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!
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
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
