Nuggies: Virtual Concerts & Influencers
Thursday, November 5th, 2020
Welcome to the twenty-fourth edition of Nuggies, an email newsletter that aggregates articles and commentary on business, economics, startups, and more, in bite-sized nuggets sent right to your email weekly. Created by and for college students.
Our quote of the week comes from former President Theodore Roosevelt, “A vote is like a rifle: it’s usefulness depends upon the character of the user.”
This Week’s Articles:
Audio’s Opportunity and Who Will Capture It, Matthew Ball
Epyllion Industries and Marker’s Fund Partner Matthew Ball takes a deep dive into the audio industry— both its labyrinthine past and ambiguous future. The audio industry stands unique in that it has seen repeated disruption due to new distribution technologies and that total audio monetization has shrunk from its peak in the 1990s. Ball argues the future will likely include digital concerts as the norm, a stronger link between video games and music, and platform social platform that helps create and share user songs.
Read it here
The World’s Best Bureaucrat, The Intelligencer
This article commends the works of Federal Reserve as one of the few bright spots of the government’s response to the Covid-19 Pandemic, and tells the story of the rise to success and psyche Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Read it here
Virtual Influencers Make Real Money While Covid Locks Down Human Stars, Bloomberg
Virtual influencers are digital personalities created by people. Compared to real influencers, virtual influencers are cheaper and customizable, meaning they offer a lot of opportunity to advertisers. Lil Miquela, a virtual influencer pictured above, is expected to make $11.7 million for her creators this year though deals with brands like Calvin Klein and Prada.
Read it here
This Week’s Tweets:
This Week’s Wildcard (an extra, interesting nugget):
This week’s wildcard is SpaceX’s terms of service for Starlink. While Starlink is a network of satellites that aim to replace our existing telecom infrastructure, its terms of service highlight greater ambitions. (Credit: @RyanfDuffy)
This Week’s Question:
What's a common piece of advice you are happy you never followed?
What are we listening to this week?:
This week, we’re listening to Atlanta-based duo EarthGang’s major-label debut, Mirrorland. The album is sonically diverse— filled with high-pitched nimble flows, infections melodies, and creative instrumentals. Our personal favorite tracks include Tequila, UP, Top Down, and Proud of U.
Thank you for reading! Nuggies is created by Thomas Pero and Spencer Koehl, two undergraduate students at the University of Notre Dame.
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