How Direct-To-Fan Unlocks Revenue

This week on the podcast, we're on revenue multiplier 7 on our Rising Tide miniseries: direct-to-fan.  First, Mag Rodriguez, founder and CEO of EVEN, makes the case that most artists are leaving serious money on the table by skipping direct-to-fan entirely, and why you don't need a big mailing list to start selling directly to fans. Then, J Edward Keyes, editorial director at Bandcamp, explains why CDs are suddenly outselling vinyl with younger fans, and walks through some of the free features on Bandcamp that most artists still aren't using. Finally, Tim Quirk, SVP at Zedge and general manager of the new streaming app Tapedeck, talks about why streaming has never paid artists what they're actually worth, and what he's building to fix it. Three companies, all betting that the future of music revenue runs through the fan relationship, not around it. This episode is part of the Rising Tide miniseries, working through the revenue multipliers that grow the value of the music industry, and building toward this year's Music Tectonics Conference theme in Santa Monica this October. Get your tickets now 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 does it actually take to turn followers into fans who buy?  This week, we're digging into Fan Growth, one of the 8 revenue multipliers in our Rising Tide miniseries. First, DJay Brawner of TUFF MGMT and MANAGR breaks down why the real work often starts before you grow your audience, making sure you're collecting the money from the fans you already have. Then, Megh Vakharia of SymphonyOS shares how AI agents are turning discovery moments into direct revenue, from automated ad campaigns to catalog valuations. Finally, Anj Fayemi of Rivet explains how unified fan data powers automations that drive repeat merch sales and sell out venues twice as fast. 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 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.