Episode 2 (ft. Dan Runcie): How hip-hop and venture capital are blueprints for each other's futures

OPENING & CLOSING MUSIC:
Mark Redito (fka Spazzkid) - "Getting To Know You"
SoundCloud | Bandcamp | Spotify (Spazzkid) | Spotify (Mark Redito)

FEATURED GUEST:
Dan Runcie, founder of Trapital
https://trapital.substack.com
http://www.danruncie.com

PODCAST ARTWORK:
Arielle Trenk
http://www.arielletrenk.com/

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FULL SHOW NOTES:

This episode is inspired by Dan's article in Trapital about the intersection of hip-hop and VC:
https://trapital.substack.com/p/why-hip-hop-can-help-venture-capital

[3:30] Interview with Dan Runcie begins

[4:25] The original tweet is now deleted, but there are several news articles written about the debate that ensued—here's just one example:
https://news.iheart.com/featured/jojo-wright/content/2018-01-29-people-are-choosing-dinner-with-jay-z-over-50k/

[6:18] Links to some of Jay-Z's nuggets of wisdom, including his autobiography and interview on the Rap Radar podcast:
https://www.amazon.com/Decoded-Jay-Z/dp/0812981154
http://rapradar.com/features/rap-radar-podcast-jay-z/

[8:45] One example of a social app that relied on celebrity investment for user acquisition, only to fall flat shortly thereafter, is Shots:
https://www.recode.net/2016/10/30/13459412/shots-app-justin-bieber-rudy-mancuso-lele-pons

[10:39] Some links to rapper Russ' tweet-storm touting the importance of artists owning all the rights to their work and building enough leverage and clout on their own terms, prior to approaching a label, lawyer or other business partner:
https://twitter.com/russdiemon/status/1103422668366376960
https://twitter.com/russdiemon/status/1103393282506264578
https://twitter.com/russdiemon/status/1103390793316921344

[12:25] The "record-label-as-VC-firm" concept has been swimming around for over a decade—here are links to some earlier examples:
https://money.cnn.com/2007/04/18/news/companies/pluggedin_arango_music.fortune/index.htm
https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2010/09/the-music-venture-capital-business-model.html

[14:15] We reference indie distribution company UnitedMasters frequently in this episode. For those who aren't familiar, it's a distribution service owned by ad agency Translation that purports to give unsigned artists an unparalleled opportunity to connect and partner with brands, using distribution and the accompanying consumption data as the primary funnel.
https://unitedmasters.com/

[16:53] The news of NLE Choppa partnering with UnitedMasters instead of signing a $3 million traditional record deal was broken on Billboard:
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8498476/nle-choppa-turned-down-a-3-million-record-deal-partner-united-masters

[18:18] Here are some links that give more context on indie.vc's model, and its investment in black-owned media company The Shade Room:
https://venturebeat.com/2016/07/30/how-the-indie-vc-model-is-disrupting-vc-firms/
https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/17/the-shade-room-is-profitable-and-not-interested-in-acquisition/

[21:01] Amuse is a 100% free music distribution tool; the parent company's business model relies in part on its wholly-owned record label, which scouts and signs artists based on data gathered through the distribution service:
https://amuse.io/record-label

[21:39] Playlist placement isn't artist development. Repeat that ten times.
https://twitter.com/cheriehu42/status/1067873158705893378

[22:30] UnitedMasters' first official brand partner is the NBA, giving the distributor's artists the opportunity to have their music synced across NBA's digital properties:
https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/09/new-unitedmasters-deal-will-enable-its-artists-get-play-across-nba-properties/

[24:34] CD Baby's CEO Tracy Maddux has written about the , despite
https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/6121578/tales-of-long-tails-death-greatly-exaggerated-guest

[26:46] See the graph on page 4 of PitchBook's Venture Monitor report from Q4 2018:
https://nvca.org/wp-content/uploads/delightful-downloads/2019/01/4Q_2018_PitchBook_NVCA_Venture_Monitor-1.pdf

[27:20] Music Data Narrative #1: Labels are becoming much more data-driven than ever and exercising more scrutiny in the artists they sign—serving as a model for outside industries.
https://www.inc.com/darren-heitner/big-data-is-revolutionizing-music-industry-here-are-lessons-for-your-business.html

[27:35] Music Data Narrative #2: Labels are still throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks, rather than taking a more measured and data-driven approach in their A&R process. Three different publications have written about this frenzy as it relates to hip-hop:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/f-ck-it-well-take-the-bet-the-gold-rush-to-sign-the-next-rap-god-699707/
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8272682/hip-hop-signing-frenzy-record-deal-prices-soari...