🔵 Warner Music's superfan app plans are likely flawed, but still to be applauded

Why investment into technical innovation is a precedent all labels need to pay heed to.

Feb 28, 2024

Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl announced at the Web Summit conference in Doha yesterday that he has “assembled a team of incredible technology talent from Google and Stripe and Instacart and lots of other great technology companies who are working on a superfan app, where artists can connect directly with their superfans.”

Historically, labels have a poor track record when it comes to investing in innovation. In fact, even “poor” might be generous; I don’t think it would be unreasonable to suggest that, on the whole, the music industry has been somewhat guilty of waiting for others to provide technical solutions to its problems - with iTunes being perhaps the most famous case in point.

For this reason, I feel Warners deserves a good deal of credit here. For one thing, hiring Kyncl, formerly Chief Business Officer at YouTube, was smart. He is a man from a tech and entertainment background (also previously serving at Netflix and HBO among others), and one could argue this has injected some fresh perspective into the major label he now leads.

The superfan app itself sets something of a precedent, namely that of a label actually investing to build a public-facing solution. I have various reservations about the app itself, which I will discuss shortly. However, just for taking the lead and grasping the bull by the horns, I believe Warner and Kyncl deserve credit and due praise.

At this point details about this app don’t extend much beyond the quote above, but I would hope that if Warners had any sense, they would build this app as something that is not contingent on being signed to Warners in order to use it.

In reality, I think that would fly in the face of what is the far more likely outcome, namely that this is built to try and encourage artists to sign with Warners.

That is where the flaw in this logic creeps in. Put simply, a label should not be controlling that superfan relationship; the artist should. If the label owns the very platform you are building fans on, then it becomes another tool to restrict artist options and possibly even tie them to the label against their wishes.

In many respects, the majors’ aspirations in the superfan space feel like a second run at the previous 360 deal model, where the labels took a chunk of everything the artist was generating money from (live, merch, etc.), rather than just the recorded music. These were generally concluded to be a bad deal for artists, and have almost entirely faded from view as a consequence.

In that context then, one might argue that any superfan app owned and controlled by a major should be approached with extreme caution.

Once again, this brings me around to innovation and investment in the music space. I do applaud Warners’ move to invest into building an app. It shows that labels can do this, and likely do it very well. However in reality, a better solution would be something that has more stakeholders and perhaps more means to generate revenue for more businesses in the music industry than just Warners itself. An independent platform, but with the crucial difference of it being actually owned and guided by music companies, rather than a16z or other Silicon Valley VCs whose sole interest is a 10-50x return on their investments with little regard for well-being or ethics in general.

I am firmly of a view that there are a multitude of areas in which, with decent backing from wealthier companies and business people, indie stakeholders could create profitable, meaningful ventures that both deliver returns and contribute to a thriving ecosystem. I also think we are long past calling time on these absurd Silicon Valley mindsets where something has to be a $10BN unicorn or it isn’t worth investing in.

There is a middle ground here; not everything is “billions or bust”. Profitable businesses can exist that don’t screw over everyone and everything in its path in order to get there. This is why I often refer to the likes of the Timpson family or Julian Richer here in the UK as examples of businesspeople who have created large companies with healthy margins, but with a clear focus on ethics along the way. Those are the figures whose attitudes I look to when running Motive Unknown.

I appreciate I might sound like an idealist at this point, but I feel there’s an increasing view that only huge businesses are good businesses. That isn’t the case. And so, as Warner Music seeks to build a superfan app that will likely create more indentured artists on its roster, I would ask, where are the alternatives? Furthermore, why aren’t the more independent corners of the music industry coming together to speak to that need?

Have a great evening,

📺 watching “We went shopping on acid” on YouTube. As the title suggests, two amiable fellows drop LSD and go shopping in LA. As one commenter points out, “If you submitted this with no other context, you would win film festivals”. I heartily agree.

🎶 listening to Monster Magnet’s “Negasonic Teenage Warhead”. God I love this band. The music is perfection, but the lyrics are the kind you just don’t seem to get anymore. “Shut me off cause I go crazy with this planet in my hands”? C’mon - that’s tough to top, heheh.

🤖 playing with the Playlist Alert app. The concept is simple enough: you just get notified when your music has been added to a playlist. However the latest update now supports Apple Music too. Free to use, and super handy.

Stories from the Music Industry:

Warner Music Group is building a superfan app

“I’ve assembled a team of incredible technology talent from Google and Stripe and Instacart and lots of other great technology companies who are working on a superfan app, where artists can connect directly with their superfans.” Kyncl added that superfans “are generally the people that consume the most and spend the most” and that WMG is “focused on making sure that artists get data on these superfans”.

👆🏻Hot take: see my comments above.

Ntwrk buys Complex with UMG as investor and strategic partner

The deal sees online-shopping firm Ntwrk buying youth-culture brand Complex for $108.6m from its previous owner BuzzFeed. This, barely three years after BuzzFeed bought Complex for $294m. Where does UMG fit in to this? It is one of the investors in the new company created by Ntwrk’s acquisition alongside Main Street Advisors, Goldman Sachs and former UMG and Apple executive Jimmy Iovine. However, UMG is also described as a ‘strategic partner’ in the venture, starting with plans for collaboration with its Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) and Capitol Music Group labels.

👆🏻Hot take: per last week’s Network Notes, how many more entities does Universal have to buy into before someone cries foul?

Believe praises TikTok, says platform offers ‘valuable monetization for our artists and labels’

Said Ladegaillerie in an emailed statement (remember, in direct reaction to the question of UMG vs. TikTok): “Believe’s mission is to support artists’ development at all stages of their careers. TikTok is an important partner in our goals. Their commitment to work with Believe has accelerated the discovery and development of countless artists, and together we have built long-term services and valuable monetization for our artists and labels. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with TikTok to lead many more creators to success.”

👆🏻Hot take: I feel more is being made of this than is really there. I read it simply as Believe saying that they feel TikTok is a valuable platform for its artists. If you choose to read that as something relative to the Universal spat, so be it.

IMPALA calls on Apple to rethink spatial audio bonus, seek ‘collaborative’ solution

One key concern is the limited accessibility of the bonus for independent artists and labels. “The boost in royalties… is less accessible to independents. This can be due to the upfront costs involved when recording new tracks and having to remix already released repertoire,” the organization explained in a statement on Tuesday (February 27).

👆🏻Hot take: I’m with IMPALA on this one.

Universal Music Group buys majority stake in Afrobeats label Mavin

Mavin is home to a number of top Afrobeats artists including Ayra Starr, Ladipoe, Johnny Drille, Crayon, Magixx, Bayanni, Boyspyce, DJ Big N, Lifesize Teddy and Rema, whose hit single Calm Down [featuring Selena Gomez] rose to No.3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in a breakthrough for the genre. The track has gone on to be one of the biggest Afrobeats songs of all time, becoming the first African artist-led track to surpass 1 Billion Spotify streams.

👆🏻Hot take: another blinding move from Universal here. Mavin is a phenomonal label is a massively-growing market. Whichever way you look at it, this is a terrific move…. but once again, the same point applies.

Stories from the Broader World of Tech:

Apple says Spotify wants ‘limitless’ access to its tools without paying

“We’re happy to support the success of all developers – including Spotify, which is the largest music streaming app in the world,” Apple said. “Spotify pays Apple nothing for the services that have helped them build, update and share their app with Apple users in 160 countries spanning the globe. “Fundamentally, their complaint is about trying to get limitless access to all of Apple’s tools without paying anything for the value Apple provides.”

👆🏻Hot take: a smart parry from Apple here, but will anyone buy into the argument? I am sceptical.

X rolling out audio and video calls to non-Premium subscribers

Soon, everyone will be able to make and receive calls with the X app, not just those who pay. The feature is built into direct messaging and works in a similar way to other apps that support calls, such as WhatsApp and Instagram. Due to integration with the iOS CallKit API, you’ll see incoming calls on the Lock Screen, just like a regular call.

👆🏻Hot take: a potentially smart move of sorts… but X is now a cesspool of racism and bigotry. Who the hell needs calls factored into that?!

Regurgitated American Pie adds sour taste to GenAI copyright beef

Just load OpenAI’s ChatGPT and prompt the text generator to “write the lyrics to a song about the day the music died.” Invariably, the tool’s output will spit out lyrics or themes from “American Pie” — and sometimes the same chorus. This regurgitation emerges despite the prompt making no order for “American Pie” or the story that inspired it — the 1959 plane crash that killed rock and roll pioneers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper. It’s further evidence that ChatGPT can’t create anything truly original. Instead, the system is closer to a remix algorithm.

👆🏻Hot take: I suspect we have one hell of a copyright lawsuit bearing down on AI, and in general it just feels like this problem is only going to get bigger. I wouldn’t want to be an AI company in that respect.

Need something else to read? Here you go:

‘When you use a Walkman all the memories come back’: the people still in love with old tech

Cassette players and tapes, vintage Game Boys and boomboxes seem like relics of a bygone era. So why are they being snapped up, sometimes for eye-watering prices?

👆🏻Hot take: I’m finding it interesting just how many stories I am seeing now about fetishising old tech and returning to perceived better days. It *feels* like a slow burning rejection of Silicon Valley’s march of technological advancement.

The ‘20-5-3’ Rule Prescribes How Much Time You Should Spend Outside

Use this three-number formula to make yourself healthier and happier.

👆🏻Hot take: this merely confirms to me that I need to get out more, LOL

Exit Notes:

This is the only edition of Network Notes this week. Same issue as last week: not enough time to really put something together of the quality I feel you all expect, and so I’m electing to just deliver one good edition rather than two average ones. Hoping normal service will resume soon though.
Why not follow Motive Unknown on Instagram? It’s the best way to see what we’re working on - such as the IDLES album that is #1 this week 😁 💪🏻