Ed Peto started placing a bet on music in China in 2006, and has been waiting for the market to catch up. We caught up with Ed in Berlin, but it could have just as easily been in London or China. Please enjoy Ed's discussions of stepping early into China and helping...
Innovating Music Podcast
Creating Fearlessly – In Virtual Reality
How do you create new and innovative systems for producing content in a new space? For Connor Illsley of Combo Bravo in Toronto, you innovate by "creating fearlessly." Connor schemes how to create the most amazing creative scenario that is true to the artist -- and...
Data-Driven Touring Insights
How can artists and managers use all the streaming and touring information to plan their markets and concerts better? Rossanna and Efrain from Cayo5 joined us to talk about how their are working to help artists manage disparate data sets to make decisions about where...
An Artist from Thin Air Artist as Code
Elodie, Paco, and the team at Neweb Labs in Montreal have created Maya Kodes -- from code. She's not just a new girl group -- she is a new girl. Maya is a fully scripted and created hologram in performance, based on a set of technology used to bring her to live...
Love, Passion, and Hard Work
This episode lends more philosophically humanist than some of our more technical sessions. David Hernandez of Colonize Media preaches "love, passion, and hard work" in an online video and data-driven marketing world. In a world of tranformative tools and distribution...
The Challenge of Unasked Questions
Refik drives new combinations of music, architecture, technology, and design forward, always asking "unasked questions." In this podcast, he discusses many of his projects, where he is exploring "alternative reality . . how to live without bias in our reality." He...
Combining Unrelated Ideas as Music Innovation
Dmitri Vietze, CEO of Rock Paper Scissors and StoryAmp, joins us to share stories of how new combinations of unrelated ideas create innovation in music. Our conversation ranges from his own background in activism, ways to unlock new businesses, the slow/fast dynamics...
Solving Intractable Problems
Matt, founder of MetaPop, shares his perspectives on innovation as solving intractable problems, versus creative disruption. Guest: Matt Adell, MetaPop, Native Instruments Matt is Founder & CEO of MetaPop, and now is head of digital for Native Instruments. Previously,...
Life as a Data Nerd Dancing with Music Data
Dae brings us his adventures from the start-up world. He shares his observations from living as a self-described "data nerd" while creating new business solutions in music tech as a "non-tech person." He talkes at length about data and issues like "choreography"...
Transforming Music through Data
Alex White has put together puzzle pieces to connect music and data, building Next Big Sound over the past six years and selling it to Pandora. He shared similarities between business-to-business (B2B) sales in music and other industries. He also shared what he sees...

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Your Host: Dr. Gigi Johnson
Dr. Gigi Johnson designs futures programs that help creators and organizations navigate AI-driven change. Through Rethink Next, she builds experiences and labs that blend systems thinking, creative practice, and agentic AI. She ran the UCLA Center for Music Innovation and co-founded the global virtual conference series Amplify Music. Earlier, she produced media foresight programs while teaching MBAs and executives at UCLA Anderson, after financing media-sector M&A at Bank of America.
Episodes
Tech as Trust and Relationships
We caught up with Deborah Fairchild at MusicBiz in Nashille in May 2018. We talked about music tech as both a relationship and trust business, with VEVA Sound's role as an archive and validation company standing right in the middle of the boost in streaming and all...
Expanding Futures Local and Global
Gigi Johnson, our Executive Director, shares the new and expanded directions of this Innovating Music podcast. We are shifting its focus from looking at Innovation now in music to looking at how tech may be changing music in the future, both globally and locally. The...
Solving a Problem
Dennis Murcia shares his insights and experiences with innovation and Latin music. He shares how innovation is "solving a problem" and how it creates growing pains in traditional industry sectors. Guest: Dennis Murcia, Global Business Dev. and Digital Strategy,...
Making It Simple
Jay Gilbert runs three organizations, each working to help artists expand their work and presence. To Jay, innovation is standing on the shoulders of giants, improving tools you have to grow your audience. He works to take complex tech and make it simple for the...
Creating Value
Gary Young sees innovation as creating value for others, and does so with creating an auction system for intellectual property that creatives want to monetize. He shares with us how Royalty Exchange connects 20,000 buyers with creative rights across music, books, and...
Finding Fresh Approaches
Bas wears both the innovator and analyst hat in music innovation, and in countries from The Netherlands to Bulgaria, to Turkey to Russia and now to Berlin. He shares his insights on how technological realities drive fresh combinations and possibilities, and how we can...
Blockchain and Ticketing
Jason Robert takes us down the blockchain rabbit hole, introducing us to the many details that make up a new cryptocurrency business, which he calls a "social movement disguised as technology." His new platform to sell tickets with Ethereum is mere weeks old when we...
China and The Long View
Ed Peto started placing a bet on music in China in 2006, and has been waiting for the market to catch up. We caught up with Ed in Berlin, but it could have just as easily been in London or China. Please enjoy Ed's discussions of stepping early into China and helping...
Creating Fearlessly – In Virtual Reality
How do you create new and innovative systems for producing content in a new space? For Connor Illsley of Combo Bravo in Toronto, you innovate by "creating fearlessly." Connor schemes how to create the most amazing creative scenario that is true to the artist -- and...