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.)

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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

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Ep. 182: 30 years of running an indie record label is a monumental milestone. We speak to Chris Goss about exactly that – three decades after he co-founded the highly influential jungle / drum and bass label Hospital Records.

Chris has lots to say about the "blood, sweat, and tears" required to stay independent for three decades; modern A&R and how Hospital balances a classic "gut feeling" with data; why drum n bass is currently enjoying its most prolonged "hot streak" in history; and the future of the label.

Founded in West London in 1996 by Chris Goss and Tony Colman, Hospital didn't start with an aggressive business plan. Today, Hospital stands as - possibly - the largest independent drum n bass label in the world.

Hospital records: https://hospitalrecords.com/

High Contrast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoSscshAG-4

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Ep. 181: This is the second episode in a two-part series about the evolution of CMOs – recorded as collective management organisations undergo their most significant transformation in decades.

In this episode, Sacem’s Director of International, Caroline Champarnaud chats with Julien Dumon, its Director of Digital. They explain how the global infrastructure only works if it ultimately serves creators –whose needs are evolving just as fast as the systems built to support them.

They go on to explain how Sacem is redefining its services, tools and philosophy to support modern creators – from digital-native artists to global collaborators – while maintaining fairness, transparency and trust.

⁠SACEM: Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music⁠

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Series recap:

In the first episode in the series, ⁠⁠David El Sayegh, Deputy CEO of Sacem⁠⁠, discussed how the organisation is defining the future of copyright.

In the second episode, ⁠we were joined by Julien Lefebvre⁠, the Head of Innovation and Sacem Lab, to talk about its startup partnerships, and the strategic decision to open up certain proprietary technologies to all creators.

In the third episode, we spoke to Caroline and Julien about how CMOs are evolving into interconnected, global infrastructure players: the challenges of global metadata, why international partnerships with organisations like ASCAP and GEMA are more vital than ever, and how Sacem is scaling its systems to match the explosive growth of music streaming in emerging markets.

=======

This is a Music Ally Co-Labs podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠musically.com/music-ally-co-labs⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Co-Labs content is created by publishing partners in liaison with the Music Ally Editorial Team. We work closely with partners to ensure that it adheres to Music Ally's high expectations of quality, thoughtfulness, and usefulness.

Ep. 180: Music consumption today is borderless, but the systems that manage it have historically been national. Now, collective management organisations are undergoing their most significant transformation in decades.

On one hand, they are becoming global infrastructure players, scaling systems, data and partnerships to match worldwide music consumption. On the other, they are redefining their relationship with creators whose ways of making, monetising and collaborating are changing just as rapidly.

We're joined by Caroline Champarnaud, Sacem's Director of International, and Julien Dumon, Director of Digital. They talk about how CMOs are evolving into interconnected, global infrastructure players. We explore the challenges of global metadata, why international partnerships with organisations like ASCAP and GEMA are more vital than ever, and how Sacem is scaling its systems to match the explosive growth of music streaming in emerging markets.

SACEM: Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music

This is the third in a special series of Music Ally Focus made in collaboration with Sacem, exploring the evolution of collective management in the modern music industry – looking at technology, policy, copyright and more.

In the next episode, we’ll discuss the evolution of CMOs further, and how the global infrastructure only works if it ultimately serves creators, whose needs are evolving just as fast as the systems built to support them.

=========

In the first episode in the series, ⁠David El Sayegh, Deputy CEO of Sacem⁠, discussed how the organisation is defining the future of copyright.

In the second episode, we were joined by Julien Lefebvre, the Head of Innovation and Sacem Lab, to talk about its startup partnerships, and the strategic decision to open up certain proprietary technologies to all creators.

=======

This is a Music Ally Co-Labs podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠musically.com/music-ally-co-labs⁠⁠⁠.

Co-Labs content is created by publishing partners in liaison with the Music Ally Editorial Team. We work closely with partners to ensure that it adheres to Music Ally's high expectations of quality, thoughtfulness, and usefulness.

Ep. 179: It's a Very Special Episode of Music Ally’s Focus podcast in which Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow can roll up their sleeves and look at the impact that AI is having on streaming in 2026 – and there’s a whole lot of nuance, what-if’s, and context to rummage around in.

It's all connected to Music Ally's latest Insight Report (available to Music Ally Subscribers here: https://musically.com/category/reports) – and that report focuses on 5 “C”’s of AI and streaming. Stu and Joe picked two of the biggest: Crunch Time, and Creativity:

• Crunch Time: AI and the music industry are finally at a true inflection point where decisions need to be made and lines need to be drawn. So where’s that line: how much of a song can be AI-generated before it’s classed as “AI music” – or is there a dawning reality that this is not even a distinction that can be made any more?

• Creativity: If it’s not realistic to divide songs into “AI” and “not AI” piles, should we instead not be asking “is AI truly creative?”, but “how will people be truly creative when using AI?” And is the pie being grown when a poet adds their words to an AI-generated song, or a teenage producer samples AI-music they generate?

It’s a spirited, feisty and opinionated conversation (i.e. Stu and Joe agreeably disagreed a little bit) – and it’ll help you to get up to speed with two of the key issues that we’ll all deal with in some way or another this year.