(Spl)internets, visits to the audio wonderland, the livestream $tack, and tantalizing tunes
October 16, 2020 Edition
Here we are again: Happy Friday to the Trilliuminati. Hope you are getting your artisanal tea selection(s) ready for the coming winter. For reference: it’s 90 degrees in California (sans flames), so we’re entering the period of the year where I feel rather smug about my life decisions relative to my Northeastern compatriots.
“Who sanitizes the sanitizer?”
Source: M.E. McNair, New Yorker (October 2020)
Splinter-, Inter-, and Intra-nets galore
Something that I’ve been thinking about over the past few months is to what extent the global trend towards populism & nationalism—including in my home country—will impact corporate entities and, in particular, the global technology industry. These political movements have gained steam (again) over the past decade or so; meanwhile, Covid-19 has deepened scrutiny of our respective national (mis)management, along with obvious public health and economic issues, not to mention a palpable fear of “foreign invaders” (whether literally, figuratively, or both). Trade wars, like that between the U.S. and China, have expanded in scope and import, with significant government involvement in the behavior of for-profit corporations.
When geopolitical skirmishing between India and China sparked the first TikTok ban (in India), it seemed only a matter of time until other countries took similar steps. A few months later, TikTok finds itself in a precarious situation in the U.S., Pakistan, Hong Kong, and elsewhere around the world. We’ve talked about the #bandemic repeatedly in the past, but the aspect that’s always interested me is whether we’re now destined to plunge deeper into a world where the “splinternet” dominates, replacing the sort of consistent, evenly connected global tech infrastructure that felt achievable over the past several years, as more and more people have come online.
The idea of “information sovereignty”—where governments control or censor the information or services available to their citizens—is not new (think China, Cuba, North Korea, etc). But, as we see an increasing willingness to outright ban digital products produced by foreign corporates (e.g., ByteDance’s TikTok), we move closer to a world in which the internet experience could look and feel quite different from one country to the next. As I’ve mentioned in the past, this dynamic has implications for the global addressable market and valuations of corporations, and obviously for the individuals who use these products.
Benedict Evans recently wrote a related piece titled “The end of the American internet,” in which he talks about the fact that innovation is no longer most likely to come from American companies (particularly in Silicon Valley). Evans also outlines compounding demographic realities—China/India have 5x more smartphones than the U.S.—and articulates the increasing flow of venture capital to the “rest of the world”:
Source: Ben Evans & NVCA (September 2020)
As the composition of global internet users changes, and as entrepreneurs and investors gain experience in markets around the world, it stands to reason that there will be a greater dispersal of capital and company creation. That’s a good thing. Ultimately, though, I’m more interested in whether we’re moving in a direction where this set of trends, when paired with the increasingly insular attitude of many governments, means that local companies will be more likely to survive and dominate their home markets, while foreign companies are either banned or handicapped, even if they offer superior products (witness TikTok vs. Triller). In that event, it’s not hard to imagine that the products & services available to a user in Mexico City could look rather different from those available to a user in New Delhi. Whether that’s good or bad might be a conversation for another day.
But, before we move on from this general theme, I wanted to share this article from Rest of World on SNET, “Havana’s alternative internet.” It’s a fascinating piece, written by Priscila Bellini, about this “street network” that emerged in 2010-2011 and, at its peak, had around 100,000 Cuban users. Essentially, in response to restrictions on internet access and performance, a number of young Havana residents decided to “unify their hyperlocal networks into a larger structure,” thereby creating a separate volunteer intranet (somewhat) beyond state control. The network has since been eroded by a combination of state takeover and creeping 3G/public WiFi availability, but it represents a fascinating instance of a contained “local internet.” Coincidentally, I was in Havana in 2011 and remember hearing about people selling “SNET set-up” services, not to mention USB sticks with thousands of “American” songs pre-loaded on them. Times have changed!
La Vida Vocal: Ricky Martin’s Tech Turn
I’ve written about spatial audio production and the 8D audio cult a couple of times over the course of Trillium. This “movement,” if one can call it that, was primarily limited to amateur producers doing YouTube remixes of pop/hip hop hits, where they panned the signal to give the illusion of immersive audio. Now, much to my surprise and delight, Ricky Martin (!) has launched a startup called Orbital Audio, with the promise of “a sonic experience that doesn’t require any special apps or equipment.” (Fast Company) I can’t yet find anything about the actual product that the company is building and offering, but rest assured that I will endeavor to do so.
In the meantime, Martin did release two versions of his latest album, Pausa: a standard version and a “headphones mix” that apparently makes use of the Orbital Audio technology. Look: I was never exactly what you’d call a Ricky Martin superfan. But, for Trillium, you already know that I took the plunge and listened to the entirety of both versions. Why? Because I care. My personal opinion? The “headphones mix” sounds great. The vocals have more depth and occupy more physical space. The guitars are cleaner and crisper. It feels like the entire track has a bigger surface area to occupy. Do I feel as if I’m truly hearing music for the first time in my life? No. It’s not a meaningfully different experience. And the spatial panning is very distracting. Anyway, see for yourself:
You are what you hear
In this week’s edition of “Things That You Wish Would Surprise You But Probably Won’t,” we have an article from Music Business Worldwide on a new Spotify patent: “methods and systems for personalizing user experience based on [user] personality traits.” Good times.
As the patent notes: “It is possible to identify a personality trait of a user based on the content…the user consumes…and the context in which they consume the content.” For example: Me=Angry; Content=DMX; Context=Perpetual. Little does Spotify know that I do my best financial modeling to “X Gon’ Give It To Ya.” But I digress.
Anyway, the patent claims that Spotify can assign a personality model (Big Five Inventory or Meyers-Briggs) to a user, based on their consumption. [Ed: Apparently, one of the Big Five Inventory traits is “neuroticism.” Who knew.] Unfortunately, the documentation also suggests that Spotify could customize or modulate content and advertising served to users based on their personality models: “For example, the tone of voice may be more upbeat…for users that have been assigned the personality trait of extroversion.” I envision a future-state in which my Casper mattress ads feature DMX screaming at me about thread count, or gruffly suggesting that I consider Mack Weldon cashmere socks. Not so bad, really…
But wait, there’s more!
In perhaps less-disconcerting news, Spotify has announced a new feature that “combines spoken word audio commentary with music tracks.” (Tech Crunch) The feature allows for multi-media playlists that intersperse non-music audio with full-length songs in the Spotify catalog. For example, if you’re listening to a podcast that plays a snippet of a song (or even references an artist), you could theoretically navigate to a full version of that song from within the integrated playlist.
I could envision this being cool for music-themed podcasts like Pushkin’s Broken Record (👀 @Reader BNH, where’s my money?), or artist-centric podcasts like WNYC’s Dolly Parton’s America. This feature is consistent with Spotify’s investment in non-music audio and corresponding focus on enabling podcast creation through acquisitions like that of mobile pod creation tool Anchor (2019). Though not a game-changer, it could well catalyze some interesting audio format experiments.
Not to be outdone…
Speaking of new audio features, Snapchat has launched “Sounds on Snapchat” on iOS (Tech Crunch), meaning that users can now set Snaps to music. Enabling this feature is Snap’s licensing of millions of licensed songs from “music industry partners,” and the ability to click through from a Snap to play songs via one of the core music streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud). The launch gives Snapchat increasing feature parity with TikTok and its legion of competitors/clones. Take a gander:
On a related note: if I asked you to guess what percentage of 13-24 year olds in the U.S. Snapchat reaches, what would you estimate? Spoiler alert: 90%! 🍌🍌🍌 Not to mention 75% of 13-34 year olds. I’ll see myself to the door.
Just when I thought I was out
Source: you already know…
As a continuation of Trillium’s fascination with the world of virtual clubs and transmedia performances, I couldn’t resist sharing this Substack post from writer Bas Grasmayer, in which he provides a “detailed preview of a Minecraft venue based on a a closed down Berlin night club called Griessmuehle.” No need for much context here, as this is well-trod ground for the cosmopolitan Trilliuminati. But, if you’re curious about what it’s actually like to attend one of these venues, do check out the article. It’s very detailed and provides a more tangible view of the experience (relative to the many thinkpieces bemoaning the future of nightlife).
For what it’s worth: this feels particularly timely as Covid-19 cases in Europe are spiking once again and a return to normalcy feels tenuous. (NYT) I remember a meeting in April when Illustrious Reader RD and I presented some pandemic-themed entertainment research to someone, including a section on virtual entertainment experiences. The response was, essentially, that the experiences were destined to become a quickly-forgotten blip, as the world would return to normal by the fall. Well, here we are! If anything, virtual experiences have only become more diverse, publicized, and well-attended as the pandemic has deepened. I continue to believe that many of the consumer behavior patterns and creator experiments occasioned by this year will sustain, particularly as younger individuals with less-engrained consumption/social habits become habituated to this vast, evolving world of digital experiences.
The Livestream $tack evolves
Tech Crunch reported that a new L.A. startup, Moment House, raised $1.5M in seed funding this week. The company’s vision is to provide artists, particularly musicians, a “way to give geo-fenced, live events to fans around the world.” The list of investors is a who’s who of the media & entertainment world, including Scooter Braun, Jared Leto, and a number of well-known investors from GV, Sequoia, Forerunner Ventures, and beyond. Analysts and media thinkers like Matthew Ball and Eugene Wei are also investing in the venture.
Based on the company’s site, the value proposition to artists is seemingly that it’s a one-stop-shop to easily set up a high-quality ticketed livestream, and to promote it to potential fans in 135+ countries. The fee structure is 10% of ticket sales, but covered by consumers (not creators), meaning that artists will keep all of the revenue that they generate from ticket sales. I’m admittedly curious to attend one of these and to see if the “superior audio” that the company mentions is, in fact, a draw. Regardless, the idea of an integrated platform for artist livestreams—with hosting, distribution, compliance, and payments all taken care of—makes sense. That said, the ultimate creator challenge remains: fan discovery. Moment House, like most creator products, expects artists to bring their own audiences. It works for more established artists, like Kaytranada, but won’t necessarily create a radical improvement in earning potential, nor fan growth, for the majority of creators.
(Free) Trials and Tribulations: Quibi
I initially planned to skip this story, so as to avoid the appearance of (again) kicking someone while they’re down. But, because I’ve chosen to share snippets of the Quibi saga with you in the past, I’d be remiss not to share our hero’s return to the news cycle. Last time we visited with Quibi, they were seeking a lifeline through a corporate acquisition, having raised $2bn only to watch their post-free-trial product fall very flat. By all accounts, Quibi now has somewhere between 400,000-500,000 subscribers. Their original user projection for year-end 2020 was 7.4M. [Ed: I’ll spare you my expert analysis here.] The company does still have $800M in cash remaining.
This week, The Information’s Jessica Toonkel and Tom Dotan report that Jeffrey Katzenberg—the Hollywood mogul behind the company—has initiated conversations with a range of suitors, including Apple, WarnerMedia, and Facebook, but that the conversations have not gone well. As Toonkel and Dotan note: “One of Quibi’s biggest challenges in finding a buyer is that it doesn’t have much to offer.” Other than that: promising.
I find this story interesting for a variety of reasons, some more serious than others. In general, I think the story of Quibi is quite captivating as a case study of a high-profile product development and launch cycle that failed for a combination of macro and micro reasons. It’s also a great example of how failure to interpret and understand unmet user needs—their thesis around high-quality “snackable” user content—can lead to tremendous mismanagement (read: 🔥🔥🔥) of capital, not to mention employee time. Lastly, Quibi presents an intriguing lens through which to view the evolving media & entertainment landscape in which we live. Looking at content consumption alone, you have a range of options, including established streaming services (e.g., Netflix, Disney+) and highly engaging social media products (e.g., TikTok, IG). The breadth of content and the consumer economics of the former are hard to beat; the cultural relevance, ubiquity, and product design brilliance of the latter are equally difficult to surpass, particularly for those “gap” moments in one’s day. If you find yourself anywhere between, without a clear hook for your users, don’t be surprised if it’s tough sledding.
For your ears only
In the early summer (the era B.W., or before wildfires), I wrote about anonymous British musical collective SAULT and their album Untitled (Black Is). It’s a great album that fit uncomfortably well with the charged political and social environment, and the wave of protests that were beginning around the United States. I still don’t know much about the members of SAULT, though certain featured performers have been named, including vocalist Michael Kiwanuka (perhaps best-known for his work on the Big Little Lies theme song and for recently winning a Mercury Prize). Kiwanuka has also performed with artists like British MC Little Simz, including a live Jools Holland collaboration on a Simz track that I love, “Flowers,” and can’t resist sharing here:
Somehow, only a few months removed from their last full-length album, SAULT released another excellent full-length project—Untitled (Rise)—in late September. It’s a mix of soul, spoken word, pop, electronic music, and a bunch of other genres, with really interesting production and great instrumentation. Highly recommended (and perhaps even preferred to their last one). Two favorites:
See you all next week.
N