This report aims to provide cut-through on the big issues that we think will dominate 2023. In it, we’ve isolated the innovative ideas from some of the most influential thinkers across the music industry – and then drawn out the key learnings for you to take forward as the year unfolds.  In this report, four key perspectives on the coming […]

In light of NY:LON CONNECT 2023, we asked Alex Kisch, EVP, Business Development & Affairs, General Counsel at Vevo – sponsor of the event’s “Changing nature of music formats” track – to share with us  some insight on the exciting opportunities he sees ahead in 2023. In today’s competitive attention economy, Kisch says, we cannot afford to lose the […]

In advance of NY:LON CONNECT 2023, we asked Matt Urmy, co-founder & CEO of collaboration platform Artist Growth – which is co-sponsor of the event’s Innovation and Startups track – to share with us the exciting opportunities he sees ahead in 2023. Urmy lays out eight clear messages designed to help readers navigate an industry which has been subject to a “pretty hostile takeover”, but […]

In advance of NY:LON CONNECT 2023, we asked Amuse – which is co-sponsor of the event’s Artist Manager track – to share with us the exciting opportunities they see ahead in 2023. Aimed at indie artists, this “pep talk” takes stock of the music business landscape as seen from Amuse’s perspective, and offers some advice, perspective, and positive encouragement in the face […]

In advance of NY:LON CONNECT 2023, we asked Vasja Veber, co-founder of music data analytics platform Viberate – and one of the co-headline sponsors of the event – to share some key insights for readers to take into the new year. Veber looks into the underlying data, and explains how building immersive artist strategies that cultivate fandom […]

We’re delighted to announce some initial keynote speakers and sponsors for NY:LON Connect 2021 which takes place from 25-28 January. Confirmed keynote speakers include Warner Music Group chief digital officer Oana Ruxandra in the ‘Global Streaming Strategies’ track sponsored by MQA, while Wendy Ong, president of TaP Music, will keynote the ‘Live and Livestreaming’ track. […]

The second morning at this year’s NY:LON Connect conference focused on ‘emerging international and influential markets’. Three territories in particular: South Korea, China, and Russia / Eastern Europe. The track began with a keynote from Sun Lee, YouTube’s head of music content partnerships and subscriptions for Korea and Greater China. Lee was interviewed by Billboard […]

One of the traditional highlights of the NY:LON Connect conference is the startup pitches session, and 2020’s event was no exception. New York startup Trash emerged as the winner in an audience vote for the best pitch, but fellow pitchers Super Hi-Fi, MyPart, Boomy and FeedForward won plenty of plaudits from attendees too. Music Ally […]

“VR is shit! It’s shit but it doesn’t have to be. Certainly the hardware’s not all the way there yet, it’s quite bulky and if you put it on for an hour or so you’re going to get a pretty raging headache and neck ache. But the real problem is the content is shit. The […]

Troy Carter was the closing keynote at Music Ally and Music Biz’s NY:LON Connect conference in New York on Friday. The former Atom Factory boss (where he managed Lady Gaga during her rise to fame) and Spotify exec is now running Q&A, a company blending artist development, distribution and technology. I interviewed Troy on-stage at […]

“You can choose to grow one copyright at a time. That’s going to take a really, really long time. We went to look for solutions that would help us scale more quickly. And what drove that was really find likeminded people, find people with whom you have shared values… with whom you have a vision […]

“I think it’s good that we have a lot of players in the market, because it means we all get better… The streaming landscape, and particularly for us the audio landscape, will continue to grow. We are just on the tip of the iceberg of what this will become.” Cecilia Qvist is global head of […]

“Labels who call themselves labels? That’s like dinosaur shit to me! It’s what’s your value proposition? What’s my value proposition? Can one plus one equal 10? As long as I can say to somebody that you and I together will be better… 300 is not a label, we’re a platform. We’re an opportunity for people […]

The final keynote for NY:LON Connect, the conference that Music Ally co-runs with the Music Business Association (Music Biz), has been announced. Troy Carter, founder and CEO of Q&A, will be delivering the closing keynote at the event in New York next January. He joins Spotify’s Cecilia Qvist, YouTube Music’s Sun Lee and Warner Music […]

The first three keynote speakers have been announced for NY:LON Connect, the conference co-organised by The Music Business Association (Music Biz) and Music Ally. Spotify’s global head of markets Cecilia Qvist; YouTube Music’s head of music content partnerships and subscriptions for Korea and Greater China Sun Lee; and Warner Music Group’s chief innovation officer – recorded […]

Panels where people from the music industry talk about the music industry in front of people from the music industry are obviously useful in terms of exchanging ideas and taking the temperature of the business. But equally it is important – especially in an age of discovery algorithms, big data, targeted marketing, in-app revenue opportunities […]

Spotify and Deezer’s recent launches in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have highlighted the region’s status as a strategic priority for the music industry – although these companies (and Apple Music) are facing strong competition from local streaming service Anghami. Trends in the MENA region were the focus for a panel session at Music […]

Five music/tech startups pitched their wares at the NY:LON Connect conference this afternoon in London: Amadeus Code, Musiio, Rootnote, Scored and ClicknClear. The audience voted on which was their favourite, and ClicknClear prevailed. An achievement more impressive because of the high quality of all the pitches, and the technology they showcased. Here’s our roundup of each […]

This week, rumours that Spotify is preparing to launch a $100 in-car speaker as its first hardware resurfaced. It’s a sign of the wider excitement around the potential for music-streaming in cars. Hi-res music-technology firm MQA is part of that trend: earlier this month, it showed off how its studio-quality music can be experienced in […]

From songwriters suing streaming services to big-bucks catalogue acquisitions, the music-publishing world has made plenty of headlines in recent years. Downtown Music Publishing CEO Justin Kalifowitz suggested that publishing is “the biggest piece of the pie” for most musicians and that it is seeing “stable and steady growth in established markets”. But, however, he felt […]

Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon may dominate many of the discussions about music-streaming, but there is more to the global streaming market than the biggest players. A strand at Music Ally and Music Biz’s NY:LON Connect conference in London today explored life beyond the big beasts, although it started with Nielsen Music’s VP global Helena […]

Amaechi Uzoigwe, manager of hip-hop stars Run The Jewels, thinks that artists can make their own luck in the streaming era, despite the challenges of breaking through the noise. “Streaming is one of the greatest things to happen to music. Streaming media is one of the greatest things to happen to entertainment. And the accessibility […]