H/t CMU completemusicupdate.com/did-sonys-ro...

Indies using major (or about to be major) distribution: your margin is now their opportunity.

Quite like how a retailer on Amazon is always being analyzed, and if Amazon sees an opportunity to replicate its products and devastate that business, they take it. As Bezos once said, "your margin is my opportunity."

Universal is trying to do the same with their attempted Downtown / FUGA acquisition.

Sony is openly bragging to investors about using data from The Orchard and AWAL to compete against the very indies the latter are meant to be serving.

Either way, I’m taking Ek’s words with a big grain of salt. -mark

Personal take (bc I don’t think we can know how this plays out without much more transparency), but it seems like a red herring to me. If we took money away from fraudulent songs, logically it would seem that the royalties going to real music would increase.

Platforms are shifting toward user-centric and artist-centric payment models, which should benefit the independent community. But there’s still work to do on transparency and fair payment thresholds – areas where technical solutions and industry coordination can make a real difference.

AI came up in every conversation (shocking). The most promising applications focus on audio processing, operations, and rights management. But AI-generated tracks are flooding platforms, with an estimated 18% of submitted tracks being fully synthetic.

The majors’ acquisition spree continues. Life-of-copyright deals are on the decline as savvy artists retain their rights. Organizations like the Music Fight Fraud Alliance and ORCA are providing collective strength to tackle shared challenges across distribution, platforms, and rights holders.

3. Indies should organize around copyright ownership rather than distribution to maintain leverage.

Organizations like ORCA represent an opportunity for premium independent rights holders to have a unified voice

2. Don't fear AI - focus on developing artists who move culture and emotions. This will ultimately become more valuable than AI-generated content.