Music Ally Focus

Ep. 184: We’re thrilled to be joined once again by Stuart Dredge, Music Ally’s head of insight, as we chat about our June 2026 Insight Report. This one is the International Issue ( https://musically.com/category/reports/ ) and is the result of spending 12 months speaking to local experts who know how to break artists in each territory. It's packed with on-the-ground insight and marketing advic...

A little bonus cross-over episode for you Focus listeners. On our The Price of Music Podcast , we had two very special guests talk about how to actually make important change happen in the UK’s live industry at grassroots level, and improve the live music fan's experience: Lord Kevin Brennan of Canton⁠ , Labour member of the House of Lords – and a ⁠recording musician⁠ himself. We also speak to...

Ep. 182: 30 years of running an indie record label is a monumental milestone. We speak to Chris Goss about exactly that – three decades after he co-founded the highly influential jungle / drum and bass label Hospital Records. Chris has lots to say about the "blood, sweat, and tears" required to stay independent for three decades; modern A&R and how Hospital balances a classic "g...

Ep. 181: This is the second episode in a two-part series about the evolution of CMOs – recorded as collective management organisations undergo their most significant transformation in decades. In this episode, Sacem’s Director of International, Caroline Champarnaud chats with  Julien Dumon , its Director of Digital. They explain how the global infrastructure only works if it ultimately serves crea...

Here's a taste of our other podcast, The Price Of Music, presented by Steve Lamacq and Stuart Dredge – it's your easy weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works, Like what you hear? Subscribe to TPOM now! https://MusicAlly.lnk.to/TPOM This week, there's a change to our normal schedule – with a whistlestop tour around the news and then a very special interview with Ashli Todd ,...

Ep. 180: Music consumption today is borderless, but the systems that manage it have historically been national. Now, collective management organisations are undergoing their most significant transformation in decades. On one hand, they are becoming global infrastructure players, scaling systems, data and partnerships to match worldwide music consumption. On the other, they are redefining their rel...

Ep. 179: It's a Very Special Episode of Music Ally’s Focus podcast in which Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow can roll up their sleeves and look at the impact that AI is having on streaming in 2026 – and there’s a whole lot of nuance, what-if’s, and context to rummage around in. It's all connected to Music Ally's latest Insight Report (available to Music Ally Subscribers here: https://musi...

Ep. 178: Collective management is no longer just about collecting royalties; it's about innovating infrastructure and offering direct services. So we're joined by Julien Lefebvre, the Head of Innovation and Sacem Lab, to talk about the Lab project, its startup partnerships, and the strategic decision to open up certain proprietary technologies (including blockchain applications) to all cre...

Ep. 177: Generative AI, copyright, and collection. Welcome to a special Music Ally Focus podcast series made in collaboration with Sacem, exploring the evolution of collective management in the modern music industry – looking at technology, policy, copyright and more. In the first episode: Generative AI is no longer a future concept – it is a fundamental tool in today's creative process. But a...

Ep. 176: In 2026, labels, artists, musicians and creators are all working differently: generating millions of micro-royalties every month across global campaigns that involve multiple of partners across dozens of countries. Getting your music out there is easier than ever, but processing that increased volume of payouts becomes more complex – and we all have an expectation to get paid fast, and se...

Ep. 175: Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Research joins us to talk about labels in 2026. It's jam-packed with great advice for labels of all sizes and ambitions, including: The value shift between labels and streaming platforms in terms of the 'ownership' of the music consumer How labels should "specialise" - and what that means for the labels who try to do it all He advocates for lab...

Ep. 174: What's going to give you or your artist cut-through in 2026? At the start of last year we published one of our most popular podcasts of the year: when we asked Liam James Ward, CEO/co-founder of content strategy studio Something Something to look ahead into 2025’s upcoming marketing trends. Never let it be said that Music Ally Focus likes anything more than pushing against an open doo...

Ep 173: We're refreshing Focus (or should that be re-Focusing?) for our many music marketing listeners – we'll now be publishing regular episodes that spotlights recent excellent music marketing work. We're calling it "Genius Steals", so get ready to be inspired as regular host Joe Sparrow asks the stupid questions to Music Ally's marketing expert Marlen Hüllbrock. She&#3...

Ep 172: Taking the pulse of music-tech in 2025. We asked Music Ally’s head of insight, Stuart Dredge, to chat to our managing editor Joe Sparrow about the state of music-tech – and they talk in depth about AI doing your admin, the proliferation of tools designed to empower artists, direct-to-fan monetisation tech,  and more! This podcast connects to Music Ally's latest Insight Report on music-...

Ep. 171: We speak to Idan Dobrecki, the co-founder of Aiode, an AI music-making platform that emphasises two key features: its ethically-trained system that shares earnings with the musicians whose music is used, and its “virtual collaborator” approach. Idan compares the latter to having a talented musician “riding shotgun”, and music producers can call on the skills of the virtual (real) musician...

A quick bonus episode for you all, in case you have missed our new, other podcast, The Price of Music, your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. (You can follow it here on your platform of choice:   Spotify  /  Apple  /  YouTube  /  other ) In the most recent episode, presenters Steve Lamacq ands Stuart Dredge get stuck into... Listener Richard had a great question about music journ...

Ep. 170: We bring you a bumper episode of Music Ally Focus, with four true domain experts, all sharing their advice, insight and strategies for you to use. (UPDATE: we fixed a surprising number of audio glitches!) Music marketing is in a transitional era where traditional funnel marketing rubs up against wallet-draining superfan campaigns – and the desire to create deep, narrow direct-to-fan commu...

Episode 169: This podcast is aligned with Music Ally’s newest International Focus report, which pulls together the last year’s worth of Country Profiles which we publish, plus some extra exclusive analysis. So, we’re joined by Stuart Dredge, Music Ally’s head of insight, to discuss some of the burning topics when we look at the international music market right now in summer 2025. Stu talks to Joe...

Ep. 168: we speak to Jorge Brea, CEO of Symphonic Distribution, and Guji Lorenzana, Symphonic's Territory Manager, Asia, to talk about successful strategies for international expansion. We talk about: * What has worked well so far in their expansion into Latin America and Asia – and what didn’t go as planned? * When you're entering a new market  what are the very first steps you take? What...

Ep. 167: We speak to beatBread CEO Peter Sinclair – on getting more options, insight and choices in music funding, and how independent artists, labels and songwriters are getting better deals while retaining ownership of their music using beatBread’s game changing deal comparison tool. Peter chats to Music Ally Editor Joe Sparrow in this episode of MA focus, in collaboration with Beatbread. Websit...

Ep. 166: Music Ally’s Head of Insight, Stuart Dredge joins Joe Sparrow to discuss two of the most meaningful topics relating to music streaming today: the value of music on DSPs; and the big DSPs' upcoming superfan plans. This podcast connects to Music Ally's latest Insight Report called the State of Streaming in 2025 (https://musically.com/category/reports). In this podcast we discuss: The value...

Artists, songwriters and music rightsholders can now free up capital using their music in so many ways, and the old days of simply seeking advances from labels or publishers are long-gone. Sound Royalties provides a way to access tomorrow's music income today: over a decade ago the company pioneered a funding model they call “creative-friendly music finance”, where the company fronts money to...

Ep. 164: Music marketing is always changing - and yet the fundamentals stay the same. So what's going to change in 2025 – and how can you change your strategy to make sure you keep cutting through? Liam James Ward is CEO/co-founder of social/digital music marketing agency Something Something , and he joins Music Ally's Joe Sparrow to look ahead. And it's not just a bunch of hand-waving...

Ep. 163: The jobs market in the music industry is changing fast: it's not just artists who are decoupling from the traditional industry businesses, it's the industry workers too. Not only have various major players laid off significant percentages of their workforce, but some artists and teams are seeking smaller, nimbler companies to do niche tasks. So we got Music Ally COO Patrick Ross on the sh...

Ep. 162: It's always a Very Special Episode when Music Ally's Head of Insight, Stuart Dredge, joins the Focus podcast, and lo, Stu chats to Joe Sparrow in depth about AI (of course!), music fintech, music ecotech, music healthcare tech and more! This episode is part of Music Ally's annual music-tech Insight Report, available to Music Ally subscribers. ------ 👋  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠T...