Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Podcast

My guest this week is Steve Rosen, who’s an esteemed rock journalist who’s written for Guitar World, Guitar Player, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Classic Rock, among others, as well as books on Jeff Beck, Free/Bad Company, Black Sabbath, Bruce Springsteen, and Prince. His latest book is titled Tonechaser - Understanding Edward: My 26-Year Journey With Edward Van Halen, and looks at his long friendship with the guitar god from before he was famous until his death. Steve spent many hours with Edward at his own Hollywood Hills guesthouse, up at Van Halen’s 5150 studio, on airplanes, in cars, and even jamming with Ed on several occasions. During the interview we spoke about meeting Edward Van Halen before he was famous, jamming with the master, how he was misunderstood, his multiple personalities, going with him to NAMM shows, and much more. I spoke with Steve via Zoom from his home in Los Angeles. On the intro I’ll take a look at how cassettes are making a comeback again, and MI and audio manufacturing looking for a new home. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 84857320, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Emily White, who’s a partner in the talent management company Collective Entertainment and the Founder of #iVoted Festival. She’s also the author of the Amazon #1 best-selling How to Build a Sustainable Music Career and Collect All Revenue Streams and hosts the book’s accompanying podcast of the same name, which is the #1 Music Business podcast globally. Having early experiences at WBCN in Boston, MTV, and concert promoter Don Law, Emily became a core member of the Dresden Doll’s media team before getting into management. During the interview we spoke about being a tour manager, making yourself indispensable to your clients, how talent management has changed, getting caught up in the latest trends, and much more. I spoke with Emily via Zoom from her office. On the intro I’ll take a look at the country that has made music piracy legal, and the new Google music-creation AI called MusicLM. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 84721298, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Kevin Paul, who started in the music business as a DJ, but then discovered sound engineering and immediately knew that was his true calling. Starting at Soho Studios in London, he later moved to the Kink’s own Konk Studios. At Konk, he worked alongside a bevy of successful producers and engineers, as well as bands such as The Kinks, Galliano, Terrorvision, UFO and Elastica. After working on archiving the Depeche Mode back catalogue in 1994, he was offered an engineering role at Mute Records’ in-house studio, which eventually lead to a position as Head Engineer. Since 2008, Kevin has been in charge of mixing and remixing the exclusive performances at the coveted iTunes Festival UK and Germany events. He has mixed over 100 artists to date including David Bowie, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Calvin Harris, Foo Fighters, Jack White, Linkin Park, Florence & The Machine, Deadmau5, David Guetta, Norah Jones, Oasis, Mumford & Sons, Paul Weller and many more. During the interview we spoke about the producer that influenced him the most, why he worries about immersive audio being accepted, his views on audio education, where mixing and mastering will be in 10 years, and much more. Kevin has also contributed to the Audio Mastering For the Project Studio book, which you might want to check out. I spoke with Kevin via Zoom from his studio in the UK. On the intro I’ll take a look at Spotify skip rates, the one super-important metric that’s still a secret, and AI-driven ChatGPT codes up an Ibanez Tube Screamer plugin. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 84638718, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Chris SD, who’s an award-winning music producer with 5 Juno awards and 7 nominations. He was also nominated as Engineer Of The Year in 2012. With his extensive industry contacts and experience Chris has helped artists land record deals, find management and booking agents, and license music to TV and film. He started Sync Songwriter to help musicians who live anywhere get their music licensed through one of the best music licensing courses in the business called “The Art Of The Song Pitch”. In the program, he teaches his 5 step process to get music synced successfully. Not only do his students learn the best ways to get their music heard by the gatekeepers, they also get to meet and pitch their music live online to top music supervisors in the course. During the interview we spoke about what’s changed in sync licensing, how to know if your music is ready for placement, if you need to master your songs for sync, if you can record at home and get your music into TV and film, the biggest mistakes people that people make trying to get sync placements, and much more. I spoke with Chris via Zoom from his sail boat somewhere in the Sea of Cortez. On the intro I’ll take a look at how shallow catalog is become a big part of the music business, and the different audio formats used today. You can find out more about Sync Songwriter and The Art Of The Song Pitch here. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 84575889, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Max Goldberg, who’s a co-founder and CEO of the music discovery app HotDrop. HotDrop is a platform that connects undiscovered artists with superfans. Founded by a team of Gen-Z music addicts and artists, HotDrop addresses the current generational shift underway in music discovery and consumption. The service’s 30-second snippets enable rapid discovery, are easily shared with other music fans, thus yielding high virality for emerging artists. HotDrop allows users to swipe through various short form audio snippets with supplemental links and info provided by indie artists themselves. Within two days of its initial launch, the HotDrop app had more than 25,000 downloads and ranked 7th on the App Store. During the interview we spoke about the problems with music discovery on major music platforms, misconceptions about music on TikTok, how very short listens can still lead to recommendations to friends, the communal listening experience, and much more. I spoke with Max via Zoom from his office. On the intro I’ll take a look at vinyl albums setting a sales record, and mass marketers getting into the musical instrument business. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 84513127, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

Holly Knight, an award-winning songwriter with hits for Tina Turner, Pat Benatar, and many others, dives into her colorful career and the art of songwriting. She shares insights on the evolution of demo recordings and the emotional depth of simpler productions. Holly discusses the value of collaboration and the unique challenges female songwriters face. The conversation also touches on how electric vehicles are affecting AM radio and the therapeutic use of jazz chords for treating nightmares. Plus, she reflects on her memoir, "I Am The Warrior."

In this episode, I’m going to make some predictions for 2023 in both the music business and the audio industry. These are based on trends that have happened this year that give us some insight on what may be in store for us in the coming year. These include: What happens with TikTok and social media The "Lipstick Effect" and how it plays out with streaming Changes coming to Spotify next year How song forms will change Fake artists on streaming services Changes coming in sync licensing The end of music genres The new power brokers in the music business Audio company acquisitions AR and VR music Copyright laws and how they affect AI Immersive audio outlook for 2023 AI plugins and how they affect bedroom producers And more. Thank you for your support through the years! We have a lot of great guests lined up for 2023, and I hope to continue to earn your listenership. I know there are a lot of other things you can be doing other than listening to this podcast, so just know that I never take that for granted. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 84453923, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

In this episode I take a look back at the events in the music business and music production during 2022, including: Songwriters get a raise in two places TikTok trends Playlist influence waning Streaming scams Streaming music trends Apple Music raising prices Classical music gets a boost Major labels wiping unrecoupted royalties Ticketmaster troubles New York State's new concert ticket law Music NFTs and Web3 trends and deals Signing and dropping an AI artist Artists tire of social media The hype of Dolby Atmos and the balloon bursting AI music generators and AI music online AI plugins New tech like Bluetooth LE and USB4 The rise and fall of smart speakers Effects pedals selling for big money The Anaheim NAMM show in June Slate Digital acquired And much more! var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 84422386, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Tom Trones, co-founder and chief product officer for Minuendo lossless earplugs. Minuendo earplugs can be manually adjusted from 7 to 25dB with no loss in sound quality. Besides being a musician and audio engineer, Tom has worked for a number of companies as an acoustics engineer. After working as a mixer at a number of festivals, he discovered the need for earplugs as he was asked to raise the level ever louder. Learning about the limitations of hearing protection that was on the market led to the development of an earplug that keeps the natural flat frequency response while the attenuation is easily adjustable. During the interview we spoke about playing an 8 string guitar, the difference between music and industrial earplugs, the different government standards for hearing protection, how your ear canal changes over time, and much more. I spoke with Tom from his home in Oslo via zoom. On the intro I’ll take a look at the reason why European radio royalty payments are not being paid, and how the job of assistant engineer is way different today. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 84362563, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is songwriter Sam Hollander, who has written and produced for the likes of Panic! At The Disco, One Direction, Katy Perry, Weezer, Def Leppard, blink-182, Fitz and the Trantrums, Train, Ringo Starr, Carole King, Tyga, The O’Jays, and many others. To date, he’s achieved 22 US Top 40 Hits, as well as 10 Number 1's, 10 top fives, and 87 Top 10 chart positions globally. His songs have been streamed over 7 billion times, and in 2019, he held the #1 position on the Billboard Rock Songwriters Chart for nine weeks, a year-end record. Sam has also been chosen to be on Variety's Hitmakers list, as well as being named Rolling Stone's Hot List Producer of the Year. Sam has written a book entitled “21 Hit Wonder: Flopping My Way To The Top of the Charts” that looks more at his struggles, flops and bad luck in the business before he made it than his many successes. During the interview we spoke about sticking it out despite many years of failures, his collaboration technique, reading the body language of your co-writers, writing for different genres, his work in television, and much more. I spoke with Sam via zoom from his home in upstate NY. On the intro I’ll take a look at the songs on Spotify that have reached a billion streams, and the most dangerous and popular DAWs to search for. [Photo: Danny Clinch] var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 84313120, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };