Brigadoon Weekend | No. 4 | February 5, 2022
Brigadoon Weekend curates the top ten emerging issues from the week shaping commerce + culture.
ONE
Should the Supreme Court only be covered in ivy?
Eight of the nine current members of the US Supreme Court went to law school at either Harvard or Yale, with a 4-4 split between Harvard and Yale law graduates.
Retiring Justice Stephen Breyer attended Harvard, as did Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh attended Yale.
The court's newest member, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is the outlier. Barrett is a graduate of Notre Dame's law school.
With a prized opening on the court, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are making the case that it would be good if the person named to the opening doesn't have an Ivy League degree.
With the Biden-Harris administration being the first POTUS + VPOTUS Democrat team without an Ivy League degree since 1984, look for the support of the political talking point that diversity of educational background would benefit the nation's highest court.
TWO
Meta's market plunge was the largest single-day loss ever by a US company.
At the heart of the nosedive this week are three things:
+ A $3.3 billion loss trying to make its metaverse ambitions a reality.
+ A slowdown in advertising revenue.
+ The platform's first-ever decline inactive users.
This triumvirate is a landmark event in social media history.
From Apple's blocking ad tracking on its devices to people spending more time watching videos on TikTok, the company is now facing an unprecedented level of competition.
But what is most striking about the buzz around the metaverse is that everyone claims to be building it, but no one knows what it really will be or what it should look like—and whether people will ever want to use it.
With Meta going all-in on the metaverse, this is a problem.
Of the more than 3,000 open jobs listed on Meta's website, more than 24 percent are for augmented or virtual reality roles.
Wall Street is about the future and will fund it if it believes you can reach the future.
Can Zuckerberg convince investors that his version is the internet's future? If so, they will be more excited about how he spent nearly $10 billion during the past year to build it.
Look for more market disbelief on Meta's future. When your stock drops 25%, it is clear the market is telling you it doesn't think you can build a second massive, world-changing business from scratch.
THREE
How did we get to the age of the TikTok tabloid?
Jenna Drenten, an associate professor of marketing @ Loyola University Chicago, sees TikTok as an outgrowth of the dynamics of social surveillance: using digital technologies to keep a close watch on one another while producing online content in anticipation of being watched.
"In social surveillance, everyone online is both a guard and a prisoner, constantly consuming online content and producing content for others to see."
In a TNW post, Drenten asks: "Who manages the public images of people who didn't choose to become public figures?"
It would be easy to say they should stay off TikTok. But it's not that simple.
Social surveillance ensures that nearly everyone, regardless of permission or participation, has the potential to become headline news – beholden to the TikTok tabloid taste-makers.
Look for a GDPR-like solution that seeks to reign in the peril of publicity and the dark side of public shaming and internet sleuthing.
FOUR
Spotify's transition from music streamer to media producer has been problematic.
Last week, the public firestorm over Spotify's relationship with podcaster Joe Rogan reached DEFCON 2.
Rogan, who gets millions of dollars to broadcast exclusively on Spotify's platform, said his show has grown "out of control" and pledged to be more balanced and informed about controversial topics and guests.
"If I pissed you off, I'm sorry."
Three years ago, Spotify began to stake its future on bringing in more listeners and advertising dollars with exclusive licensing deals for podcasts with prominent figures, including Rogan, Michelle Obama, and Prince Harry.
Spotify has embraced the more promising direction as a publisher and producer of podcasts.
Prices for Spotify ads are generally high compared with run-of-the-mill ads on other social media platforms.
Less popular pods on Spotify sell in the $20-per-1,000-listeners range, but more popular pods can go into the $75 territory.
A podcast player is now less about being a search engine and more about being a creator and publisher of that content.
Spotify needs pods, not music.
Look for Spotify to embrace podcasts even more coupled with a live audio strategy and an eye on the future of NFTs, tokens, and Web3.
FIVE
Cable news networks have a severe ratings problem.
Cable news channels in 2020 enjoyed a surge in viewership. But daily cable news viewership fell off a cliff in 2021.
Viewership dropped across all major cable news channels in 2021 compared to 2020:
Fox Business: -47.5%
CNN: -40.5%
Fox News: -34.6%
MSNBC: -29.7%
CNBC: -19.0%
And it is not just cable news seeing a drop.
Citing Comscore data, the AP noted that the number of unique visitors at The Washington Post's website dropped by 44 percent in November 2021 compared to the previous year, around the 2020 election, while it dropped by 34 percent at The New York Times.
A combination of news burnout and numerous social media news delivery options is why.
Look for cable news to seek other revenue opportunities, including investing in streaming services and scripted entertainment like travel and better-living programming.
SIX
Andreessen Horowitz seeks access to the Bored Ape Yacht Club.
Andreessen Horowitz is in advanced talks to lead a significant funding round for Yuga Labs, the company behind the NFT project Bored Ape Yacht Club.
Yuga Labs generates revenue via direct sales of its Apes or other NFTs, including recent Mutants and Kennel drops, plus residual revenue when those NFTs are resold on the blockchain.
A deal would mark the first institutional investment into Yuga and place the company at the forefront of the frothy but lucrative market for crypto art less than one year after debuting the BASIC collection.
Andreessen Horowitz is a significant shareholder in cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and the NFT exchange OpenSea and plans to raise $4.5bn for a new set of crypto funds.
Look for Andreessen Horowitz to continue placing big bets on NFT coupled with an acceleration of creators monetizing their fans directly and spending less on customer acquisition.
SEVEN
Coachella is selling lifetime festival passes for the first time — but you have to buy an NFT.
The music festival launched an NFT marketplace built by FTX US, with three collections of NFTs going on sale.
Plus, in an attempt to get ahead of anticipated backlash, FTX has also purchased 100,000 tons of carbon offsets.
"Coachella Collectibles NFTs are a first of its kind opportunity to own lifetime festival passes, unlock unique on-site experiences, physical items, and digital collectibles. Embrace new technology to connect and discover."
The ten one-of-a-kind NFT keys will grant lifetime access to Coachella - one festival weekend every April and Coachella produced virtual experiences forever.
The auction for the collection began February 4 with a recent bid at press time of $55,000.00
Look for other music festivals and entertainment venues to use NFTs and blockchains as a ticketing tool and attach physical products and services to digital goods.
EIGHT
Wyoming and Arizona are considering taking digital currency.
Lawmakers in Wyoming and Arizona have introduced proposals to accept tax payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Under the Arizona proposal, the state would recognize the most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, as legal tender. The Wyoming proposal, which is not limited to any specific cryptocurrency, would apply only to sales and use taxes.
Both proposals face potential legal and political hurdles.
Critics of privately issued and open-source cryptocurrencies argue that if they displace national currencies, they will undermine the ability of federal governments and central banks to regulate the economy effectively.
Look for an interesting mix of stakeholders seeking to shape the future of digital money - from big retailers to veterans of the commercial banking industry.
NINE
Japanese company joins march back to the Moon.
Japanese company ispace aims to place a lander with two small rovers on the lunar surface by the end of the year.
If all goes to plan, ispace will accomplish the first intact landing by a Japanese spacecraft on the Moon.
2022 will be a busy year on the Moon with landings and explorations that could see humans get back to the lunar surface in the coming years.
Nations and private companies have set their sights on the Moon for its potential to serve as a staging ground for spacecraft and other technologies that could be used for future missions to Mars.
Look for more than ten moon landings in the coming years that, in the short-term, visualize mining the Moon with robots for resources like iron and silicon that could be returned to Earth or used to expand structures on the lunar surface.
TEN
Germany's secret bobsled weapon.
For the past 18 months, Germany's bobsled team has been plotting their assault on the Beijing medals table in a nondescript office building north of Munich.
Together with BMW, they have created a simulator modeled on motor racing technology that they hope will give them an edge over their rivals at the Winter Olympics.
Germany is a force in bobsled, having won all three gold medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics and investing large sums of money in the sport.
The Beijing Olympic course is mainly unknown compared to other tracks around the world.
Look for the German bobsled team to enjoy a considerable advantage due to the simulator and understanding of the Beijing track better than their competitors.
