Music Ally Focus

The Orchard was the first digital music distributor, and it's now 25 years old – so we asked co-founder Richard Gottehrer what he has learned along the way, and what the future holds for digital distributors. Richard is a man with a rich history of varied activity and success in the music industry: starting as a successful songwriter, he went on to form Sire records with Seymour Stein, producing albums by Blondie, the Go-Gos and Dr Feelgood along the way. In 1997, he co-founded The Orchard with Scott Cohen (now Chief Innovation Officer at WMG), which later became a subsidiary of Sony Music.  The Orchard: theorchard.com Richard's song choice: Percy Sledge - When A Man Loves A Woman - youtube.com/watch?v=EYb84BDMbi0 ------- 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

We welcome Family In Music's chief innovation officer Kevin Bacon to talk about music metadata and blockchain tech. Kevin is no stranger to blockchain and web3 tech, having having been involved in early British blockchain startup Blockpool, which caused a stir when collaborating with Bjork in an early crypto-music experiment back in 2017. Before that, Kevin founded AWAL after a successful career as a record producer. He’s now chief innovation officer of Family In Music, a multi-faceted company for music creators, and which has just launched a platform called MgNTa – which he thinks will allow songwriters to collect money they would have otherwise missed, amongst other things. Family in Music & MgNTa: familyinmusic.com/mgnta Kevin's music choice: The Temptations – Ball of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today): youtube.com/watch?v=5HjUxggPd6E ------- 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

In this episode we’re joined by Rio Caraeff, Chief Commercial Officer of Syng, the home audio manufacturer who make a "triphonic speaker" that they claim enables a new kind of listening experience, where music follows you around, and tracks can be stripped down to create unique musical experiences. Rio is one of the people who can confidently talk about the music/tech landscape, having founded the video platform VEVO, and spent time as Chief Content Officer at the Augmented Reality company Magic Leap. We chat to him about how this fascinating technology works, and the future of music consumption when it’s a little more enveloping than streaming songs to a Bluetooth speaker. Syng: syngspace.com ------- 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Music Ally Focus #60: One of the benefits of web3 tech, its proponents argue, is that it encourages meaningful interaction between fan and artist. We’ve seen examples, for instance, of NFTs acting as fan club memberships. But what if the artists don’t exist in the first place? We’re happy to welcome Ian Simon, co-founder of Spirit Bomb, a virtual artist record label, to explain how virtual artists and web3 tech can unite to create new and desirable experiences for music fans – and how it might expand the overall pie and bring in new fans, who perhaps wouldn't have previously considered themselves "music fans". Oh, and what's it like managing an artist that doesn't exist as a person – how do they connect to fans, and what do fans want? This is another in our series that digs into the burgeoning web3 space’s new concepts, ideas, and conventions and how they relate to the music business. Strangeloop Discord https://discord.com/invite/strangeloop Virtual artist LV4: https://wiki.spiritbomb.ai/#LV4 Spiritbomb: https://spiritbomb.ai ------- 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

In this fascinating and entertaining episode, we're joined by two people who are asking complicated questions about the nature of music copyright: Damien Riehl, technologist, technology lawyer and musician, and coder and technologist Noah Rubin. You may have heard of them previously – together, Riehl and Rubin created software that composed every single possible melody – and then they released them into the public domain. We ask them about their work, and Damien gives his forthright opinions on the recent Ed Sheeran plagiarism court case, copyright trolls, whether the copyright law as it stands is fit for purpose, and what music copyright law should look like. All the Music: http://allthemusic.info Damien’s TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/damien_riehl_copyrighting_all_the_melodies_to_avoid_accidental_infringement Damien’s music choice: Phoebe Bridgers  Noah's choice: Beardyman  ------- 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Ian Matthews and Sam Bates to talk about how a Web3 business becomes a DAO and what happens when a smart linking service is added to the mix. You may know Ian's work as a member of the wildly successful UK band Kasabian – whose songs have been streamed billions of times – but he is also in the Web3 business, as co-founder of a community-owned, not for profit web3 organisation. We’re going to ask him what his soon-to-be-DAO does, what he hopes to achieve with it, and what excites him about this space – and he's joined by Sam Bates, the CMO of one of the companies that Ian's organisation has acquired: smart linking service Amplify. So how will web3 tech work in a world where artists are keen to own their direct fan relationships? Ian’s DAO: https://www.chapel.earth Amplify: https://amplify.link Ian's music pick: The Atomic Mr Basie Sam's music pick: Nas' Illmatic ------- 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Andrea Czapary Martin, CEO of PRS for Music, which represents the rights of over 160,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers in the UK and around the world. The last few years have seen income in the music industry fluctuate wildly due to the impact of coronavirus – and PRS for Music has just released its 2021 results, including how much money it has collected and has paid out to songwriters during that period of disruption. So we spoke to Andrea about those results, and also about the future of music being used in new technology spaces – like, you guessed it – the metaverse. One quick note about the Ukraine campaign that Andrea mentions – she’d like to make it clear that this is a CISAC initiative that PRS for Music supports – and you can read about – and support – it here: cisac.org/Newsroom/news-releases/cisac-solidarity-fund-ukraine PRS for Music: prsformusic.com ------- 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Last year, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative examined over 4,000 executives from 119 music companies and found that only 7.5% were Black. In this episode we’re joined by Jaia Thomas, founder and president of Diverse Representation, and Amity Paye, senior director of communications at Color Of Change, two organisations that recently announced the launch of the Diverse Representation Music Database, which connects music companies directly with Black talent across the USA. They’ll be talking about representation and equity in the music business, as well as the ambitions of the database, and the corporate accountability of the industry at large. Amity and Jaia also suggest how you can get started and be part of the change – even if you think you’re not powerful enough to make a difference. (Spoiler: you are!) Color of Change https://colorofchange.org The Diverse Representation Black Professionals Music Database https://www.diverserepresentationmusic.com The #ChangeMusic initiative https://changeindustries.org/changemusic ------- 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

We warmly welcome Godwin Tom and Elizabeth Sobowale to talk about developing the next generation of music industry executives in Africa. They oversee Music Business Academy (MBA) for Africa – a training program that aims to develop that next generation. Godwin is CEO of iManage Africa and Elizabeth is Programme Director of MBA for Africa, which has developed the program in partnership with Music Ally and Dr. Carlos Chirinos of the Music Business Department at the New York University. Runs between July and November 2022, the program will teach students about a range of music business trends and technologies, as well as giving them hands-on experience in releasing and promoting music to create sustainable careers for artists. We wanted to talk to Elizabeth and Godwin about the changes they have seen in the African markets, the kind of training and education needed to develop the people who work in the industries there, and their thoughts on the future of the African music industry – and the music itself. Music Business Academy for Africa: https://musicbusinessafrica.org Godwin Tom: https://www.instagram.com/godwintom Elizabeth Sobowale: https://www.instagram.com/elizabeth_sho CIIF Africa: https://www.instagram.com/ciif.africa ------- 👋 Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo  Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Music Ally Focus #54: Vickie Nauman, founder of music consultancy CrossBorderWorks, recently worked on a notable metaverse project, which involved the music licensing for 20 of David Guetta’s songs for an event where he – via his virtual avatar – DJ’ed in Roblox earlier this year. So we wanted to talk to Vickie about licensing music – something tricky enough in normal circumstances - in the metaverse. She tells us what she learned, and what she thinks the future of music in the metaverse will look like. This Focus podcast is another in a series that digs into the burgeoning web3 space: the new concepts, ideas, and conventions and how they relate to the music business.  Vickie/CrossBorderWorks: https://www.crossborderworks.com David Guetta's Roblox party: https://roblox.fandom.com/wiki/David_Guetta_DJ_Party 👋 Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb