Episode 639 – Music Industry News And Views With Bobby Owsinski

On this week’s episode, I break down how shifting ownership, AI adoption, and changing platform policies are reshaping the music business and professional audio landscape.

I’ll examine major industry moves involving iZotope, Plugin Alliance, Native Instruments, Dynaudio, and DistroKid, alongside the Hollywood Bowl’s immersive sound upgrade and D’Addario’s controversy over undisclosed AI use.

I’ll also look at the growing challenge of defining and labeling AI-generated music, Spotify’s efforts to combat AI spam and synthetic artist personas, and what new AI disclosure rules could mean for musicians and creators.

For anyone trying to keep up with today’s music industry, this episode offers context on where consolidation, artificial intelligence, distribution, and new technology are heading, and why these changes matter to the people making, producing, and releasing music.

You can also hear it at Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Mixcloud, Spotify, Deezer, and TuneIn Radio.

Also, a video version of this podcast is now available on YouTube as well.

Enjoy the show!

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Coming up…

00:00:57 – iZotope joins Boris FX: what it means for your plugins

00:01:54 – Dirk Ulrich buys Brain Works and Plugin Alliance back

00:03:26 – Native Instruments faces more layoffs under new ownership

00:04:18 – Hollywood Bowl gets a massive immersive sound system overhaul

00:05:19 – Dynaudio exits North America despite growing sales

00:06:26 – D’Addario’s AI controversy and the cover-up that backfired

00:07:39 – DistroKid sells majority stake to private equity

00:08:34 – Music industry proposes new AI labeling standards

00:09:46 – Spotify removes 75 million AI spam tracks and introduces persona badges

00:11:39 – How the EU AI Act affects producers outside of Europe

00:12:57 – AI stages Wagner’s Ring Cycle at Bayreuth Festival

00:13:41 – JamJuice and the gig economy coming for live musicians

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