Music Tectonics

What does it actually look like to build a music career from the ground up as an artist in 2026?  This week Dmitri sits down with Aryyzona, a Brazillian-born, LA-based artist who has been posting videos on YouTube since 2009 and recently released her hyper pop EP Gacha World, complete with a custom video game.  With over a million YouTube subscribers and a devoted following across TikTok and Instagram, Aryy has a perspective on the creator economy that challenges a lot of assumptions. She breaks down why she refuses to call herself a social-first artist even though she posts constantly, how she balances paid brand partnerships with creative integrity, and what the traditional music industry gets wrong about creators who built their audiences outside the label system. They also get into the emotional reality of being a music creator, including separating your self-worth from your analytics, navigating hate comments, and staying grounded when engagement is unpredictable. Plus, Aryy shares a story how her ukelele videos once landed her on a Southwest Airlines flight to Hawaii to teach an entire cabin of passengers how to play ukulele.  If you are a musician trying to understand the creator economy, a content creator wondering whether you can make it as an artist, or someone who wants an honest look at building an audience and a music career at the same time, this episode if for you   The news Sony in advanced talks to buy Blackstone's Recognition Music for up to $4B, reports Bloomberg YouTube allows creators to replace music with copyright issues with genAI songs Zuckerberg Personally Authorized Massive Copyright Infringement to Train AI, Multiple Publishers Allege Suno CEO Calls AI Platform "Ozempic of the Music Industry" How Duetti Finds Big Value in Small Catalogs: 'It's Not About Aggregating Rights… It's About Taking Care of Them' Nebula becomes latest fan-to-artist investment platform   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.

Most artists have no idea who their fans actually are. They know follower counts and streaming numbers, but they don't own the relationship, and according to Rob Sealy, that single problem is costing the music industry billions. Rob is the co-founder of OpenStage, a platform helping artists from emerging talent to global icons like Paul McCartney, Oasis, and Lana Del Rey reclaim their fan data and build businesses that don't depend on platform algorithms. In this conversation, he shares why the music industry is massively undersized compared to sport, what it looks like when artists go directly to fans before they even book a tour, and how knowing your fans changes everything from ticket sales to merch to revenue you didn't know you were leaving behind. Also in this episode: part two of our AlgoRhythms series where we asked conference attendees "Does AI make you hopeful about the future of music tech?" The News The $6.4 Billion Bid Changing the Music Industry: Why UMG Is Selling Off Its Spotify Stake Spotify is now a fitness app too There's now a collecting society just for AI-generated music Why superfan subscriptions are dying 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 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 if the most surprising thing happening in music right now isn't what AI is creating, but what fans are reaching for instead?  This week on Music Tectonics, we're bringing you highlights from the AlgoRhythms conference last month, where our team spent time on the ground talking to researchers and innovators about where the music industry is heading. First, Tristra NewYear Yeager sits down with Olivia Jones, senior analyst at MIDiA Research, whose latest report on fan behavior surfaces some unexpected data about how listeners are buying merch and discovering music.  Then, Adam McHeffey speaks with Valtteri Salomaki, CEO of Edge Sound Research, about Embodied Sound that turns any material into something you can both hear and feel. Val's work is rooted in a simple question: if a creator makes something, how do you know the listener actually experienced it the way it was intended?  Both conversations kept circling the same idea: as music gets more digital and more algorithmic, fans seem to be craving something more physical and tangible. Finally, we asked a handful of AlgoRhythms attendees whether AI makes them hopeful about the future of music creativity. The news How AI Rights Are Changing Record Contracts — and Why Music Attorneys Are Pushing Back AI Is Already Training on Music. The Real Question Is: Who Gets Paid? AI And Music Publishing Licensing – How Do We Get There? Social media doesn't feel social anymore – so where does online community go from here? 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! 

We are rewinding and playing back some of our favorite guests during the month of August. Join Dmitri and Tracy Maddux the former CEO, of AVL Digital and CD Baby as they talk through the fundamentals of what it takes to really start up. We promise that by the end of this episode, you'll have a clear understanding of the critical decisions that shape the future of your business. Whether you intend to sell your company or nurture it as a long-term venture, Tracy's wisdom on capitalization, leveraging personal funds versus investors, and recognizing your strengths and weaknesses will set you on the right path. And if you're already deep in the weeds with your company – there is still great advice to be learned from these two industry experts.   Tracy Maddux   Artes Management 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!