading with me to turn my phone brightness down, and here are other areas the Saudi Arabia has their hands in through their Public Investment Fund (PIF) arm:

  • Uber EA Sports (Madden, FIFA, The Sims)

  • Take-Two Entertainment (GTA, NBA 2K)

  • Heathrow (yes the airport)

  • Newcastle United

  • Nintendo Monopoly GO!

  • Arm (they designed the chips in the phone you’re holding right now)

  • Aston Martin

  • LIV Golf

  • Live Nation (sold in 2024)

  • 50 to 60 firms in the “SoftBank Vision Fund” which includes

    • DoorDash

    • WeWork

    • Slack (ew)

    • ByteDance

    • NVIDIA

    • Fanatics

    • Compass

    • And they are in discussions to join the next OpenAI (ChatGPT) round

2) Taylor Swift doesn’t need the Super Bowl, and she proved it by turning them down.

Why? Because she wanted to:

• Be paid. Halftime acts don’t get paid because the NFL frames the massive global audience as the “payment.” Exposure!!!! Just like your first unpaid internship.

• Own the rights to her performance . She wanted control over the recording and distribution of the show.

• Use the Super Bowl commercials to promote her own work. Leveraging the broadcast’s most valuable ad slots for her projects.

3) OpenAI launches a TikTok competitor 

Only catch is, it's only for AI-generated video (obviously). This is on the heels of OpenAI backing an AI animated film airing in theaters… I wonder which chains will be willing to play it.

Regardless of AI, short form is taking over. We can now say companies from Telemundo to OpenAI, a sentence I never thought I would write, are all exploring the medium…

👑 October Assistants of The Month

See the full list here…as voted on by their peers

🐝 Industry Moves

1) Daniel Ek, co-founder of Spotify, is stepping down as CEO and will become chairman of the company. He will still be involved in long-term planning but is going through his own year-end recap a bit early.

🎧 Ek recently gave a 2-hour interview to David Senra, who launched a new show with the team behind Huberman, all because of a convo he had with Daniel Ek. Full circle moment.

2) UTA Taps Disney and Apple alum Judy Schwab as Chief People Officer.

💼 AvA Job Board

Our new job board features 108+ early career roles in Entertainment:

Some standouts:

💼 Talent Assistant - CAA - Apply Here

💼 Production Assistant CNN - WBD - Apply Here

💼 Coordinator, Sync - The Orchard - Apply Here

💼 Administrative Assistant, A&R - UMG - Apply Here

💼 Coordinator, Development - NBCU - Apply Here

💼 Project Coordinator - UTA - Apply Here

💼 Broadcast Producer - iHeart - Apply Here

💼 Creative Lead - Men In Blazers - Apply Here

💼 Integrated Marketing - TikTok - Apply Here

💼 Music Coordinator, The Hive - Disney - Apply Here

💼 Executive Assistant - NBC Sports  - Apply Here

💼 Producer, Branded Content - MrBeast - Apply Here

👋 See you back here on Friday

Want this newsletter in your inbox every week?

This newsletter is written by Warner Bailey and edited by Riley Furey and Dominik Sansevere.

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

Want to partner with us and reach 215k+ music and entertainment professionals? Email [email protected]