Avsnitt
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What if you could make music with anything around you? Fruit, water, human skin, or even the weight of objects on a kitchen scale? That's the question Playtronica has been answering for over a decade
This week on the podcast, Adam McHeffey sits down with co-founders Sasha Pas and Aglaya Demidenko to explore how they built one of the most creative and community-driven companies in music technology today.
Playtronica makes accessible music instruments that turn everyday objects into musical interfaces, no music theory required. Their products, including Touchme, Biotron, Orbita, and their newest release Scales, have gone viral across social media for their playful, tactile approach to music making. But behind the viral moments is a deeply intentional philosophy: remove the barrier of "are you a musician?" and let curiosity do the rest.
In this conversation, we get into how Playtronica grew a loyal global community through creator partnerships and influencer strategy, what their installations with luxury brands like Hermès taught them about creativity and access, and why the form factor of an instrument matters far less than the feeling it creates. Sasha and Aglaya also share practical advice for music tech entrepreneurs looking to break through on social media and build communities that last.
The news
Merck Mercuariadis on Hipgnosis, vindication, and his next move.
The Average On-Demand Streaming User Spends $434 Per Year on Recorded Music in the U.S., Up 27% from 2020, DIMA Report Finds
Warner Music Group Acquires AI Attribution Tool Sureel AI
SingFit Merges Music with Technology to Improve the Lives of People Facing Cognitive Challenges
Despite dying 30 years ago, Tupac Shakur is acting in a new game
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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What if the biggest opportunity in music monetization isn't streaming, social media, or live concerts? It's the $300 billion pro AV industry, and most musicians and music tech innovators have never thought about it.
This week on the podcast, Graeme Harrison, vice president and general manager of Bluesound Professional, joins Dmitri to break down how commercial audio is reshaping the way brands use music in physical spaces. From 15,000 7-Eleven stores to NFL stadiums to the US Senate, Graeme's work sits at the intersection of music, technology, and brand experience in ways the music industry rarely talks about.
In this episode, Graeme and Dmitri dig into why congruent audio and visual together are 1,200% more effective than either one alone, how commercial music licensing pays artists significantly more than residential streaming, and why the rise of AI-generated music in public spaces could trigger a second era of elevator music that cuts artists out of the equation entirely.
They also get into the growing world of biophilic soundscaping, adaptive AI playlist curation, and what it means for a brand like 7-Eleven to use music not as background noise but as a core part of its identity.
If you work in music tech, artist services, or brand strategy, this episode reframes where the money is and where it's headed.
The News
What's Next Now That Live Nation Has Been Found to Act as a Monopoly
The MLC Re-Designated by the U.S. Copyright Office
Suno raises over $400 million, pushing valuation to $5.4 billion
Board Raises $20M Series A Led by Union Square Ventures as It Expands From Gaming Hardware to AI-Powered Creation Platform
Ableton Extensions will let you code your own tools and actions for Live
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Remember when the best music recommendation you ever got didn't come from Spotify's algorithm, but from your coworker, your cousin, or a stranger in another country who loves the same obscure band you thought only you knew about?
Eric West is the founder of Music League, a competitive music discovery platform with nearly 200,000 monthly active users across 160 countries. Players compete in themed rounds, submitting songs and voting on each other's picks, which means people actually listen rather than just passing along a link and forgetting about it. The result is something the streaming era largely eroded: real music discovery driven by real people whose opinions you have a reason to care about.
This week on the podcast, Eric talks with our head of new business Jade Prieboy about how a music taste game accidentally became a community-building tool for workplaces and families, what the daily-to-monthly active user ratio reveals about how people actually engage with the platform, and what phase two looks like when artists get direct access to fans who have already been repping them inside the game for months.
If you work in music tech, artist development, or fan engagement, this one reframes how discovery and community can work in the streaming era.
The news
The "quiet money" behind $4 billion music catalog deals
Bollore urges UMG to reject Ackman's $64 billion bid
Qobuz Is Suddenly One of the Fastest-Growing Streaming Music Platforms. But Why, You Ask?
Why Spotify (SPOT) Is Up 19.0% After New AI Remix Deal And 2030 Targets
The Active Listening Era of Music Begins
Can you own a voice? Taylor Swift's latest legal move raises big questions for AI and copyright
Swedish startup Tonada is making AI music for retailers
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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Why are most brands still stuck licensing royalty-free tracks nobody recognizes while short-form content runs on music?
This week, we're sharing a conversation Jade Prieboy had at SXSW with Ferris Bseiso, founder of Cipher Music, breaking down how TikTok rewrote the economics of sync licensing, why major brands are getting hit with eight-figure copyright lawsuits over Instagram posts, and how Cipher is creating a volume-driven sync market designed specifically for the creator economy.
Also on this episode, Jade and Dmitri swap takeaways from Music Biz in Atlanta and Mo Forum in New York. They dig into AI voice cloning and the concept of style laundering, Andrea Gleason's provocative idea about generative AI and streaming platforms, the rise of institutional catalog investment from companies like Apollo and Primary Wave, and what the KISS hologram deal signals about the future of artist IP.
Music, technology, and internet culture are colliding in real time. This episode is right in the middle of it.
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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Emmanuel Zunz, the CEO and founder of ONErpm, has spent 16 years building one of the fastest-growing independent music companies in the world, across 40 territories, with a staff of over 500, and without a single round of outside investment. In this episode, he breaks down exactly how that happened.
This week on the podcast, Emmanuel and Dmitri get into why the traditional definition of independence is outdated, why Taylor Swift can be on a major label and still be completely independent, and what it actually means for an artist or company to be in control of their own destiny.
They also dig into the convergence happening right now between distributors and labels, the race to the bottom on margins that's pushing funded indie companies toward acquisition or collapse, and why Emmanuel believes the label of the future is built on scalable technology, diversified deal structures, and a global roster rather than big advances and market share at any cost.
If you work in music distribution, run an independent label, or are trying to build a sustainable creative business on your own terms, this one is worth your full attention.
The news
The live-music boom has convinced some artists they're bigger than they are
Live Nation pushes back on 'blue dot fever': 'It's a normal touring year'
Listeners engage less deeply with music labeled as AI – even when it's actually human-made, academic study finds
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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What does it actually look like to build a music career from the ground up as an artist in 2026?
This week Dmitri sits down with Aryyzona, a Brazillian-born, LA-based artist who has been posting videos on YouTube since 2009 and recently released her hyper pop EP Gacha World, complete with a custom video game.
With over a million YouTube subscribers and a devoted following across TikTok and Instagram, Aryy has a perspective on the creator economy that challenges a lot of assumptions. She breaks down why she refuses to call herself a social-first artist even though she posts constantly, how she balances paid brand partnerships with creative integrity, and what the traditional music industry gets wrong about creators who built their audiences outside the label system.
They also get into the emotional reality of being a music creator, including separating your self-worth from your analytics, navigating hate comments, and staying grounded when engagement is unpredictable. Plus, Aryy shares a story how her ukelele videos once landed her on a Southwest Airlines flight to Hawaii to teach an entire cabin of passengers how to play ukulele.
If you are a musician trying to understand the creator economy, a content creator wondering whether you can make it as an artist, or someone who wants an honest look at building an audience and a music career at the same time, this episode if for you
The news
Sony in advanced talks to buy Blackstone's Recognition Music for up to $4B, reports Bloomberg
YouTube allows creators to replace music with copyright issues with genAI songs
Zuckerberg Personally Authorized Massive Copyright Infringement to Train AI, Multiple Publishers Allege
Suno CEO Calls AI Platform "Ozempic of the Music Industry"
How Duetti Finds Big Value in Small Catalogs: 'It's Not About Aggregating Rights… It's About Taking Care of Them'
Nebula becomes latest fan-to-artist investment platform
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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Most artists have no idea who their fans actually are. They know follower counts and streaming numbers, but they don't own the relationship, and according to Rob Sealy, that single problem is costing the music industry billions.
Rob is the co-founder of OpenStage, a platform helping artists from emerging talent to global icons like Paul McCartney, Oasis, and Lana Del Rey reclaim their fan data and build businesses that don't depend on platform algorithms. In this conversation, he shares why the music industry is massively undersized compared to sport, what it looks like when artists go directly to fans before they even book a tour, and how knowing your fans changes everything from ticket sales to merch to revenue you didn't know you were leaving behind.
Also in this episode: part two of our AlgoRhythms series where we asked conference attendees "Does AI make you hopeful about the future of music tech?"
The News
The $6.4 Billion Bid Changing the Music Industry: Why UMG Is Selling Off Its Spotify Stake
Spotify is now a fitness app too
There's now a collecting society just for AI-generated music
Why superfan subscriptions are dying out
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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What if the most surprising thing happening in music right now isn't what AI is creating, but what fans are reaching for instead?
This week on Music Tectonics, we're bringing you highlights from the AlgoRhythms conference last month, where our team spent time on the ground talking to researchers and innovators about where the music industry is heading.
First, Tristra NewYear Yeager sits down with Olivia Jones, senior analyst at MIDiA Research, whose latest report on fan behavior surfaces some unexpected data about how listeners are buying merch and discovering music.
Then, Adam McHeffey speaks with Valtteri Salomaki, CEO of Edge Sound Research, about Embodied Sound that turns any material into something you can both hear and feel. Val's work is rooted in a simple question: if a creator makes something, how do you know the listener actually experienced it the way it was intended?
Both conversations kept circling the same idea: as music gets more digital and more algorithmic, fans seem to be craving something more physical and tangible.
Finally, we asked a handful of AlgoRhythms attendees whether AI makes them hopeful about the future of music creativity.
The news
How AI Rights Are Changing Record Contracts — and Why Music Attorneys Are Pushing Back
AI Is Already Training on Music. The Real Question Is: Who Gets Paid?
AI And Music Publishing Licensing – How Do We Get There?
Social media doesn't feel social anymore – so where does online community go from here?
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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What happens to music when everyone is only listening to what they made themselves?
In this episode, Jade Prieboy sits down with Adam Neely, composer, bassist, and YouTuber educator with over 1.8 million subscribers. They go deeper than the usual AI debate, exploring what we actually lose when music stops being something we share.
Adam draws a clear line between stem separation tools he genuinely uses and commercial generative AI platforms like Suno and Udio, explaining why lumping them together under the AI label distorts how people understand the technology. He also shares why he is cautiously optimistic about attribution models and how AI-generated lyrics reveal the limits of what machines can feel.
The conversation turns philosophical when Adam introduces the idea of solipsistic listening, the tendency to only love music you personally generated while tuning everything else out. He then offers practical advice for musicians trying to build community and makes the case for why constructive critique from a real listen might be the most valuable thing a musician can receive
If AI is changing what music is for, Adam Neely is one of the people asking whether we actually want to go there
The news
UMG's Michael Nash takes aim at 'false narrative of artist replacement' by AI – and 3 other things we learned from his HumanX panel with Splice's CEO
Streaming platforms give us access to new music, so why are fewer people listening to it?
Jury Finds Live Nation Acts as a Monopoly in a Victory for States
Warner makes strategic investment in TuStreams – a distribution platform focused on Latin music
Latin Music generated over $1 billion in US wholesale recorded music revenues in 2025, up 4.2% YoY
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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What if every fight over music technology throughout history has actually been the same fight, and we're just now facing a version of it we've never seen before?
In this special episode, Dmitri shares a keynote he gave at the Algo Rhythms conference last month called "Is Music Making Up For Grabs?" Drawing on four hundred years of disruption in music, from the harpsichord to amplification, Dmitri traces the pattern of how every generation has fought over new tools and every generation has been wrong about what those tools would destroy.
But this episode isn't just a history lesson. It's a live argument, complete with the Kalyuka, the WARBL, and few sounds you won't expect. Along the way, the stories of T-Pain and Blanco Brown show exactly where the pattern holds and where it finally breaks. Because the question Dmitri lands on is one no generation before us has had to answer. Not what counts as an instrument, but whether the creator is still human.
The news
Selling a $3B Spotify stake, Michael Ovitz as Chairman of the Board, and a $100B+ company: Welcome to Bill Ackman's plan for Universal Music Group.
After Universal, Warner, and Merlin deals, now Udio inks licensing agreement with Kobalt
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/after-universal-warner-and-merlin-deals-now-udio-inks-licensing-agreement-with-kobalt/
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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What happens when a beat-selling side hustle accidentally becomes a social media phenomenon?
In this episode, music producer and content creator Hunna G (@hunnagbeats) joins Dmitri to talk about building "Take a Seat, Rap on the Beat," a series now sitting at over 150 million views and more than a million followers.
Hunna G covers the origin story, the most memorable guests (like 2 Chainz and MGK to name a few), what the music creator economy actually looks like, and how independent artists and producers can build a brand online.
The news
OpenAI Is Shutting Down Sora, Its A.I. Video Generator
WMG to buy Revelator in wake of UMG's Downtown Music acquisition
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/soundcloud-launches-superfan-feature-that-lets-artists-release-music-exclusively-to-followers-before-wider-release/
Rapper BigXThaPlug Sent Fans on a Scavenger Hunt — Here's What Happened.
Instagram sets out its stall as a 'music superfandom' platform
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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This week, Dmitri is joined by Dom McLennon, artist producer, and creative strategist from Hartford, Connecticut. Best known as a lead vocalist and assistant producer for BROCKHAMPTON, Dom also runs COURTVISION, a creative agency connecting artists and brands across gaming, education and community.
We cover a lot of ground on this one, from treating music technology as a sandbox, to bringing music-making tools into public libraries, to why community outreach is actually a smarter marketing play than chasing virality.
Along the way, we dig into gesture-based instruments, creative strategy for independent artists, music education, and how the history of Black artists reimagining technology laid the foundation for modern music innovation. Dom also shares how he has been integrating the Orchid by Telepathic Instruments and the Tembo by Musical Beings into his creative process in ways their makers probably never imagined (To see Dom demo these instruments, check out the video version on YouTube.
It's a wide ranging conversation you won't want to miss.
The news
Study reveals €1.06bn of private copying royalties in 2024
This Music Festival Company's $30 Million Fundraise Proves AI Isn't the Only Hot Sector for Investment
Live tours face a huge challenge this summer
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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What happens to an artist's reputation the moment they admit they used AI? Does admitting how they used AI make a difference? New research suggests the stakes are higher than most realize, and the answer is far from simple.
This week on the podcast, Dr. Joel Carnevale, assistant professor of Management at Florida International University, joins Dmitri to break down the findings from his recent article in The Conversation that put that question to the test. Using a music composition scenario with Hans Zimmer asa stand-in for established reputation, Joel and his co-authors designed experiments to find out how disclosure affects the way listeners evaluate a creator's competence and credibility.
The conversation covers why authenticity is at the heart of the debate, what different types of AI disclosure actually signal to audiences, and why how you disclose may matter more than whether you disclose Dmitri and Joel also explore what all of this means for a music industry where nearly every working producer is already using AI in some part of their process.
The news
Global recorded music revenues hit $31.7B in 2025, up 6.4% YoY; users of paid music subscriptions reach 837M
Why Mark Cuban Thinks Music Is (Basically) 'the Worst Industry Ever' for Investors
Live Nation Employees Bragged About 'Gouging' Customers and 'Robbing Them Blind' In Dozens of Leaked Exchanges—Here's a Look at the Unsealed Documents
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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Everyone's talking about the AI boom in music, but is the industry's infrastructure actually ready for it?
Bjorn Lindvall, CEO and co-founder of MusicInfra, has spent his career at the intersection of music rights and finance, first as co-founder and COO of Hipgnosis Songs, where he helped build a multi-billion dollar catalog acquisition business, and now building the infrastructure to fix one of the music industry's oldest and most expensive problems: getting rights holders paid correctly and on time.
In this episode, Bjorn breaks down what it actually means to prepare the music supply chain for the AI boom. We dig into why the royalty math is about to get dramatically more complex, what the wave of generative AI licensing deals signals for publishers, labels, and everyone downstream, and why fixing the back end of the music industry might be the most important thing the industry does this decade If you work in music rights, royalties, music technology, or music publishing, this one is essential listening.
The news
Could you tell if your favourite song was made with AI? The viral Papaoutai cover controversy suggests not
Gaming giant Steam faces legal action from the UK's PRS over alleged music copyright infringement
US blindsides states with surprise settlement in Live Nation/Ticketmaster trial
YouTube now generates more ad revenue than Disney, NBC, Paramount, and WBD — combined
Survey suggests TikTok may be losing its lustre for Gen-Z
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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Is gaming really the next frontier for music, or is that just wishful thinking?
In this episode, Dmitri sits down with Jenn Garcia, co-founder and CEO of Metamoki, the mobile gaming studio behind Mob Wars and Wiz Khalifa's Weed Farm. With nearly two decades of experience in mobile gaming, social gaming, and community building, Jenn brings a fresh outside perspective on where the music industry is leaving opportunity on the table.
They dig into what early social gaming taught Jenn about monetization and emotional connection, why artist involvement is the single biggest factor in whether a music game succeeds or fails, and what music startups can borrow from gaming's rapid prototyping and product cycles.
If you work in music tech, music marketing, or the creator economy, this conversation will challenge how you think about fan engagement, music monetization, and building products that actually last.
The news
An open letter to Suno's Mikey Shulman.
WMG boss: 'There's clearly more share of the wallet left for music'
Apple Music Introduces Tagging for AI Songs, Its First Regulation on AI Use
Qobuz/Deezer High-res music service Qobuz joins France's Deezer in flagging AI-generated tracks on its platform
Feds point to Taylor Swift ticket fiasco as evidence of Live Nation and Ticketmaster's monopoly
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/as-live-nation-antitrust-trial-begins-doj-tells-jury-the-concert-industry-is-broken/
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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What happens to a rock band's legacy when the touring stops forever?
When Pophouse acquired the KISS catalog, brand, name, image, and likeness rights, they didn't just buy music. They bought the blueprint for keeping one of rock's most iconic bands alive indefinitely through digital avatars, biometric data, and AI-driven live experiences. This deal, built on the success of ABBA Voyage and developed in partnership with Industrial Light and Magic, may be the most forward thinking music IP acquisition ever negotiated.
In this episode, Dmitri unpacks it all with Spencer Klein, chair of Morrison Foerster's Global Mergers and Acquisitions Group, who represented KISS co-founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley in the deal. Together, they explore how music catalog valuation is expanding beyond audio rights into merchandise, transmedia storytelling, and immersive concert experiences. They also dig into what this means for the broader music industry as artificial intelligence and digital avatar technology begin reshaping how artist IP is valued, monetized, and preserved for future generations.
Whether you follow KISS, entertainment law, or the future of artist brands, this episode offers a rare inside look at how the music industry is evolving beyond the limits of what any band can do in a lifetime.
The news
Mogul says it has tracked $1.5B in music royalties, raised $5M in funding | TechCrunch
Neptune Raises $1.5 Million to Scale Digital Music Education in the UAE
AI Sample Generator Just 4 Noise Closes $1 Million Round
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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Most founders think about building. Fewer think carefully about selling.
In this episode, Dmitri talks with Phil Barry, the founder of music rights and licensing platform Blokur, about what he learned from nearly a decade of building and ultimately selling his company to Music Reports in 2024.
Phil opens up about the early challenges of finding product-market fit, the long relationship-building that made the acquisition possible, and the operational details that can make or break a deal. He also reflects on what he'd do differently, why he'd push back harder on pressure to grow too fast, and what it felt like to finally step away after years of startup intensity.
Whether you're an early-stage founder or mapping out your exit strategy, this episode is full of honest, practical perspective from a founder on the other side of the exit
The news
Why YouTube Is the Sleeping Giant of Music Catalog (Guest Column)
Did Taylor Swift and Lyor Cohen Just Give the Music Streamers a Video Strategy?
Apple Music's iOS 26.4 beta introduces AI-powered playlist tool
Deezer debuts 'Flow Tuner' to help listeners tune its algorithm
TikTok tests letting users stream full songs through Apple Music without leaving the app
Apple Music Strongly Hints That It Won't Be Lowering Prices Following Spotify and Amazon Music Increases — How Much Will This Matter In 2026?
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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Where does AI stand in the music industry as we move through 2026? In this conversation, Dmitri talks with Mike Pelczynski, Chief Strategy and Impact Officer at Voice-Swap, about the evolution from fear to curiosity around AI in music, and why building ethical AI systems from the ground up creates long-term value.
Mike shares about how his work architecting fan-powered royalties at SoundCloud connects to his current mission of building fair, creator-centric AI voice models. We explore VoiceSwap's approach to licensing, attribution, and ongoing royalties for artists whose voices power AI models, and discuss what happens if the broader marketing doesn't prioritize fairness. Mike also introduces the concept of voice models as a "source of truth" for identity and ownership in an AI-powered future
The news
the musical self-expression spectrum
Spotify eyes AI 'derivatives' as new revenue stream for artists – says its tech to let fans make remixes and covers is ready - Music Business Worldwide
The music industry's boiling frog moment
New York Senator Wants to Ban Ticket Scalping Forever
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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For Part 2 of our NAMM 2026 recap, we explore how music creators are building sustainable careers outside of the traditional music industry model. As streaming revenue continues to fail musicians and CD sales decline, artists are pioneering new paths through direct-to-fan experiences and developing products instead of traditional merchandise.
One great example of this shift is Tarun Nayar from Modern Biology. After going viral on TikTok making music with plants and mushrooms, Tarun reinvented his music career by skipping traditional album releases, creating immersive live performances like Mushroom Church, and co-developing the Pocket SCÍON, an affordable biodata sonification device that lets anyone make music with plants. His journey from viral content creator to instrument developer reveals emerging opportunities for artists beyond streaming platforms and merchandise sales, showing what creative sustainability looks like in the modern music industry.
Pocket SCÍON- https://modernbiology.xyz/products/pocket-scion
The News
DistroKid is latest music firm rumoured to be exploring a sale
Fan burner accounts: music's latest dirty secret
So, AI music charts are a thing now…
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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For the next two weeks we'll be talking about all things NAMM and getting into some of the exciting innovations we spotted on the show floor, along with some trends that we noticed this year, starting with AI's inflection point in the music industry.
Last year, the conversation around AI was tense with creators expressing fear over being replaced by AI. This year, we saw more AI tools designed to support creators, and in some case, become integrated directly into software and hardware that musicians already know and use.In this episode, you'll hear two conversations from NAMM that capture this shift.
Daniel Roland from LANDR discusses how creator-first AI tools are evolving, LANDR's new Layers feature that adds real musician performances through AI, and why the technology is becoming less about replacement and more about expanding creative possibility. (Recorded in the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus).
Jun Usui from Yamaha demos a prototype that integrates Boomy's AI sample generation directly into Yamaha's Seqtrak hardware, showing a glimpse into a future where AI lives in your instruments, not just the cloud.
The news
US TikTok App Uninstalls Jump 150% Following Transfer to US Ownership
TikTok users in the US can't write 'Epstein' or see anti-Trump videos
Social network UpScrolled sees surge in downloads following TikTok's US takeover | TechCrunch
Report: music is now a third of all viewing time on YouTube
Stationhead and Mellomanic Merge, UMG Invests In 'Ultimate' Direct-to-Fan Platform
Native Instruments GmbH is in preliminary insolvency - CDM Create Digital Music
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!
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- Visa fler
