YouSaid · the spoken record

Steve Aoki

lines on the record: 83
first: 2022-03-29
most recent: 2022-03-29
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“It never ends as far as a jet light. I was a constant jet lagger. So that's tough. I have a really good team as far as making sure that everything's on schedule, everything's on point. I regard my schedule like the grail. I really stick to my schedule. And as far as being 100% with what I'm doing on the schedule, that's also very important. That's a big part of that. So, I mean, out of all the shows I've done, you know, I never broke under 200 shows a year for 15 years. So out of all those shows, I think I've only missed a few. My track record of reliability is like the UPS man, Reins Leader Snow, I'm there.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, Steve, the performer time is only two hours. What people forget, it's, but the traveling is a crazy time sink for sure. Traveling and then the side effect of traveling is a time sink, a brain sink. It takes away from the brain cycles for sure. When you're zombie through jet lag, it's fucking hard to be optimal, you know, and I'm still trying to figure that biohack out because I do travel, I mean, pre-COVID. I'm a global artist. It's not like I'm just doing like one or two or three different time zones. You know, I'm like traveling across the country like every other week. So I did China. I think 14 tours in China in like two years or something, three years. Every other month I was in China. Then I was in Ibiza. Then I was in across Europe. Then back to America and Central America, South America, Asia. It's like.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Record label There's no exit. You know, I know when it comes to real big businesses, you think of the exit like five years we're gonna sell, we're out, we do something else. A lot of the stuff I do, there's really no exit. I mean, yes, some cases, yes. I mean, I'm going to continue to build. It becomes a part of me and maybe partners will come in. So I guess that's the exit because I'll get some money out of the equation for myself. Yeah. But I have to consider like 36 more years. Is this going to be part of my game plan for that? And there's a legacy attached to that too afterwards.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, 75, 80. I say 80, maybe like it's so doubt. So I have 36 years left, like, that's it. 36 years, only three decades. Three decades, and some of these decisions that you make, it's not like, yo, yeah, we'll do this and we'll get out of it soon. No, like most of the decisions I make are long term, like lifelong term, you know There was no end in sight, no exit with Dimok.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, actually, you know, actually, I'm going to go into that. I think it's important for everyone to step back from what they do on the daily grind and ask themselves the question, why am I doing this? Because, like, it's okay to be like, this isn't for me. Even though it feels like it is. And you only have one life. I always think about that too. Like, I only have, like, what? You got to think about the time that you have on the planet, like my average life expectancy is like, I'm in good health, maybe 90. But like 80 is like pretty much.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Isn't really true to your core regardless of the money. You're picking the wrong team. So you have to find the right team”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My schedule is stacked, like stacked beyond belief, but it's stacked with things that I'm obsessed with, that I love. So passion's got to lead the way. And then the economics is important. You have to like think about that too. Because if it's all entirely passion, I've learned the hard way. And that's why you have teams. That's where you have teams involved that can provide a different, you know, just angle at what you're doing, give you more insight, more just information on your choice. So I do keep my mind open. I think it's also important to not be stubborn and to know when you're wrong and to know that you're not always right. I think it's important you have the right team because those people are saying stuff to you that actually can change your decision, you know, and you keep trusting time and time again as a decision.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Know it's a balance of passion because it's like, you know, I only have so much time in the day. So you got to be like, is my passion going to lead me into making sure I carve this amount of time in my day? Because, you know, time is all we have. And my time, you know, just like everyone else's time is valuable.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah. This actually kind of leads me into what I think of as the classic decoder question asked everybody this question. You run a lot of businesses. You're an artist. You're obviously an investor in a lot of different things. How do you make decisions? What's your thought process when you go through a decision”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm not going anywhere. I'm here. This is the future. Actually, it's not like I'm not going anywhere. This is how commerce will be. So regardless if I'm not going anywhere, it'll be here. Like, that's why I'm like, I see these people. That get into the NFT space, and then there's these rugs that are happening. I'm like, don't you see next year, everyone's going to be doing it and you just rugged yourself. You rugged yourself. From how people, you know, this is how commerce will be. This is how we will communicate. This is going to become very normalized. You know, so you have to think about the long game.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But here's the thing to answer your question, on the business side, it didn't really help us short term. Long-term, yes. That's how you have to think about whenever you do these speculative moves. It's like you can't think about short-term gain or else you're doing it for the wrong reason, period. It's just like one of the life lessons I've learned. It's like I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. What I've been doing my label is not like, oh, we got to make all this money on this artist or bear whatever. And then boom, we're out. No, we were like here to establish an even larger community of people that support us, you know, starting in like these small rooms into like bigger rooms into, you know, arenas to whatever and keep growing it.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“As far as on the business side of things, I feel like one thing that I've always had in my back pocket is like, okay, we got to be a little bit more earlier. We got to do something that other people aren't doing and take that leap forward that's a bit scary, bit speculative. The hater's going to come out, but fuck them. Let's go. So, like, yeah, I mean, I definitely went into the space guns blazing like that, and it worked. And I was like, just trust me on this, on one song. And like, there's so much more visibility on the single.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, like one of the first things we did during that period of time was did the unthinkable. It's like, okay, hey, we want to give away a song for free. They're like, what? The management was like, no, no chance. I'm like, listen to me. This is where it's going to go. I know it doesn't make any sense. And I know it's like everything is getting chopped off as far as how much money we're making. But this is how you're going to make money. And I'm not participating on their touring, but you're going to make more money when more people listen to your songs. Period. By your shows.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, let me ask you about this. So you start, you said before you started, you said in running your record label, DimMac for 27 years. So it's like in the 90s, you started, I think, in 1996. The 90s were crazy for record sales, right? Like CD sales are through the roof. There's no streaming. There's no whatever. And then you like hit Napster and MP3s. That whole business gets turns upside down. Now we're in Spotify's world. There was a moment. I have a vinyl collection. I'm sure you have a much bigger vinyl collection. But, like, you know, people still collect physical music. No one, I think, collects digital music. How did you manage through that?”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So the standard is you get this, and that's what everyone else is paying. So whether you get 0.08 of a cent, yeah, let's say you get to 0.1 of a cent. It doesn't change much. It might be like you get your level up there, but it's not enough, right? So clearly with NFTs and music is providing a different way for musicians to be more engaged with their audience. And this is like, this is where it happens is that like you have the NFT community, the crypto community that are also looking into music as an art form because that's the conversation that's being had is that music is art. We all can agree on that. We all can agree that music is an art form, but it's not regarded as an art on the financial side. of collecting you don't collect a song right you don't you just listen to it it's free it's always been that way it's how it is but”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, yeah. So, majority of people that are making music are not getting 100 million streams or 100 million views on YouTube where like, okay, then you see some money. But even if you're a big artist, even for me, I mean, yes, I get like some really high streaming numbers on a few songs, but it's a few songs. And YouTube is also very low income stream per view, you know? So it's just for sure. I wouldn't be able to have the lifestyle that I have if I wasn't touring because that's 95% of my income, I would say. I mean, I don't even know the percentage. I'm just taking a wild guess here. But yeah, obviously as you get bigger as an artist, you find other ways to make money outside of the music business. Music business hasn't changed. It's kind of like once they set a standard, it's like they don't need to go up too far.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, like if you get, and even some big movie might be lowballing you because it's such a big movie. Or, you know, you get a commercial for tied detergent. You know, like you paid like 100 grand a side. It's like, sweet, you know, especially if you wrote the song, you know, or if you're part of you're participating in the publishing and the master, the master you're going to get paid on the master side. But like on the streams for like 99.9% of the artists that are making music and putting it out there, you can't survive off of streaming income. You probably know better than me, like how much we make on a stream. Spotify stream is like, I don't know, a fraction of a penny.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The business of music It's like, it feels non existent. Outside of shows. I mean, yeah, so yet, like, if you get a big sink, yeah, but that doesn't happen all the time. That's why those things are rare. If you get a big sink on a song, that's how people get their payday.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, so I want to talk about that. That's your investment side. One of the things I really want to explore with you is how NFTs in the music industry are colliding. So outside of the investment side, tell me how the music part of your business works or how it worked before COVID. Because I think people are often really confused about that because it's like a business that doesn't really make a lot of sense. How did that business work for you?”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Like ED It's literally what dance music is electronic dance music. It's EDMT is like literal definition of what you're getting.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, it's right in the name. You know, the name is funny because I know people think it's a bad name non fungible token, but it is the most literal description, right? You can't trade them for one another.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What's the difference between when I first got into NFTs the difference between like investing into a coin versus an NFT? Because the back end of the technology is similar, but the front end is really important. That's how we identify. It's at the end of the day, we'll get to that, I'm sure. But NFTs are the way we identify with culture with other people the way we communicate. And it's obvious, majority of the people that are very confused about NFTs, they don't see that, like they don't see that this is how people identify. They're like, you identify with a JPEG.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Toys. I like invested into some very high end toys, like cause toys. I have a whole cause room of toys. But, you know, I guess in the end, like, you know, I've got a scattered rain here. When it comes to investing, If I have my weight, it has to have a level of experiential value. It has to have something that I can have a sentimental attachment to. I'm far more likely to invest into that than, say, like a stock that is going to perform well. I'll let my business management handle that kind of stuff. If I'm going to put my hands on it, it's like...”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, but it's pretty much more like a square. It's not a pyramid at this point because I do so much in crypto now. I got into crypto like 2018. I invest in art heavily. I have some incredible pieces in my house. And I don't sell. What I've realized in the end, I am a bag holder. So at the NFT community, they love me because I hardly ever sell. Like I do sell. Now like I have a team that helps me operate. So we try to get some cost basis back. But it's even rare I even do that. And I go and sweep floors. If I believe in a project, I don't just buy one, you know, and that's just how I learned my lesson that way. Like you never, like with art, I'll buy one, you know, because I'm just going to have it hanging in my wall.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't know the right terms, but if it was up to me, it would be flipped. It's just way more fun to get into startups and passion projects, because that's how I started. My record label, myself as consider myself an investment, you know, like what I do with music, that's PE. It's like, you know, I invested myself. But thank God I have someone else at the other end of the stick that gives me sound advice.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, it was like a friends and family situation where I think some people that had stock were selling and there's like a sliver of a chance to be able to participate in that. And I was able to get in. So that was pretty awesome. I got into that five years ago or six years ago now, I guess. Art like 2010s, that's when I started getting into alternative investments as well. I definitely, you know, if you talk about business manager, you're supposed to work at a triangular business model where your PE and all the alternative investments are at the top end of the triangle and like your safe investments are at the bottom, you know, you know what I'm saying?”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, it was private fun. I mean, it was just our money. And then we basically were just getting into rounds of late stage investing, like Uber, Pinterest, Spotify, got into SpaceX.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, it's like a very, very high likelihood that if you open something like nightclub restaurant, it's very well known. It's like 90% chance it's going to fail. But it's doing very well for me for the past, I guess like 10 plus years. And then I got into properly investing and then understanding how to position myself in that space. I started a fund with Eminem called Emanoki.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Outside of music and touring a primary part of my business was investing. So once I started making money, say like late 2000s is when the DJing actually came through full bore and started seeing some income. That's when I started doing some small investments restaurants mainly. My family's been involved in restaurants since I was born. My dad was a restaurateur. So I was like, oh, I might as well invest in something like that. So I kind of went into that world a little bit. Actually, as difficult of the business restaurants are in general, then nine out of ten restaurants fail.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I'm very excited to have you. I am personally fascinated by how art and business work together, especially in music. My personal belief is that whatever happens to the music business happens to everyone else five years later. And there's like a lot going on in music right now between NFTs and blockchain. You've got the AOK verse, which I want to talk about. But I want to just start with some foundation so people can understand kind of how the business was working. So before COVID, before NFTs, before everything went upside down, what was your business like? How did work work for you?”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That really means, and how is he going to manage that community? Like all blockchain entrepreneurs, I also wanted to know how he was thinking about the energy use and climate impact of this project. This one takes a lot of different turns. We talk a lot about how Steve manages his time and all the different roles he plays. At one point, he even manifests a future music collaboration. I think you're going to like it. Okay, Steve Aoki, here we go. Steve Aoki, you're a DJ, you're a music producer, you're founder of the Aoki verse. Welcome to Decoder.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Happen to everything else in the future. Take streaming, for example. Spotify came to the United States in 2011. Before Netflix had even done House of Cards, and now as I sit here recording this, Apple and Netflix are contending for the best picture award at the Oscars. Steve has been part of the music industry since 1996, so he's been through a lot of these tech transitions. And now with Web3, he's heavily invested in another. So I wanted to push on how he makes those bets about what's coming next, what the business of music is like for him today, and how he sees it changing. There's a lot of hype when it comes to artists and NFTs, so I wanted to try to understand it from the perspective of a very successful artist, who also happens to be a pretty active investor. And of course, I wanted to push on the hype around the Aoki verse itself. Steve calls it a social club that will combine Web3, Web 2, and IRL experiences.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Hello and welcome to Decoder. I'm Neil Apatel, editor in chief of the Verge, and Decoder is my show about big ideas and other problems. Today I'm talking to Steve Aoki, the superstar DJ, producer, and prolific entrepreneur. Steve owns a label called Dimock, and he tours more than anyone. There have been years where he's played over 300 shows. And now he's launching a big Web3 project called the Aokiverse, which of course involves selling tokens and NFTs. And over time is meant to be part of the metaverse because of course. Now, I have always been utterly fascinated by the concept back and forth between tech and the music business. New tech makes it easier to create and distribute music, but every time that happens, the business model of the music industry changes. And my pet theory is that whatever happens to music today is a preview of what will happen.”
2022-03-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Steve Aoki on why he’s a ‘crypto believer’ · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT