More Music Means More Growth: The New Job of Distributors

What is a music distributor actually responsible for in 2026? This week on the Music Tectonics podcast, we're focusing on distribution and artist services as a revenue multiplier. It used to mean one thing: getting your music onto Spotify and Apple. Now the companies doing that are pitching marketing, financing, even A&R, and we're asking what's real and what's marketing. First, Daouda Leonard of CreateSafe traces how we got here, from physical distribution through companies like Koch, to TuneCore's 2009 launch as the first real self-upload on-ramp, through the SoundCloud and blog era, to the "gold rush" of 2013 to 2018 when the playing field briefly leveled between independent artists and major labels  He also argues that most of what distributors pitch today is still a myth unless real capital backs it, and breaks down how some are starting to structure what looks like a record deal (minus the part where they take your copyright).  Then, Isaac Miranda, global marketing director at ONErpm, joins to talk about what a company he calls possibly the last large independent music company operating at scale actually turns on for an artist once they sign, from paid media and sync to fan engagement. We revisit the story from the Emmanuel Zunz episode back in May and pick it up from the marketing side, including a stat from a recent ONErpm audit that found 70-80% of artists in emerging markets weren't collecting their publishing rights.  This episode is part of the Rising Tide miniseries, working through the revenue multipliers that grow the value of the music industry, all leading up to the Music Tectonics Conference this October in Santa Monica.   The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find show notes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!    Get Dmitri's Rock Paper Scanner newsletter.

What if generative AI actually grows the music business instead of shrinking it? This week, Dmitri Vietze tackles the AI question everyone's tired of hearing about, but from a different angle.  First, Matt Adell, co-founder of Musical.ai, breaks down the $20 billion opportunity sitting inside AI music, and what it actually takes to get consent, attribution and compensation right instead of scraping music without permission.  Then Gaurav Sharma, founder of Hook, makes the case for AI as an amplifier for fan engagement rather than a replacement for artists, and why even a fraction of social music consumption could be worth as much as streaming is today. Stick around after the interview for a preview of next week's episode with Daouda Leonard of CreateSafe, former creative director for Grimes, on the story behind Grimes AI voice licensing platform elf.tech and what they learned from building it. This episode is part of the Rising Tide miniseries, working through the revenue multipliers that grow the value of the music industry, all leading up to the Music Tectonics Conference this October in Santa Monica.   The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!    Get Dmitri's Rock Paper Scanner newsletter.

What happens when businesses, apps, and games use music without really paying for it?  This week we're on the third revenue multiplier of our Rising Tide miniseries: new forms of licensing hiding in plain sight.  First, Soundtrack CEO Ola Sars breaks down the 40 billion dollar market for background music in businesses, and why more than 80% of companies playing music today are doing it the wrong way. Only 5% of US businesses are fully compliant on public performance licensing, and that gap is costing the industry billions. Next, we have Lauren Pufpaf of Feed Media Group explain how personalized, intelligent music licensing is opening up categories most of the industry has not even noticed, including a 5 billion dollar opportunity in AI video platforms. Finally, Tomas Jenneborg of Reactional Music reveals that the gaming industry spends 25 to 30 billion dollars a year on user acquisition ads, and music is getting none of it.    The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!    Get Dmitri's Rock Paper Scanner newsletter.

What is your music catalog actually worth, and how would you even find out?  This week we're on the second stop of our Rising Tide miniseries, tackling catalog valuation, one of the revenue multipliers we're covering ahead of the Music Tectonics Conference this October. First, music lawyer and Instagram creator Ryan Schmidt breaks down how catalogs get valued, the difference between the multiplier method and discounted cash flow analysis, and why an audit can uncover money you didn't know you were owed. We also get into name, image, and likeness rights, AI licensing, and where Ryan thinks the biggest growth opportunities are for artists and songwriters. Then we bring in two companies already working in this space. Sho Mitchell from Beatlibrary walks us through what a catalog valuation tool actually looks like in practice, and Rob Steiner from Luminate shares data on the current state of the catalog acquisition market. If you're a music tech company solving problems like these, come demo on the beach and network with the ecosystem at the Music Tectonics Conference, October 27 to 29 in Santa Monica. The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!    Get Dmitri's Rock Paper Scanner newsletter.

There's no lost and found for your royalties. If you don't claim them, they don't come looking for you, and depending on where the money's sitting, you may only have a few years before it's gone for good.   This week we kick off a new thread inside our Rising Tide miniseries: the eight revenue multipliers in music. We're starting with revenue recovery, the money that's already been earned but never made it back to the artists, songwriters, and producers who are owed it. We talk to three companies attacking this problem from three different angles.   Jason Feinberg, who leads Kosign at Kobalt Music, breaks down why revenue recovery is such a persistent problem in the first place, the fundamentals every artist needs to register (PRO, MLC, SoundExchange), and why an hour spent getting your metadata in order might be the most profitable hour of your career. Jeff Ponchick, co-founder and CEO of Mogul, explains how his company built something like "the Plaid of the music industry," centralizing royalty data across every platform an artist is owed money from, and why up to 50% of artist catalogs are registered incorrectly without anyone realizing it. Rob Brown, chief revenue officer at mprs, zooms into a corner of revenue recovery almost nobody talks about: the master points owed to producers, mixers, engineers, and top line songwriters, and how something as small as an unsigned letter of direction can freeze a producer's income entirely.   If you're a music tech company solving problems like these, come demo on the beach and network with the ecosystem at the Music Tectonics Conference, October 27 to 29 in Santa Monica.   The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!    Get Dmitri's Rock Paper Scanner newsletter.

What's your music catalog actually worth, and where is the industry still leaving money on the table?  This week, Dmitri is joined by our chief writer Tristra Newyear Yeager for a deep dive into eight revenue multipliers that they believe can grow the total addressable market for music. Building on last month's conversation with Eleanor about the rising tide thesis, Dmitri and Tristra break down each multiplier one by one: catalog valuation, revenue recovery, artist and label services, licensing, AI licensing, fan growth, fan revenue, and new music products. Along the way, we mention a ton of companies that are actually building in this space right now, so keep an ear out if you're looking for tools to grow your own business. They talk about where catalogs are becoming an investable asset class, why the industry still has multiple black boxes leaking royalty revenue, and how distributors are evolving into full platforms for artists and labels. They also dig into the complicated economics of AI licensing, from training data to generation to the songs that come out the other end, and look at emerging companies working on attribution, revenue recovery, and fan monetization across the space. This episode is part of the Rising Tide miniseries, tied to this year's Music Tectonics Conference theme, Rising Tide: Grow the Music, Grow the Value. The conference takes place October 27 to 29, 2026, in Santa Monica.   Companies mentioned: Royaltyport, Beatlibrary, Primordial, Legitary, Luminate, Chartmetric, Viberate, Mogul, MusicInfra, Shine-X, Claimy, Curve Royalty System, AIMS, ONErpm, Orphiq, beatBread, SongStats, Sound Credit, LyricFind, Soundstripe, feed.fm, Soundtrack Your Brand, Merlin Connect, ClicknClear, Musical AI, Vocana, Laylo, Symphony OS, Audience Republic, Rap Fame, OpenStage, Fave, Even, Patreon, Vinyl Bar in Shibuya, Hook, AudioShake, Kitbetter, Tiny Vinyl.   The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find show notes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!    Get Dmitri's Rock Paper Scanner newsletter.

We interrupt this miniseries for a special bonus episode! Last week, we laid out a theory on what technology can do to grow the value of music, so this time we wanted to hear from someone who is actually betting billions of dollars on the answer. Sam Hendel is the managing partner of Chord Music Partners, a leading pure play music rights catalog home to works from artists like the Weeknd, David Guetta, OneRepublic, Kid Cudi, Diplo and Fleetwood Mac, and he is deploying serious capital alongside Universal Music Group to acquire more of it. Dmitri and Sam get into how catalogs actually get valued, where the industry is still leaking money through under collected royalties and outdated PRO systems, and why streaming remains the best deal in the world for consumers. They also cover how AI, fandom data, and artist brand extensions could reshape where music revenue grows next, plus the thorny question of AI generated music: why attribution is the real unlock, and what a fair model for paying creators when their work trains or inspires new songs might look like. If you have ever wondered how the people writing nine figure checks for music catalogs think about risk, growth, and the future of the industry, this conversation is for you. The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!  Get Dmitri's Rock Paper Scanner newsletter.

That's the question host Dmitri Vietze presents to Vickie Nauman, founder of CrossBorderWorks, in this episode of Music Tectonics. Vickie has spent over two decades at the intersection of music and tech, working on sync licensing for video games and virtual worlds, and pioneering the concept of minimum viable music. This is episode three in the Rising Tide miniseries, built around the theme of this year's Music Tectonics Conference, Rising Tide: Grow the Music, Grow the Value, taking place October 27 to 29, 2026 in Santa Monica. Dmitri and Vickie unpack why technology and the music business have always clashed, why music is usually first to be disrupted by new platforms, and why volume based streaming rewards top artists while leaving mid tier and independent artists behind. They also get into generative AI, AI licensing deals, and why Vickie believes the future of music creation is not human versus AI, but a blend of both. They close out on gaming as an untapped revenue opportunity, why most super fan apps fail to gain traction, and what gives Vickie hope about the next generation of musicians and fans. Topics include music industry trends, music tech, artificial intelligence in music, music streaming, music licensing, sync licensing, gaming and music, and super fan monetization. Get early bird tickets now for the Music Tectonics Conference   The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!    Get Dmitri's Rock Paper Scanner newsletter.

Streaming built the modern music industry, but its growth is slowing in the US and other mature markets. So what comes next?  This week on the podcast, Dmitri sits down with Monica Corton, CEO of Go to Eleven Entertainment, to unpack where the total addressable market for music grows from here. This conversation is part two of the Rising Tide miniseries built around the Music Tectonics Conference theme, Grow the Music, Grow the Value. Monica and Dmitri dig into global streaming adoption in emerging music markets like Africa, Southeast Asia, and India, the return of physical media through kit style formats, and why interactive music and fan experiences could be the next major revenue driver for artists, songwriters, and publishers. They also explore new licensing frontiers including medical and wellness applications, songwriter branding deals, name image and likeness rights, avatar and hologram concerts, and gaming sync opportunities in titles like Grand Theft Auto and Just Dance. The conversation turns to generative AI and music licensing, covering attribution engines, royalty payouts for AI generated songs, and why Monica believes independent publishers need a seat at the table as AI platforms scale. They close with a candid look at publisher and label consolidation, TikTok and social media licensing rates, and whether streaming will ever be replaced or simply become one layer in a much more diversified music economy. Whether you work in music publishing, artist management, music licensing, or music technology, this episode offers a grounded look at where the music business grows next.   The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find show notes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!    Get Dmitri's Rock Paper Scanner newsletter.

Why is the value of the music industry so small compared to other forms of entertainment like gaming and television, even though music seems to be everywhere in our lives? This week on the podcast, Dmitri kicks off a new miniseries built around this year's conference theme, "Rising Tide: Grow the Music, Grow the Value" with Jimmy Stone, managing partner of Alderbrook. Jimmy pushes back on the premise and walks through the real numbers behind the music market, including the gap between wholesale and retail revenue estimates. Dmitri and Jimmy dig into why streaming struggled to create the kind of scarcity that once let labels set prices, how Napster and peer to peer sharing permanently changed what people are willing to pay for music, and why platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Meta may still be underpaying rights holders for how music actually gets used. The conversation turns to where new revenue might come from next, including premium subscription tiers, interactive music features, exclusive concert access, and lessons from Tencent Music's super fan tier in China. They also tackle a big question head on, whether AI will end up being a multiplier or a deflator for music revenue, and why Jimmy lands on multiplier despite the uncertainty around rights and attribution. They close out talking about ABBA Voyage, holographic concerts, and why live human performance might become more valuable, not less, as AI generated music becomes more common. If you're trying to make sense of where music's real value comes from and where it's headed next, this episode is a great place to start.   The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!    Get Dmitri's Rock Paper Scanner newsletter.