The Open Innovation CMO: Sacem Lab, New Tech, and Creator Tools –  with Julien Lefebvre, Head of Innovation and SACEM Lab

Ep. 178: Collective management is no longer just about collecting royalties; it's about innovating infrastructure and offering direct services. So we're joined by Julien Lefebvre, the Head of Innovation and Sacem Lab, to talk about the Lab project, its startup partnerships, and the strategic decision to open up certain proprietary technologies (including blockchain applications) to all creators, redefining the role of a CMO as a global tech enabler.He discusses: balancing Sacem's priorities with the current volatile music ecosystem; the Musicstart service, where anyone –Sacem members or not – can use their tool to secure permanent "proof of creation" of their music; how the organisation is collaborating with fellow CMOs like GEMA and ASCAP; and how the music-tech startup landscape is moving away from "hype" tech.Read more here:  SACEM, Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (https://presse.sacem.fr/?lang=en)This is the second in a special series of Music Ally Focus made in collaboration with Sacem, exploring the evolution of collective management in the modern music industry – looking at technology, policy, copyright and more. =========In the first episode in the series, David El Sayegh, Deputy CEO of Sacem, discussed how the organisation is defining the future of copyright.Over the next two episodes, we will continue to dive into how collective management is having to move with the times: exploring how one of the world’s leading CMOs is navigating a landscape redefined by artificial intelligence, global scaling, and the changing needs of modern creators.=======This is a Music Ally Co-Labs podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠musically.com/music-ally-co-labs⁠⁠. Co-Labs content is created by publishing partners in liaison with the Music Ally Editorial Team. We work closely with partners to ensure that it adheres to Music Ally's high expectations of quality, thoughtfulness, and usefulness.

Ep. 177: Generative AI, copyright, and collection. Welcome to a special Music Ally Focus podcast series made in collaboration with Sacem, exploring the evolution of collective management in the modern music industry – looking at technology, policy, copyright and more. In the first episode: Generative AI is no longer a future concept – it is a fundamental tool in today's creative process. But as the amount of AI-generated content increases, so do the complexities of music rights – and the number of questions that songwriters, artists and rightsholders have. So we spoke to David El Sayegh, Deputy CEO of collecting society Sacem, to discuss how the organisation is defining the future of copyright. We explored Sacem’s strategic approach to the AI revolution, from building a shared understanding of policy to the practical technologies being tested in the Sacem Lab, to protect human creativity and ensure fair revenue exists in this new landscape. And, we ask El Sayegh: if we are in the middle of a huge shift in AI-driven music creation and consumption, what are the revenue opportunities – and financial risks – for creators and CMOs stemming from this?It's a broad and deep discussion from the top: he also discussed Sacem's official stance on AI training models, how they are protecting the notion of human creativity – and the new technologies being developed to ensure creators are fairly compensated in an AI-driven world. Explore more: https://flyer.sacemenligne.fr/IA/EN/index.html=========Over the next three episodes, we continue to dive into how collective management is having to move with the times: exploring how one of the world’s leading CMOs is navigating a landscape redefined by artificial intelligence, global scaling, and the changing needs of modern creators.=======This is a Music Ally Co-Labs podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠musically.com/music-ally-co-labs⁠. Co-Labs content is created by publishing partners in liaison with the Music Ally Editorial Team. We work closely with partners to ensure that it adheres to Music Ally's high expectations of quality, thoughtfulness, and usefulness.

Ep. 176: In 2026, labels, artists, musicians and creators are all working differently: generating millions of micro-royalties every month across global campaigns that involve multiple of partners across dozens of countries. Getting your music out there is easier than ever, but processing that increased volume of payouts becomes more complex – and we all have an expectation to get paid fast, and see what’s going on and what we’re owed at any given time. So to find out what’s happening at the point where all those payment pipes meet, in this latest episode of Music Ally Focus, we partnered with a fintech company that processes tens of billions of payments each year – Tipalti, which works closely with labels like Ninja Tune to pay their artists what they’re owed. We chatted to Tipalti’s Travis Hughson about what labels need in 2026, what artists want when it comes to payments, and how to maintain trust and transparency to keep all parties happy.Some more Tipalti resources for the music business:Automated Royalty Payouts to Nurture ArtistsNinja Tune Enhances Artist Satisfaction and Cuts Payouts Processing Time by 50% With Tipalti Mass PaymentsFast, Secure Global Payments AnywhereRoyalty Rate Explained: How to Determine Your Royalties========This is a Music Ally Co-Labs podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠musically.com/music-ally-co-labs. Co-Labs content is created by publishing partners in liaison with the Music Ally Editorial Team. We work closely with partners to ensure that it adheres to Music Ally's high expectations of quality, thoughtfulness, and usefulness.

Ep. 175: Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Research joins us to talk about labels in 2026. It's jam-packed with great advice for labels of all sizes and ambitions, including:The value shift between labels and streaming platforms in terms of the 'ownership' of the music consumerHow labels should "specialise" - and what that means for the labels who try to do it allHe advocates for labels to 'nurture' artists with long-term artist development. He explains why – and how a label boss might need to justify a three-year slow-burn strategy when they're under so much pressure to deliver nowWhat revenue streams or opportunities might labels be labels ignoring because they're too focused on protecting the streaming status quo?There's also a fairly unexpected chat about Nu-Metal, Limp Bizkit, and UK Garage.Midia report: The future of labels – https://www.midiaresearch.com/reports/the-future-of-labels-shifting-sandsRide - Vapour Trail – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVhNi5cU8mo------👋 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Knowledge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎉 You may be eligible for a FREE Music Ally subscription, worth over £450/year, via our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠corporate and sponsored subscriptions⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. If you work for a DSP, a major label, an indie label, or if you’re an artist manager, an employee of a CMO or a publisher, check here to see if you’re eligible: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠musically.com/subscription-options⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ⓜ️ Subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music Ally⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠'s industry-leading analysis, reporting and news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠musically.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X/Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/musically⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Ep. 174: What's going to give you or your artist cut-through in 2026? At the start of last year we published one of our most popular podcasts of the year: when we asked Liam James Ward, CEO/co-founder of content strategy studio Something Something to look ahead into 2025’s upcoming marketing trends. Never let it be said that Music Ally Focus likes anything more than pushing against an open door, so when we had the opportunity to get Liam back on the show, we said yes. (It was a timely recording too, as Something Something were recently named Agency of the Year in Music Ally’s 2025 Music Marketing Awards.)Thus in this special episode of Music Ally Focus we’ll look beyond the bland and get clarity on the key changes and surprising developments in digital and social music marketing that emerged last year and what you can do in 2026, whether you’re a big budget high-flyer or a scrappy and ambitious DIY-er. Liam also digs into fan accounts, the atomisation of content, and crafting fun and sticky videos that stretch the idea of authenticity into exciting new places. We’ll talk about clipping, communities and crafting constellations of content, and we’ll talk about how marketers already instinctively know what strategy they should take for their artist and that artist’s audience.Something Something: https://www.somethingsomething.social/Contact Liam: [email protected]⁠ Music Ally Campaigns of the Year: https://musically.com/best-music-marketing-campaigns-of-the-year/

Ep 173: We're refreshing Focus (or should that be re-Focusing?) for our many music marketing listeners – we'll now be publishing regular episodes that spotlights recent excellent music marketing work. We're calling it "Genius Steals", so get ready to be inspired as regular host Joe Sparrow asks the stupid questions to Music Ally's marketing expert Marlen Hüllbrock.She'll explain why a bunch of great campaigns caught her eye recently, including a Lily Allen USB stick that you might get behind, Sleep Token's colouring book, The Kinks' tea, and lots more. Also: is Marlen smug about her Spotify Wrapped Age? (Yes, she is.)It's ideal for anyone who wants to get up to speed quickly and be inspired by* good recent marketing ideas.=====Music Ally's team is constantly on the lookout for the latest and greatest music marketing campaigns. download - for free! - our huge Campaigns of the Year report for 2025 here: https://musically.com/best-music-marketing-campaigns-of-the-yearAnd dig into all our marketers' resources right here: https://musically.com/marketing-insight=======Here's a load of links to all the stuff Marlen mentioned:Lily Allen (https://www.instagram.com/p/DRzjmtIjOGF/?igsh=dGttbWc0bTdpYnRl)• Lily Allen (https://lilyallen.tmstor.es/product/west-end-girl-usb-nrd)• Fred again.. (https://www.reddit.com/r/fredagain/comments/1pdi19n/usb_necklace/)• TOMORA (https://www.instagram.com/tomora)• TOMORA (https://soundcloud.com/tomoraofficial/ring-the-alarm?si=6d087a14f2ca44bf9ef224a0fb000418&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing)• Sofi Merone (https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRzsZJYDZc1/?igsh=YTR2eGg0MW1zNmkx)• Sofi Merone (https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR78m79jdJV/?igsh=dGF4YjkwYzA1eHcy)• SAILORR (https://www.instagram.com/p/DR5k_JMASWs/?igsh=dW4waWV4eWxkc2R1)• The Kinks (https://thekinkstea.com/?srsltid=AfmBOopokPr8qjspz3-4VY96ARYCj5VpGMKLREN4_TeWaPYV2rW7k4Hg)• berlioz (https://krankbrother.seetickets.com/event/berlioz-presents-deep-in-it/finsbury-park/3560930?pre=pre&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email)• JADE (https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/comments/1peg1x8/jade_thats_showbiz_baby_the_encore/)• Sleep Token (https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/sleep-token-coloring-book-even-in-arcadia-album-1236130093/)• Eli (https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRLC713Y/)• Eli (https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRLXJBuq/)• Eli (https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRLXNhNQ/)• Gunna (https://www.instagram.com/p/DR2nl-eEZcC/?igsh=MTU4Yzk3M2kwcWp0ag==)• Katseye (https://www.instagram.com/p/DRiQpMvDyS8/?igsh=MW00dHQ4eWE3YXJoNQ%3D%3D)*genius steals, remember

Ep 172: Taking the pulse of music-tech in 2025. We asked Music Ally’s head of insight, Stuart Dredge, to chat to our managing editor Joe Sparrow about the state of music-tech – and they talk in depth about AI doing your admin, the proliferation of tools designed to empower artists, direct-to-fan monetisation tech,  and more!This podcast connects to Music Ally's latest Insight Report on music-tech in 2025 (https://musically.com/category/reports). This year is the third “Year Of AI” in a row, by our reckoning. So how will people in the industry actually use AI – and in mundane ways? How much can be automated and when do humans need to step into the decision-making process? And if you automate away the mundane tasks, where do entrants in the industry start?

Ep. 171: We speak to Idan Dobrecki, the co-founder of Aiode, an AI music-making platform that emphasises two key features: its ethically-trained system that shares earnings with the musicians whose music is used, and its “virtual collaborator” approach. Idan compares the latter to having a talented musician “riding shotgun”, and music producers can call on the skills of the virtual (real) musicians to augment their songs.If you’re wondering how that works from a music production perspective, you can hear it working in real time in this episode. Idan also chats to Music Ally Editor Joe Sparrow – in this episode made in collaboration with Aiode – about the future integration of AI with the music industry as a whole, and to music production in particular; the ethical use of music training data, and how doing it ethically “makes better business sense”; and how sharing money with rightsholders makes for a better product. Aiode: https://aiode.comMusic Ally Co-Labs: ⁠⁠⁠musically.com/music-ally-co-labs

A quick bonus episode for you all, in case you have missed our new, other podcast, The Price of Music, your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. (You can follow it here on your platform of choice: Spotify / Apple / YouTube / other)In the most recent episode, presenters Steve Lamacq ands Stuart Dredge get stuck into...Listener Richard had a great question about music journalism – and Steve has a lot to say when answering: what’s changed about music journalism, whether music journalism is still important, where the music print media has gone, and what the future of music writing holds.(Plus - does Steve get paid when his 1991 “Nevermind” NME review is re-printed today?)Stu’s Big Number is 75 million – and they are “spam tracks” that Spotify has removed from its service in the last year alone. But what on earth is a spam song anyway?What extra information do artists need to attach to their songs when they upload music? Spotify has new rules around AI music – so what’s banned, and what’s not banned?TikTok is apparently about to be sold in the US (maybe) – but why is TikTok so important to the music industry?Why are old Billie Eilish and Rihanna songs re-emerging to huge popularity?The Great Record Shop Album Filing Debate rumbles on – where would you file Elton John – “E” or “J”? And if you like this podcast you can join Steve and Stu in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans.

Ep. 170: We bring you a bumper episode of Music Ally Focus, with four true domain experts, all sharing their advice, insight and strategies for you to use. (UPDATE: we fixed a surprising number of audio glitches!)Music marketing is in a transitional era where traditional funnel marketing rubs up against wallet-draining superfan campaigns – and the desire to create deep, narrow direct-to-fan communities that will support an artist forever.So... what's the right path? It's about building a community of people who are thrilled to be part of a fanbase, and who love spending time with each other. But this kind of fanbase might not generate those giant social media or streaming numbers that labels love. So what needs to change? It's a combination of hard work, daring to look past old behaviours, and "random acts of kindness", our experts say. Our springboard was this article that guest Simon Scott wrote about music discovery and fan commitment: https://musically.com/2025/07/10/how-music-discovery-and-fan-commitment-are-inextricably-linked/Guests are, in A-Z order:Aaron Bogucki – founder of direct-to-fan services company Big Cookie Keziah Reed – Digital Marketing Manager, Artist Services, UK, at BelieveRobyn Elton – Head of Artist Strategy (Audience) at agency BlackstarSimon Scott – Founder & CEO of fan engagement technology company Push entertainment