This week Nick and Brian chat with Los Angeles based composer, musician and educator Shevy Smith. An Emmy nominated producer and winner of the esteemed ProMax Gold Award, Shevy is also the founder of Forte Poesy, a youth-focused music education program teaching empowerment through songwriting and musicianship. Her curriculum has been implemented in public and private schools across NYC, LA, and London. She has served as Board Co-President for the Afghan Women's Writing Project and is a member of the Alliance of Women Film Composers. She stops by to discuss her latest project The Ultimate Playlist: a free-to-play mobile app, raffle game, music discovery tool created in collaboration with the Arizona Lottery. 

Follow Shevy on Twitter

Check out the Ultimate Playlist App

Austin Webster, a lifelong super fan of music, saw a flaw in the way digital art is consumed. Too often the producers, musicians and co-writers of classic songs are left out of the spotlight, creating a disconnect between audiences and the teams of people that make records. Austin created Deepr, a music listening tool called "Shazam on steroids," which delivers users detailed information on the teams behind their favorite records. Want to know who played bass on your favorite track? Or where a sample comes from? Deepr provides that insight and more. The Atlanta based company is poised to change the way we think about music discovery in the modern age, and hopefully return some well deserved recognition to the unsung heroes of popular music. 

Check out the Deepr App

Find Austin on Twitter

To say George Howard is experienced in the music industry would be a massive understatement. Howard has been behind some of the most influential companies in the world. He is a co-founder of Tunecore, which has paid out over one billion dollars to artists for their streams, former president of Rykodisc, once the largest independent record label on the planet, and the mastermind behind the Music Audience Exchange (MAX). In his spare time he is a columnist for Forbes and a frequent contributor to the New York Times. Now a professor at the Berklee College of Music, Howard is educating the next generation of artists and moguls to make the right decisions for their careers and for the industry as a whole. 

He chats with Nick and Brian about distribution, record deals, artists rights, blockchain, and so much more! 

Follow George on Twitter

This week we're welcoming the prolific Joel Corelitz to the PlusMusic Podcast. Developing an interest for sounds and electronic music at the age of five, Joel grew up to attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music pursuing a Major in Technology in Music and Related Arts. Before his transitioning into video game scoring, Joel had worked on various commercials with composition studio, Steve Ford Music. He later set up his own studio, Waveplant Studios, dedicated to creating soundscapes and music for visual mediums and installations. 

Titles under his belt include Halo: Infinite, Death Stranding and cult classic The Unfinished Swan. Joel chats with Nick and Brian about his journey as a musician, his knowledge of game development, and his personal method for marrying music to gameplay. 

SHOW NOTES

[1:04 - 2:14] Getting his start

[2:50 - 4:56] The function of sacred music

[6:12 - 9:07 ] The Unfinished Swan

[10:00 - 12:22] Game composing as a part of a team

[14:46 -18:13] Audio Branding

[20:24 - 22:46] Starting Waveplant Studios

[23”27 -27:34 ] Working on Halo Infinite

[29:00 - 31:47] Advice for indie composers

[32:06 -33:20 ] Gaming influences

Follow Joel on Twitter

Paul Leonard-Morgan is in his own lane. The Scottish-born composer has built a prolific career, mixing electronic and orchestral styles into a musical concoction all his own. He's worked extensively in film on projects like Dredd and Limitless, on TV with projects like Amazon's Tales from the Loop and Netflix's Wormwood, and more recently on video games like Call of Duty: Mobile, Warhammer III and Cyberpunk 2077. Paul joins Nick and Brian to share his journey as a composer, and to take a deep dive into his process for adding music to media. 

SHOW NOTES

[6:26 - 7:58]  Getting the call to score Despicable Me 2

[8:13 - 9:13] Collaborating with a director on a film score

[9:32 - 11:12]  Personal influences

[12:00 - 13:34]  Writing music for video games

[21:54 - 22:45] Finding the right DAW

[23:05 - 26:14] Advice for young composers

[33:52 - 36:37] Immersion and Interactivity

Paul's Socials: 

Instagram

Twitter

YouTube

P.T. Adamczyk expressed interest in music from a young age. He started out working as a session and performing drummer, eventually hitting his stride as a composer and producer. He graduated from the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program at the University of Southern California, and landed himself a job as Senior Composer for the renowned Polish studio behind the Witcher games: CD Projekt Red. Their most recent title, Cyberpunk 2077, was a massive undertaking many years in the making. P.T. shares his personal journey during the development of the game, as well his inspirations and challenges. He chats with Nick and Brian about his techniques for building a game score, as well as some of his favorite ways to record music. 

SHOW NOTES

[1:34 - 4:28] - Getting hired at CD Project Red

[7:55 - 11:22] - Behind the licensed music of Cyperpunk 2077

[12:45 - 14:00] - The composing team of Cyberpunk 2077

[15:46 - 19:44] - Design philosophy behind the music

[23:18] - 24:00] - Deciding on a genre for the music of Cyberpunk 

[27:34 - 28:35] - Troubled Cyberpunk rollout

[30:06 - 31:32] - Working sessions in Abelton

[34:34 - 36:28] - Personal inspirations

P.T.'s socials: Twitter, Instagram, Spotify

Jonny Altepeter has music in his bones. Starting out as a musician and vinyl collector he eventually transitioned into music supervision for marketing teams in Hollywood, scoring trailers for huge movies. Recently he found a home for his talents at gaming giant Riot. He's played a large creative role in the marketing for Riot's hit team shooter Valorant and acts a liaison between artists and the gaming industry. Jonny joins the PlusMusic podcast to share his journey, his struggles, and what he's learned over the years as a music supervisor in the worlds of film and gaming. 

Show Notes: 

(3:16) Jonny discusses the role of music in his projects at Riot Games

(5:13): Adding Neon to Valiant

(10:26): Marketing for games vs marketing for film

(14:36): Time as a musician

(16:44): Sound design for Esports

(19:50): Personal thoughts on the Metaverse

(24:46): Advice for game scoring

(30:32): Love of jazz music

(34:26): Future Projects

Follow Jonny on Linkedin  

Founder and CEO of the NUE Agency, Jesse Kirshbaum has a lot of experience in both the music space as well as tech innovation. NUE Agency's roster includes popular musicians like Solange, J. Cole, Pusha T, Big Sean, Action Bronson, Meek Mill and Logic. Currently as the Chief Marketing Officer of livestreaming company Dreamstage, Jesse has positioned himself at the cross section of the old and new worlds of entertainment, with a passion for designing unforgettable live and digital experiences. He sits down with Brian and Nick to discuss his time working as a booking agent, his advice for upcoming artists looking for an agency, as well as thoughts on innovations of Web 3.0.

Show Notes:

[2:50] Jesse discusses his time at Gizmondo and what he learned there.

[9:32] How Jesse went from being a promoter to an agent.

[12:06] What an agent is looking for when they sign an artist, and who Jesse is currently working with.

[20:23] The huge potential upsides for artists of Web 3.0, and how much things have already changed with Web 2.0.

[29:39] Exciting developments Jesse has seen at the Solana Conference in Miami.

Follow Jesse on Twitter, and subscribe to NUE Agency’s Beats+Bytes newsletter.

Former Chief Economist at Spotify Will Page joins the podcast and shares his expertise. As a prolific public speaker, music communicator, and author of Tarzan Economics, Will’s writings are regularly featured in Billboard, The Economist and the Financial Times. He sits down with Brian and Nick to discuss the various issues surrounding Performance Rights Organizations, as well as the music industry’s problem with diminishing engagement.

Show Notes:

[1:16] - How Will got involved with Spotify.

[4:23] - A deep dive discussion of Performance Rights Organizations.

[20:50] - Will’s proposed solution to these issues.

[24:39] - Will’s thoughts on blockchain and Smart Contracts.

[31:53] - How the music industry is missing out on the opportunities posed by the gaming world.

[36:15] - Why Will thinks simplifying copyright and collection is the only path forward for the music industry.

Find Will on LinkedIn and check out Tarzan Economics.

Music industry analyst, consultant, and reporter, Tatiana Cirisano joins the podcast this week to discuss current industry trends found at MIDia research. Formerly an award winning music journalist at Billboard, Tatiana wrote cover stories on influential artists like Tame Impala, Travis Scott, and Alicia Keys. On the show, Tatiana gets into a deep discussion with Brian and Nick on the future of the music industry and the opportunities posed by the Metaverse.

Show Notes:

[1:23] - How Tatiana got her start in music journalism.

[5:08] - A deep dive discussion of the various applications of music in the Metaverse.

[10:50] - What a virtual concert could provide vs. IRL.

[25:33] - Incentives for artists to do virtual concerts.

[26:45] - A discussion of social media and the difficulties it poses for introverted artists.

[31:44] - What brought Tatiana to MiDia research and a look at how they approach entertainment industry analysis.

[32:57] - MIDia has found data to back up a shift in goals among most artists.

[35:43] - A shift in how younger generations want to interact with music vs passive listening.

Follow Tatiana on Twitter and check out her website.