Tools for MGMT: Episode 202

In these days of Lenten journey...

A short and sweet edition this evening because the pad thai just arrived!

My name is Ethan. I manage Alex Russell, Zack Fox, and Cam Hicks. I started this newsletter to regularly send out a few links and musings that I hope other managers will find interesting. Thanks for reading this second edition of season two.

Activity Log
A few things I did this week that I didn’t do last week

• Met new pals Rohan and Max on FaceTime after sliding into their DMs

• Tried to pre-order Starlink after Spectrum jacked up our rates ($49.99 → $64.99)

• Started testing this new calendar tool: Vimcal (time travel timezone feature is A+)

• Called the IRS and they picked up in… 7 mins (lock in this #: 1-800-829-0115)

• Sent out at least 20 Zora invites 💌

• Wired first angel investment via Parasang with Alex + Zack

• Music Business Podcast monthly Zoom happy hour

• Submitted application for $SPEC coin on Roll 🤞

• Bought Fake Accounts by Lauren Oyler
  

On Dispo
I took more photos this past week than I have in the past year thanks to Dispo. Will it last? Not sure. I hope so. I’m 28 years old. I’ve long felt self-conscious on Instagram and haven’t posted on the feed in years. I’m in a constant state of deleting and re-downloading the app.

But Dispo… feels kinda magic. Maybe it’s because The Chainsmokers are investors? Here’s a FAQ. Here’s the bull case.

…Not me in Central Park on the crest of the new fallen snow 🌨❄️🥰

On Zora
Week two of having fun with Zora! I like the ~vibes~ of the people I’ve talked to who work there. They’ve also been supportive of Zack who sold two NFTs there this week, including the first fart sample – to my knowledge – minted on the bl*ckchain (warning: the audio clip loops over and over).

I think it’s not dumb for you and your clients to *at least* experiment with creating an NFT on Zora for the following reasons:

• it’s a curated platform, and if you have any sort of audience already, it’s a big advantage in terms of getting your NFT more visibility (having your NFT shared on Zora’s socials, creating buzz around it in various Discords, getting a “blue check” on the platform, etc.)

• the waiting list to drop via Nifty Gateway or SuperRare is months (years?) long

• you aren’t implicitly giving up any rights by creating an NFT of something that you currently own

• most importantly: Zora forces you to confront a bunch of crypto fundamentals that feel like they are here to stay: creating a MetaMask wallet, the idea of securely storing a password and seed phrase, buying ETH and moving it into your wallet, signing transactions from the wallet, paying gas fees… good stuff.

FWIW: Gas fees are sky high right now so it is likely going to cost you somewhere between $150 - $200 worth of ETH in your Wallet to mint/create an NFT. But there’s also the MintFund to get those initial gas fees covered.

Lemme know if you need an invite to Zora or any help getting started! Speaking of all this… interesting NFT discussion in this tweet thread worth perusing:

liz pelly @lizpelly

everything i learn about 'nfts' makes me more skeptical and less interested. why would we want to create more false scarcity in music? why would we want to limit who can own your music to rich people? seems bad for the environment. start-ups not allowed to respond to this tweet

Ok, I’m off – but here are a few more reads for your weekend ahead:

• Clubhouse Bio Generator (needed this)

• Interview with Roy LaManna, founder of Vydia (ty Lawrence)

• A Year of Hardship, Helped and Hindered by Washington

• The Meta-Creator Ceiling (not what we want…)

• Grey Lady Steel Man

• A coat check ticket, a magic spell (more on Zora)