SESAC’s Indie Week shindig at JIMMY in Soho (Photograph: SESAC)
The music business was in a New York mind-set final week – with sufficient conferences, events, and conferences to explode any well-meaning calendar app. Right here’s a wrap of the rumbling scuttlebutt.
Again within the days of Tommy Mottola, Clive Davis, and the once-adored ‘Puff,’ NYC was the middle of the business motion – solely to be supplanted by Los Angeles and fast-rising mini-hubs like Nashville and Atlanta.
Occasions change, however final week, it was all Huge Apple, because of a crush of overlapping music business occasions. Particularly, A2IM’s Indie Week passed off on the InterContinental in Occasions Sq., whereas David Israelite’s fast-rising Music Investor Convention (MIC) bubbled round Columbus Circle.
Past that, the Nationwide Music Publishers’ Affiliation (NMPA) held its star-studded Annual Assembly, whereas Anti Social, billed as ‘The World’s Largest Songwriting Camp,’ sprinkled workshops and occasions all through town.
So, what went down? First, let’s begin with the motion occurring just a few hours south in Washington – and rapidly effervescent into the New York chatter.
On the legislative entrance, DMN acquired nary a peep from a US Copyright Workplace insider, though it seems that the pushed-out Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, could be very a lot on the outs.
Throughout an Indie Week chit-chat, US Copyright Workplace Performing Deputy Common Counsel John Riley tellingly emphasised a business-as-usual method on the Workplace, though he declined to share any particulars on the contentious litigation waged by Perlmutter in opposition to the Trump White Home.
After all, the way forward for the US Copyright Workplace and ensuing music IP coverage is of utmost significance to the business, although most execs in New York supplied a shrug emoji on what’s subsequent. Probing the fog, right here’s a deeper dive into what we’ve been capable of piece collectively on this entrance, although we’re bracing for recent fireworks forward.
Elsewhere, business authorized eagles have been chattering about Vetter v. Resnik (3:23-cv-01369), a hotly-contested royalty battle determined in Louisiana in February.
The case successfully decided that copyright termination rights apply globally – not simply to US-based rights – a significantly underappreciated bombshell if the choice stands.
Which raises the query: when will an enchantment happen?
That was the urgent query, and if the choice stands, put together for a major reevaluation of the worldwide rights panorama – at the very least when terminations come into impact.
In the meantime, NMPA topper David Israelite held court docket at his Music Investor Convention on the Kaufman Music Heart on 67th – and this yr’s iteration was full of heavyweights from each the investor and music sides of the equation.
Israelite invited DMN below the strict settlement that there’d be no reporting of something on stage. Meaning the ink shall not floweth on this one, however at a prime stage…
DAMN!
We already know {that a} vital quantity of funding is pouring into this area – with almost $3 billion in funding rounds in 2025 alone, based on DMN Professional. That features music IP, however there now appears to be even extra money, subtle dealmaking, and institutional curiosity than we’ve ever seen earlier than.
You’ll be able to small the thrill within the air, although are the voices warning of over-investment and even a bubble forward expressing legitimate issues?
Shifting again to the indie world, there was additionally loads of unbridled enthusiasm.
For starters, the ever-climbing market share claimed by indies is placing majors on the defensive, fueling new bets, and producing substantial new income. That backdrop attracted large names like Purple Bull, Amazon, and the UMG-owned Virgin Music Group, all of whom dropped severe funds at Indie Week on signage and splashy rooftop events.
However these have been simply the 800 lb-ers. Others making a splash at this convention included Too Misplaced, Manifest Monetary, Oh Boy Data, beatBread, Kitbetter, SESAC, Rebeat Digital, Beatdapp, Musixmatch, Symphonic Distribution, Chartmetric, A to Z Media, Cinq Music Group, AdShare, Bandcamp, Legitary, RAMPD, Harmony and its freshly-acquired Stem, ASCAP, IDOL, Labelcamp, Mockle Music, and Open on Sunday – amongst many, many others.
Certainly, A2IM is well-situated for the indie ascendancy, however who will helm the org following the departure of Dr. Richard James Burgess?
In a prolonged chat with Digital Music Information, the diplomatic Burgess supplied few clues – although anticipate an enormous vote forward from A2IM board members. So who’s on the brief listing to fill these thrilling — however pressure-filled — footwear?
“I’m excited to see what the subsequent individual does and the place they take it,” Burgess informed DMN. “We’ve grown this factor to a considerable measurement, and I’m excited to see it [expand] ten occasions larger below the subsequent individual.”
Nothing in opposition to fast-rising sectors, unbridled funding curiosity, legislative turbulence, and authorized prognostications – however what concerning the celebs?
NMPA’s annual gathering all the time delivers on that entrance, with high-wattage luminaries like Kacey Musgraves, Gracie Abrams, Thomas Rhett, and Leon Bridges performing ditties for the publishing and songwriting crowd.
George Clinton flanked by SESAC’s Mario Prins (l) and New York DJ+producer Natasha Diggs (r)
Additionally making an look was George Clinton, who dropped by SESAC’s rooftop shindig at JIMMY in Soho.
The soon-to-be-84 Clinton was an affable visitor with a number of money-making irons within the hearth.
That features the newest dazzling sneaker design custom-created by Clinton with John Fluevog – worn by the funk legend himself on the occasion. Maybe most eye-popping: Clinton determined to shear his signature rainbow dreads – although maybe being less-than-instantly-recognizable has its perks.
Past that, put together for a significant Clinton-inspired challenge of epic proportions, with vital IP monetization a part of the bold journey.
We’ll go away it at that for now — however keep tuned.
