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!

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

November 15, 2023 – The Future of What Episode #219 — LyricFind’s Darryl Ballantyne On New Tools To Enhance Lyric Offerings

In just a few short years, song lyrics have gone from a “nice to have” addition that music fans could seek out in liner notes or on the internet to a hot commodity on streaming platforms, graphics-heavy promotional videos, user-generated content and beyond. This month, we talk with LyricFind Founder & CEO, Darryl Ballantyne about the evolution of lyric-centric products, how his company liaises with labels & publishers to help support their needs, the renewed importance of proper song translations as music’s reach breaks cultural barriers,... Listen

November 7, 2023 – The Future of What Episode #218 — Dolby’s Christine Thomas Talks Dolby Atmos & Immersive Audio

While some say nothing quite captures the experience of listening to music performed in-person, new technologies are bringing unparalleled levels of immersion to the music listening experience. Enter Dolby Atmos, an immersive audio format which debuted for movies more than a decade ago that is now available across music services on 2.5 billion devices. In our latest podcast, Dolby’s Head of Music Industry Relations, Christine Thomas discusses the evolution of the company’s immersive audio efforts and how it gives artists the ability to deliver their music to audiences in an exciting new medium!... Listen

October 18, 2023 – The Future of What Episode #217 — DAACI Talks AI Tools To Enhance The Creative Process

Bad actors have already learned how to exploit generative AI to either pose as popular artists or misappropriate copyrighted material. However companies like DAACI are working with artists, songwriters & composers to develop tools that are additive to the creative process, helping to eliminate tedious parts of their job and overcome writer’s block. In our latest podcast, we talk to DAACI CEO, Rachel Lyske about her company’s mission to support composers with a tech suite backed by three decades of research and deep collaboration with members of the creative community to address their specific needs!... Listen

October 4, 2023 – The Future of What Episode #216 — KYC Compliance To Fight Music Fraud: A Discussion With Too Lost’s Gregory Hirschhorn

After running a record label and finding common issues across several different music distribution platforms, Gregory Hirschhorn decided to enter the distribution space with Too Lost, paying extra attention to technologies and methods for combating fraud. The company uses Know Your Client (KYC) protocol, which has roots in the financial industry, to add extra security for users uploading their tracks for distribution to DSPs. This added measure helps to weed out bad actors who game the system to generate undue revenue.... Listen

September 26, 2023 – The Future of What Episode #215 — Generative AI In Film, TV & Other Entertainment Spaces

While generative AI can be used to help human creators develop original works, concerns exist as major film & TV studios stand to reap huge financial benefits by using the technology to wholesale develop screenplays or substitute in digital recreations of actors. This is one of the pillars of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, as workers in the creative industry fight for regulations on the technology to ensure they are not exploited for the sake of corporate profits.... Listen

September 6, 2023 – The Future of What Episode #214 — Music Fights Fraud: A Discussion on Streaming Fraud with CD Baby’s Christine Barnum

Recent months have shown an uptick in the frequency and variety of fraudulent music streaming practices, allowing bad actors to collect undue revenue by criminally inflating the number of streams for tracks they upload to DSPs. In the first of two episodes this Fall covering music streaming fraud, we talk to CD Baby’s Chief Revenue Officer, Christine Barnum about the history of fraudulent behavior since the start of digital music sales, CD Baby’s participation in the Music Fights Fraud initiative,... Listen

August 8, 2023 – The Future of What Episode #213 — Building Community In Music With Web3: Interview With Revelator’s Bruno Guez

Originally hailing from the record label side of the business, Bruno Guez founded Revelator 10 years ago to help jumpstart an evolution in digital payments to help meet the needs of the increasingly digital music industry. Fast-forward to today, and Web3 asset distribution & sales may have a similarly transformative effect on the global music business. In this month’s interview, we spoke with Guez about how Web3 will help artists & rightsholders monetize new forms of interactive content and build connections between artists and their fans with direct compensation models!... Listen