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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February 25, 2026 – [Keeping Tempo With Music Biz] — Building Genuine Artist-Fan Connection Through Video: Interview with Vevo’s Cynthia Todd
Fan engagement in the 2020s has become a double-edged sword: while the spread-out nature of digital platforms means it’s harder to reach fans than ever, it also creates more opportunities to directly connect with fans in meaningful ways. In this conversation with Cynthia Todd, Director of Talent Booking at Vevo, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of creating genuine relationships between artists & fans, how artists can evolve their sound & brand while still appealing to both new and old fans,... Click Here To Read
February 24, 2026 – The Future of What Episode #282 — Navigating a Fragmented Industry: Songtradr’s Paul Langworthy on Music Rights & Licensing
Songtradr was founded by artist & producer Paul Wiltshire as a solution for independent artists to upload their own tracks to be licensed all in one place, in response to him facing these struggles in his own career. Since then, the platform has expanded and tailored its strategy to the complexity of the music business by acquiring companies like 7digital, Big Sync, MassiveMusic and Bandcamp. In this episode, Songtradr CRO Paul Langworthy breaks down some of these industry complexities,... Click Here To Listen
February 17, 2026 – The Future of What Episode #281 — Democratizing Music Legislation Education: A Conversation with Matthew Wilson & Michelle Davis of Arnall Golden Gregory LLP
Music law is important for everyone in our industry to be familiar with, no matter your role or experience level. This episode features Matthew Wilson and Michelle Davis of Arnall Golden Gregory LLP, two entertainment lawyers who champion this belief by spreading their own wealth of knowledge to others via mentoring & education programs. The two discuss their respective backgrounds and involvement in academia, Music Biz’s #NEXTGEN_U Student Summit, the parallels between current & past legal proceedings in music copyright law,... Click Here To Listen
February 10, 2026 – The Future of What Episode #280 — How Clearnote is Revolutionizing Contract Management in Today’s Music Business
To keep pace with change, adapting to new technologies is essential. Good Boy Records has not only adapted, but created their own tech — an AI-powered legal platform called Clearnote. This platform was developed by Good Boy’s founders & their VP of Operations, Cameron Siasi, to meet the demand for a more streamlined legal process for industry attorneys, especially in an age where tens of thousands of songs generate legal paperwork on a weekly basis. In this interview,... Click Here To Listen
February 2, 2026 – The Future of What Episode #279 — Artist-First Music Marketing: A Conversation with Danny Garcia of SongTools
After noticing artists spending more than they were getting at agencies, Danny Garcia developed SongTools to let music creators take control of their marketing campaigns via playlisting and ad tools. Though originally delivered primarily to artists themselves, SongTools has expanded to integrate within distribution platforms, producing success for partners like Symphonic where they drove a 70% client retention rate within 30 days. Here, Danny discusses the approach SongTools is taking to educate artists, how their playlisting ecosystem works &... Click Here To Listen
January 20, 2026 – 60 FOR 60: Help Music Biz Support Tomorrow’s Leaders!
Music Biz’s Scholarship Foundation has seen many achievements and changes since its inception in 1966, including its recent rededication in honor of our late colleague, Braylin Campbell. Throughout 2026, we’ll be celebrating the foundation and all it has helped young professionals achieve over the past six decades thanks to the generosity of our donors. Our goal for this year’s fundraising cycle is to match or surpass the $60,000 that was raised last year.... Click Here To Read
January 20, 2026 – [Keeping Tempo With Music Biz] — Why AI’s Most Critical Role in 2026 Will Be Rescue, Not Creation: Op-Ed from Noctil’s Jacob Varghese
Walk into any boardroom, or any room for that matter, in the music industry, and I bet that there will be at least one mention of Generative AI and how it will replace our artists. We spend hours debating deepfakes, voice cloning, and the dilution of human creativity. While these are valid concerns, they are a strategic distraction. We are so focused on the robot in the recording booth that we are ignoring the fire in the accounting department.... Click Here To Read
January 13, 2026 – The Future of What Episode #278 — From Label Power to Artist Power: How Green Tea Distro Supports Modern Musicians
While traditional label models still dominated in 2014 when David Dann founded Mind of a Genius Records, the pendulum has swung in favor of artists and distribution deals in the digital era, setting the stage for the creation of Green Tea Distro. GTD provides support to artists at all stages and budgets, offering services from song development to monthly workshops to day-to-day A&R support. David joins us on the podcast to share his extensive artist development knowledge,... Click Here To Listen
January 7, 2026 – The Future of What Episode #277 — The Future of Fraud Protection: Beatdapp’s Trust & Safety OS Explained
After analyzing nearly 7 trillion streams and 70 trillion data points in the past 18 months, Beatdapp continues to advance the industry’s fraud protection efforts with their new Trust & Safety Operating System. Marking a milestone for Beatdapp, this platform is their first to provide for all sectors of the music industry while also being portable to gaming, creator platforms, streaming video, television and publishing. In this interview, Beatdapp’s Morgan Hayduk and Andrew Batey break down the five unique capabilities of the OS,... Click Here To Listen
January 5, 2026 – The Future of What Episode #276 —How the MFFA Is Taking Ownership of the Music Industry’s Fraud Issue
Two years after the formation of the Music Fights Fraud Alliance (MFFA) and almost one year into Michael Lewan’s appointment as Executive Director, the organization has reached many milestones – including helping put together this year’s iteration of our annual Trust & Safety in Music Symposium! In this episode, Michael details the specific issues the MFFA tackles, what the alliance has accomplished since he joined last February, and discussion points he’s helped program for the symposium.... Click Here To Listen
