Best Of The Inner Circle Replay Featuring The Legend Al Schmitt

Over the almost 500 episodes of the Inner Circle podcast I’ve had some excellent guests that are true legends in the music business. One is the late Al Schmitt, who unfortunately left us in 2021.  Al won 20 Grammy awards over his long career, recorded and mixed over 150 gold and platinum albums, and even […]

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Episode 493 – WARM CEO Jesper Skibsby, Songtradr Acquires Bandcamp, And Super-Long Albums

My guest today is Jesper Skibsby, the CEO and founder of radio monitory service WARM – the first global radio monitoring service focusing on serving the artists and indie segment of the music industry.  WARM track and identify music played on radio, globally and in real-time. The vision behind WARM is to make detailed music […]

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Episode 492 – Musik Hack’s Sam Fischmann, RIAA Mid-Year Report, And Moog Music Layoffs

My guest today is composer / plug-in developer Sam Fischmann from the plugin company Musik Hack. Musik Hack is the brainchild of both Sam and Grammy-nominated producer and engineer Stan Greene. Their first product is the innovative mastering plugin Master Plan. Sam is a seasoned software developer whose portfolio spans audio/DSP, Web development, and embedded systems. He’s […]

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Episode 491 – Kits Ai Founders, Playlist Culture Changing Songwriting, And The Cost Of Analog Recording

My guests today are Evan Dhillon and James Paston, two of the founders of the Ai voice cloning service Kits Ai. The company has launched tools for artists to safely create, license, and share their own voice models, opening new opportunities for fan engagement and monetization. Kits Ai has amassed over 100,000 users since launching, […]

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Episode 490 – Session Guitarist Andrew Synowiec, No Grammy For An Ai Blockbuster, And Your Questions Answered

My guest today is Los Angeles session guitarist Andrew Synowiec, ,who has recorded for or performed with artists ranging from music industry icons The Who and Alanis Morissette to contemporary trailblazers like Lil Nas X and Meghan Trainor. Other recent collaboration credits include Nick Jonas, Ariana Grande, Michael Bublé, Elton John, Seal, 98 Degrees, Josh […]

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Episode 489 – Vinyl Pressing Expert Dustin Blocker, Music Videos Losing Importance, And Gibson Finds Its Lost Archives

My guest today is vinyl pressing expert Dustin Blocker, who founded Hand Drawn Records in 2011 and Hand Drawn vinyl pressing in 2014. He’s also been named the first president of the Vinyl Record Manufacturing Association, which is comprised of more than 30 companies from every level of vinyl production, including record labels, mastering, lacquer […]

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Episode 488 – Field Audio Producer Bill McQuay, BMI May Be Acquired, And Music Gear Glut

My guest today is Bill McQuay, who’s an  independent audio producer, NPR contributor, National Geographic Explorer and founder of Eco Location Sound. Before starting Eco Location Sound, Bill was Supervising Audio Engineer for the Library of Natural Sound at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and an audio producer for the Lab’s Multi-media group. Prior to joining […]

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Episode 487 – Holistic Artist Coach Wendy Parr, Ai Copyright, And Wireless Studio Monitors

My guest today is holistic artist coach Wendy Parr, who’s personal and professional experiences led her to become a coach that helps artists lose perfectionism, overcome resistances, follow their inner vision, and curate a life and career they love. With over 20 years coaching top music artists like Melanie Martinez, Sara Bareilles, Marc Bassy, and […]

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Episode 486 – How Gold-Platinum Records Work, Avid Sold, And Melodics CEO Sam Gribben

My guest today is Sam Gribben, the CEO of the music learning platform Melodics. Melodics is a software platform that teaches you to play keyboards, pad controllers and electronic drums. Melodics uses gamification of practice to encourage you to keep working at getting better. Prior to founding Melodics, Sam was CEO of the DJ software […]

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Episode 485 – Engineer Ed Stasium Part 2, Not So Super Superfans, And The Return Of Sunn Amps

My guest today is producer/engineer Ed Stasium, who was an essential element in the New York punk and alternative rock scene in the 70’s and 80’s, having worked on seminal albums by The Ramones, Talking Heads and Living Colour.  He has also worked with a wide range of artists such as Mick Jagger, Pretenders, Soul […]

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Episode 484 – Engineer Ed Stasium-Part 1, Merch Sale Data, And Stradivarius Tone

My guest today is producer/engineer Ed Stasium, who was an essential element in the New York punk and alternative rock scene in the 70’s and 80’s, having worked on seminal albums by The Ramones, Talking Heads and Living Colour.  He has also worked with a wide range of artists such as Mick Jagger, Pretenders, Soul […]

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Episode 483 – Manager Zack Zarrillo, Concert Tix Ripoff, And Spotify/YouTube Raising Prices

My guest on this episode is artist manager Zack Zarrillo. Zack is co-founder of Alternate Side, a full-service music company that represents over 30 artists in the alternative/rock/pop/electronic/metal genres. He also co-founded Bad Timing Records, and he began writing his popular music blog “PropertyOfZack” when he was just 16 years old. The blog became a go-to […]

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Episode 482 – Engineer Pete Min, Threads vs. Twitter, And Music Retail In Trouble Again

My guest on this episode is engineer, producer and avid gear collector Pete Min. Pete is owner of Lucy’s Meat Market studio, and Colorfield Records, a label where he collaborates with some of LA’s best musicians to create one-off LPs made entirely within his studio. Pete’s worked with major artists, including Feist, Diana Ross, Strokes, […]

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Episode 481 – Lickd CEO Paul Sampson, Spotify DIY Successes Shrink, And Guitar Collectible Prices Soar

My guest on this episode is Paul Sampson, who’s the founder and CEO of the music licensing service for creators, Lickd. Paul started in the entertainment business working for a small television production company, where he encountered difficulties licensing music multiple times, which made him want to understand the nuances and problems of music licensing […]

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Episode 480 – Music Tech Consultant Vickie Nauman, Caremakers Ditch Radio, And Tidal Finally Lossless

My guest on this episode is Vickie Nauman, who’s expertise crosses between music and technology, finance, gaming, and the digital business economy. Vickie’s built one of the first DMCA-compliant services at taste-making station KEXP in Seattle, developed music tech work experience in licensing at MusicNet, which was one of the first legal digital services, ran […]

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