CALL IT A RIOT, revolution, or regime
change — the music business today looks nothing like what came before it. Thanks to
the fierce pace of tech advancement and the insatiability of young, internet-grown audiences, the multibillion-dollar global industry is an entrepreneur's playground. Record-label bosses share a throne with
engineers and algorithms; artists and songwriters are wresting real control of their empires for the first time.
“Hail to the artists, because they’re winning,” music mogul Jimmy Iovine mused, prophetically, in 2019. But it’s not just artists wielding new power: Under the peculiar shadow of the pandemic year, the music business — sputtering in a worldwide concert shutdown — has also been forced to forge new revenue streams, fumble about in a digital Wild West, and tear down even more of its legacy hierarchy to make room for upstart outsiders. So what will albums’ creation, release, and consumption look like in the wake of all this sea change? What are the whirlwind innovations to come, and the treacherous pitfalls to avoid, in the next five, 10, 50 years of music? From AI artists and bedroom beatmaking to cryptocurrency concert tickets and virtual-reality festivals, here are the next great waves poised to overtake the strange, twisty business of hit-making. Welcome to the future of music.
The
Future 25
Concerts of the Future
What's a Good Record Deal?
The New Worth of Old Hits
Music's DIY Revolution
Betting on the next spotify
Sounds of Tomorrow
Last Word
Lyor Cohen
FUTURE 25
2021
Where others see hurdles, they see runaway opportunity. Meet the fearless leaders of tomorrow’s music business.
The Crown Prince of TikTok
JASON DERULO
Singer, songwriter, multi-hyphenate, digital guru
Photograph by Devin Christopher
ETHIOPIA HABTEMARIAM
CEO, Motown Records
RAC Artist and creator of $RAC
LENA WAITHE Founder, Hillman Grad Records
THE STORYTELLING MISSIONARY
HISTORY MEETS POSSIBILITY
SELF-MADE MASTERMIND
Magical mystery tours
Aided by the Great Pause, concert tech is growing by leaps and bounds.
The next wave of live music will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen
everybody wants some (HITS)!
Indie artists dwarf label-signed artists by sheer numbers — but the onslaught of DIY
music hasn’t yet killed the record label. It’s complicated, and thrilling
Future 25
Courtney Phillips
Head of Music, Calm
All about those sleeper hits
Gwen Bethel Riley
Head of Music, Peloton
Reinventing the(stationary
exercise)
wheel
Josh Katz
Founder and CEO, YellowHeart
Been around the blockchain
Dallas Martin
President, Asylum Records
Taking up a rockicon’s mantle
MUSIC TO MOGUL
LIL YACHTY Rapper and entrepreneur Photograph by Braylen Dion
NWAKA ONWUSA
Chief curator, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
legacy on display
RISHI MALHOTRA CEO, JioSaavn
DAVID BECOMES GOLIATH
TOTAL
LYRICAL
POWER-
HOUSE
MADISON LOVE Songwriter
LJ Gutierrez
GM, Universal Music Group for Brands
Collabs on collabs
Henderson Cole
Attorney
State-sponsored music streaming?
Neil Jacobson
Founder, Music Acquisition Corp.
An A&R vet ready to buy big
Melissa Morgia
Director of litigation, IFPI
Eradicating streaming fraud
Rissi Palmer
Host of "Color Me Country"
Setting country’s record straight
Daouda Leonard & Jonathan Tanners
Founders, CreateSafe Inc.
Demystifying label contracts
Future of Music
what’S A GOOD RECORD DEAL?
Superstars like Kanye West and Taylor Swift have bashed lopsided label deals — and a new generation of artists is vying to recalibrate music’s balance of power
Illustration by Stephan Schmitz
the
classic-rock
gold rush
As the giants of the genre contemplate retirement, companies are dreaming
up increasingly innovative ways to bring new value to older sounds
one-woman empire
SAWEETIE Musician, entrepreneur Photograph by Samuel Trotter
laser-focused pop visionary
ALI TAMPOSI
Multiplatinum songwriter
ASAD J. MALIK CEO, Jadu AR
celebrity hologram auteuR
Wondagurl
Producer
Self-taught super producer
Ant Taylor
Founder and
CEO, Lyte
A war on ticket scalping
Todd Mayo
Founder,
The Caverns
Coming up from under- ground
Phiona Okumu
Head of Music, Sub-Saharan Africa, Spotify
African artists’ time to shine
FUTURE OF
MUSIC
Future of Music
Illustration by Mark Summers
WHAT could be
music’S NEXT SPOTIFY?
LAST WORD
LYOR COHEN
The new era of business is all about democratizing hitmaking. Beloved by big-money investors and sharp-eyed entrepreneurs, here are the music industry’s rising powers
The veteran music mogul on the pitfalls of viral hits and what defines success
Data has shown that U.S. listener taste is going more global with each passing year. So when looking at the genres that are seeing the highest velocities on streaming, it’s no surprise that many come from outside our borders — from South Africa and Mexico, and even 1980s Japan.
Sounds of the future
Four fiercely entrepreneurial artists predict music's next era
The
Future
is
TIMBALAND
The future is very, very online
JOEL AND BENJI MADDEN
The future is the artists' plaything
MIKE SHINODA
The future is seamless creation
BUY THE
FUTURE
OF
MUSIC
ISSUE
HERE
Future of Music
Future 25
Mark Peaced; christaan felber; Shaquille Kokumo; Jabari Jacobs; Dominik Bindl/Getty Images; styling by Joel Desrouleaux Jr.; grooming by Nia Hicks; bonnie nichoalds; Andrew Spear/”The New York Times”/redux; courtesy of Courtney Phillips; Marjorie Salvaterra; Courtesy of josh katz; Lance Gross; Jules DaviesRyan Davis/Jadu; Christina Arza; Jonsar Studios; Chris Callaway; Jonathan Hyla; David Dickenson; david goldman; courtesy of wondagurl; lyte; Epidemic sound, united masters, roblox, and spotify; Jan Persson/Redferns/getty images; Kirk West/Getty Images; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images; Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images; courtesy of MFR Souls; Justin T. Gellerson/”The New York Times”/redux; Amon Kiyá; Ichiro Ohara/”The Yomiuri Shimbun”/AP Images; Eduardo Antonio Gonzalez; Christopher Polk/Getty Images; Hans-Peter van Velthoven/Tait; Frank Maddocks;
Future of Music
Future 25
Future of Music
MUSIC