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!
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
April 9, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #227 — Cosynd’s New Producer Copyright Registration Initiative
With almost a decade of experience securing copyrights for artists & rightsholders, Cosynd identified that music producers were being potentially priced out of registering their backlog of work with the U.S. Copyright Office. This led them to develop a new group registration service, allowing producers to save time & money by registering groups of beats and other musical elements instead of individually registering each element. We spoke with Cosynd CEO, Jessica Sobhraj about this new initiative,... Listen
April 2, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #226 — Creative Intell’s David Fritz & Steven Ship On Educating Today’s Artists
While looking into higher-ed music business programs, David Fritz and Steven Ship found that the segmented approach to curriculums was helpful for new students, but it did not help artists and songwriters who needed to know the ins-and-outs of how the industry works for their already established careers. This led them to start Creative Intell, which offers practical classes that give students insights and step-by-step guides on everything from recording and releasing a cover song to tracking all of their income streams.... Listen
March 12, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #225 — Vault & beatBread’s Funding Options For Indie Artists
With more artists creating and releasing more music now than ever, there is a major need for new revenue streams and funding options to help artists take their careers to the next level. This month on The Future of What, we speak with two representatives from companies that do just that: Nick Struzenski of Vault, a bespoke catalog brokerage & artist funding service, and Matthew Tilley of beatBread, which provides funding for artists & labels alike powered by data science.... Listen
February 28, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #224 — RAMPD’s Precious Perez & Lachi on Disability Awareness & Activism
RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities) was founded in 2021 as a collective of artists, performers and music professionals with disabilities seeking to raise awareness of disability culture in the music business. Since then the organization has worked to advocate and create opportunities for disabled music professionals and ensure they have access to inclusive & accessible spaces, including partnering with the GRAMMYs to make the annual awards event more disability-inclusive. This month, we spoke with RAMPD’s founder,... Listen
February 13, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #223 — Trevanna Tracks’ Tools For Improving Sync Licensing
Sync placements have become a highly lucrative revenue stream for artists and rightsholders alike in recent years, as the production teams behind tv shows & movies constantly search for the perfect tracks to set the scene in their latest project. With that expanded attention to this part of the business comes a lot of extra paperwork, something that until recently sync licensing teams did not have help with. This month, we spoke with Trevanna Tracks’ CEO,... Listen
January 24, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #222 — NIVA’s Journey From Survival To Advocacy
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) was founded at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as a lifeline for small live music houses, pulling together federal grant money to ensure that venues would remain afloat until it was safe for artists to tour again. Since then, the organization has shifted focus to develop a member services suite, tackle major issues like the ticketing debacle, and address the needs of venues on a local level. We spoke with NIVA’s Executive Director,... Listen
January 9, 2024 – The Future of What Episode #221 — Exceleration Music + Redeye: An Indie Music Powerhouse
Founded in 2020 by five tenured independent music professionals, Exceleration Music set out to invest in music rights, enter strategic partnerships and develop a suite of support services, all backed by authenticity and reverence for everything essential to indie music’s DNA. The company doubled down on that commitment in September 2023 by acquiring Redeye Distribution, effectively creating an indie music powerhouse with a vast catalog and distribution reach potentially rivaling that of the major labels. In our first podcast of 2024,... Listen
January 8, 2024 – 2024 New Year’s Message From Music Business Association President Portia Sabin
Check out this special message from Music Business Association President, Portia Sabin with updates about everything we’re working on in 2024, including our inaugural Trust & Safety In Music Symposium, Music Biz 2024 conference programming & off-site events, the Spring 2024 Common Ground Webinar Series, our new Music Biz Events app, upcoming changes to our website & socials, and more! Begin video transcript: Hi everyone — Portia Sabin, President of the Music Business Association here to wish you a happy new year! ... Listen
December 12, 2023 – The Future of What Episode #220 — Supporting U.S. Indie Venues: An Interview With Live Music Society’s Cat Henry
The early days of the COVID-19 pandemic opened eyes across the world to just how vital touring & live music is to the entire music business ecosystem. As venues of all sizes closed to stop the spread of COVID, a number of organizations and initiatives were founded in the first pandemic year to help local independent music houses financially stay afloat. Today, these groups now work to keep the live industry alive, providing vital grant funding and support networks to ensure these important local cultural centers remain open.... Listen
