It’s somehow already midweek, party people. Did you know that, according to the Pew Research Center, a quarter of the web pages that were operational between 2013 and 2023 are now simply dead links? They just go to that classic “404 not found” error page. Are we now living in the era of a dying internet? What does the collective intelligence of the world wide web mean when things simply disappear? Heady stuff. But don’t worry, TheFutureParty isn’t going anywhere.

In other news… Wu-Tang Clan’s secret album gets played a decade later, San Francisco tourists love a Waymo ride, and Tom Cruise has a video of everything he knows about making movies.

We hope you enjoy this and all upcoming issues, but we have one request: please share your feedback. If you have any thoughts at all about our new look, format, and direction, please reply to this email. It’ll go straight to us. Do not hold back.

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• YouTube – Black Ops 6

• X (Twitter) – Andre 3000

• Google – Bill Walton

• Reddit – Jimmy Kimmel

• TikTok – “Fall Back” - Lithe

• Spotify – “Think I’m In Love With You” - Chris Stapleton, Dua Lipa

.MUSIC.

Wu-Tang Clan’s secret album will finally get public play

The Future. Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is finally getting the opportunity to be listened to publicly… as long as you can make it to a museum in Australia. Considering the hype that the album has built up over the past decade, the exhibitions could spark a fan pilgrimage… and inspire other legendary acts to play with releasing albums in more analog ways.

Drop of the decade
The most valuable album in the world, per the Guinness Book of World Records, is finally getting a spin next month.

• Thirty minutes of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin will be played at listening sessions at Australia’s Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania between June 15th and June 24th.

• The LP is on loan from the decentralized autonomous organization PleasrDAO.

• Tickets are free (the album contractually can’t be used commercially until 2103) but are on a limited first-come, first-served basis.

Created in secret over the course of six years in the 2000s, only one pressing of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin exists in CD form (and it’s unavailable digitally or to stream). The CD was auctioned off in 2015, selling to pharmaceutical tycoon Martin Shkreli for $2 million. But when he was sent to prison for fraud, and his assets were taken by the federal government, the CD was purchased by PleasrDAO with crypto. Phew.

Why all the hoops to jump through to listen to this album? The group wrote that streaming had so greatly devalued music that they wanted to create a “Renaissance-style” work that “is worth millions by virtue of its exclusivity.”

Also, according to those who heard snippets of the album in 2015 at a single private exhibition in New York, the music apparently rules.

54% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Do you watch college sports?

“Football and March Madness.”

“But it’s getting harder every day to stay excited about college sports.”

“My college still doesn’t have a football team.”

.A WORD FROM OUR FRIENDS AT NICE NEWS.

Great news coming your way

Want to wake up to good news?

Meet Nice News — the newsletter that’s like a daily dose of email sunshine.

Instead of serving you all the crazy stuff that’s going on out there, Nice News filters through 100+ sources daily to send you the most uplifting, relevant stories.

Join over 750,000 readers and get great news sent right to your inbox.

Media, Music, & Entertainment

• All 10 tracks from Billie Eilish’s new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, debuted in the Top 40 of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. [Read More]

• Cineworld and Regal are expanding their 4DX screens — theaters that spray water, rumble seats, and blow wind — to hopefully draw more audiences to summer blockbusters. [Read More]

• Actor and screenwriter Glen Powell revealed the existence of a Tom Cruise-created, six-hour-long video that teaches everything the star has learned about filmmaking… and it’s only shown to friends and collaborators. [Read More]

Fashion & E-Commerce

• Luxury sneaker brand Golden Goose — a favorite of Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez — plans to go public in Milan at a $3.3 billion valuation. [Read More]

• Google is investing $350 million in the Indian ecommerce platform Flipkart, which is controlled by Walmart. [Read More]

• Startup Starface has become a Gen-Z hit by creating products for the generation’s flaws and vices. [Read More]

Tech, Web3, & AI

• OpenAI has convened a new safety team… that will be led by CEO Sam Altman and board members Adam D’Angelo and Nicole Seligman. [Read More]

• Elon Musk’s xAI has raised an eye-popping $6 billion in a single funding round. [Read More]

• Trades on Wall Street will now take only one day to settle — the first time it’s done so that quickly in 100 years. [Read More]

Creator Economy

• The Cyberspace Administration of China ruled that influencers can no longer show off having a lavish lifestyle. [Read More]

• Instagram is potentially rolling out a feature that lets users opt in to try out new features on the app. [Read More]

• Tumblr is launching its semi-private “Communities” feature in open beta — the spaces have their own moderators, rules, and privacy settings. [Read More]

.TRANSPORTATION.

Robotaxis send tourists flocking to San Francisco

The Future. Tourists are increasingly reporting that riding in a robotaxi is a key reason why they want to visit the city. Despite their controversial reputation with San Francisco residents, the rider boost from tourists could ensure that the city continues to support the technology’s public experimentation… and fuel expansion to new locations.

Look, ma, no hands!
These days, no trip to San Francisco is apparently complete without a ride in a Waymo.

• While Cruise and Zoox also operate in some form in the city, Waymo is the only self-driving car that offers public rides.

• It’s become a novel way of getting from one tourist hot spot to another. Popular pick-up and drop-off locations include the Ferry Building and Pier 39.

• That’s made the waitlist for the app skyrocket in sign-ups — Anjelica Price-Rocha, a public relations manager for Waymo, recommends that travelers now sign up for the app as soon as they book their trip.

San Francisco officials are likely stoked at this development, especially as the city has undergone a major downturn post-COVID, with rising crime rates and drug use overwhelming residents and hurting businesses.

Now, the city can point to a public innovation that reminds the world it’s still the center of technological advancement… one that has tourists’ travel videos do the marketing for them.

.A WORD FROM OUR FRIENDS AT FINANCE BUZZ.

Hands down, some of the best credit cards for balance transfers

Did you know that some credit cards can actually help you get out of debt faster?

Yes, it sounds crazy. But it’s true. The secret: find a card with a “0% intro APR” period for balance transfers. Then, transfer your debt balance and pay it down as much as possible during the intro period.

No interest means that you can pay off the debt faster.

Check out the full list of cards you can use to do this here.

• Listen: The Town chats with Puck legal expert Eriq Gardner about the ins and outs of the antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster.

• Read: CNN explains creator Jenny Nicholson’s four-hour-long takedown of Disney’s Galactic Starcruiser hotel that blew up like wildfire over the weekend.

• Watch: The Circuit dives into the world of kidfluencers, focusing on the wildly lucrative empire of 12-year-old Ryan Kaji.

Best of both worlds when it comes to marketing the upcoming Netflix movie Hit Man.

LATEST PODCAST EPISODE

Today we get into the NFL potentially allowing private equity into team ownership, how brands are paying school tuition fees, and how streamers are trying to change the way they pay their talent.