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Articles by Jon
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CMOs Under Pressure: Craving Clarity From The Noise
CMOs Under Pressure: Craving Clarity From The Noise
CMOs everywhere are asking the same question: Why is return on ad spend (ROAS) so unpredictable? It is not that digital…
3 Comments -
Inflection Points Demand Radical Honesty
Inflection Points Demand Radical Honesty
“Strategic inflection points demand four things: judgment to see them, honesty to admit change is needed, agility to…
7 Comments -
Get the Strategy Right First
Get the Strategy Right First
Why strategy is your last unfair advantage — and how to sharpen it. “We’re launching campaigns, building features…
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When Doing Everything Right Still Fails
When Doing Everything Right Still Fails
Why strategy beats plans — and how to build one that actually works. “We did everything right… What happened?” It’s a…
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JV on the Run: Strategy & leadership insights from the growth trifecta — where culture meets tech meets brand.
JV on the Run: Strategy & leadership insights from the growth trifecta — where culture meets tech meets brand.
I’ve been on the ground floor of startups, in the boardrooms of global companies, and everywhere in between. This…
15 Comments -
There Ain’t Nothin' Artificial about (The Value Of) Music Intelligence
There Ain’t Nothin' Artificial about (The Value Of) Music Intelligence
(this was originally published in Little Black Book "‘THE communications business for the communications world’" Their…
1 Comment -
Every Brand Needs A Music Strategy (Overview)
Every Brand Needs A Music Strategy (Overview)
Nearly all savvy brands today recognize the need to engage consumers where they live their lives and passions. Here's a…
21 Comments -
Confessions of a Positive Deviant
Confessions of a Positive Deviant
A few years ago I was speaking with a very smart and uniquely thoughtful HR professional at a major pop culture museum.…
8 Comments -
Innovation Powered By STEAM?
Innovation Powered By STEAM?
I fell in love with this Hiawatha steam locomotive as a kid, but that's not what this post is about. This is about how…
7 Comments
Activity
8K followers
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Jon Vanhala shared thisPerformance brands have mastered measurement. Trophies & Flowers for all! 🏆 Dashboards are converging. Sensors are converging. Data layers are approaching parity across the category. Table stakes. That shifts the question: Q: What makes a customer stick with a subscription product that isn't uniquely different? A: They stay when something inside the experience moves them. Music moves people. It shapes focus, pacing, energy, emotional state, and sustained effort, the same variables that drive adherence. In a subscription model, adherence is the only number that compounds. Brands: More sensors and smarter dashboards are table stakes not differentiators. They just add up to an unwinnable arms race you must compete in. Defensibility lives on a different layer altogether, and that layer is brand affinity. Nothing moves emotional state, and therefore affinity, better faster than music, which is where adherence actually lives. Music is the underleveraged engine for retention, differentiation, and defensibility in commoditized subscription categories. The brands that understand this human intangible and build it in early own the edge. Crossfade builds the music strategy layer, then executes for subscription brands tired of competing on dashboards. We bring the strategy and the yummy good taste. #growth #music #retention #subscription
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Jon Vanhala shared thisPerformance gets the headlines. Retention drives the economics. In fitness, recovery, biometrics, and wellness, recurring engagement is what makes the model work. That makes adherence a critical business variable. what am i talking about? People have to keep showing up. Stay with the routine. Put in the work. Develop the habit. Return often enough for the system to create value. The system must add value to them and that's validated by them coming back, but if they don't come back the system or the company gets no value. It's not good enough to get people into the game. You have to keep them on the dance floor.... An intelligent, executable music strategy directly influences stickiness and has validated impact on focus, pacing, energy, emotional state, and sustained effort, all of which shape engagement and repeat behaviors. Music is an underleveraged asset for competitive edge, performance, retention, and growth. Isn't it time to harness that? Crossfade helps brands turn music into an executable performance strategy for competitive edge.
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Jon Vanhala reposted this$2.1 trillion in buying power. This year. Right here. Right now. And a lot of brands seem to be missing this...or worse, walking away from it. Nielsen's 15th Annual Diverse Intelligence Series has dropped the insights with receipts. Black consumers represent one of the most engaged, brand-loyal, and culturally influential audience segments in the American market. They spend more time with media than any other demographic. They over-index on digital, streaming, podcasts, and social. 44% have purchased products based on YouTube recommendations alone. And 70% say they'll stop buying from brands that devalue their community. That number was 66% two years ago. It's going up, not down. That's not a consumer preference. That's a community drawing a line and taking action. Here's the segmentation lesson: the Black audience is not a monolith. No audience is. 71% of Black audiences say they feel misrepresented in media. Up from 63% two years ago. Nielsen's data makes clear why: too many brands keep treating this community as a single block, even though the differences in region, lifestyle, life stage, generation, and cultural identity within it are enormous. Brands with audience-first empathy understand that nuance and relevance build loyalty and affinity. Brands without it are cutting inclusive budgets and calling it efficiency? The data shows it's just not good for business. The proof: Costco doubled down on inclusion and saw a 31% lift in Black consumer app reach. The Lip Bar, a Black-owned beauty brand, grew 40% while the retailers pulling back lost share. If your company has pulled back on inclusive marketing because someone told you it's politically risky, you didn't reduce risk. You abandoned a $2.1 trillion market segment with higher brand loyalty, higher media engagement, and a growing willingness to punish brands that don't show up. This is a market intelligence/segmentation failure at best. Doing the right thing and doing the right thing for your business aren't competing strategies. They're the same strategy. If you need the data to prove it, Nielsen just gave you 15 years' worth. No audience is a monolith. Especially not this one. If your GTM doesn't reflect that, you're not just missing a segment, you're funding your competitor's growth. Ask Target how that math worked out. Link to the Nielsen report below. Read it. Outstanding work! by Charlene Polite Corley | Nielsen https://lnkd.in/eNKjkrAr
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Jon Vanhala reposted thisJon Vanhala reposted thisNew role alert! General Manager, Songkick/Live Music Experiences at Suno. Part business owner, part product visionary. Must have direct experience in both. Please apply at the link...unfortunately, I can't respond to every DM. https://lnkd.in/e7JiBWeuGeneral Manager, Songkick (Live Music Experiences)General Manager, Songkick (Live Music Experiences)
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Jon Vanhala shared thisD2C and all brands enabled to measure all spend across all retail channels alongside their digital channels = needed value... brought to you by Michael True and the super smart team @ Prescient AI
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Jon Vanhala shared thisEveryone, and every company, is looking for a competitive edge. Entire industries are built around optimizing human performance through sleep, recovery, training, nutrition, biometrics, and behavior. So why is music still missing from so many of those conversations? Music impacts performance. It influences focus, pacing, arousal, emotional regulation, perceived exertion, and sustained effort, all factors that shape output. The companies with the most precise view of human optimization take action on all conditions that affect performance outcomes in real time. There is a real window here for brands working in performance, wellness, fitness, recovery, and biometrics. Music impacts performance. Science is accelerating & validating intuition. Let's go. #music #neuroscience #optimization
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Jon Vanhala reposted thisJon Vanhala reposted thisAdobe Summit kicks off today! We’re unveiling tons of groundbreaking innovations in AI-powered customer experience orchestration and enterprise transformation with our new flagship offering Adobe CX Enterprise. Adobe CX Enterprise, an evolution of Adobe Experience Cloud, is an AI-enabled offering to deliver agentic solutions for Content Supply Chain, Customer Engagement, and Brand Visibility. Adobe CX Enterprise provides many new and exciting agentic capabilities: · CX Enterprise CoWorker: AI-powered assistant that supports teams in orchestrating customer experiences, streamlining workflows, and driving productivity. · CX Analytics: Advanced analytics suite for deep insights into customer behavior, engagement, and journey optimization. · Adobe Brand Intelligence: Centralized intelligence hub that helps organizations manage, measure, and strengthen their brand across all touchpoints. · MCPs (Modular Capability Packs): Flexible, modular solutions that allow enterprises to customize and scale their customer experience capabilities based on specific needs. With these innovations, we’re setting the stage for organizations to elevate their customer experiences to drive stronger engagement, customer satisfaction and retention. Read the news here: https://adobe.ly/3OEzeiW Beyond the news unveiled today, what truly makes Adobe Summit special for me is connecting with customers. Their involvement defines the event and I'm excited to hear their insights, exchange ideas, and work together on solutions to address their most critical business needs. It’s these conversations and partnerships that inspire and motivate me and my team every day! And there’s still time to join us online: https://adobe.ly/48mvCc8
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Jon Vanhala reposted thisJon Vanhala reposted thisSomething that comes up often in conversations with Prescient AI clients: their MMM and their incrementality tests tell them different things. The model said paid social was driving 28% of revenue. The holdout test showed lift closer to 12%. Both numbers were defensible. Neither system knew the other existed. It's a little like getting a second opinion from a doctor who's never seen your chart. The diagnosis might be right. But it's working with incomplete information. Reconciling the two usually meant a spreadsheet, a lot of back-and-forth, and someone eventually picking a number to present. Prescient now offers incrementality testing with holdout results integrated directly into the MMM — so your experiments don't just validate your model, they actively improve it. We built this in partnership with fusepoint, who've run 1,500+ tests across leading brands and channels. Two options: DTC ecommerce tests that validate paid media impact on Shopify revenue, or multi-channel tests that measure cross-channel lift and CAC across more complex journeys. Pay per test, no long-term contracts. If your model and your tests have never quite agreed, it might be worth a conversation.
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Jon Vanhala reposted this"Hey baby, they're playing our song…" (file under Science Catching up to Intuition). Yale just published peer-reviewed proof that consonant chord progressions activate the brain's social bonding circuitry in real time. The specific progressions common in jazz and pop physically strengthen neural systems for social perception and emotional connection during face-to-face interaction. Pull the music, the effect disappears. For the first time, science mapped the direct biological link between what you feel and what your brain is doing when music is in the room. Any of us who've ever used music to enhance a situation absolutely already knew this, right? what's your go to?? Now extend the frame-up: this music enhanced bonding does not happen just between two people. The same neural architecture that connects people to each other also emotionally anchors them to what they're experiencing in the moment. Therefore, a brand operating with intentional sonic identity is not just setting a mood. It's engineering + creating an emotional bond that's repeatable and resonant. "Harmonious music physically "primes" the brain for social connection, explaining the ancient link between music and ritual." check it out here: https://lnkd.in/enM3snQA #music #neuroscience #ScienceCatchingUpToIntuition
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Jon Vanhala reacted on thisJon Vanhala reacted on thisFor the first time, Community Collective Association in partnership with the California State Treasurer's Office, is convening leaders at the intersection of sport, culture, tourism, diplomacy, and global investment. Los Angeles is not waiting for the World Cup to arrive, we are building the future around it. On June 8 BLANKSPACES Coworking, Community Collective proudly presents World Cup Connect: Los Angeles - a high level gathering designed to position Los Angeles as the premier gateway city ahead of one of the most significant global sporting moments in modern history. This is more than an event, but a statement that Los Angeles is ready to lead on the world stage. As the eyes of the globe turn toward 2026 and beyond, we are bringing together civic leaders, international voices, innovators, and changemakers to explore how the World Cup can create lasting impact for our city from economic opportunity and tourism growth to cross border relationships and community legacy. Honored to welcome an extraordinary lineup of leaders including California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, Councilmember Traci Park, Ron Frierson Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Cindy Thomas Bank of America, and Dilpreet Sidhu City of Los Angeles, alongside visionaries committed to shaping what comes next. At Community Collective Ben Reiss, we believe global moments should create local opportunity. This gathering is designed to ensure Los Angeles does exactly that. Special thank you to all our partners Spin PR Group Kim Koury, Local Action Marketing LLC, Venice Paparazzi, visitveniceca Join the conversation, and shape what comes next. RSVP NOW: https://lnkd.in/gEaHi8bx #CommunityCollective #WorldCupConnect #LosAngeles #WorldCup2026 #SportsBusiness #EconomicDevelopment #Tourism #GlobalBusiness #Leadership #VeniceBeach #Soccer #FutureOfLA
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Jon Vanhala reacted on thisJon Vanhala reacted on this"My work as a director and photographer is a continual pursuit of what I call “holy minimalism.” It is the belief that a single, perfectly lit subject against a void can tell a more complex story than a crowded frame ever could. I search for moments where the biological meets the synthetic, the human form becomes landscape and distortion reveals more truth than perfection. These albums are the blueprints of my visual subconscious. They embody a refusal to compromise on concept, proving that the most powerful way to reveal a subject is often to obscure it in shadows or glitches..." Mynxii White - shares 10 Album Covers That Serve as Maps of the Subconscious https://lnkd.in/edVMivMF #musebyclios #artofthealbum
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Jon Vanhala reacted on thisJon Vanhala reacted on thisIf you want to avoid making AI slop, I’d suggest treating AI like Socrates. Don’t talk to AI or tell it what to do. Have a real conversation with it. Which is great news for English, liberal arts, sociology, and humanities majors. Because as AI becomes more commonplace in the workplace, so too will the expectation for workers to be proficient in working with the technology. Therefore, the most valuable skills won’t be traditional coding, but rather critical thinking, philosophy, communication, and imagination. Working with AI at a surface level by inputting single prompts leads to forgettable work. So the professionals who will thrive will be those equipped with the critical thinking skills required to manage a more nuanced, controlled conversation with an LLM. That’s why everyone should stop treating AI like it’s a vending machine that will spit out exactly what you ask for, and start engaging in a collaborative interrogation. To do this, I recommend applying the Socratic dialogue method, something I learned from my law school days where learning and problem-solving are a result of asking a series of questions that get you closer to the truth. Interrogate and challenge its outputs by demanding it to refute your premise or explore counter-intuitive approaches. When you ask critical questions and push the boundaries of the AI’s logic, you’re treating the machine as a debate partner and collaborator. Socratic prompting creates a space for you, the human, to inject your own unique perspective, life experiences, emotions, and imperfections that a machine cannot replicate. It’s not a shortcut. Instead, it expands your creative canvas. How do you get the best outputs from AI? What’s your prompting strategy? Would love to hear how you do it. #Career #Jobs #GenAI #ArtificialIntelligence
Experience
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Education
Licenses & Certifications
Volunteer Experience
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Advisory Board
Berklee Music and Health Institute
- Present 3 years 10 months
Education
• Advise on partnerships, strategy, and growth initiatives at the intersection of music, health, and technology
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Mentor/Advisor/Connector
Crossfade Partners
- Present 51 years 1 month
Economic Empowerment
I regularly help creators, founders, .orgs, and unknowns with probono mentorship, strategy, advice, connectivity. #PayItForward
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Mentor: Design Thinking
Berklee College of Music
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Business hack mentorship for design thinking track at Berklee / MIT program
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Member Board Of Trustees
Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP)
- 6 years
Arts and Culture
Founded by Paul Allen, MOPOP is a Leading-edge, non-profit museum, dedicated to the ideas and risk-taking that fuel contemporary popular culture. (rebranded from EMP Museum Seattle). Left the board after 6 years due to governance bylaws
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Producer, Moderator
Music Business Association
- 3 years 1 month
Arts and Culture
Created the vision and strategy for the first ever Music Business Association Brand Partnership Summit track. Designed to help music industry leaders better target and secure brand partnerships for music projects. Various other panel moderation etc
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Judge
Downtown Brooklyn Partnership
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Judge finalists at the Make It in Brooklyn Arts + Tech Pitch Contest
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Mentor, Judge, Panelist
MIT Sloan School of Management
- 1 month
Arts and Culture
Assisted the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Hacking Arts conference by judging and mentoring student entrepreneurs. http://hackingarts.com/
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Guest Lecturer, Judge, & Mentor
Berklee College of Music
- 25 years
Science and Technology
guest lectures, panels, hackathon judge, mentor pro bono.
Projects
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Fanbase: The Promise/Manifesto
Brands are born when the people behind them believe in something, and manifestos matter because they give voice to those beliefs. At Fanbase, we realized our communications were out of balance. We talked a lot about features, but we weren’t creating an emotional connection. The Fanbase promise is a manifesto designed to inspire and convert to action.
I created and sold in the strategy and wrote the script with the help of the talented Mr. Noah Washington
you can watch the video…Brands are born when the people behind them believe in something, and manifestos matter because they give voice to those beliefs. At Fanbase, we realized our communications were out of balance. We talked a lot about features, but we weren’t creating an emotional connection. The Fanbase promise is a manifesto designed to inspire and convert to action.
I created and sold in the strategy and wrote the script with the help of the talented Mr. Noah Washington
you can watch the video manifesto here
https://news.fanbase.app/be-you-without-limits-the-fanbase-manifesto/Other creators -
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Montese Jordan, MBA
The Neptunes’ former label, Star Trak, is officially relaunching through a new joint venture with Create Music Group. Under the deal, CMG will provide global distribution, tech, and marketing support, partnering with Star Trak co-founder Rob Walker. Known for launching acts like Clipse, Kelis, and N.E.R.D., Star Trak aims to enter a new era while honoring its legacy. Walker says this will offer artists fresh creative freedom and access to Star Trak’s extended network of brands and collaborators. https://lnkd.in/g7YE5JcV #StarTrak #CreateMusicGroup #musicbiz
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Montese Jordan, MBA
Beatoven.ai has launched Maestro, an AI music generator it calls the first “fully licensed” model built through official partnerships with rightsholders. Unlike other AI platforms facing lawsuits over unlicensed training data, Maestro promises ongoing royalty payments to artists whose work contributes to generated tracks, tracked through Beatoven.ai’s attribution system. The platform already has 2 million users and 15 million tracks created, with Maestro starting with instrumentals and plans to add vocals and sound effects. https://lnkd.in/gaGPFCmu #Beatoven #Maestro #AImusic
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Montese Jordan, MBA
Universal Music Group and Splice are teaming up on new AI music tools, with both companies framing the deal as artist-first instead of automation-driven. Many specifics haven't been shared yet, but the focus is on high-quality tools that help musicians shape and manipulate sound, not type prompts and get finished songs back. Splice has already been building AI features around transforming samples and has been vocal about keeping creators in control and properly compensated. This deal fits into a wider pattern of major labels trying to get a seat at the table as AI tools are being pushed across the music industry. https://lnkd.in/gFwDdPXK #AImusic #musicindustry #musicbusiness
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Alex M. Calle
Decline of Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade: A Lesson by @alexmcalle The decline of Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade offers valuable lessons for the location-based entertainment (LBE) industry. Once a thriving hub of shopping, dining, and street performance, the promenade suffered from shifting consumer habits, the rise of e-commerce, lack of fresh programming, and a failure to adapt to changing demographics and cultural tastes. For LBE operators, the key takeaway is that novelty fades quickly without continual reinvention. Just as retail tenants must refresh window displays and product lines, entertainment venues must evolve storylines, seasonal overlays, and interactive elements to keep locals returning—not just tourists. Stagnation breeds decline. Another lesson is the importance of diverse, layered experiences. The promenade relied heavily on retail and light entertainment; when retail faltered, the ecosystem collapsed. LBEs should balance anchor attractions with food, live events, pop-ups, and community-driven programming to ensure resilience. Finally, safety, accessibility, and ambiance are non-negotiable. As foot traffic dwindled, the promenade struggled with perception issues that further drove visitors away. LBEs must invest in atmosphere and guest comfort as much as in the main attraction. The story of Third Street is a reminder: in physical entertainment spaces, constant innovation, multi-dimensional experiences, and community connection are the lifeblood of long-term success. #realestateexpert #realestatedevelopment #themeparkdesigner #Storytelling #CreativeJourney #themeparkdesign #productioncompany #themedentertainmentdesign #themedentertainmentindustry #themedentertainmentdesigner #themedentertainmentassociation #architainment #losangelescounty #losangelescalifornia #losangelesart #creativebusiness #creativebusinesses #immersivestorytelling #immersiveentertainment
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Ian LeWinter
Hollywood's greenlighting model is fundamentally broken. Industry veterans defend studio holdover mandates as essential for giving films time to build an audience. We see this right now with the reported mandates for Tron: Ares. The argument is that theaters must share the burden to reap the rewards of the hits. The reality is that mandates are a symptom of a failed prediction model. Studios transfer the risk of their bad bets directly to independent theater owners. When a film plays to an empty room for two weeks, the studio protects its public image while the local venue burns cash. The theater loses the ability to book local events or indie projects that would actually sell tickets. This happens because studios greenlight projects based on reactive research. Focus groups and surveys only measure passive interest. They do not measure true commitment. We are solving this by shifting the power to the community. On Film.io, fans do not just offer opinions. They stake FAN Tokens to validate the projects they actually want to see. This activity generates a Go Score™, providing studios with undeniable proof of audience demand before a single dollar is spent on production. A theater owner should not be forced to screen a movie. They should want to screen it because the data proves the seats will be full. Mandates are the tool of an industry guessing in the dark. Community validation is the tool that turns the lights on. Join us at app.film.io
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Warner Bailey
There is too much negativity around the Entertainment Industry right now. Here are 6 positive stories/trends for your feed 📈 Studios are buying again Eight spec scripts sold in August 2025, the biggest month since 2017. For context only 11 specs sold in all of 2023. 📈 New Jersey production is booming Film & TV spend hit $402M in the first half of ’25, up 200% YoY. 📈 Disney is increasing content spend They’re adding $1B to their content budget next year for a total of $24B 📈 Tubi is doubling down on creators After launching Tubi for Creators in June, they’re already rolling out a slate of creator-led originals. 📈 Creator economy remains hot TikTok x iHeartMedia just signed a major multiplatform partnership, including creator-hosted podcasts. 📈 Florida expects a production surge Expanded 2026 tax incentives + a new below-the-line certification program are set to bring fresh business into the state. The collapse narrative is lazy. The industry is evolving, not dying. If you are open to pivoting and being malleable, you can thrive in this Industry.
17 Comments -
Khushi Mehra
🚀 Dolby Family Ventures 📍 Offices: San Francisco (United States) 📈 Investment Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A 🧠 Focus: Precision Neuroscience, Life Sciences Platforms, Aerospace, Digital Deep Tech, Climate Tech 📖 Dolby Family Ventures invests in early-stage companies tackling significant science and engineering challenges. They focus on a long-term, collaborative approach, supporting solutions across various sectors including precision neuroscience, life sciences, and climate tech. 🗓️ Founded: 2014 💼 Portfolio: Motif Neurotech, Montara Therapeutics, Switch Therapeutics, Ursa Major Technologies, Twelve, DigiLens 🌐 Website: https://lnkd.in/gf8sJTEP 🔎 More at projectstartups.com #venturecapital #Precision #Neuroscience #vcfunding #startup #vc
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Montese Jordan, MBA
Apple Music is teaming up with TuneIn to make six of its 24/7 radio stations available outside the Apple ecosystem for the first time. Stations like Apple Music 1, Apple Music Country, and Apple Music Hits can now be streamed directly on the TuneIn app and website, expanding access for listeners worldwide. https://lnkd.in/gj25K3cx #AppleMusic #AppleMusicRadio #TuneIn
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Montese Jordan, MBA
KLAY Vision has secured AI licensing deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Music, covering both recording and publishing rights. The Los Angeles-based company is developing an AI music platform using fully licensed music to create immersive, interactive listening experiences. KLAY says it’s expanding the framework to include independent artists and labels, aiming for a scalable, industry-wide approach. https://lnkd.in/gaUGc4by #AImusic #musicbusiness #musicindustry
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Montese Jordan, MBA
Direct-to-fan platform EVEN has partnered with Secretly Distribution, giving independent artists and labels seamless access to tools that help monetize superfans. Artists can now sell music, merch, and exclusive experiences directly to fans before tracks even hit streaming platforms, with all eligible sales counting toward Billboard charts. EVEN says fans are spending over $20 per release on average, and some artists are earning 2–3x their annual streaming revenue from a single drop. The partnership aims to deepen fan relationships and create more sustainable income streams for indie acts. https://lnkd.in/g5TWNN6h #EVEN #SecretlyDistribution #independentmusic
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Montese Jordan, MBA
Former Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota has joined AI music generator Suno as Chief Commercial Officer. The company, which recently raised $250 million at a $2.45 billion valuation, faces ongoing copyright lawsuits from major labels. Sirota’s move follows his departure from Merlin, a longtime champion of independent music, to join a firm that critics warn exploits artists’ work in the AI space. https://lnkd.in/gYwjicqY #AImusic #Merlin #independentmusic
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Montese Jordan, MBA
Sony’s global music operation pulled in $2.77 billion in revenue in Q2 2025, up nearly 9% year-over-year. Recorded music generated $2.09 billion, with streaming accounting for $1.36 billion. Physical sales also saw strong growth, increasing 19%. On the publishing side, Sony earned $683 million, with $392 million coming from streaming royalties. Their top-performing artists this quarter included Bad Bunny, SZA, Sleep Token, and Jennie. Overall, Sony’s music division posted $642 million in operating income, reinforcing its position as a global industry leader. https://lnkd.in/gE7Ut3eU #SonyMusic #musicbusiness #musicindustry
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Montese Jordan, MBA
A new report from Outpost Partners tracks over 600 music-tech startups and shows early-stage funding remains steady, with average raises around $2 million and valuations trending upward. GenAI is fueling a sharp rise in music creation startups, while engagement-focused deals have dropped, primarily due to the collapse of crypto-based ventures. Europe and North America dominate most of the deals, but many startups hit a wall after their first funding round, especially when trying to grow beyond music. https://lnkd.in/gm4ixpkU #musictech #musicstartup #AImusic
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