Association News
Below, you’ll find the latest Association press releases, updates on our upcoming events, introductions to our newest member companies, links to the latest content from Music Biz and our partners, and more.
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May 19, 2026 – The Future of What Episode #291 — Unequal Justice: Inside the Fight Over Free Speech in Music with Simon Tam & Prof. Erik Nielson
This episode features Simon Tam of The Slants and Prof. Erik Nielson, co-author of “Rap on Trial,” who both have been instrumental in combating First Amendment right violations against minority musicians. Simon’s fight to get his all-Asian band the right to their name saw thousands of pages of evidence denied, along with a footnote stating that – had they been Caucasian – there’d be no issue. Erik has researched how the Rap genre is singled out,... Click Here To Listen
May 14, 2026 – Music Business Association Names 2026 Bizzy Award Winners
10 award winners crowned during 5th Annual Bizzy Awards Dinner on May 13th May 14th, 2026 — The Music Business Association (Music Biz) announces the winners of this year’s Bizzy Awards, who were honored during the fifth annual Bizzy Awards Dinner on Wednesday evening, May 13th during Music Biz 2026 at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly. The 2026 Bizzy Awards Dinner was hosted by artist & Reach Records founder, Lecrae, and featured performances by 1K PHEW (Reach Records) &... Click Here To Read
May 14, 2026 – Russ Honored with NMPA Gold & Platinum Recognition at Music Biz 2026
Recognition Presented by NMPA President & CEO David Israelite and Sony Music Publishing’s Omar Grant May 14th, 2026 | Atlanta, GA — During Music Biz 2026, the annual conference hosted by the Music Business Association, Atlanta based multi-platinum artist, songwriter, producer, entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author Russ was honored with an NMPA Gold & Platinum Recognition plaque celebrating his extraordinary songwriting achievements and collective Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum certifications. The recognition took place during a special on stage presentation introduced by former TuneCore CEO and AGA founder Andreea Gleeson and presented by National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) President &... Click Here To Read
May 6, 2026 – The Future of What Episode #290 — Focusing on the “We:” Hear From Sarah Landy of FUGA on How Collective Empowerment Benefits Everyone!
When listening to music brings so much joy, working with it every day should feel just as rewarding. In an industry that reflects our broader world, fear-based, ego-driven leadership is slowly being replaced with a culture of empowerment, seeing women and POC in more supervisory roles – though we still have a ways to go. Companies like Downtown drive this change with women holding a variety of leadership roles, like Sarah Landy, SVP, Americas at Downtown-company,... Click Here To Listen
May 5, 2026 – [Keeping Tempo With Music Biz] — Vibe Coding Is About to Reshape the Music Business — And the Industry Is Finally In the Driver’s Seat: Op-Ed from OpenPlay’s Edward Ginis
In more than 20 years building and investing in music and entertainment companies, I’ve watched technology transform this industry over and over. Streaming alone now drives nearly 70% of global recorded-music revenue (IFPI), and Goldman Sachs projects the broader business will reach $155.5 billion by 2030. But anyone who works inside the machine knows the truth: every wave of growth has exposed an even bigger backlog of unsolved problems, including messy metadata, disconnected systems, content saturation,... Click Here To Read
April 29, 2026 – [Keeping Tempo With Music Biz] — The Catalog Intelligence Gap Costing Music Companies More Than They Know: Op-Ed from Vistex’s Aashish Pathak
How AI turns music catalog data into a revenue strategy Every year, Luminate drops a report that should set music company strategy for the next twelve months. It’s detailed, publicly available, and packed with signals most organizations never act on. Not because the data is hard to find, but because turning market signals into catalog decisions requires a kind of cross-functional thinking most companies aren’t structured to do. This gap is quietly costing the industry more than anyone wants to admit.... Click Here To Read
April 28, 2026 – The Future of What Episode #289 — Patchwerk Studios’ 30+ Year Legacy: Hear from Studio Manager Osman Bangura & Music Ally’s Patrick Ross
When Music Ally COO Patrick Ross was looking for hotspots to show a Nordic delegation he was hosting in his hometown of Atlanta, the name Patchwerk Studios – a Black-founded studio with more than 30 years worth of gold & platinum records under its belt – came up often. From there, he met Studio Manager Osman Bangura. With Music Biz 2026 taking place in Patchwerk’s home of Atlanta next month, the duo joined us to speak on the studio’s history,... Click Here To Listen
April 27, 2026 – OpenPlay Launches CoLab, A Digital Sandbox Giving Access To Vibe Coding For All, At Music Biz 2026
Atlanta, April 27th, 2026 — The 2026 edition of the Music Biz Conference will introduce OpenPlay CoLab, a hands-on innovation experience taking place on May 12th, where anyone in the music industry can turn ideas into real, working solutions. Hosted by OpenPlay, the music industry’s leading asset, data and rights management platform, CoLab is a new digital sandbox that will allow participants to collaborate on solving some of the industry’s most persistent challenges, regardless of their technical background. ... Click Here To Read
April 14, 2026 – [Keeping Tempo With Music Biz] — Easy Prompts for Your Team, So They Can Make the Best Use of AI: Op-Ed from EnterGain’s James Celentano
Remember when Amazon and eBay ushered in a world of unlimited shelf space. Then with MySpace, the first floodgates of user-generated content were opened. Users could put up as much stuff as they wanted, limited only by the speed at which they could create products and content. Prior to that, sellers were limited by the amount of shelf space available in stores or catalogs. We have entered a new paradigm: we’re moving from unlimited shelf space to unlimited inventory.... Click Here To Read
April 14, 2026 – The Future of What Episode #288 — Recovering Royalties: How Notes.FM is Streamlining Artist Payments
In an age where musicians are expected to meticulously audit their music data themselves to ensure money isn’t being left on the table, it is inevitable that something will get missed. Notes.FM is designed to lift this weight off of artists’ shoulders, having already found missing money for a total of 94% of their users – with the first artist that they claimed money for receiving $75,000 from The MLC. In this episode, Notes.FM founder Tim Luckow discusses his industry journey,... Click Here To Listen
