The Future of What

Dmitri Vietze describes working in PR & marketing in the music industry as a rollercoaster on top of another rollercoaster, given the constant transition in both industries. In this podcast episode, we gain insight into this experience from Dmitri, who runs Rock Paper Scissors, Inc., a PR firm representing music tech companies and organizes the Music Tectonics Conference every year. Throughout the...

Precedent shapes legislation. In our industry’s current era of change – defined by issues ranging from AI usage to increased artist autonomy – these precedents are challenged to pave the way for the potential of new rulings. During Music Biz 2026, Cynthia Katz & Heidy Vaquerano of Fox Rothschild LLP gave us a glimpse beyond the glamorous exterior of music law, starting with how they got into the f...

Music can be discovered anywhere – and for today’s youth, gamified experiences on platforms like Roblox have opened doors for discovering and engaging with a wide range of new music. Splash Music’s Roblox game draws in 2-3 million monthly users, establishing itself as the biggest Roblox stage. This episode recorded at Music Biz 2026 features Splash’s Allison Moore, who speaks on the power of virtu...

Before her start at Revelator four years ago, Ahuvah Berger-Burcat spent two decades in the tech & cybersecurity space. With this, she brings a unique perspective to the music industry and how it compares – from her perspective, we foster an interconnected community but lack regulations on the tech front. In this chat recorded at Music Biz 2026, Ahuvah touches on the importance of the MFFA, the ev...

This episode features Simon Tam of The Slants and Prof. Erik Nielson, co-author of “Rap on Trial,” who both have been instrumental in combating First Amendment right violations against minority musicians. Simon’s fight to get his all-Asian band the right to their name saw thousands of pages of evidence denied, along with a footnote stating that – had they been Caucasian – there’d be no issue. Erik...

When listening to music brings so much joy, working with it every day should feel just as rewarding. In an industry that reflects our broader world, fear-based, ego-driven leadership is slowly being replaced with a culture of empowerment, seeing women and POC in more supervisory roles – though we still have a ways to go. Companies like Downtown drive this change with women holding a variety of lea...

When Music Ally COO Patrick Ross was looking for hotspots to show a Nordic delegation he was hosting in his hometown of Atlanta, the name Patchwerk Studios – a Black-founded studio with more than 30 years worth of gold & platinum records under its belt – came up often. From there, he met Studio Manager Osman Bangura. With Music Biz 2026 taking place in Patchwerk’s home of Atlanta next month, the d...

In an age where musicians are expected to meticulously audit their music data themselves to ensure money isn’t being left on the table, it is inevitable that something will get missed. Notes. FM is designed to lift this weight off of artists’ shoulders, having already found missing money for a total of 94% of their users – with the first artist that they claimed money for receiving $75,000 from Th...

In an age where listeners can access any track at their fingertips, finding ways for artists to connect with superfans requires a creative approach – and Musicow has delivered exactly that. Originating in Korea, with the K-pop market already known for cultivating successful fan engagement strategies, the platform allows for fans to financially invest in the music they love. In this episode, Musico...

Having noticed how difficult it was to obtain catalog info during his time at Hipgnosis Songs, Björn Lindvall set out to create a solution with MusicInfra, providing a scaled infrastructure that ensures works are accurately matched to recordings. Now, in an age where AI is generating more data than ever, such infrastructure has become even more crucial for rights management. In this episode, Björn...

Music rights company Chordal has achieved a major licensing milestone, clearing 51,000 songs in the first six months of their InstantClear technology being live. In their TikTok’s commercial library integration alone, over 15% of those tracks already saw sync revenue. To achieve this success, they’ve leveraged the collaborative nature of the music industry to create a single environment where stak...

Global artists and genres are no longer region-locked, having seen astronomical growth in recent years thanks to the age of digital connectivity. Recently, Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl appearance – combined with the rise of other Latin artists from all different regions such as Chris MJ and Groupo Frontera – have further bolstered the visibility of Latin genres. This special episode features interviews...

In celebration of Symphonic Distribution's 20th anniversary under the leadership of Jorge Brea & Janette Berrios, we bring you a special episode of The Future of What featuring the couple alongside our host Portia & her husband Slim Moon! The pairs discuss how they met their partners, as well as the origins of both Symphonic and Kill Rock Stars, touching on the opportunities & challenges of workin...

Songtradr was founded by artist & producer Paul Wiltshire as a solution for independent artists to upload their own tracks to be licensed all in one place, in response to him facing these struggles in his own career. Since then, the platform has expanded and tailored its strategy to the complexity of the music business by acquiring companies like 7digital, Big Sync, MassiveMusic and Bandcamp. In t...

Music law is important for everyone in our industry to be familiar with, no matter your role or experience level. This episode features Matthew Wilson and Michelle Davis of Arnall Golden Gregory LLP, two entertainment lawyers who champion this belief by spreading their own wealth of knowledge to others via mentoring & education programs. The two discuss their respective backgrounds and involvement...

To keep pace with change, adapting to new technologies is essential. Good Boy Records has not only adapted, but created their own tech — an AI-powered legal platform called Clearnote. This platform was developed by Good Boy’s founders & their VP of Operations, Cameron Siasi, to meet the demand for a more streamlined legal process for industry attorneys, especially in an age where tens of thousands...

After noticing artists spending more than they were getting at agencies, Danny Garcia developed SongTools to let music creators take control of their marketing campaigns via playlisting and ad tools. Though originally delivered primarily to artists themselves, SongTools has expanded to integrate within distribution platforms, producing success for partners like Symphonic where they drove a 70% cli...

While traditional label models still dominated in 2014 when David Dann founded Mind of a Genius Records, the pendulum has swung in favor of artists and distribution deals in the digital era, setting the stage for the creation of Green Tea Distro. GTD provides support to artists at all stages and budgets, offering services from song development to monthly workshops to day-to-day A&R support. David...

After analyzing nearly 7 trillion streams and 70 trillion data points in the past 18 months, Beatdapp continues to advance the industry’s fraud protection efforts with their new Trust & Safety Operating System. Marking a milestone for Beatdapp, this platform is their first to provide for all sectors of the music industry while also being portable to gaming, creator platforms, streaming video, tele...

Two years after the formation of the Music Fights Fraud Alliance (MFFA) and almost one year into Michael Lewan’s appointment as Executive Director, the organization has reached many milestones – including helping put together this year’s iteration of our annual Trust & Safety in Music Symposium! In this episode, Michael details the specific issues the MFFA tackles, what the alliance has accomplish...

What began in 2007 as a hi-res music download store has grown into a vital platform for global music fans eager for a human-curated, high-quality listening experience. Qobuz has had a massive 2025, which saw them peak at #4 on the iOS App Store thanks in part to viral posts calling out their 24-bit hi-res streaming & download offerings and editorial team-led recommendations. This month, we talk to...

Hopeless Records has passed its third decade in business since we last had label founder Louis Posen on the podcast, so we caught up with him once again to talk all things Hopeless and indie labels! In this episode, Louis walks us through the unique origin of Hopeless, its early ties with Fat Wreck Chords, and their strong commitment to charity – housing Sub City, Songs That Saved My Life and Hope...

The digital age has created a plethora of data resources for artists and their teams, but it has also highlighted the glaring disadvantages of unorganized, siloed workflows within our industry. As an event management, project management and business intelligence platform, Artist Growth is a testament to how more centralized information creates a better picture of exactly what is and isn’t working...

In this episode, we caught up with David Wolfe of The Vinyl Groove Records, Brian Burkert of The Sound Garden, and Mike Durham & Christina Wilson of Zia Records, who highlight the everlasting importance of physical music by diving into exciting happenings at each of their stores. Our guests discuss the impact of the recent Luminate + Street Pulse deal, how Black Friday serves as “Record Store Day...

The need for meaningful rights protection will always exist across both the video and audio content industries. Expanding their arm into the audio field with the acquisition of Pex, Vobile now provides solutions for both. We brought Vobile’s SVP of Sales, Larry Mills onto the podcast to discuss the robust sector of the music industry that is fighting against the mass scale of fraud occurring on a...