What are the music-tech trends in 2025 – and where is it going next? Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow talk AI (of course), tools that empower artists, direct-to-fan and more!
Music Ally FocusShow Notes
Ep 172: Taking the pulse of music-tech in 2025. We asked Music Ally’s head of insight, Stuart Dredge, to chat to our managing editor Joe Sparrow about the state of music-tech – and they talk in depth about AI doing your admin, the proliferation of tools designed to empower artists, direct-to-fan monetisation tech, and more! This podcast connects to Music Ally's latest Insight Report on music-tech in 2025 (https://musically.com/category/reports). This year is the third “Year Of AI” in a row, by our reckoning. So how will people in the industry actually use AI – and in mundane ways? How much can be automated and when do humans need to step into the decision-making process? And if you automate away the mundane tasks, where do entrants in the industry start?
More from Music Ally Focus
Ep. 188: If you own an indie label, publishing company, or back-catalogue, there is a very high chance your IP is leaking revenue right now. Between messy global metadata, unclaimed rights, and passive distribution, most independent rightsholders are leaving serious cash on the table. In this new episode of Music Ally Focus, in association with Indie Music Rights we sit down with Pål Sigvaldsen to break down the lowest-hanging fruit for plugging those leaks, the unsexy admin fixes that drive immediate returns, and how a new “cash-plus-equity” co-ownership model is helping independent creators cash out without walking away from their legacy. (Disclosure: Music Ally holds an equity stake in Indie Music Rights.) In this episode: Indie rights, right now: we get past headline-grabbing mega-deals to examine what the acquisition and catalogue market actually looks like for mid-sized indie rightsholders. Plugging the leaks: where labels lose money every day – and why fixing “unsexy” stuff like metadata and broken claims often beats chasing viral TikTok moments. Auditing your catalogue: Pål explains the high-impact checks busy label managers can perform right now to stop revenue bleeding. Rethinking catalogue sales: Why traditional “hand over the keys” catalogue deals can alienate indie founders, and how a shared-equity model aligns long-term incentives. Active caretaking: What happens behind the scenes during the first six months of optimising a newly acquired catalogue?
Ep. 187: Back-office admin – from distribution and DSP analytics to neighbouring rights and D2C sales – remains a massive operational drain for indie labels, publishers, and self-releasing artists. In this episode, in collaboration with Absolute Label Services, we sit down with Simon Wills (Co-founder & MD) and Paul Purcell (Director of Platform) to explore how modern "music operating systems" are replacing clunky, fragmented tech stacks, and endless open browser tabs. We discuss why Absolute built their own platform, Anthology, how private AI empowers lean teams to operate with major-label firepower, and what the future holds for independent rightsholders aiming to scale without expanding headcount. Anthology: absolutelabelservices.com/anthology And here's what we discussed: Ditching spreadsheet hell: Why juggling dozens of portals is breaking indie workflows, and why music-led teams build better tools than tech bros.
Ep 186: Forget AI music for a moment: more humans are making music than ever before – and they're using powerful, accessible tools to do it. One of those tools is the digital audio workstation FL Studio – and we spoke to Constantin Köhncke, CEO of Image-Line, the company behind FL Studio, and chief product and technology officer Robert Linke about navigating the creator environment in 2026. They talk about the delicate balancing act between human creativity, generative AI, and accessible production tools in modern music making. Originally created in 1997 as Fruity Loops, FL Studio has developed into a dominant digital audio workstation responsible for defining major electronic and hip-hop sub-genres. Constantin and Robert also discuss FL Studio's strict ethical guardrails around AI training models; how they use the DAW's famous "pay-once, get free lifetime updates" business model to their advantage; and how they meet the needs of millions of music creators, from bedroom producers to those at the top of the Billboard charts.
Ep 185: We're sharing an episode from our other music biz podcast, The Price of Music (follow it here! https://musically.lnk.to/TPOM) - because we went and had another chat with the team from EcoRecord, a couple of years after we first spoke to them here on Music Ally Focus. EcoRecord is a PVC-free, injection-moulded alternative to the traditional vinyl record, which cuts, they say, factory energy use by up to 85%, and swaps PVC for recyclable PET plastic. Recently, artists like Coldplay and Lorde have released versions of their albums using the process. We chatted to Sven Deutschmann, CEO of record manufacturer Sonopress, about what he's learned over the last two years of production, whether the records sound as good as traditional vinyl, how Coldplay have switched all of their back catalogue from PVC to PET, and if most records will be made this way in the future. (Plus, Joe gets very excited by some gold and silver coloured records.) ------ 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo 🎉 You may be eligible for a FREE Music Ally subscription, worth over £450/year, via our corporate and sponsored subscriptions. If you work for a DSP, a major label, an indie label, or if you’re an artist manager, an employee of a CMO or a publisher, check here to see if you’re eligible: musically.com/subscription-options Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-leading analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb
Ep. 184: We’re thrilled to be joined once again by Stuart Dredge, Music Ally’s head of insight, as we chat about our June 2026 Insight Report. This one is the International Issue (https://musically.com/category/reports/) and is the result of spending 12 months speaking to local experts who know how to break artists in each territory. It's packed with on-the-ground insight and marketing advice. We’ve picked out three key global issues from the last 12 months to discuss here: Trend 1: Transition to video-first discovery and "seamless funnels" Trend 2: Decentralisation of live music and infrastructure challenges Trend 3: Localised marketing: sincerity over stardom You can also hear more of Stu 'n' Joe each week on The Price of Music: https://tpom.uk ------ 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo 🎉 You may be eligible for a FREE Music Ally subscription, worth over £450/year, via our corporate and sponsored subscriptions. If you work for a DSP, a major label, an indie label, or if you’re an artist manager, an employee of a CMO or a publisher, check here to see if you’re eligible: musically.com/subscription-options Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-leading analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb