guest column
Prompted by Chappell Roan’s comments about health insurance from the Grammy stage on Feb. 2, over the last several weeks an important conversation has been taking place about financial stability and health among those who work in music. At MusiCares, we celebrate this conversation and want to collectively seize this moment for real change. To do this, we need to go deeper than just a conversation. It is important to understand and focus solutions on data-backed, long-standing issues around fair pay and health in the music community.
In fact, MusiCares was founded with this mission in mind. The Recording Academy formed MusiCares as an independent 501c3 charity in 1989 to be a shared service for the larger music industry because even back then, it was difficult to ensure fair pay across all sectors. As a result, many music people were falling on hard times. Health and welfare problems are exacerbated in low-income environments. This problem continues in music today, even after MusiCares has provided over $118 million in direct assistance to people from every music profession, genre and U.S. state.
Trending on Billboard
We know this because we research it. Financial instability is a major concern for people in music, affecting their household economics, physical well-being and mental health. Our Wellness in Music survey, open to anyone in the U.S. working in music, shows that 69% of respondents cannot comfortably cover their expenses through work in music alone and 47% attribute their stress to financial instability. Furthermore, 65% of respondents are not confident about the trajectory of the industry. These are major red flags for both the well-being of our music community and the sustainability of this industry in its current form.
MusiCares provides customized care, often with substantial financial assistance to cover basic living needs and other expenses, when music people face economic hardship. Many people in music never get guidance on how to manage their money. For this reason, we also focus on the preventive side of financial health, including financial management services and tax support. The tragic fires in Los Angeles and hurricanes in the Southeast demonstrate how perilously close so many people in our community are to financial ruin. While some music people had substantial loss, many of the 5,000+ individuals we supported through our recent disaster relief efforts needed support simply because they lost a gig or two: $200 or $300 in income was often what separated them from security and an inability to pay their basic living costs. Higher wages are essential, but we also need to grow financial safety nets, which include funding and resources to support music professionals through hard times. This requires substantial and ongoing investments from the industry to ensure qualified non-profit organizations can meet the need.
Health insurance has also been a major topic in recent weeks, and it’s an important one. But health insurance alone is not enough. Our Wellness in Music survey consistently shows that 87-90% of music professionals have health insurance, just slightly the below US national coverage. While universal coverage is the goal, the barrier many people in music face is an inability to use the insurance they have. Most MusiCares clients have health insurance but may not use it because they can’t afford the deductible, their provider doesn’t take insurance, or the provider is out of network. Overwhelmingly, music people are not accessing preventive care services, like mammograms, dental cleanings and hearing screenings, at healthy rates. For this reason, we work with a carefully vetted network of hundreds of licensed health providers across the United States and have provided over 45,000 free preventive clinic visits. We need to keep closing the gap in economic and logistical access to essential medical care. This includes access to quality health insurance, additional funding to cover out of pocket costs and dedicated providers who can work with music professionals on their unique needs.
Inability to use insurance affects mental health too. The American Psychological Association estimates that about one in three therapists do not take insurance. Access to care is further complicated because people in music are highly mobile. Licensing regulations may mean people can’t work with their mental health provider or worse, end up receiving care from unlicensed providers. In the absence of access to licensed, affordable care, many music people are vulnerable to unregulated initiatives that have no grounding in science.
Music people in need of substance use treatment often face similar challenges. In-network treatment centers may have no space or it’s not the right fit for their needs. For single parents, highly mobile workers or those who need to keep working, in-patient treatment may not be an option. To get people the care they deserve, we need to expand access to substantial financial assistance for addiction recovery, in addition to tailored and long-term care options, referrals, and placement.
At MusiCares, we’ve provided over $25 million in direct assistance to music people and placed them in therapy and substance use treatment. Currently, MusiCares is the only philanthropic organization that covers the full costs of substance use treatment for music people. While financial support is essential, we find it is only effective because we have specialized providers o meet the needs of music people as well as follow-up care, like sober living, accountability coaching and support for basic living needs during key recovery junctures.
Finally, we need better coordination to create comprehensive support for everyone who works in music. At MusiCares, we have never gone at it alone and have no interest in trying. We need to work in tandem with health care providers, music industry companies and non-profit partners to ensure no one slips through the cracks. Those of us who work in this space have an opportunity for stronger coordination, including sharing our data and best practices, so that we are all making evidence-based investments that address the very real challenges within our community.
We all need music. Music needs a safety net.
Laura Segura is executive director and Theresa Wolters is vice president of health & human services at MusiCares.
Generative AI — the creation of compositions from nothing in seconds — isn’t disrupting music licensing; it’s accelerating the economic impact of a system that was never built to last. Here’s the sick reality: If a generative AI company wanted to ethically license Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode” to train their models, they’d need approvals from more than 30 rights holders, with that number doubling based on rights resold or reassigned after the track’s release. Finding and engaging with all of those parties? Good luck. No unified music database exists to identify rights holders, and even if it did, outdated information, unanswered emails, and, in some cases, deceased rights holders or a group potentially involved in a rap beef make the process a nonstarter.
The music licensing system, or lack thereof, is so fragmented that most AI companies don’t even try. They steal first and deal with lawsuits later. Clearing “Sicko Mode” isn’t just difficult; it’s impossible — a cold example of the complexity of licensing commercial music for AI training that seems left out of most debates surrounding ethical approaches.
Trending on Billboard
For those outside the music business, it’s easy to assume that licensing a song is as simple as getting permission from the artist. But in reality, every track is a tangled web of rights, split across songwriters, producers, publishers and administrators, each with their own deals, disputes and gatekeepers. Now multiply the chaos of clearing one track by the millions of tracks needed for an AI training set, and you’ll quickly see why licensing commercial music for AI at scale is a fool’s errand today.
Generative AI is exposing and accelerating the weaknesses in the traditional music revenue model by flooding the market with more music, driving down licensing fees and further complicating ownership rights. As brands and content creators turn to AI-generated compositions, demand for traditional catalogs will decline, impacting synch and licensing revenues once projected to grow over the next decade.
Hard truths don’t wait for permission. The entrance of generative AI has exposed the broken system of copyright management and its outdated black-box monetization methods.
The latest RIAA report shows that while U.S. paid subscriptions have crossed 100 million and revenue hit a record $17.7 billion in 2024, streaming growth has nearly halved — from 8.1% in 2023 to just 3.6% in 2024. The market is plateauing, and the question isn’t if the industry needs a new revenue driver — it’s where that growth will come from. Generative AI is that next wave. If architected ethically, it won’t just create new technological innovation in music; it will create revenue.
Ironically, the very thing being painted as an existential threat to the industry may be the thing capable of saving it. AI is reshaping music faster than anyone expected, yet its ethical foundation remains unwritten. So we need to move fast.
A Change is Gonna Come: Why Music Needs Ethical AI as a Catalyst for Monetization
Let’s start by stopping. Generative AI isn’t our villain. It’s not here to replace artistry. It’s a creative partner, a collaborator, a tool that lets musicians work faster, dream bigger and push boundaries in ways we’ve never seen before. While some still doubt AI’s potential because today’s ethically trained outputs may sound like they’re in their infancy, let me be clear: It’s evolving fast. What feels novel now will be industry-standard tomorrow.
Our problem is, and always has been, a lack of transparency. Many AI platforms have trained on commercial catalogs without permission (first they lied about it, then they came clean), extracting value without compensation. “Sicko Mode” very likely included. That behavior isn’t just unethical; it’s economically destructive, devaluing catalogs as imitation tracks saturate the market while the underlying copyrights earn nothing.
If we’re crying about market flooding right now, we’re missing the point. Because what if rights holders and artists participated in those tracks? Energy needs to go into rethinking how music is valued and monetized across licensing, ad tech and digital distribution. Ethical AI frameworks can ensure proper attribution, dynamic pricing and serious revenue generation for rights holders.
Jen, the ethically-trained generative AI music platform I co-founded, has already set a precedent by training exclusively on 100% licensed music, proving that responsible AI isn’t an abstract concept, it’s a choice. I just avoided Travis’ catalog due to its licensing complexities. Because time is of the essence. We are entering an era of co-creation, where technology can enhance artistry and create new revenue opportunities rather than replace them. Music isn’t just an asset; it’s a cultural force. And it must be treated as such.
Come Together: Why Opt-In is the Only Path Forward and Opt-Out Doesn’t Work
There’s a growing push for AI platforms to adopt opt-out mechanisms, where rights holders must proactively remove their work from AI training datasets. At first glance, this might seem like a fair compromise. In reality, it’s a logistical nightmare destined to fail.
A recent incident in the U.K. highlights these challenges: over 1,000 musicians, including Kate Bush and Damon Albarn, released a silent album titled “Is This What We Want?” to protest proposed changes to copyright laws that would allow AI companies to use artists’ work without explicit permission. This collective action underscores the creative community’s concerns about the impracticality and potential exploitation inherent in opt-out systems.
For opt-out to work, platforms would need to maintain up-to-date global databases tracking every artist, writer, and producer’s opt-out status or rely on a third party to do so. Neither approach is scalable, enforceable, or backed by a viable business model. No third party is incentivized to take on this responsibility. Full stop.
Music, up until now, has been created predominantly by humans, and human dynamics are inherently complex. Consider a band that breaks up — one member might refuse to opt out purely to spite another, preventing consensus on the use of a shared track. Even if opt-out were technically feasible, interpersonal conflicts would create chaos. This is an often overlooked but critical flaw in the system.
Beyond that, opt-out shifts the burden onto artists, forcing them to police AI models instead of making music. This approach doesn’t close a loophole — it widens it. AI companies will scrape music first and deal with removals later, all while benefiting from the data they’ve already extracted. By the time an artist realizes their work was used, it’s too late. The damage is done.
This is why opt-in is the only viable future for ethical AI. The burden should be on AI companies to prove they have permission before using music — not on artists to chase down every violation. Right now, the system has creators in a headlock.
Speaking of, I want to point out another example of entrepreneurs fighting for and building solutions. Perhaps she’s fighting because she’s an artist herself and deeply knows how the wrong choices affect her livelihood. Grammy-winning and Billboard Hot 100-charting artist, producer and music-tech pioneer Imogen Heap has spent over a decade tackling the industry’s toughest challenges. Her non-profit platform, Auracles, is a much-needed missing data layer for music that enables music makers to create a digital ID that holds their rights information and can grant permissions for approved uses of their works — including for generative AI training or product innovation. We need to support these types of solutions. And stop condoning the camps that feel that stealing music is fair game.
Opt-in isn’t just possible, it’s absolutely necessary. By building systems rooted in transparency, fairness and collaboration, we can forge a future where AI and music thrive together, driven by creativity and respect.
The challenge here isn’t in building better AI models — it’s designing the right licensing frameworks from the start. Ethical training isn’t a checkbox; it’s a foundational choice. Crafting these frameworks is an art in itself, just like the music we’re protecting.
Transparent licensing frameworks and artist-first models aren’t just solutions; they’re the guardrails preventing another industry freefall. We’ve seen it before — Napster, TikTok (yes, I know you’re tired of hearing these examples) — where innovation outpaced infrastructure, exposing the cracks in old systems. This time, we have a shot at doing it right. Get it right, and our revenue rises. Get it wrong and… [enter your prompt here].
Shara Senderoff is a well-respected serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist pioneering the future of music creation and monetization through ethically trained generative AI as Co-Founder & CEO of Jen. Senderoff is an industry thought leader with an unwavering commitment to artists and their rights.
The music business needs a hug…and a punch to the gut.
As someone who cares deeply about mental health, wellness and supporting people in need, my intentions with this letter come from the purest place of love and empathy. But if I’ve learned anything from my time in the music industry — it’s to be direct. Today, I’m calling for more consistent, accessible personal and professional development support for the people who keep the music industry’s wheels turning. These include things like leadership and communication training, adaptability and resiliency coaching and a basic understanding of emotional intelligence. We cannot have a healthy industry inhabited by healthy humans without the intersection of mental health and professional and personal development. We need to move beyond just checking boxes for things that look good on paper, but do not actually impact those owning the day-to-day operations of our business. It’s unsustainable long-term. What good are resources if the business itself doesn’t support their use? How can we seriously promote wellness while maintaining conditions within the workplace that undermine it? The need to invest in both our well-being and create healthier work environments is becoming dire as we navigate unprecedented mergers and acquisitions, rampant layoffs due to our ever-evolving business, and an increasingly competitive landscape that shows no signs of slowing down.
To start, we could benefit from operating with less ego and more empathy. Leaders can always strive to be better decision-makers and communicators, with a focus on humility and understanding for their teams and partners. They hold the power to make change, but also face immense pressure, and we need to support them in guiding the industry. We also need more people who genuinely care about human growth, and are equipped to fight for changing outdated systems.
These precursors are required to address what our artists are expressing on stage at award shows and what professionals are discussing off the record over dinner. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can speak for the hundreds of people I’ve met over the past five years, including those who attend our jump.global Annual Summit, where we host open forums on these critical topics. Yes, we’re good at calling this all “mental health,” and to some extent, it fits under that umbrella. But it’s so much more than that. It’s dealing with the real-life effects of endless company reorgs, constant performance critiques, burnout from the grind, lack of healthy work-life boundaries and an industry that prioritizes making money without making sure its people are happy with their personal growth.
Trending on Billboard
These aren’t new revelations. The industry has long been criticized for its broken promises and dehumanizing culture, but we’ve reached a tipping point. People are mentally and physically exhausted, overwhelmed by constant fatigue and the whiplash of relentless demands. They are caught between morning meditation and breathwork sessions, only to be thrown into the chaos of endless emails and unclear paths to advancement. It’s real, and it’s widespread, impacting every part of our personal and professional lives. The music industry must embrace the people who have always been its heart and soul — artists, fans and workers alike. It’s time to nurture the relationships that sustain it, offering the support, care, and recognition that has often been overlooked, and ensure that everyone involved feels valued, heard, and connected. It needs to become so systemic that it’s as common as composing an email or pitching a release. Are we truly listening to the feedback of our teams as much as we are to the charts? If we put people over profit, we can turn this around — but without this shift, we risk burning out the very people who keep this industry alive.
This sentiment is echoed by the coaching community I’ve turned to for my own research and development. “When mental, physical and emotional health are prioritized as part of the fabric of an organization, company culture changes, people get more creative, productivity increases, communication improves, performance gets stronger,” says Marni Wandner, board-certified health coach, executive coach and 22-year music industry vet. “I work with both executives and artists, most of whom are trying to prevent burnout, or recover from it. When people are at their best, the whole industry benefits – and the way we take care of ourselves and each other affects the wellbeing and success of the artists.”
Outside of overall health, It’s important to note how much leadership training plays such a crucial role in all of this. “When we develop our leaders and prepare them well, they can manage their teams effectively and compassionately. We can create better work cultures, retain talent in the industry, reduce burnout and improve performance,” Tamara Gal-On and Remi Harris, UK-based coaches and Co-Founders of the Music Leaders Network, share in a joint statement.
Effective communication has also been identified as a crucial component of strong leadership. Tracey Pepper, a veteran media and public-speaking coach and certified personal coach, shares, “I work with high-level executives every week who are expected to inspire and motivate their teams, whether it’s sharing ideas or delivering feedback, but who have never sought support around developing their communication style. Yet, how they interact with colleagues and co-workers has a significant effect on company culture and, in turn, productivity. Being aware of how you’re impacting others by how you speak to them is a game-changer in leadership.”
I ask nearly everyone I meet about this disconnect, and the consensus is clear: our industry doesn’t necessarily lack awareness of how important professional and personal development resources can be, it lacks the time for people to properly dedicate themselves to it because of how intense and fast-paced their jobs can be. Without an immediate ROI, development often feels like a “luxury” that companies and people can’t afford or something we save for an end-of-year planning session. But what if we stopped viewing it that way and started treating it as the necessity it clearly is?
While I applaud any music company with Learning & Development programs already in place, I hope the journey doesn’t stop after one-off grants, seminars or annual workshops. We need to create ongoing learning environments where professionals are empowered with the tools to thrive personally and professionally. The strength of the business lies not just in the artists we promote or the music we create, but in the culture we nurture within our teams. Developing strong, emotionally intelligent humans that work in music isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s critical for the long-term success and sustainability of the industry. “What is emotional intelligence?” is a fun one to type into ChatGPT, and then compare back to the music business.
Of course, there has been discussion and debate over whose responsibility it is to provide tools in these areas. To be fair, I think it’s everyone’s collective responsibility. Thankfully, generous programs and organizations are already leading the charge to end stigmas and provide essential resources, research and guidance. Again, while much of the headlines focus on mental health, a lot of them work intersectionally through all the areas I mentioned. Backline, Music Industry Therapist Collective, Music Health Alliance, MusiCares, Amber Health, Keychange and numerous coaches and therapists are making a lasting impact and creating meaningful, sustainable change in the industry. We owe a lot to these organizations, as well as those leading ongoing efforts in diversity, equity, inclusion, gender parity, fighting ageism and supporting neurodivergent education.
That said, there is always more that can be done and this is an invitation for all of us to do our part if you are not already. While innovating and commercializing music, we must also dismantle outdated systems and create forward-thinking support for both creatives and the workforce. As we work to heal the world with music, we must first extend that same care to those who make it all possible. Through compassion, empathy and kindness, we can do this.
We are all human, and no matter our title, company, or paycheck we all can, and will, benefit from these changes. To the artist managers who just lost their biggest client, the marketing directors struggling to juggle 20 releases, the people who have devoted their lives to a role only to see it eliminated, the CEO who ascended the corporate ladder only to be knocked back down and to anyone who has ever felt unseen, unsupported, or confused by the industry they love … I see you. This is why we need systemic change that supports you consistently, not just when it becomes impossible to ignore. Whether it’s implementing a new way to foster open communication within your department or simply gifting a coaching session to a colleague – we can all work together to shape more resilient cultures.
So, dear music business humans, I hope you’ll accept this hug and pass it on to the friends you’ve made along the way, the teams you manage, the interns you inspire, the artists you collaborate with and those you’ve yet to meet. To all of the music business-at-large, the gut punches may feel like love taps, but I promise you they carry enough weight to impact your bottom line — today or tomorrow.
With immense love, gratitude and concern,
Nick Maiale
Nick Maiale is the founder & CEO of jump.global – an agency solution for music executives and companies looking to grow their influence through B2B trade marketing, conferences & panels, international relations, college mentorship and more. He is studying to become a certified executive coach with a mission to bring more personal and professional development events, such as the jump.global Annual Summit, to the music business masses.
Look at your favorite album from the past year, and there’s a good chance that 10 to 30 different producers contributed to it. And yet in this “age of collaboration” that continues to produce culture-defining hits, we have a problem: How do we handle all these producer contracts?
In the U.S. model, producer deals are seldom discussed until after a label signs a recording agreement with an artist. Once the deal is set, the artist contracts directly with any producers working on their music — a requirement in the artist’s deal with the label. The artist then requests that the label pay, credit and account to the producer per the terms of their agreement. Unfortunately, this complicated process often becomes a game of broken telephone.
Discussions on this topic can quickly lead to finger-pointing. But the issues that producers are facing today, speaking generally, are not a matter of “us versus them.” The label, which has no direct contractual relationship with the producers, is asked by the artist on multiple occasions to honor deal terms that the label had little role in negotiating. Even if the producer agreement says the producer will be paid within five days of signing, unless the label agrees to pay within that timeframe, that schedule won’t be honored and the producer’s only option is to take it up with the artist.
Trending on Billboard
This disconnect becomes even more problematic when the volume increases. I currently represent over 30 producers and, on average, my office handles 20 to 40 producer agreements a week. That includes review on behalf of our producers as well as drafting agreements for our artist clients, the latter of which could require multiple agreements — even as many as five or six — to clear one song. For a boutique firm like mine, it keeps us busy and the clearances can be a big headache if not done in a correct and timely way. In some cases, they can hold up release dates and, if not executed properly, result in copyright infringement claims that could lead to lawsuits.
When negotiating a record deal for an artist, I make sure to have pointed conversations with the label about how they pay and account to producers because securing clarity in advance about the label’s policies is an absolute must.
It hasn’t always been this way. In the past, prior to the start of recording a project, artists would submit a budget proposal to the label encompassing all the creators on a given project. Oftentimes, the artist would use the label-provided budget to hire one producer, who would be responsible for hiring, managing and paying the musicians and other creatives needed to complete the album.
Today, however, unless you’re already an industry-leading producer, the odds are you’re coming into the studio on spec. This means that you and over 20 other hopeful producers work with the artist on 40 or so songs, with 12 to 15 songs typically making the final cut for the album. The songs that don’t make it are considered speculative, trial-based work done for free. If one or more songs by a given producer do make the cut, the hope is that that producer’s lawyer can negotiate good terms.
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of good music that doesn’t see the light of day due to clearance issues, not to mention music that gets removed from streaming services after release due to a failure to adhere to producer deals (or a failure to do them at all). But even in the best-case scenario when things can be worked out, most producers typically have to wait a long time before they get a single cent due to an overly complicated process.
In the first step of this process, the agreement has to be signed by both the artist and producer, a sometimes daunting task if that artist is touring. After that, the label has to accept the agreement (which can sometimes conflict with the recording deal originally inked with the artist), receive an invoice (sometimes multiple times before it’s actually “received” and in line with label policies) and new vendor paperwork, and wait for the producer to register with the label’s specific payment system.
“A lot of people think that all we do is push a button and money goes out, but there are so many checks and balances that admin does on the back end to ensure that payments are processed properly and within a timely fashion,” says one senior executive at a major label who asked to remain unnamed. Of course, we have to understand the logistical burdens and practical business realities that label employees are up against. But at the same time, we have to recognize the plight of producers who, despite making money for the label, are forced to wait on the payments they depend on to feed their families. Many employees at the labels understand this and know the system has to change.
“There is a huge disconnect when it comes to paying creatives in a decent time frame,” says Malita Rice, vp of A&R at Warner Records. “We have to keep their livelihood in mind and not only think from a label and artist perspective. If you can’t walk out the grocery store without paying, why should music be released without the creative getting paid or waiting months or years to be paid?”
While these systems and disconnects continue to exist, producers who have “made it” will continue to struggle to pay bills, even while their music becomes a viral TikTok sound.
Managing these clearances is such a burden on resources that any lawyer aspiring to make it in music should learn clearance docs first. And for producers who want to put themselves in a better situation? My friend and colleague, Bob Celestin, shares this advice: “One of the many obstacles to producers and songwriters getting paid their publishing monies is the neglect or outright refusal, at times, to document their respective ownership interests in songs they jointly create,” he says. “The easiest way to solve this problem is by utilizing split sheets at some point after they’ve jointly created a song.”
Still, while being diligent about this can help producers, it doesn’t fix the overall problems with the system itself.
So what’s the path forward here? Suggestions have been floating around for years: Unionize producers. Leverage AI to cut down on admin work. Develop a new “default” producer agreement that kickstarts the process. Go the way of the U.K. music industry and have labels contract directly with producers.
The truth is, all of these so-called solutions would help alleviate the current problems while also creating new ones. This isn’t about producers versus labels versus artists but rather about fixing a problem that has negative ripple effects across the industry. It’s imperative that we bring everyone to the table to create a more just system.
Acclaimed attorney Matt Buser leads Buser Legal — the Miami-based law firm at the crossroads of entertainment, sports and intellectual property matters — dedicated to empowering creators and safeguarding elite talent with strategic, personalized counsel. Since its founding in 2014, his blend of deep legal expertise, business acumen, and a passion for the arts has earned the firm acknowledgment from Billboard to USA Today, embodying the innovative spirit behind #NotYourAverageLawFirm.
Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music and the former president at Def Jam Recordings, head of Warner Music Group’s recorded music division and founder of 300 Entertainment, has penned an urgent open letter to Ye — formerly known as Kanye West — imploring him to stop using antisemitic rhetoric and other actions following a […]
The music publishing industry has long been a battlefield, with independent publishers often struggling against the overwhelming dominance of the majors. Companies like Warner Chappell, Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group control vast resources and have significant influence due to their connections with their major record label counterparts, making it difficult for indies to compete.
Despite these challenges, independent publishers continue to embody the spirit of creativity and resilience, navigating the obstacles with unparalleled determination in the face of industry issues including licensing and financial disadvantages, increasing competition and costs, fewer income streams, and more that threaten to push us out of business. Recently, these obstacles have intensified, demanding a more assertive and determined approach from indie publishers. As we progress through 2024 and look ahead to 2025, the reasons for our frustration are pressing and undeniable.
Over the past few months, the gap between indie and major publishers has widened due to systemic problems and recent controversies. TikTok’s licensing deals, heavily influenced by agreements with major record labels and publishers, have sidelined indie publishers, affecting our ability to monetize our catalogs effectively on a platform that has become critical for music discovery. TikTok’s role in propelling songs and artists to the top of the charts and securing lucrative synch deals makes this marginalization particularly troubling. Indie publishers find themselves at a disadvantage, forced to either accept less favorable deal terms or risk losing out on the opportunity to reach these audiences and, in turn, straining our label relationships.
Trending on Billboard
Similarly, the recent Spotify bundling controversy highlights the stark inequalities between major and independent publishers. By adjusting its service offerings to lower mechanical royalty rates, Spotify has given a significant advantage to major publishers. While all publishers are aligned in fighting Spotify’s move, major publishers, with their extensive financial reserves, can more easily absorb the impact of reduced royalties. Additionally, integration with their record label arms allows their parent companies to negotiate recording royalty deals that help offset losses on the publishing side. Independent publishers, however, operate with much tighter margins and lack the diversified revenue streams of their larger counterparts. For us, every penny matters. A reduced mechanical rate isn’t just a cut; it’s a threat to our very existence.
Beyond these specific cases, the challenges of 2024, including rising operating costs and intense competition in catalog acquisitions, have placed a heavier burden on indie publishers. The surge in catalog acquisitions by major publishers, driven by their financial power and access to capital, has driven up prices, making it increasingly difficult for indies to compete. This trend not only inflates catalog values to potentially unsustainable levels but also concentrates power in the hands of a few dominant players, stifling diversity in the market. Additionally, the rising costs of daily operations, from licensing negotiations to administrative expenses, are squeezing indie publishers even further, forcing some to consider selling their businesses, merging or even closing down.
Despite these challenges, there are still reasons for indie publishers to be optimistic. The Luminate 2024 Midyear Report shows that indie artists’ market share has grown by an average of 1.76%, with the most significant increase in the 500M+ on-demand audio streams category, increasing 2.7% over 2023 to 9.9%. Additionally, 62.1% of artists with 1 million to 10 million U.S. on-demand audio streams have independent distribution. These two examples out of many showcase the continued impact and growing influence of indie creators in the digital space. Advances in technology, especially AI tools, are providing new opportunities for music production, metadata refinement and distribution, leveling the playing field for indie artists and creators. Organizations like the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) and the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) continue to advocate for and support indies, ensuring we have the tools and knowledge needed to navigate the industry. Additionally, the rise in synch opportunities and revenue following 2023’s entertainment labor disputes offer indie publishers a growing source of income in a segment of the industry that, fortunately, remains a free market.
The path forward for indie publishers is clear: We must unite and use our challenges to motivate change. By channeling our collective frustration, we can fight for fairer treatment and greater solidarity in the industry. Far from being destructive, our anger can be a powerful force, driving indies to recognize our strength, advocate fiercely for our rights, and reshape the industry. We can create a more just environment for our songwriters, ensuring they are fairly compensated and contributing to a more balanced music industry. The time for complacency is over; it’s time for indies to take action and secure our future, and the future of the songwriters who depend on us.
Marc Caruso is the co-founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based independent music publisher Angry Mob Music, with successful operations in publishing, music rights management and music production. Throughout his more than 20-year career in music as an entrepreneur, composer, producer and Emmy-nominated music editor, Marc has been at the forefront of music publishing and master rights administration for film and TV and has continually been a champion for musician and songwriters’ rights.
The rise of DIY music distribution platforms like TuneCore and DistroKid has been unequivocally transformative for artists — it has given them the ability to reach listeners without traditional label constraints.
Yet, while democratization has opened doors for countless artists, it’s also opened the floodgates to an equally pernicious, unintended byproduct — rampant fraud and copyright infringement. For context, Luminate reported that in 2023, over 120,000 new songs were uploaded daily, a sharp increase from 93,000 per day in 2022. The surge is predominantly due to two things: the ubiquity and growth of the DIY distribution sector and the proliferation of consumer-facing music production resources. This relatively nascent landscape has dramatically increased not only the volume of content but also the industry’s exposure to unauthorized and infringing material.
Universal Music Group’s recent $500 million lawsuit against TuneCore and its parent company Believe highlights the severity — as well as a tipping point. The lawsuit asserts that these platforms are illegally profiting from large-scale copyright infringement, where the culprit for disseminating and monetizing the unauthorized IP is both distributor and unethical user alike. Ultimately, this case highlights a broader, systemic failure, exacerbated by insufficient monitoring, accountability and safeguards for control. But the ecosystem has become too big, too unregulated and too profitable for some of its stakeholders to rectify it on their own. Reform is overdue.
Trending on Billboard
Democratized Distribution
DIY distribution was originally designed to level the playing field, allowing any artist to release music on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. However, open access came with side-effects — most notably, rampant IP abuse. The sector has become a breeding ground for exploitation; malicious users take advantage of the low barrier to entry by uploading pirated, remixed, or slightly modified versions of copyrighted songs. Collectively, these uploads generate significant revenue, with a portion of that going to the distributors who host them.
This is far from an isolated issue. With millions of tracks uploaded annually, there is an immense challenge in verifying every song. While some platforms claim to have anti-fraud systems in place, policing measures frequently fall short. The sheer volume of uploads makes scalable monitoring difficult, in turn creating a laissez-faire approach that indirectly allows infringement to thrive.
YouTube Royalty Collections Unique Challenge
Nowhere is this problem more pervasive than YouTube, where scale and visibility is inherently even more challenging. Some users deliberately circumvent YouTube copyright policies by uploading and distributing pitched remixes, slowed down/sped up remixes or near-identical versions specifically in order to bypass Content ID. Detection is challenging, and most of this infringement goes unnoticed. Even when violations are flagged, recouping misappropriated payments is impossible. Artists are left to navigate an opaque, complicated system and often leave their rights exposed and earnings minimized. For many independent artists, YouTube is a key, significant revenue stream and copyright fraud siphons away that income with little recourse.
Industry-Wide Consequences
Overvaluing volume vs. quality control creates a system ripe for exploitation because the current model often benefits the infringer. But solving the core issue mandates more than increasing lawsuits. There needs to be enforceable quality-control metrics that are clearly communicated and that actively deter fraud, while protecting rights holders. Transparent protocols to ensure flagged content will not generate income for infringers along with improved early detection systems will help standardize accountability and visibility. An enforceable and sustainable safeguard system will:
A. Prevent infringing content from reaching listeners at allB. Mandate greater transparency when infringement occurs, andC. Ensure rightful compensation for rights holders.
Closing the knowledge gap and developing industry-wide standards are also essential for meaningful change. By raising public awareness, providing a forum where artists and rights holders can report infringement and increasing pressure within the industry, the path to reform is achievable — and similar to regulations that have been implemented to curb other forms of online piracy.
A Call for Collective Responsibility
Setting clear deadlines for reform will hold platforms and distributors accountable while improving transparency. Fundamentally, and despite the challenges of volume, even en-masse DIY distributors must showcase a basic respect for IP and prioritize rights holders/artists while identifying (and deterring) the bad actors who undermine them.
With collective, industry-wide efforts, digital music distribution can become a sustainable model that supports independent artists while upholding their rights. A system that empowers artists while maintaining integrity is essential to preserving the value of music and protecting it from exploitation.
George Karalexis is co-founder/CEO of Ten2 Media. His expertise as a media executive, strategic advisor, and serial entrepreneur spans 15-plus years across multi-sector leadership, with a focus on music, marketing strategy and tactical team building. Donna Budica is co-founder/COO of Ten2 Media. With a degree in finance from The Wharton School and an MBA from USC Marshall, she leads corporate strategy and operations at Ten2 and its subsidiaries.
Ten2 Media is a rights management and content marketing company specializing in asset monetization, audience development and content optimization on YouTube. Ten2’s expertise on YouTube and decades of experience in the music Industry is the foundation of its unique approach to maximizing revenue and marketing music for the world’s leading artists and labels.
World Mental Health Day and Sober October take place this month, and Grammy-nominated guitarist Marcus King has found his sobriety and mental health are inextricably linked. In the below commentary, he shares how 1 Million Strong and his own Curfew Fellowship Fund have helped him foster a compassionate, supportive community for saying sober, especially on the road.
I spent most of my time in addiction feeling guilt and shame for the time I’d lost. There are many moments, incredible career defining moments, like the first time I played with Eric Clapton, Little Featand Lynyrd Skynyrd, that I simply cannot fully recall.
Addiction ran in my family and partially ran my life for quite some time.
Trending on Billboard
I had my first drink around age 12 or 13. I was often the youngest one at the party. I drank in an effort to quiet down the demons from years of trauma and abandonment that I hadn’t learned how to cope with yet. Drugs and alcohol helped to summon a muse and overcome my social anxiety.
I spent most of my teens and early 20s under the influence. Two years ago, I didn’t think I’d live to make another album. I’d tried many times to quit drinking and while getting clean could be a high of its own, my sense of self sunk even lower when I fell off the wagon. I’m certainly not the first to self-medicate.
We’ve lost many of the greats to addiction – Hank Williams, Billie Holliday, Townes Van Zandt, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse – and not having the right resources and community in place to support them. Behind the glamor of the sex, drugs, and rock & roll lifestyle, the music industry can be isolating with grueling hours on the road, often times away from loved ones and little time to focus on your health. But it is getting easier to be an artist or fan and maintain sobriety.
What I’ve learned in the past two years is that sobriety and mental health are a journey, not a final destination. Each day I just need to make progress and lend myself compassion when I don’t live up to it – when I fall off, I have to remind myself I am not a fuck up, I just fucked up.
I’ve also learned what tools I need for the journey. Community is one. And it’s key.
It’s easier for me to be sober on stage than alone with my own mind. Having people on my tour who know I am better when I’m sober and help me stay the course is necessary. That’s why I’m currently on the road with my pals 1 Million Strong. This initiative is working with artists, festivals, and venues to create community and engaging sober experiences, encourage open conversation about addiction, and give support for those impacted by substance use.
To take it a step further, 1 Million Strong connects people with The Phoenix’s sober-active community which give those struggling with addiction opportunities to make meaningful connection in their daily lives through virtual and in person events across the country.
For me, it’s making time to ride my Peloton bike before shows. Even just the virtual community I find there helps me keep going.
Building community starts from the bottom up — music venues and tours are no exception. By working together to make the music industry a place where sober communities can grow and thrive, we’re hoping to change the way people think about experiencing music.
I’ve been so impressed by my friends in the industry and fans who have shown up to support this sober community and chart a better path. If I have any advice for people whose loved ones are struggling with addiction it’s to listen.
Substance use disorders truly are an illness, so don’t cast blame. Judgment only shoves those of us trying to stay sober further into darkness. It erodes our sense of self and our connection to you — the very things that could be lifelines to sobriety.
We also need to get honest in this country about mental health and how darkness drives addiction. That’s what I am trying to do by sharing my experiences, and that’s the mission behind my Curfew Fellowship Fund, which is building a support system for those battling mental health challenges.
The foundation is named for my friend, tour manager, and fellow songwriter Matt “Curfew” Reynolds who died by suicide in 2017. I’d like to believe if Curfew, Hank, Billie, Townes or any of the other greats we’ve lost to addiction had access to a sober, supportive community equipped to help them wrestle their demons, their careers and their lives would have been longer.
I once heard Tyler Childers describe getting sober as regaining time. My sobriety journey is about getting my time back that I could have lost all together.
For me, meditation and spending time each day being grateful for my wife, and my dog, Duck — who hates the smell of alcohol on people’s breath — and this life keeps me grounded. When I’m not drinking, I’m more present, more creative, and see things more vibrantly. I am who I want to be for myself, my loved ones and my fans.
Just because you’re sober doesn’t mean you can’t party. I believe everyone has a role to play in reimagining the music industry as a sacred space where everyone can show up as they are and rock out together, no matter what’s in their cup.
The newest upsurge in artificial intelligence technology is streamlining the tedious tasks that run beneath the glamor of the industry, from simplifying marketing strategies to easing direct fan engagement to handling financial intricacies. And as this ecosystem matures, companies are discovering unprecedented methods to not only navigate but thrive within these new paradigms.
In our previous guest column, we explored how the wave of music tech startups is empowering musicians, artists and the creative process. Now, we shift our focus to the technologies revolutionizing the business side of the industry, including artist services, ticketing, fan engagement and more.
Music marketing has continued to evolve and become increasingly data-driven. A natural next step after creation and distribution, marketing involves creating assets for a campaign to effectively engage with the right audience. Traditionally, this has been a resource-intensive task, but now, AI-driven startups are providing efficiencies by automating much of this process.
Trending on Billboard
Startups like Symphony and un:hurd are now providing automated campaign management services, handling everything from social media ads to DSP and playlist pitching from a single automated hub. Some of these platforms even incorporate financial management tools into their offerings.
“Having financial management tools integrated into one platform allows for better revenue management and planning,” says Rameen Satar, founder/CEO of the financial management platform BANDS. “Overall, a unified platform simplifies the complexities of managing a music career, empowering musicians to focus more on their creative work and succeed in the industry.”
One hot topic as of late has been superfan monetization, with multiple startups creating platforms for artists to engage with and monetize their fan bases directly. From fan-designed merchandise on Softside to artist-to-fan streaming platform Vault.fm, which recently partnered with James Blake, these platforms provide personalized fan experiences including exclusive content, NFTs, merchandise, early access to tickets and bespoke offerings.
Drew Thurlow and Rufy Anam Ghazi
Courtesy Photo
“The future of fan engagement will be community-driven. No two fan communities are alike, so engagement will be bespoke to each artist,” says Andy Apple, co-founder/CEO of superfan platform Mellomanic. “Artists will each have their own unique culture, but share one commonality: Every community will align, organize and innovate to support the goals of the artist.”
Managing metadata and accounting royalties through the global web of streaming services is another area seeing innovation. With nearly 220 million tracks now registered at DSPs, according to content ID company Audible Magic, startups are stepping in to offer solutions across the music distribution and monetization chain. New tools are being developed to organize and search catalogs, manage track credits and splits, handle incomes, find unclaimed royalties, and clean up metadata errors.
”While we have well-publicized challenges still around artist remuneration, there are innovation opportunities across the value chain, driving growth through improved operations and new models,” says Gareth Deakin of Sonorous Global Consulting, a London-based consultancy that works with labels and music creators to best use emerging technologies.
Another issue that some AI companies have stepped in help solve is preventing fraud — a significant concern stemming from the ease of music distribution and the sheer volume of new music being released every day. Startups are helping labels and digital service providers address this problem with anti-piracy, content detection and audio fingerprinting technology. Beatdapp, for instance, which developed groundbreaking AI technology to detect fake streams, has partnered with Universal Music Group, SoundExchange and Napster. Elsewhere, MatchTune has patented an algorithm that detects AI-generated and manipulated audio, and a few others are developing tech to ensure the ethical use of copyrighted material by connecting rights holders and AI developers for fair compensation. Music recognition technology (MRT), which also utilizes audio fingerprinting technology, is becoming a prominent way to identify, track and monetize music plays across various platforms, including on-ground venues and other commercial spaces.
In the live music industry, there has been minimal innovation in ticketing, especially at the club level. That’s starting to turn around, however, as new technologies are emerging to automate the tracking of ticket sales and counts, thereby helping agents and promoters reduce manual workloads.
RealCount is one such startup that helps artists, agencies and promoters make sense of ticketing data. “We see RealCount as a second brain for promoters, agents and venues, automating the tracking of ticket counts and sales data from any point of sale,” says Diane Gremore, the company’s founder/CEO. Other exciting developments are taking place in how live events are experienced virtually, with platforms like Condense delivering immersive 3D content in real time.
Drew Thurlow is the founder of Opening Ceremony Media where he advises music and music tech companies. Previously he was senior vp of A&R at Sony Music, and director of artists partnerships & industry relations at Pandora. His first book, about music & AI, will be released by Routledge in early 2026.
Rufy Anam Ghazi is a seasoned music business professional with over eight years of experience in product development, data analysis, research, business strategy, and partnerships. Known for her data-driven decision-making and innovative approach, she has successfully led product development, market analysis, and strategic growth initiatives, fostering strong industry relationships.
TikTok’s decision to boycott Merlin and pursue direct deals with Merlin’s member labels is a troubling move that undermines the rights of labels to choose how their music is licensed. While TikTok frames this shift as a way to tackle streaming fraud, it’s clear that the real motive is to weaken the bargaining power of independent labels and use that leverage to suppress rates.
Merlin has built strong partnerships over the last 16 years with more than 40 digital services worldwide. These partners recognize the value Merlin brings—efficiency, scale, and a deep understanding of the independent music community. TikTok’s move to sideline Merlin is not about protecting against fraud but about undermining the ability of independent labels to achieve competitive terms, not just now but for the long term. The ultimate consequence of its refusal to negotiate with Merlin for the music that earns TikTok billions of dollars, will be to damage artists’ ability to make a living from their art.
This tactic is not new. It echoes the historical struggles of the music industry with partners such as terrestrial radio and MTV, both of which profited massively from the use of recorded music while refusing to pay artists under the pretext of “promotional value” or “exposure” — ostensibly for the sale of an artist’s CDs or LPs. In this largely digital economy the stream is the sale – and it has been widely reported that TikTok pays rights holders far less than other services for equivalent uses of music.
Trending on Billboard
Richard James Burgess, President and CEO of A2IM
Independent labels choose Merlin to license their rights, because of its expertise, experience and track record in striking these kinds of deals. This ensures compensation at levels enabling them to compete with the majors and protects independents from being unfairly exploited. TikTok’s decision to bypass Merlin and demand direct deals is an assault on the freedom of small and medium sized enterprises to determine their own business strategies. The fact that TikTok is giving Merlin members a matter of days to accept TikTok’s terms or lose access to its massive platform, is an unfair exercise of its market power.
This apparent divide-and-conquer strategy is, we believe, designed to keep payouts for indie artists low by exploiting their perceived reliance on TikTok’s platform. It’s not about addressing fraud or improving the digital music ecosystem. In fact, by exponentially multiplying the number of license deals TikTok will need to strike and by losing Merlin as a partner in the fight against fraudulent material, more fraud is likely to ensue. Merlin simplifies licensing, making it easier for platforms to access diverse, independent music. Fragmenting this system hurts artists and fans and will limit the range of music available on TikTok.
At its core, this issue is about respecting the rights of independent labels to determine how their music is licensed. TikTok’s behavior doesn’t reflect a problem with Merlin; it reflects TikTok’s lack of respect for the value of music. Every other major platform has struck responsible deals with Merlin that balance the needs of the service with optimized compensation for artists. TikTok’s refusal to do so sets a dangerous precedent for recording artists and their labels.
TikTok must stop undermining and disrespecting the independent music community. It can do this by working with the labels’ rights management agency of choice to establish a fair, transparent licensing system that benefits all stakeholders in the music ecosystem. Independent labels have the right to choose their representatives to negotiate deals that truly reflect the value of their artists’ creative contributions. Anything less is a disservice to the artists and the fans and undermines the very fabric of music culture.
Dr. Richard James Burgess is an acclaimed musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, composer, author, manager, marketer and inventor, who presently serves as the president and CEO of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM).