// POOLSIDE CONVO //
Don't Bungle The Bundle, Dude
This newsletter goes out to everyone still riding that Spotify for Students subscription into their late 20s, to my people scraping their HBO GO from the parents of their high school sweetheart, to the hustlers cycling emails for monthly trials to whatever freemium service they need, to the smalltime scammers doing surveys for Amazon Cards and selecting no-rush shipping for $1 towards digital items.
This one’s for you. We see you. We love you.
// Elixr News:
Zack Fox Drops “Jesus Is The One (I Got Depression)” //
The Atlantan’s surprise drop scored 300k spins on Spotify in its opening weekend with nary a playlist.
It somehow snagged actual coverage on HipHopDX and Fader. Anthony Fantano thinks it’s perfect. Pitchfork’s Alphonse Pierre hates it “so fucking much.”
Give it a spin yourself, make your own conclusion. Even if you loathe the track, know that 25% of all the proceeds will go to the Trevor Project, a non-profit providing crisis counseling and therapy resources for LGBTQ youth.
// Elixr News: Caleborate on the Shaft soundtrack, announces new music dropping June 28th //
Caleborate’s ‘Caught Up’ popped up on the new Samuel L. Jackson film’s OST (between Quincy Jones and James Brown — not bad) and appeared in the film itself. Dope!
Earlier this week, he also teased some new music dropping next Friday, June 28th. Tap in for a sneak peek.
// DJ Khaled’s Pyramid Scheme and Spotify in the Philippines //
Whether “confusing and demeaning” or “savvy gamesmanship”, you can’t bungle the bundle.
DJ Khaled made waves a few weeks back when he reportedly flipped out in the Epic offices after his new album, Father of Asahd, missed the top spot in the Billboard 200.
So much to unpack in that sentence, but the key issue that I wanted to drill down on (which, yes, the NYT scooped me on last weekend) was the aside mentioned in these stories of Khaled’s wrath: Epic ‘didn’t understand how bundling deals are supposed to work’, as Khaled’s record was included with the purchase of energy drinks (as part of a pyramid scheme/affiliate marketing company - lol), while Tyler, The Creator’s IGOR (which did go number 1) was bundled with merch.
Those were the two albums gunning for the top spot on the charts.. but take a look at that week’s streaming charts, and it was really only Tyler’s game — he had 9 songs on the weekly charts before Khaled even made an appearance (down at #34 for the week).
How was it even close?
Dive into that NYT piece for sure, but the race to the top of the charts is really a race to the bottom: how many album downloads (which still count for 1400x a stream !!!) can you give away for, like, free to pump up your numbers? Travis Scott’s album stayed at the top of the charts for a while last fall, largely because he was racking up 1400 stream equivalents with every keychain and sticker he sold — Oprah Voice: ‘you get a download! And you get a download!’ The Times put it in their subheading: “About half the 39 titles that topped the charts last year were sold as part of ticket or merchandise ‘bundles.’” That’s a lotta bundles, dude.
The marketing director at Roc Nation called that devaluing of art “confusing and demeaning.” That’s fair and true, although it’s certainly an artist’s (/artist’s team’s) choice to gun for a #1 album, right? The only reason to do this is to be called “chart-topping”, slap the #1 ALBUM IN THE COUNTRY sticker on those physicals, get the added clout of such a title — that’s it! The money is based on actual selling of products. This title is a trophy — a trophy that only indicates how well you played a very specific game that means less and less.
Those games get played a lot, and often it’s just for the #numbers. Google basically bundled Google+ with its other (actually useful) products, inflating usage numbers and causing some at pre-IPO Facebook to quake in their boots. Samsung famously tried with Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail, buying a million copies of the record then flipping them to their users. And remember U2 on every iPhone? Sheesh.
This dovetails into the world of exclusives deals (which the ever-illuminating Cherie Hu deconstructed about a month back in her excellent newsletter, so I won’t rehash it myself) and definitely begs the question — is there any place where these broad types of packaged deals can be, like, good, not gross?
Tech companies in emerging markets may toe that line on much larger scale, tying their products to even larger infrastructural entities in countries where the the market allows for it. Not to bring things back to Tik Tok (everything is Tik Tok), but their parent company, ByteDance, is considering building their own smartphone — preloaded, of course, with their suite of apps. Take a glance back at our newsletter feature story from October 2017, and you’ll see Netflix was providing servers, infrastructural support, and even connecting the Brazilian market to low-cost Asian smart TV manufacturers to create a primed population for their service; today, it’s the company’s #2 foreign market after the UK. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting some mobile phone company bundling their service with Spotify — the Philippines, Thailand.. turn on your Playstation in South Africa, and boom — Rap Caviar it is.
Good? Gross? Some combination, perhaps. In the end, Khaled-gate might affect how Billboard counts and calculates its charts, but it’s not gonna stop the industry’s love of rankings, data, superlative, ubiquity, and revenue. Bundling, in one form or the other, is here to stay.
// GUEST PLAYLIST CURATORS //
Chris Seaman and Tommy Marx from Racket Man
Chris Seaman and Tommy Marx are founding members of the emerging Cleveland-based indie pop outfit Racket Man. Tongue-in-cheek, summery blends of bedroom pop and 90’s R&B fuse with 80s soft rock in their most recent 5 track project, Recreational Magic — it’s a smash. The team cites Stereolab, Big Star, Paul McCartney and Thundercat as influences, and All Access compared the group’s sound to Prefab Sprout, Toro y Moi and Sade — “Nu Yacht Rock,” if you will.
Their live show is, like, an actual show — compelling, hilarious, frenetic, complete with weird character work and some real jams. They’re touring Eastern Canada and the East Coast next month. Go see them if they hit your city.
“This playlist includes some of our favorite artists from around the world, spanning multiple decades and continents,” Tommy wrote. “In the current landscape where digital streaming algorithms are locking listeners into narrow genres, it feels particularly important to seek out material apart from our traditional listening patterns.
“As far as the songs we chose, there is something about the way French lounge meshes bossa and experimental elements that continually draws us in. The same could be said for some of the British Sophisti-pop of the 80's (Prefab Sprout), but more so in regard to arrangements.
“It feels like those songs were made knowing the listener has a dopamine stockpile that must be released in different amounts and degrees over an entire track. Anyway, we just wanted this collection of tracks to pay homage to the musicians, domestic and abroad, who inspire us.”
Stream the playlist here or below.
Find Racket Man on Instagram, and across streaming platforms here.
4 Tracks To Listen To
Follow the taste triangulation. Or trust us.
"Bang Bang" - Tone Sinatra
IF YOU LIKE: travis scott x octavian x tarantino
"Str8 Outta Mumbai" - Jai Paul
IF YOU LIKE: major lazer x drugs x indian drums
"Vaded" - G.L.A.M.
IF YOU LIKE: leikeli 47 x the cool kids x spooky
"God’s Warrior" - Tee Grizzley
IF YOU LIKE: future x allblack x violence
Full playlist of every track featured on here or here 👇
(lots! of) recent euro tour announcements
saweetie // june-august
jorja smith // summer festivals
killy // july
buddy // july
megan thee stallion // july
tank and the bangas // july & aug
duckwrth // july & sept
pouya // august
doja cat // july
jmsn // aug & sept
snoh aalegra // september
kota the friend // september
freddie gibbs & madlib // oct & nov
k flay // oct & nov
rayana jay // oct & nov
col3trane // november
injury reserve // nov & dec
goldlink // nov & dec