Making a Scene Presents

Making a Scene Presents - Why Web3 Touring Collectives Will Replace Booking Agents How Indie Artists Can Use DAOs, Fan-Powered Ticketing, and Community Spaces to Build Tours Without Gatekeepers The music industry likes to pretend that touring is some kind of secret science only insiders understand. Booking agents act like they hold magic keys. Venues act like they own every path to a stage. Promot...

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Pierre Lacocque of Mississippi Heat! On the back cover of Mississippi Heat’s album Footprints On the Ceiling, there’s a photo of a man playing harmonica with such intensity you can almost hear the music in the silence of the still image. That man is Pierre Lacocque—the band’s founder, bandleader, and principal songwriter. What that photo suggest...

Making a Scene Presents - How to Use ChatGPT to Analyze Your Mix and Make It Better The New Secret Weapon for Indie Artists Mixing at Home Mixing your music at home shouldn’t feel like guesswork. But most indie artists know the feeling. You sit in front of your speakers, you start turning knobs, and you hope for the best. Some days everything sounds muddy. Other days your vocals feel harsh and thi...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Pops Fletcher My story starts at age thirteen in the Roosevelt Jr. High auditorium. Three of us stood onstage with acoustic guitars, blinded by a single follow spot, singing “If I Had a Hammer” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.” I didn’t realize it then, but folk music was the doorway that pulled me into a lifetime of performing. http://www.makingascene.org

Making A Scene Is Moving Toward a 100% Ad-Free, User-Supported Future For more than a decade, Making A Scene has been showing up every single day for the indie music world. We have published fresh content every single day for over 10 years straight. No breaks. No missed days. No excuses. Every sunrise brings new interviews, new reviews, new gear talk, new music business guides, and new tools to he...

Making a Scene Presents - AI Isn’t Replacing Musicians—It’s Replacing the Music Industry Middlemen There’s a strange truth hiding in plain sight in the music world right now, and the only people who seem scared of it are the ones who have the most to lose. If you listen to big labels, legacy execs, and certain industry talking heads, they want you to believe that AI is coming after the artists. Th...

Making a Scene Presents - Emotion-Driven Mixing: How AI Reads Feelings to Shape the Sound There’s a quiet revolution happening in the studio, and it has nothing to do with new mics or fancy compressors. It’s about something deeper. For the first time ever, we have AI tools that can actually read the emotional tone of music. Not just the key, tempo, or waveform shape. I’m talking about mood, feelin...

Making a Scene Presents - AI-Powered Music Ads: Smarter Targeting, Better Results When you hear people talk about AI in music marketing, it usually sounds like a bunch of tech hype. But the truth is actually much simpler. AI has changed ads on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok in a way that finally helps indie musicians reach real fans without wasting money. You no longer have to sit there trying to...

Making a Scene Presents - Warner Music Signs Deal with Suno.com and Ends it's Lawsuit So… What Happened? Last week, Warner Music Group (WMG) announced it had settled its copyright lawsuit against Suno. That lawsuit was one of several filed by major labels in 2024 and 2025, accusing AI music generators like Suno (and its rival Udio) of using copyrighted recordings — without permission — to train th...

Making a Scene Presents - Music Metadata on the Blockchain: Fixing a Broken System The music industry has a weird problem that nobody outside the business talks about. It’s not streaming payouts. It’s not labels taking too much money. It’s something way more basic, almost embarrassing when you think about it. The whole industry still runs on broken metadata. Metadata is the simple information abou...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Roy Blumenfeld of The Blues Project Roy Blumenfeld has lived at the center of some of the most electrifying moments in New York’s 1960s music revolution. Born in the Bronx in 1944, he came of age just as American rock and roll was taking shape. Drawn early to the sounds of blues, R&B, and jazz, he picked up the drums and quickly became part of the city’s v...

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Rebecca Downes Birmingham-based singer, songwriter, and independent artist Rebecca Downes has spent more than a decade building one of the most respected reputations in modern blues-rock. Working closely with longtime co-writer and multi-instrumentalist Steve Birkett, she releases all her music on her own label Mad Hat Records—a fully self-susta...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Larin Michaels Born and raised in the heart of Motown, Larin Michaels grew up surrounded by one of the world’s greatest music traditions. He began his musical journey at just seven years old as a drummer, laying the foundation for a lifelong career shaped by rhythm, soul, and unmistakable Detroit grit. By fifteen, Larin had expanded his musical palette to...

Making a Scene Presents - The Last Great Land Grab: How Web3 Will Decide Who Owns the Next Music Economy The music industry is going through one of the biggest power shifts in its history, and most artists don’t even realize it yet. The shift isn’t happening in the headlines. It’s happening underneath everything, in the code, in the way money moves, in the way fans connect, and in the way ownershi...

Making a Scene Presents - AI Audience Targeting: Finding Your True Fans How Indie Artists Use AI to Locate Real Listeners Before Spending a Dime on Ads If you’re an indie artist trying to grow your fanbase, you already know the truth that no one likes to say out loud. Posting nonstop on social media doesn’t automatically bring fans. Boosting random posts doesn’t work. Throwing a few dollars at an...

Making a Scene Presents - Intelligent Room Simulation: AI That Maps Your Studio’s Sonic DNA When you’re working in a home studio that doubles as a bedroom, office, storage space, and part-time cat playground, it can feel like the whole room is fighting your mix. The low end swells in one corner, the highs disappear in another, and your mixes fall apart the second you play them anywhere else. For y...

Making a Scene Presents - Fan Tokens and Social Currencies: The Rise of the Artist Coins There’s a quiet revolution happening in the music world, and you can feel it in the air if you’re paying attention. It’s not coming from the major labels or the streaming giants. It’s coming from the artists — especially the independent ones who are finally done waiting for permission. After years of dealing w...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Henri Herbert Originally from the UK and now based in Nashville, TN, Henri Herbert has earned a reputation as one of the most electrifying blues and boogie-woogie pianists working today. A permanent resident of the United States, his Green Card was granted specifically for his exceptional ability as a blues pianist—formal recognition of a talent that has t...

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with AK and the Red Kites AK & The Red Kites is a modern rock band with a retro-infused edge—big riffs, cinematic soundscapes, and a raw energy rooted in classic influences but driven by a bold, contemporary vision. At the center of this new creative chapter is frontman and guitarist Andrew Knightley, rising from the ashes of his previous blues-rock...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Joel Dupuis Based in London, Ontario, The Joel Dupuis Band is a powerhouse three-piece delivering high-energy, no-nonsense, straight-ahead rocking blues. Winners of London Blues Band of the Year 2024 and Guitar Player of the Year 2024, they’re known for explosive performances, soulful original songs, and bold, modern spins on classic favorites. http://www....

Making a Scene Presents - Predictive Mixing: How AI Anticipates Problems Before You Hear Them A Deep-Dive Guide for Indie Artists Who Want a Cleaner, Faster, Smarter Mix If you’ve been mixing your own music for a while, you already know how chaotic the process can feel. You dial in the vocals until they finally sit right, but then the guitars suddenly jump out too bright. You smooth the guitars, a...

The Importance of Building a Music Industry Middle Class Why 1,000 True Fans, Smart Business Strategy, and New Tech Can Build a Real Career for Indie Artists Most people look at the music industry and imagine two extremes. On one side, there are the massive superstars with private jets, giant stadiums, and million-dollar deals. On the other side, there are the struggling artists who play small gig...

AUTOMATING YOUR MUSIC RELEASE CAMPAIGN WITH AI How AI Plans, Writes, Designs, and Schedules Every Step of a Music Release Releasing music used to feel like running a marathon blindfolded. You’d drop a song and hope someone noticed. You’d scramble to write captions. You’d rush to make promo graphics. You’d forget to email your fans. You’d promise yourself you wouldn’t make the same mistakes next ti...

Making a Scene Presents - How to Use Web3 and the Decentralized Music Industry to Build a Sync Licensing Business If you’ve been in music for a while, you already know the truth — streaming doesn’t pay the bills. The pennies per play model has pushed more and more indie musicians to look for other ways to earn. One of the most powerful options out there is sync licensing — getting your music place...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with John Christopher Morgan John Christopher Morgan is a songwriter, guitarist, and storyteller whose music digs deep into the roots of American sound—where blues, soul, and folk rock collide with raw honesty. With a voice rich in grit and warmth, and guitar work shaped by years of stage experience, Morgan delivers songs that feel lived-in, heartfelt, and unfi...