The Future Of What Podcast
A Podcast and Radio Show About the Music Industry
Founded by Music Biz President, Portia Sabin as a way to educate musicians on the realities of the music business, The Future of What Podcast has become a forum where the most significant voices in our industry discuss important issues of the day. Tune in as she hosts important industry figureheads and innovators alike in exciting discussions on where the music business is headed next!
October 15, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #237 — #iVoted & Leveraging Music To Increase Voter Turnout
#iVoted is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that hosts concerts on election nights & during early voting periods to help drive voter registration & turnout. After hosting the largest digital concert in history during the 2020 Presidential Election, which data from MIT touts as bolstering voter turnout by an estimated 7%, #iVoted is gearing up for a series of events leading up to and on Election Night 2024. The org’s Founder & CEO, Emily White, joins us on the podcast to talk about how it has evolved since 2018,... Listen
October 2, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #236 — Supporting Women In Music: Interview With Head Bitch Music’s Jessica Vaughn
Following up on her op-ed for our Keeping Tempo series, we’re thrilled to have Jessica Vaughn of Head Bitch Music on our latest episode of The Future of What! In this interview, Vaughn discusses the ways our industry has evolved (both for better and worse) in its support of women & marginalized communities, how her industry origins as an artist influenced her to pursue an executive career and institute change from the inside, her current roles in the sync/custom music space,... Listen
August 20, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #235 — How AI Tech & TikTok Consumption Is Changing Our Industry
Since the digitization of the music business began, new tech applications and methods of consumption have helped to redefine how our industry operates. In recent years, the highest profile changes have been the implementation of AI algorithms and the rapid adoption of music consumption through short-form video platforms. We spoke with Miquido’s Chief AI Officer, Jerzy Biernacki about the benefits of AI applications on personalized music experiences like curated playlists & song recommendations, and how music trends on TikTok are changing how labels search for &... Listen
August 6, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #234 — Modern Music Royalties Processing
Ray Bush founded The Music Royalty Co. (MRC) in 2014 after identifying opportunities to modernize royalty calculations in the face of music data’s exponential explosion as streaming began to take off. A decade later and the company has remained an expert in complex royalty calculations for labels, publishers and distributors, while also evolving to meet the accountancy needs of music companies. In our latest podcast, we speak to Bush about the company’s first decade, how the global music industry has financially grown in that same time,... Listen
July 16, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #233 — Our Employees’ Needs Have Evolved: How Do We Best Support Them?
The events of the last few years, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic, have had a major effect on how people across the globe view work-life balance and traditional ways of working. In our latest episode, we discuss how to best support today’s workforce with two experts in the avenues of HR and workers’ rights. First off, we speak with WorkFour Director, Jackson Kerchis about how his organization is raising awareness in the U.S. about reduced work-time initiatives and how they stand to benefit both employees &... Listen
June 25, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #232 — Solving Music’s Identity Problem With Switchchord
The complex web of unique identifiers associated with an artist and their body of work can make it extremely difficult for them to interact with publishers, sync officers, and other parties they work with. Switchchord aims to eliminate this friction by allowing artists to document ownership of their music and map out the legal & business relationships they engage in via legally verifiable, decentralized digital identities. We spoke with company founder and CEO, Cole Davis about how the technology works and what opportunities it opens up for artists!... Listen
June 18, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #231 — DiMA President & CEO, Graham Davies
The Digital Media Association (DiMA) represents the world’s leading audio streaming companies and streaming innovators, providing community, resources and advocacy for its member companies. This month, we spoke with newly appointed DiMA President and CEO, Graham Davies about DiMA’s mission, his first few months at the helm of the organization, and what the Association is working towards through the rest of 2024!... Listen
May 21, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #230 — Diversifying Music Industry Writing Rooms
The music industry has proven time and time again that inclusive practices lead to better productivity and a higher quality of work in all business segments. That’s why Ralph Torrefranca of Angry Mob Music has sought for more diversity in high-level songwriting rooms by starting the New Normal Writing Camp in 2023, which featured 70% female artists & writers and 50% women producers from more than 12 cultural backgrounds in its inaugural edition. In our latest podcast,... Listen
May 1, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #229 — Music Fraud Update: Combating Bad Actors From All Angles
The fight against all forms of music fraud has been a major watershed moment for intra-industry collaboration, as was seen in the Music Business Association’s establishment of its Spin Fraud Task Force and its hosting of the Trust & Safety Symposium in January 2024. Now a few months away from that event, our latest The Future of What podcast explores how music professionals & companies are developing internal tools & best practices to fight fraud, while also learning lessons from others who have dealt with bad actors in the finance,... Listen
April 23, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #228 — Holistic Strategies For Selling Music Merch with Merch Cat’s Vanessa Ferrer
Merch sales is one of, if not the primary, revenue generator for artists at certain levels of their careers. Tie this into the fact that merch proudly worn or displayed by their fans helps spread the word about their music, and it becomes all too essential for today’s artists to have a strong merch strategy. This important need is what led Vanessa Ferrer to found Merch Cat, a POS & inventory management tool that helps artists track what merch they sell each night on tour,... Listen
