#6 - Surprise, we're in Florida 🌞

LA: 🌅 6:44 AM PST | ☀️ High of 89° | 🌇 6:45 PM PST

NYC: 🌅 6:48 AM EST | 🌧️ High of 75° | 🌇 6:48 PM EST

Welcome to our weekly roundup of happenings in the music industry. Here's what we have queued up this week:

1. 🎹 Songs with surprise songwriters.

2. 🎙️ Our artist of the week is The Sunshine State.

3. 📈 Data on YouTube's impact on the music industry.

4. 💿 Industry investments, growing competition, and a big reshuffling.

5. 🎡 Festivals coming up next week and some tour announcements.

Songs with surprise songwriters (scroll to the end for a reveal) 🎹 

From the Vault 🔙

Donya's Pick

Chris's Pick

Artist of the Week: The Sunshine State🎙️

Show Up to Concerts Early Enough for the Opening Acts

A month or so ago, we saw The Sunshine State perform as one of the opening acts at the famous Troubadour in Los Angeles, California. If you’re looking for new music, sure–you can browse your Discover Weekly Spotify playlist–but showing up early for your favorite artist’s concert is even better. You’re exposed to the music that inspires them (main acts typically have a say in who they want as their openers), and before you know it, you’ve discovered a new artist. This week, we’re covering multi-platinum singer-songwriter Skyler Stonestreet, whose lyrics have carried us through the last 10 years of pop music. Now, she’s taking center stage with her latest project, The Sunshine State.

From Vegas to California

Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, Skyler started her music career at the age of seven when her mom signed her up for piano lessons. After a move to Santa Barbara, California combined with heavy influences from James Taylor and Fiona Apple, Skyler discovered a passion for songwriting, describing it as a form of therapy. Once she graduated high school, Skyler was determined to move to Los Angeles to pursue a full-time career in music.

Hustle & Heart

In 2011, Skyler was one of 16 artists highlighted by Rolling Stone in their “You Pick the Cover” promotion, where unsigned artists were given the platform to be interviewed and to perform, in hopes of fans voting for them as their favorite. This initially put her on the map when she landed in the top 8, but her “no plan b” mentality and continued hustle towards songwriting for rising pop stars like The Chainsmokers, Dua Lipa, and Lennon Stella is what fueled the better part of Skyler’s success in the 2010s.

In 2017, Skyler was diagnosed with breast cancer and began treatment. She describes the whole experience as a curve-ball in her music career, but one she refuses to let define her. Thankfully, she’s now cancer-free and the experience has allowed her to fearlessly pursue the next steps in her music career, including her work on The Sunshine State.

In Another Life

In 2020, Skyler began releasing a series of singles with The Sunshine State that would lead up to her debut album, In Another Life, released on July 1, 2022. The entire album was co-written with Hayley Gene Penner and producer/songwriter Nick Monson – known for his work on Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP and A Star Is Born. From front to back, the album builds on a sonically alternative-pop sound, one Skyler describes as “nostalgia wrapped up with a sparkly bow,” cohesively inspired by the stories of her youth. For the better part of a decade, Skyler mastered the art of how to craft a perfect, purposeful pop song with incredible storytelling. Now, she’s loving the balance between writing for pop artists and embracing her time as an artist in the spotlight.

Earlier this year, Skyler followed in Julia Michaels' footsteps when Influence Media acquired the rights to her songwriting catalog (around 80 songs she’s written since 2013 and any future songs she writes) in a multi-million dollar transaction.

Here are some of our favorite tracks:

Data 📈

YouTube is Focused on Music: YouTube recently announced that they paid more than $6 Billion to the music industry between July 2021 and June 2022, which is a ~50% increase compared to the same period between 2020 and 2021. To put this dollar amount into perspective, you could theoretically purchase all of Vice Media at their current valuation of $5.7 Billion. YouTube is continuing to focus on ad and subscription growth and hopes to leapfrog Spotify to become the largest contributor of revenue towards the music industry by 2025.

Industry Updates 💿 

• Ableton, but make it Web3: a16z leads a $5.1 Million seed round for Arpeggi Labs, a decentralized music creation suite.

• YouTube Music Coming to Shorts: YouTube Shorts, a competitor of TikTok, will allow users to integrate songs from YouTube or YouTube Music's catalog into their videos. Conversely, users will also be able to save songs they hear from Shorts into a playlist.

• Preparing for the Future: Future's 612-track catalog from 2004-2020 has been acquired by Influence Media for an unspecified amount estimated to be worth in the upper eight-figures.

• Warner Music Announces New CEO: Last month, YouTube Chief Business Officer, Robert Kyncl, announced that he would be leaving his post. This week, Warner Music revealed that Kyncl would transition as the new CEO starting January 1, 2023.

• Did You Hear that Audible?: On Tuesday, Spotify announced that they will now be supporting more than 300,000 audiobook titles within their catalog of content.

Festivals & Tour Announcements 🎡

A couple of festivals on the ocean happening next week:

Ohana Festival - September 30th - October 2nd in Dana Point, CA

Six years ago, Eddie Vedder, the frontman of Pearl Jam, and Kelly Slater, the most decorated professional surfer of all time, founded Ohana Festival in Dana Point on three core components:

1. Showcase Eddie’s taste in music

2. Promote ocean conservation

3. Develop a stronger sense of a family-friendly community within the local Orange County area (kids under five get in for free)

Compared to other music festivals, Ohana Festival is much more relaxed. There are only two stages, both right next to each other, allowing festival-goers to set up their viewing space for the full day. The festival also provides a separate stage for “Storytelling in the Cover,” which is structured more as an outside exhibition hall with a panel where leading conservationists, environmentalists, researchers, and professional surfers share meaningful stories of their experiences. Ohana Festival has gotten so popular over the last few years that they even have a follow-up weekend known as Ohana Encore. Unfortunately, this year’s Ohana Encore was canceled, but we’ve still included both lineups below.

Oceans Calling Festival - September 30th - October 2nd in Ocean City, MD

Staying with the ocean festival theme but on the East Coast of the United States, the inaugural Oceans Calling Festival is debuting this year in partnership with the band O.A.R., who are natives to the state of Maryland. Right off the Ocean City Boardwalk, you’ll find three stages of music, classic amusement park rides and games within the festival grounds, and an emphasis on local food vendors and cooking demos from renowned chefs, which include Andrew Zimmern, Robert Irvine, and Amanda Freitag.

Tour Announcements 🤘

• Carly Rae Jepsen kicked off the North American leg of The So Nice Tour with Empress Of this week.

• Steve Lacy is set to Give You The World starting October 2nd.

• YUNGBLUD announces North American dates of the world tour, which kicks off on April 29th, 2023 in Seattle.

• Charlie Puth announces his One Night Only tour, which kicks off on October 23rd in New Jersey.

• Dead & Company will be hitting the road next summer for the final time The Final Tour.

• The Arctic Monkeys are back and kicking off their return with a new UK & Ireland Tour on May 29th starting in Bristol.

And I wish you JOY! and happi-ness 👏

Any guesses on who wrote this classic Whitney Houston song? We thought the farewell sentiment was fitting. Scroll for the reveal ⬇️

We're closing the newsletter this week with a nod to Taylor Swift, arguably one of the best singer-songwriters of our generation.

Lyrical Genius ✍️

Songwriters from our songs of the week (in order):

• Skyler Stonestreet co-wrote "IDGAF" for Dua Lipa

• Ed Sheeran co-wrote "Love Yourself" for Justin Bieber

• Sia co-wrote "Pretty Hurts" with Beyoncé

• The Bee Gees wrote "Immortality" and were featured on the track with Céline Dion

• Calvin Harris wrote and produced "We Found Love" for Rihanna

• Dolly Parton wrote "I Will Always Love You"

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See ya next Sunday 😎

Chris and Donya