The Future of What

Now more than ever, it is vital to amplify and celebrate members of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly in an industry like ours where they've had an immeasurable impact. In honor of Pride Month, we discuss the state of queer visibility & representation in the music business, both for artists and executives, with Joshua Dickinson of Queer Capita and Sydney Christensen of Kill Rock Stars!

The financing options available to artists at all levels of their career are much more robust today than they’ve ever been, allowing them to accelerate their exposure and access tools to create music more in-line with their original vision. In our latest podcast, Music Biz President Portia Sabin talks to Andrew Bergman, CEO of Downtown Music Holdings and Alex Heiche, Founder and CEO of Sound Royal...

What began as a way for independent record store owners to bolster foot traffic and sales has grown into a shining example of, "if you build it, they will come." In celebration of Record Store Day's 15th anniversary in 2022, Music Biz President Portia Sabin discusses the origins of the event and its affect on the recent resurgence of U.S. vinyl sales with: Brittany Benton, Brittany's Record Shop C...

From its humble beginnings on Orchard St. in NYC 25 years ago to the use of wide-reaching distribution tools used by artists & their teams across the globe today, The Orchard's mission has not changed in its first quarter-century: work to help indie artists get their music out to the masses. In the latest episode of The Future of What, listen in as The Orchard's Co-Founder, Richard Gottehrer and C...

We're excited to bring you the first new episode of The Future of What since 2020! Listen in for expert insights from Beatdapp co-founders, Andrew Batey and Morgan Hayduk, as they discuss the ins-and-outs and different types of fraud which are present in the streaming ecosystem and how they can be detected. Plus, Melissa Morgia from the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry)s...

One of the more important pieces of the Music Modernization Act passed in 2018 was the establishment of the Mechanical Licensing Collective. Similar to SoundExchange, the MLC (as it’s commonly referred to) is a third party organization that exists for the purpose of collecting the royalties (mechanical) that are generated from plays on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. In addition to collect...

With states opening up more and more spaces to the public, the question on some minds is “When will live music return, and what will it look like once it does?” Can venues enforce social distancing responsibly? Will half capacity be enough to sustain artists, venues and crew financially? What can venues do now to assure that they will survive long enough to re-open down the road? We get answers to...

Episode #189 : While the long term effects of the COVID-19 quarantine on the music business are yet to be known, there are lots of real-time metrics to be analyzed in the interim. With the postponement of Record Store Day, and most record shops being closed to the public, the effect on physical sales during this time should be obvious to most. The less obvious changes to global music consumption a...

While many have speculated about what the long term economic impacts of the COVID-19 quarantine might be, fewer have openly discussed what the long term psychological impacts on society might be. In this episode, Portia speaks with several mental health experts who were actively working with musicians before the quarantine began, and gets their take on what was working for their clients pre-quaran...

Over the past several episodes, Portia has had countless discussions with the heads of music business organizations who represent various facets of the industry within the United States. This week, she’s speaking with their peers and equivalents in the U.K. and E.U. about how they’re weathering the pandemic, and what efforts their various governing bodies are making to aid musicians and other cult...

Episode #186 : While the effects of the COVID-19 quarantine on live entertainment and brick and mortar retail are already apparent, other sectors of the music industry like publishing haven’t truly felt the effects of the pandemic yet because of their buffered collection timeline. Will some sectors bare the brunt of this pandemic, while others thrive? Join us this week as Portia speaks candidly wi...

Episode #185 : It should come as no surprise that independent record stores have been particularly hard hit by the “shelter in place” orders established by many states around the country in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Some retailers have pivoted to online sales and other creative means to keep customers happy, but for many brick and mortars, this move just isn’t enough to maintain community...

Episode #184 : On this week’s episode, we’re revisiting another MusicBiz LIVE! event that features candid conversation about what music business trade associations are doing to help their specific constituencies navigate the COVID-19 quagmire. Joining Portia in conversation about the CARES Act and more are : Mitch Glazier and Michele Ballantyne of the RIAA, Richard Burgess of A2IM, Bart Herbison o...

Episode #183 : In the few weeks since our last episode, COVID19 has changed the world and how we interact with one another, and that has had many impacts upon the music business as a whole. With venues and record stores closed to the public for the foreseeable future, musicians are having to find new ways to interact with their fans, and because of the quarantine, most of those interactions are ha...

Episode #182 : While many people start their career in the music business by forming a band or record label, and learning the industry’s norms and quirks largely through trial and error, others choose to enroll in various university programs to learn about the industry. This week we’re exploring what those university programs look like for both undergraduate and graduate students, and what the key...

Episode #181 : Music production has become increasingly fragmented thanks to the advent of affordable studio technology and high speed internet connections, which comes with both benefits and drawbacks. The main benefit is that band members and songwriting teams can now collaborate from anywhere in the world at any time of day, and they can arrange for special guest features with little more than...

Episode #180 : Matt Black and Jonathan Fine first joined forces in the late 1980’s, after a chance encounter at a local record shop. Now, some thirty-odd years later, the two are still working together in multiple capacities, and show no signs of stopping. They’ve released multiple albums as the electronic duo Coldcut, and helped produce several others, in addition to founding the highly regarded...

Episode #179 : Touring has quickly become one of the most effective ways for bands and artists to earn money in the streaming era, despite the fact that getting around is more expensive than it’s ever been. Thankfully, some new technologies have made planning and booking a tour easier than ever, so that bands and artists can push into new markets, without the same level of financial risk that was...

Episode #178 : While music consumption has pivoted away from piracy and downloads, the spectre of the past is once again looming over the industry, as podcasts become an even more dominant medium. Generally unregulated, most podcasts contain at least one musical work, that is likely unlicensed, which means that those episodes you’re downloading are really no different than the unauthorized downloa...

When you hear people within the industry referring to “The Black Box,” they’re most likely referring to the growing sum of undistributed and/or undistributable royalties that have been collected on an artist’s behalf by organizations like SoundExchange. What happens with this “Black Box” is a hotly debated topic within the industry, as every collection society that has one deals with these unclaim...

As we move into 2020, two things have become all the more apparent, artists have to view themselves as small businesses in order to survive, and income streams within the industry are increasingly fragmented. Thankfully, these trends have been tracked for several years in a row, and there are a multitude of services available to bands, artists, and songwriters to help them collect these fractional...

Since 2015, the Nashville Entrepreneur Center has played host to Project Music, an accelerator program for tech start-ups whose focus is upon creating solutions for the music industry. This first of its kind accelerator program has supported five different cohorts to date, and several members of those cohorts have already gone to market with their unique solutions, as a result of the mentorship an...

After several years of growth, the music business no longer feels like its in freefall, and some hopeful industry insiders are hinting that the best is yet to come in the 2020’s. As streaming goes global, and the overall adoption rate goes up across the board, continued revenue growth will be the norm in 2020 and beyond, which is to say nothing of the new ways that music is being monetized in vide...

Today’s streaming market is a crowded arena that’s chock full of big brands, all of whom are vying for the same monthly subscribers, but none of them have truly distinguished themselves from the other. Yes, they all have different visual interfaces and apps, and some are even offering higher bitrates, but as listeners switch over to voice activated listening via smart speakers, how will users know...

With 2019 coming to an end, it feels like the right time to highlight a few of our audience’s most listened to episodes and of the year, so we’re doing a best of 2019 this week! We went through this year’s stats, and isolated the top ten episodes of the year, and then culled the most informative and/or interesting interviews from that bunch. Listen in as we revisit our interviews with writer Cheri...