The Future of What

Tune in to this special message from Music Business Association President, Portia Sabin with some updates regarding our inaugural Trust & Safety In Music Symposium, Music Biz 2024, the Common Ground Webinar Series & our new Music Biz Events app, changes to our website & socials, and more!

The early days of the COVID-19 pandemic opened eyes across the world to just how vital touring & live music is to the entire music business ecosystem. As venues of all sizes closed to stop the spread of COVID, a number of organizations and initiatives were founded in the first pandemic year to help local independent music houses financially stay afloat. Today, these groups now work to keep the liv...

In just a few short years, song lyrics have gone from a “nice to have” addition that music fans could seek out in liner notes or on the internet to a hot commodity on streaming platforms, graphics-heavy promotional videos, user-generated content and beyond. This month, we talk with LyricFind Founder & CEO, Darryl Ballantyne about the evolution of lyric-centric products, how his company liaises wit...

While some say nothing quite captures the experience of listening to music performed in-person, new technologies are bringing unparalleled levels of immersion to the music listening experience. Enter Dolby Atmos, an immersive audio format which debuted for movies more than a decade ago that is now available across music services on 2.5 billion devices. In our latest podcast, Dolby’s Head of Music...

Bad actors have already learned how to exploit generative AI to either pose as popular artists or misappropriate copyrighted material. However companies like DAACI are working with artists, songwriters & composers to develop tools that are additive to the creative process, helping to eliminate tedious parts of their job and overcome writer’s block. In our latest podcast, we talk to DAACI CEO, Rach...

After running a record label and finding common issues across several different music distribution platforms, Gregory Hirschhorn decided to enter the distribution space with Too Lost, paying extra attention to technologies and methods for combating fraud. The company uses Know Your Client (KYC) protocol, which has roots in the financial industry, to add extra security for users uploading their tra...

While generative AI can be used to help human creators develop original works, concerns exist as major film & TV studios stand to reap huge financial benefits by using the technology to wholesale develop screenplays or substitute in digital recreations of actors. This is one of the pillars of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, as workers in the creative industry fight for regulations on the te...

Recent months have shown an uptick in the frequency and variety of fraudulent music streaming practices, allowing bad actors to collect undue revenue by criminally inflating the number of streams for tracks they upload to DSPs. In the first of two episodes this Fall covering music streaming fraud, we talk to CD Baby's Chief Revenue Officer, Christine Barnum about the history of fraudulent behavior...

Originally hailing from the record label side of the business, Bruno Guez founded Revelator 10 years ago to help jumpstart an evolution in digital payments to help meet the needs of the increasingly digital music industry. Fast-forward to today, and Web3 asset distribution & sales may have a similarly transformative effect on the global music business. In this month’s interview, we spoke with Guez...

The Presidential Award for Outstanding Executive Achievement is one of the Music Business Association’s highest and longest-standing honors, presented to individuals or organizations who have contributed greatly to the overall success of the music industry. In our latest podcast interview, Gina Miller of MNRK Music Group — our 2023 Presidential Award winner — discusses her life journey from piano...

AI and machine-learning technologies have been utilized in various capacities in the music industry for decades now. However, the rise of Generative AI — which uses existing human-created art within its algorithms to generate content — presents new legal challenges over who is compensated when the tech is used. This month, we spoke to the NMPA’s Danielle Aguirre about the current legal issues rega...

At the outset, Amber Health was founded to analyze the mental health needs of artists & touring professionals and develop resources to support them navigate their incredibly taxing line of work. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, its mission and scope expanded to create boots-on-the-ground support for the mental health needs of all music industry professionals. In this interview, we speak with Amber...

The performance sports space offers an exciting new revenue opportunity for artists whose tracks are properly licensed for use in gymnastics, dance, cheerleading and beyond. This month we talk with Chantal Epp, the founder and CEO of ClicknClear, a tech-based solution for athletes and program directors to access pre-cleared licensed music that ensures artists are paid for the use of their songs!

2022 marked the first edition of Music Biz’s Bizzy Awards program, a crowd-nominated series of honors recognizing music industry individuals and companies who strive to advance commerce in our industry and make it a better place to work. This ceremony marked the debut of the Leading Light Award, which is given to a company or executive that has supported their staff via internal initiatives aimed...

2022 marked the first edition of Music Biz's Bizzy Awards program, a crowd-nominated series of honors recognizing music industry individuals and companies who strive to advance commerce in our industry and make it a better place to work. This ceremony marked the debut of the Leading Light Award, which is given to a company or executive that has supported their staff via internal initiatives aimed...

Black Lives in Music (BLiM) began as after Blackout Tuesday in 2020 to combat issues of systemic racism in the UK music industry. After learning there was no available data on the topic, the organization commissioned a survey of 2,000+ artists & industry professionals about issues & perception of racism in the region. In our latest podcast, we speak with BLiM CEO, Charisse Beaumont on what’s chang...

Released on International Women's Day 2023, the 3rd iteration of the BE THE CHANGE study showcases the perspectives of more than 1,500 music industry professionals across 100+ countries on how gender discrimination is both experienced and perceived across the music industry. We continue our coverage of the BE THE CHANGE study by talking with TuneCore CEO, Andreea Gleeson about her perspectives on...

Released on International Women's Day 2023, the 3rd iteration of the BE THE CHANGE study showcases the perspectives of more than 1,500 music industry professionals across 100+ countries on how gender discrimination is both experienced and perceived across the music industry. In the first of two episodes focused on this year's report, Matthew Yazge of Luminate breaks down findings from this year's...

For many years, smaller independent labels have found it challenging to provide health insurance options to their employees that were not cost prohibitive. This month we talked with A2IM's President and CEO, Dr. Richard Burgess about the A2IM Benefits Store, launched in September of 2022 to deliver member labels access to affordable health insurance packages, as well as other vital resources they...

While major strides have already been made to improve the work culture of companies across the music business, it’s a never-ending task to ensure that EVERYONE who works in our industry is welcome, supported and truly happy in their day-to-day roles. To kick off the new year, we sat down with BMI’s SVP, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Sandye Taylor in a conversation about sustaining t...

Born from the renewed calls for focus on mental health & wellness during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lazuli Collective works to establish "a new cultural paradigm" that puts the human needs of both artists and music industry executives front and center. In this month's interview, we sat down with the organization's founder, Brandon Holman, to discuss how the Lazuli Collective is makin...

It is of utmost importance for creators, especially in the age of digital music consumption, to log EVERY detail of who participates in the preparation of a song to ensure that all collaborators are properly paid. With his background as a songwriter and producer, Niclas Molinder set out to create a creator-friendly toolset to help not only fairly track credits directly in-studio, but also facilita...

The recent ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) to increase royalty payout rates for songwriters and publishers is a great step forward in fairly compensating creatives for their work. However given the complex nature of the industry, other segments of the business, particularly those involved in selling and distributing music both physically and digitally. In this episode, we discuss the i...

Over the past two years, we’ve seen a major shift from pursuing incremental change to taking truly meaningful action in establishing a more inclusive and equitable workforce. In this month’s episode, we talk to three executives leading the charge to bolster diversity and inclusion in the music industry about the successes of their initiatives and what work still needs to be done.

In this month’s episode recognizing Disability Pride Month, Music Biz President talks with singer/songwriter and disability advocate, Lachi who founded RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities), a coalition that works to build support for disability culture and inclusion for creatives & industry professionals with disabilities. Tune is as Lachi shares the story of her jou...