Music Ally Focus

Josh Empson, CEO of Tempo Music Investments, joins Joe Sparrow to explain what it’s like to have a $1 billion-plus fund to invest in the purchase of music rights, and what these purchases mean for music and rightsholders. We are fascinated by this space, where huge sums change hands for ownership of songs – so we talked to Josh about how catalogues are chosen for purchasing, whether music is under- or over-valued at the moment, the long-term strategy of these investments, and what the impact might be on mid-tier songwriters and artists. Josh/Tempo: https://www.tempomusic.com/people/josh-empson 👋 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

The music NFT bubble has not popped as some predicted, but it has deflated dramatically since it’s STONK-stastic peak in early 2021. The music-related NFT business is now settling into something more affordable, practical, and dare we say it, mundane. So we invited Max Shand, of the music NFT platform Serenade, to talk about it. Serenade has partnered with a number of music industry institutions and artists – and Max explains what a longer-term Music NFT landscape will look like, and what opportunities exist there for artists. He also talks about how he believes NFTs will empower fandom, stop artists from feeling like T-shirt makers first, and artists second, and his own extensive Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark collection of merch. This is another episode in a new series of shows that dig into the burgeoning web3 space, and the new concepts, ideas, and conventions within it – and how they relate to the music business.  Serenade: https://serenade.co A Super Furry Animals NFT on Serenade: https://serenade.co/products/116022 👋 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

Edward Balassanian, founder and CEO of AI music creation company Aimi, chats to Music Ally's editor Joe Sparrow about the role AI music will play in our lives – and the conversation quickly gets a little bit philosophical. AI generated music is fascinating, partly because it questions our connection with music in the first place: if that music is not made by humans, then what is it we actually enjoy about it? Edward talks how music produced by AI may be part of many experiences in the future, and paints a picture of a world where we start to think about music - and what we use it for - in very different ways.  Listen to Aimi's AI-created music here via these streaming experiences: https://aimi.fm/experiences/?sort=livelistening-desc https://aimi.fm/experience/deep/ https://aimi.fm/experience/push/ 👋 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

Distributors hold even more keys to powerful fan-engagement opportunities than ever. Last year saw big changes in the space: aggressive geographic expansion, moves into NFTs, DeFi, and crypto, and fintech partnerships. Music Ally’s Editor Joe Sparrow talks to special guest Kristin Graziani, president of music distribution service Stem – who talks about the evolving role of digital distributors in 2022, and what artists actually want from their distributor, in an era when Direct-to-fan is becoming the default approach for emerging and established artists. Stem: https://stem.is 👋 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 #49: In the first in a short series of podcasts designed to help you understand how various elements of Web3 tech can be used in music, Grammy-award-winning artist RAC (AKA André Allen Anjos), and Head of Crypto at Hifi Labs, Jack Spallone, both speak to Music Ally Editor Joe Sparrow about racOS – RAC's new fan club / website which is also a DAO. the DAO – a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation – allows fans to become RAC token holders, and they are given access to exclusive features in the fan community, and new ways to interact with the artist. André, who has made a series of early experiments with web3 technologies, including tokens and NFTs, joins Jack in explaining how the DAO technology works, what the future of fan communities are in a web3 world, and what drew them both into this new field of technology. racOS: https://rac.fm Hifi Labs: https://www.hifilabs.co 👋 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 #48: We have quickly published this podcast due to the rapidly developing situation in Ukraine, where Russian forces have invaded and numerous cities are under attack. Dartsya Tarkovska, co-founder of Music Export Ukraine spoke to Music Ally from Ukraine and explained the war's impact on artists and people in the music industry, and how the industry will need to change its approach to Ukraine and Russia in the future. Dartsya is clear that our hopes and prayers are not enough: only actions are truly meaningful, and she describes how people in the international music industry can deliver practical help. She also talks movingly about her love for Ukrainian music and what the work of artists means to the country Please note that there are a number of links below, supplied by Dartsya and Music Export Ukraine, that offer ways that you can deliver real assistance to the people of Ukraine – via donations, or actions that you can take to provide meaningful support.  Music Export Ukraine’s collection of resources, donation links, and actions to help Ukraine: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VxrEdB4_g2rXha33IBY6AbVit5N7nNS7S1IV6-4u2U8/edit?usp=sharing Music Export Ukraine, which helps Ukrainian emerging artists on an international level: https://musicexportukraine.com MEU’s Spotify playlist of Ukrainian artists: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/334fKzmzN6YLVvoT0Q2spF? Alonya Alonya’s post criticising streaming platforms: https://www.instagram.com/p/CahPvwutsSt/

Music Ally Editor Joe Sparrow speaks to Jeronimo Folgueira, CEO of music streaming platform Deezer about the company's current and future strategy, and also to get his thoughts on the state of music streaming today. He explained the various  ways that he thinks streaming can better serve artists and fans: including more ways of buying and selling inside streaming apps, how the relationships between the streaming platforms and the major labels could improve, and how, in the changing relationship between fans and artists, streaming apps can be the intermediary between the two. 👋 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

New money is pouring into the music industry: giant alternative asset management companies like Blackstone and KKR, are partnering with the likes of Hipgnosis and BMG to purchase music catalogue at great expense. But... why? Are they suddenly interested in buying some cool rock songs for some reason? Have they run out of other places to invest money in times of very low interest rates? Or have they spotted that music is undervalued? Music Ally's Joe Sparrow chats to journalist and analyst David Turner of music industry newsletter Penny Fractions, and he talks in depth about why on earth are these companies are suddenly pouring billions of dollars into music. David has some fascinating theories, and brings insight that has resulted from years of his own research. Penny Fractions: https://pennyfractions.ghost.io (Plus, a fishy world record)  BTW – if you are interested in this topic, be sure to check out Focus Episode #38 (one of our most popular podcasts of 2021) where I discussed investments into music rights with music-tech strategist Dan Fowler, and how these giant investments could eventually buy enough catalogue to challenge traditional publishers. 👋 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 industry veteran Karen Emanuel is CEO of Key Production – and is on the board of Moving the Needle, a UK group that supports women entering the music industry. She speaks to Music Ally Editor Joe Sparrow about what can be done to encourage more women to enter the music business, and how to support and showcase their work when they are in it. Also: what does she want to see in terms of representation, pay, and recognition for women in the industry in 2022 – and how can listeners can actively make positive changes? Moving the Needle: https://www.mtnnow.com Karen Emanuel: https://www.mtnnow.com/karen 👋 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

Spotify has a lot on its plate all of a sudden. In 2020 it signed the controversial, blunt-smoking, bow-hunting podcaster Joe Rogan in a $100m deal - and while there has always been pushback against some of his guests, this week things came to a head, as Neil Young asked Spotify to choose between him or Rogan due to the podcaster's Covid-19 views. His music is now being removed from the service. In the same week, Rogan once again invited controversial academic Jordan Peterson onto his show – causing more controversy. By 28th January, #DeleteSpotify was trending on Twitter. Music Ally's Editor Joe Sparrow talks to Head of Insight Stuart Dredge to try and get some answers: how big a deal is this for Spotify, could #DeleteSpotify gain momentum and become a much bigger problem for the company – and will Spotify tell Joe Rogan to stop discussing certain topics on his show? 👋 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