Frequently Asked Questions

 Q1: What is the Innovating Music podcast?

The Innovating Music podcast is an podcast series originally hosted by the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and the UCLA Center for Music Innovation. It focuses on the ever-changing landscape of the music industry, exploring new technologies, social shifts, and business models. The podcast aims to bring conversations that are thought-provoking and examine how technology impacts our music lives, collaborations, distribution, and ways of thinking and engaging with music. It also looks at the futures in music, including changing systems and the impact on live performance and communities, both locally and globally.

Q2: Who hosts the Innovating Music podcast?

The podcast is hosted by Dr. Gigi Johnson, who is now a retired faculty member from the Music History and Industry Program at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music. The is the Managing Director of Rethink Next, a thinktank and creative educational program producer.

Q3: Where can I listen to Innovating Music?

You can find the Innovating Music podcast everywhere you listen to podcasts. This includes platforms like Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify. You can also find it on Radio.com and Pandora. For more information and to subscribe, visit the official website at innovatingmusic.com.

Q4: How can I engage with the Innovating Music podcast or suggest guests?

The podcast actively welcomes listener engagement:

  • You are invited to suggest events, places, spaces, cities the podcast team could engage with or visit.
  • You can also suggest guests you’d like to hear on the podcast and other topics you’d like them to cover.
  • Share the podcast with friends and colleagues.
  • If you listen on Apple Podcasts, please take a minute to review the podcast, as this helps algorithms recommend it to others.
  • You can find contact details and follow-up information on the podcast’s websites, which are linked in the show notes of each episode.

Q5: What is the Maremel Podcast Network?

The Maremel Podcast Network is now Rethink Next, the network that hosts “Innovating Music”. This network also features other podcasts such as Amplify Music Conversations (which originated from Amplify Music Conferences during the pandemic) and Creative Innovators.

Episodes

I fell in love with IP . . . with Mike Huppe, SoundExchange

I fell in love with IP . . . with Mike Huppe, SoundExchange

SoundExchange royalties have become a critical part of today’s digital music economy, and Michael Huppe, President and CEO of SoundExchange, joins Innovating Music to explain why. From his roots as an amateur musician and intellectual property attorney to leading one...

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Dave Ratner: The World of a Creative Lawyer

Dave Ratner: The World of a Creative Lawyer

Dave Ratner moved from skiing to managing bands into law, and now works with creative companies out of Boulder, CO to understand how to maneuver so many different new opportunities in music.  He talks of innovation in his own life as to how to add capabilities,...

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Kevin Breuner on Thriving as an Artist in the Streaming Era

Kevin Breuner on Thriving as an Artist in the Streaming Era

Kevin Breuner explores how artists can build lasting careers in an ever-changing music landscape. As SVP of Engagement and Education at CD Baby and a founding member of Grammy-nominated Smalltown Poets, Kevin has lived through the major-label era, the rise of indie...

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AI Music Stem Separation with AudioShake’s Jessica Powell

AI Music Stem Separation with AudioShake’s Jessica Powell

Jessica Powell, co-founder and CEO of AudioShake, leads the conversation on AI music stem separation—a technology that splits audio into individual components for remixing, restoration, and licensing. In this episode, Powell reveals how AudioShake’s AI is helping...

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Bonus Postcard Moments . . . with Gigi Johnson

We are in post-production on new episodes, so our host, Gigi Johnson, shared a story about "Postcards" and Postcard Moments that has come up in prior episodes and in many recent conversations. She shares how a single postcard created a pivot that changed her direction...

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Bruno Guez on Simplifying Complexity for Indie Labels

Bruno Guez on Simplifying Complexity for Indie Labels

Independent record label technology is at the heart of this conversation with Bruno Guez, founder of Revelator and longtime music industry innovator. From his early years as a UCLA ethnomusicology student and world music DJ to managing a boutique label and curating...

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