The media week ahead: the last ever Game of Thrones premiere is Wednesday night at Radio City Music Hall and it's David Haskell's first week as editor-in-chief of New York magazine. If this was not sent directly to you, you can sign up right here!
Meme-era music gatekeepers
World Star Hip Hop can accurately predict viral superstardom. And in this era of musician-as-meme, that's not to be overlooked. Buried deep in this episode of "Popcast" with Joe Coscarelli and Jon Caramanica of the Times is an anecdote about Blueface - the rapper and savviest self-marketer the music business has seen in the past year. Riding a little buzz in 2018 (mostly due to his atypical and easy-to-mock flow), the venerable video blog World Star Hip Hop supposedly told Blueface that "Thotiana" was the song to bet on. Out of all the tracks on his debut project Famous Cryp, World Star knew it was the one. World Star even offered to pay for a video for the song. Blueface turned them down but took their advice on single promotion. The rest is history. Now that Lil Nas X's fame is an ancient-in-meme-years one week old, is The Boyboy West Coast next up for superstardom? If you're wondering why meme stardom matters, consider that Billie Eilish had over a billion streams before her debut album even came out. Ignore World Star at your own peril.
Media for burned out minds
Are we so burned out that we can't even handle music anymore? Do we just want soundscapes that nudge us toward a desired mood, like "chill" or "in love"? Warner Brothers just signed a deal to market and distribute 20 albums of sound made by software. The wild popularity of "context playlists" has created an audience for background noise that is the opposite of music. Music provokes thought. The stuff that you hear on Spotify playlists like "Sleep" or "Deep Focus" is intended to fill the time we can't bear to spend thinking. If you think music is the only medium to be overrun by content-to-fill-time, you're wrong. My pet theory on why media is becoming more like software to lull us than it is art to provoke us: we work way too much and we're extremely burned out. Long hours need soundtracks. Long days need something to help turn the brain off afterward. Sleep-deprived brains can't make decisions, like which album to put on or even whether to like a song or not. The more we let anonymous muzak nudge us toward a desired mood, the more music we'll see being made by software.
Are the Kardashians our future Disney?
What happens to today's influencers in the future? That is the fascinating question posed by Sam Lessin in The Information: "Do we face a possible future where the same stars are relevant and powerful for a generation or more?" Maybe, maybe not. There is a scenario where the social power of today's clout champions compounds on itself and could "lead to a world where if you want broad social power, you will have to be under the influence of one of the social media 'families.'”But there's also a scenario driven by the introduction of new products within today's social platforms - think Stories on Instagram - in which those new products create "'inflation' where, as new social capital is generated, the value of existing social capital erodes." In this version of the world, new and younger influencers who are born into those new products amass social capital that is worth more than the outdated or "inflated" social capital of today's influencers. Follow Sam for more.
Real life?
Michael Avenatti is a real life Billions character. From the Times: "Just after making bail last Monday...[Avenatti] walked into a cellphone store last Monday night and used the landline to call a reporter for The New York Times, beginning a campaign to deny all allegations against him and defend himself in the court of public opinion."
Links: — Can the Bible of Weed Survive in the Age of Vaping?
For decades, High Times was the flagship of cannabis culture. Now it’s struggling to keep up. The Battle of ‘Three Kings’ Ended With a Perfect Movie and a Vision of the Future This film foresaw everything: the cynicism of invading the Middle East. The horrors of a refugee crisis. The movie stardom of George Clooney. The madness of David O. Russell. Could ‘alcosynth’ provide all the joy of booze – without the dangers? Scientist David Nutt memorably said alcohol is more dangerous than crack. Now, he is trying to invent a healthy synthetic alternative, and the race is on to get it to marketTeenagers Are Teaching Their Parents to Stream, and Radio Is NervousCore FM listeners skew older. But children might be eroding that base by introducing mom and dad to Spotify