Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 12

The World's Highest-Paid Musicians, No. 11-15

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Neil Young has accumulated all sorts of accolades throughout his illustrious career, from 30 Grammy nominations to something akin to knighthood in his native Canada. And though he’s been a steady earner, he never made it onto any of the music wealth lists I released in the decade-plus I spent at Forbes. 

It took him 76 years, but now Young is finally among music’s highest-paid acts. The “Heart of Gold” singer tallied $78...

What Should I Write About This Year?

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The turn of the new year usually brings a raft of prediction posts from scribes like me. These days, though, it’s nearly impossible to project what’ll happen unless you’ve got a degree in epidemiology. Can you think of a single industry prognostication from January 2020 worth its weight in ink just a couple months later?

So, instead of reading the tea leaves, I’m simply going to ask what you’d like me to cover—both in th...

We Are All Musicians Now—What If That’s Bad?

This is a special  We Are All Musicians Now  guest essay. Read the book here.

Hi. Editor Nick here. Zack’s taking the week off, so he asked me to give you a different perspective on this whole We Are All Musicians Now thing. See, Zack and I have worked together for a long time (witness this Forbes magazine feature we penned). And, when it comes to WAAMN, we agree on the basic premise—that musicians are canaries in our economy’s coal mine.

But Zack is a fair bit rosier about the whole thing, or at l...

Music's Big Losers Of 2021

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Start with the good news. That’s what I did, unveiling my picks for music’s biggest winners of 2021 in the last installment of this newsletter. 

But it can’t be all sunshine and rainbows, especially in this shambling garbage monster of a year. So let’s go for a dumpster dive together, a fitting end to what’s been—at least in my opinion—an unusually unpleasant 12 months.

Without further ado, here’s a handful of people who’...

Music's Big Winners Of 2021

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The past year hasn’t been the best one for humanity. From a lingering pandemic to a changing climate, there have been plenty of reasons for people to stay home. And though Covid-19 has wrought havoc on touring, music on the whole has fared better than many sectors. The reasons range from the rising value of intellectual property to the increasing importance of superfans (themes you’ve seen in this newsletter before).

Con...

Delta Rae, Superfans And UBI [WAAMN Chapter 3.6]

This is your weekly installment of my new book,  We Are All Musicians Now . To make sure you don’t miss future serializations, subscribe here. Below you’ll find Chapter 3: Rise of the Superfan (Part 6). Enjoy!

PREVIOUS CHAPTER TABLE OF CONTENTS || >> NEXT CHAPTER >>

The last time I saw Delta Rae’s Eric Holljes before the pandemic, we met for brunch at a cow-themed restaurant on the Upper West Side. We might as well have come from opposite ends of the universe: I’d just tumbled out of a Kanye West Fo...

How To Make Your Own Superfans [WAAMN Chapter 3.5]

This is your weekly installment of my new book,  We Are All Musicians Now . To make sure you don’t miss future serializations, subscribe here. Below you’ll find Chapter 3: Rise of the Superfan (Part 5). Enjoy!

PREVIOUS CHAPTER TABLE OF CONTENTS || >> NEXT CHAPTER >>

Brittany Hodak knew from an early age that she wanted to work in the music business. At 16, while job shadowing at a local radio station, she got her wish—just not in the form she might have expected.

“I said to the station manager, ‘Plea...

Facebook’s Name Change Is Working

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When Facebook changed its name to Meta in late October, observers at outlets from the to concluded the move was a publicity stunt—one aimed at distracting the public from the social media giant’s endless stream of controversies.

Six weeks later, it seems Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to rename his company is actually working, albeit not in the manner many imagined it might. Though Facebook remains mired...

Superfans And Scarcity [WAAMN Chapter 3.4]

This is your weekly installment of my new book,  We Are All Musicians Now . To make sure you don’t miss future serializations, subscribe here. Below you’ll find Chapter 3: Rise of the Superfan (Part 4). Enjoy!

PREVIOUS CHAPTER TABLE OF CONTENTS || >> NEXT CHAPTER >>

A CD jewel case and an issue of People magazine had a Frankenstein baby—that’s how entrepreneur Kim Kaupe described her startup when she began pitching record labels and music managers a decade ago.

“Their first reaction was, ‘Great, let’...

Virgil Abloh, The Late Rockstar

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Usually, when a fashion icon dies, the obituaries mention other designers they influenced. But when news of Abloh’s passing broke yesterday, remembrances mentioned names known primarily as musicians—Kanye West, Rihanna, A$AP Rocky—even more prominently than purveyors of couture.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise. The trajectory of Abloh, who founded the Off-White brand before becoming artistic director of Louis Vuitton m...