Lil' Nas X and 33 Million of His Closest Friends

Hey! Here's the latest from Trapital:

new podcast: Dave Macli, co-founder of Audiomack and DJBooth

Audiomack is an artist-first digital streaming provider. In this episode, Dave breaks down why he launched Audiomack, how the company landed early projects by J. Cole and Chance the Rapper, and its expansion plans in Africa. Dave is also the co-founder of DJBooth, which recently partnered on Audiomack World—a publication within the music streaming service.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audiomack, or watch the video on YouTube:

Beyonce x Peloton

Two weeks ago, Peloton announced a multi-year partnership with Beyonce.

Queen Bey is the perfect Peloton partner for two reasons:

1. She's the most-requested artist on the platform. Music is a core part of the Peloton experience. If the music isn't right, Peloton users will let the company know. The company has spent millions in lawsuits and licensing agreements to get it right. For Peloton, this Beyonce partnership is both a cause for celebration and a sigh of relief.
2. She's the ideal Peloton customer. Let's forget about her near billionaire-status for a minute. Beyonce fits the profile of Peloton's target customer. She's a busy millennial parent with young kids, and has a work schedule that has been disrupted by COVID-19.

As part of the deal, Peloton is giving free two-year digital memberships to students at 10 HBCUs. Beyonce worked closely to create Homecoming-themed workout experiences. The plan is to build a recruiting pipeline for these schools at the intern and undergrad levels.

Read more about Beyonce's Peloton partnership from the official press release.

The Weeknd x Super Bowl Halftime Show

Pepsi announced that The Weeknd will headline the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show in Tampa, FL on February 7, 2021.

This is the second year that Roc Nation has been in charge of At last year's Roc Nation - NFL press conference, Jay Z was critical of the prior selection process for two reasons.

1. The NFL used to interview several performers at the same time, pick one, and tell the others "thanks but no thanks." Sure, that process works fine when Google's hiring 53 program managers. But that process is bad for roles with limited talent pools. There are only so many superstars! The league may have already burned bridges with those they led on, which makes it easy to get stuck with subpar options.
2. Jay Z said he didn't like when Travis Scott played second-fiddle for Maroon 5 because Travis Scott dominated 2018. Jay Z is more likely to want a current superstar than a legacy act.

I assume there's now a hypothetical Roc Nation rubric that measures all these factors and others: Superstar popularity, entertainment factor, availability, location, and externalities.

The Weeknd checks most boxes. He's had the biggest year in pop music and has used his platform to raise awareness for Black Lives Matter after George Floyd's murder.

Read more about The Weeknd's success in How The Weeknd Mastered his Brand.

Lil' Nas X x Roblox

Last week was the first concert series in a new partnership between Roblox and Columbia Records. Columbia and Roblox have been in talks since the pandemic started. The major record label thought Lil' Nas X would be great since over half of US kids play the game. The game draws over 150 million monthly active users.

This online video game has gotten more and more popular with kids. Last month, Roblox confidentially filed to go public, and hopes to land an $8 billion valuation. Roblox developers are on track to earn $250 million this year and shows no signs of slowing down. The pandemic has been a silver lining since its target audience (kids) have spent more time indoors in 2020 than ever before.

Read more about hip-hop and gaming here.

Coming soon from Trapital

Podcast interview with Cameo CEO and co-founder Steven Galanis! Coming this week!

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Enjoy the rest of your weekend! I'll be back next week.

Dan

P.S. - want the latest from Trapital when it drops? sign up here: trapital.co