Music Tectonics

With isolation and remote work looming last week, we recorded a podcast conversation about communication and collaboration. Irregular host Tristra Newyear Yeager (and rock paper scissors writer / strategist) tells Eleanor Rust, rps marketing director, about essential lessons she's learned from collaborating with people scattered around the globe, and how to maximize listening while minimizing distraction. How could music creation change as tech solutions for synchronous collaboration develop? What might the future of music creation and collaboration share with our past? Peek into rabbit holes ranging from traditional blind minstrels in Ukraine to Soundwhale to Breughel paintings. 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 learn more, and find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!

How can the music industry take a proactive role in confronting the climate crisis? Tristra Newyear Yeager chats with Bas Grasmayer about the answers tech is providing for music biz sectors from live events to streaming. Why are music festivals the perfect context to explore innovation, inspire attendees to shift their behaviors, and incubate ideas that have positive impacts on climate? What's the one thing that could change the carbon footprint of music streaming? How could the music industry model approaches to climate emergency on their responses to the digital revolution? If you've been following music tech, you've probably encountered Bas's insightful writing on his MUSIC X TECH X FUTURE website and newsletter. Bas's recent MUSIC X GREEN project collects the climate crisis resources sprouting up all over the music industry, from activism to eco-conscious vinyl to offsetting the carbon footprint of touring musicians. 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 learn more, and find us on twitter, facebook, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!

Zack Zalon believes streaming music could sound better- a LOT better. His company Super Hi-Fi lives in the spaces between songs, spaces that music streaming services have ignored (until now). Zack explains how Super Hi-Fi's AI-powered song and audio transitions make the streaming experience sound more distinctive and more engaging. Find out what this high-tech company learned from broadcast radio- a medium that's still thriving despite being built on antiquated technology. Zack takes Dmitri on a high-level tour of where the entire audio market has been: radio, music streaming, podcasts, and where it's going next. Find out how Zack and his team's long experience building digital music products for major industry clients led them to create Super Hi-Fi, with the goal of taking music streaming forward into its next phase. 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 learn more, and find us on twitter, facebook, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!

Host Dmitri Vietze has been closely watching the seismic shifts shaking up the music industry as a result of tech and innovation. Dig deeper into the 20 music tech phenomena that Dmitri's watching for 2020. He lays out what he thinks could be next for Spotify, the indie music sector, AI music creation, music's role in the changing geopolitical landscape, what PR's got to do with it all, and 15 other trends. Find out which phenomena are already seeing some action since Dmitri first targeted 20 to watch in the year ahead on the Music Tectonics blog! What phenomena are you watching this year? Let Dmitri know what you think! Find him @dmitrivietze on Twitter and Instagram, or connect with him on LinkedIn and Facebook. 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 learn more, and find us @MusicTectonics on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

We have big news in this special episode: the venues and dates for our next Music Tectonics Conference! Find out from hosts Dmitri Vietze and Tristra Newyear Yeager what new experiences we're planning for 2020. What made the first Music Tectonics Conference so much fun that we had to do it again? Which music and tech topics will we add into the conference mix this year? What can you win in the pre-sale contest that ends Feb. 25? Get updates on your hosts' latest contributions to the MT blog: which of Dmitri's "20 for 2020" music tech predictions have already come true? How did people respond to Tristra's 'Bodyfulness" piece on music tech and fitness? What's the next seismic shift Dmitri's thinking of adding to the trading card deck? Listen to find out! 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 learn more, and find us on twitter, facebook, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!

CEO Jared Kristensen explains how Audience Republic powers live event promotion by amplifying the most effective marketing tool: word-of-mouth. Their social sharing platform engages fans and provides valuable data and messaging tools to promoters. You can practically hear the moment that host Dmitri Vietze decides to dive in! After Jared and Dmitri dig into how Audience Republic campaign works, you can try it out yourself. Sign up for a Pre-Sale campaign free at the Music Tectonics conference website, then follow, share and invite friends through Audience Republic's platform to earn points towards prizes like a free conference badge! Audience Republic now works with 100s of music festivals, sports events, and more worldwide, and their reach is growing. Find out how Jared Kristensen's early successes and failures booking and promoting concerts in Australia led him to build Audience Republic with promoters and artists in mind. He makes a convincing case for owning your audience and your data, rather than relying on the social networks that act as middlemen between fans and the artists they love. 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 learn more, and find us on twitter, facebook, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!

What really happens when a blockchain skeptic and a blockchain supporter talk to each other about solving music industry problems? At the October 2019 Music Tectonics Conference, we hosted a Blockchain Cage Match with three skeptics and three enthusiasts facing off in wrestling masks and capes. Podcast host and conference organizer Dmitri Vietze saw too many events where entrepreneurs and engineers were touting the benefits of blockchain on stage, while music industry veterans snickered at the back of the room. He wanted to bring the factions together instead of having separate conversations. Though the cage match was fun, it didn't quite turn out the way we'd hoped. So Dmitri invited two of the panelists to a Blockchain Peace Summit, and you get to listen in. On the skeptic side is Portia Sabin, President of the Music Business Association and host of the Future of What podcast. And coming in on the supporter side is Ken Umezaki, CEO of Verifi Media, a rights data management company that uses blockchain, and President of Digital Daruma, a music tech investment company. Portia and Ken examine the roots of the music industry's . . . less than thrilled reaction to blockchain evangelism. What have we learned about blockchain since the heady hype of "Crypto Summer" a few years ago? What other tech solutions have both Portia and Ken excited about the future of the music industry, and what's the missing piece that would change the data landscape in the music biz for good? 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 learn more, and find us on twitter, facebook, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!

Analysts point to Gaming and Esports as the next frontier for the music industry, and a useful model for "monetizing fandom." Occasional podcast host Tristra Newyear Yeager explores what that really means, with Andres Lauer of Five Vectors as a guide to this new terrain. A music industry insider himself, Andres founded Five Vectors with game industry expert Wasae Imran to open up gaming as a monetization source for independent musicians and to provide gamers with experiences enhanced by music. Find out why it's a mistake to think of gaming as just another sync opportunity like TV and Film. Go beyond virtual concerts (like Marshmello's Fortnite performance) to find out how music can be integrated into game experiences. How do digital natives think about the value of music? Which genres do gamers want to listen to (hint: it's not just EDM)? Why is "monetizing fandom" a misleading turn of phrase? 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 learn more, and find us on twitter, facebook, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!

When you handle marketing at a label or for an artist, there are so many apps and platforms to vet, test, and adapt. Which ones really work and which are worth the money—or the trouble of implementation? At the first annual Music Tectonics Conference which we held October 28-29, 2019 in Los Angeles, we recruited smart marketing thinkers from great indie labels Ninja Tune, New West Records, Concord, and Loma Vista, and a lone head of digital at Friends at Work to put on a panel titled: "This is How We Do It: Labels and Managers Share Music Tech Tools for Marketing." Find out about the tech tools that work, and which problems are still in need of smart solutions (Listen up, startups!). Marie Clausen (Ninja Tune Head of N.A. & Global Streaming), moderates a frank conversation with Josh Berman (SVP, Streaming & Digital Marketing at Concord), Mike Fabio (VP of Digital Strategy at New West Records), Jeremy Gruber (Head of Digital at Friends at Work), and Rian Rochford (Head of Ecommerce at Loma Vista Recordings), covering everything from capturing meaningful metrics to Spotify's pitchign tools. 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 learn more, and find us on twitter, facebook, and Instagram. Sign up for the Music Tectonics newsletter and be the first to find out about the 2020 conference!

From new keyboards that virtually recreate the circuitry of vintage organs to "silent" guitars, explore the innovations that the Yamaha Corporation of America brought to the 2020 NAMM show. Find out what thrills Blake Angelos, product specialist in Yamaha's synth department, about the company's current product lineup and their long history of innovation. Then Andy Winston, guitar product specialist, demonstrates how Yamaha packs their TransAcoustic guitar with reverb and chorus (without wired connections) and what a "silent" guitar sounds like. Music Tectonics went to the 2020 NAMM Show, the 126,000 person trade conference of the National Association of Music Merchandisers. When Dmitri wasn't playing with the most exciting new gear on the trade show floor, he talked to the companies who are trailblazing with new musical instruments, controllers, and software— or reviving old sounds with new tech. Listen in! 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 learn more, and find us on twitter, facebook, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!