We’re tired of assertions that a silver bullet will fix the music industry. That was my sentiment, at least, when I lumped two music tech boogeymen into one big straw man on LinkedIn:

It wasn’t my most well-argued take, but apparently it struck a nerve. The post garnered more engagement than anything else I’ve shared there in the last year—by a long shot. The revolving door of tech “solutions” for our woes is tiresome. It’s a ripe (and easy) target for criticism.

The noisy hype of Web3 and NFTs has finally waned, but the void that blockchain hucksters left behind was quickly filled by generative AI tools that are flooding platforms with massive piles of slop. Instead of making life better for musicians, AI made things demonstrably more challenging.

Meanwhile, Web3’s promise of new revenue streams for independent musicians was replaced by a hand-wavey “Streaming 2.0” vision for “enhanced product opportunities designed to benefit artists and enrich the experience of their fan.” If the past is prologue, UMG’s scheme for on-platform superfan engagement is bound to exclude anyone outside the purview of the majors.

So, what would we like to see instead of the current wave of music tech hype? Personally, I think we need less silver bullets and more…

Cooperation: like Subvert’s vision for a collectively owned Bandcamp successor.

Organization: through networks like UMAW to help educate policymakers and the public.

Transparency: like the royalty visibility for labels and their artists that Infinite Catalog was built to provide.

Let me know what you think… “Less ____ , more ____ .”

-Mark

In this edition:

• IC’s New Year Special is almost over.

• Indie Intel, featuring more thoughts on superfans and the latest payola permutation taking root on TikTok.

• 12 new releases from the IC community that made our ears perk up.

• Two new features in the IC app you should know about.

• The IC team’s current obsessions.

New Year Special: Final Days

Why now is your time to shine re: upgrading your royalty situation:

• Royalties are hard and probably holding you back and/or stressing you out (this used to be us too)

• IC makes royalties easier and helps you grow better together with your payees

• You can try IC free for 14 days and get 50% off your first 3 months using code JAN50

Happy new year everyone, remember this offer expires Jan 31st! Try IC free today and future-you will be thanking current-you for changing your catalog for the better.

Indie Intel

All the news that’s fit to summarize.

In her latest for MUSIC x, Charlotte Caleb predicts 2025 will force the music industry to face an uncomfortable truth: you can't manufacture superfans without culture. Her analysis of Stormzy, Doechii and Yung Lean shows why community beats algorithms.

In his recorded talk from Music Ally Connect, Motive Unknown's Darren Hemmings reminds attendees that meaningful connection beats viral metrics every time. Maybe those "superfans" everyone's talking about are just... regular fans who actually care?

The music industry's newest parasites have emerged. The Quietus's Eamonn Forde reports TikTok influencers are demanding master points for promotion. Welcome to Alan Freed's 1950s payola scandal (2025 Digitally Remastered Version). h/t Shawn Reynaldo

Duetti's Music Economics Report shows that TikTok virality remains fool's gold for most artists. Plus, Spotify is increasing consumer prices, but their payout rates are holding down the industry average (Spotify, predictably, was not a superfan of the report).

Music Business Worldwide's Daniel Tencer details Deezer's latest offensive against AI music. The French streaming service's new detection tool reveals an uncomfortable truth: artificial intelligence is already responsible for 10% of their daily uploads.

New Releases

Music from catalogs in the IC community that caught our attention since last time.

🎧 Blue Lake's 'Weft' on Tonal Union weaves American folk traditions with Scandinavian experimentalism, featuring a custom-built 36-string zither. →

🎧 In a collab with Oslo's Munch Museum, Norwegian experimental stalwart Smalltown Supersound enlists label alums to interpret Munch's cosmic works. →

🎧 Global Charming delivers a bombastic post-punk combination of mantric repetition and calculated tension with Shelf Life via Amsterdam's AT EASE. →

🎧 NYC's SUSS reaches for solace in Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land," transforming the classic into an ambient country dreamscape on Northern Spy. →

🎧 SOFT VEIN's sophomore album, THROUGH BLINDS, fuses cascading synthesizers, and dreamy guitars in a darkwave ten-tracker on Artoffact. →

🎧 Discrepant presents Tiago Sousa's final Organic Music Tapes volume, full of cyclical piano and organ meditations and tape-loop experimentalism. →

🎧 For their latest quarterly mix installment, fabric Records taps Laurent Garnier to curate twenty tracks that gracefully sidestep club music's boundaries. →

🎧 Steel Tipped Dove provides the cerebral canvas for doseone's verbal gymnastics on an avant-garde rap transmission from Backwoodz. →

🎧 Ansonia Records returns with Miramar's "Entre Tus Flores," bringing fresh orchestral boleros from an unlikely Richmond-based ensemble. →

🎧 Forward Music Group presents Motherhood's Thunder Perfect Mind, a ripping 11 track sci-fi punk opera concept album. →

🎧 Peru’s Ale Hop and Congolese guitarist Titi Bakorta document their Kampala sessions on Nyege Nyege Tapes' latest boundary-dissolving release. →

🎧 High Moon Records excavates rare Chess Records sessions and Matrix club recordings from San Francisco's psychedelic crucible Jeannie Piersol. →

New In IC

Brand your IC experience: Catalogs can add their logo so it’s displayed to payees in the header and statement exports.

• Connect multiple Bandcamp accounts: Our direct Bandcamp connection is a fan favorite. Now you can connect all of your Bandcamp accounts, if you have more than one, to import sales data automatically.

Obsessed

Each edition, the IC team shares the gems they’re into right now.

🥬 Christopher is binging his way through Chinese Cooking Demystified’s 315 (and counting) YouTube videos.

🎺 Nenet shouted out Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat, the 2024 documentary about jazz music’s role in Cold War espionage.

💬 Austin highlighted Raising Moths, Attempts at (Musical) Ekphrasis on Watering a flower by Haruomi Hosono for anyone who loves the comment sections on obscure music YouTube posts.

🎧 Hunter’s pick: Tullio De Piscopo, “Stop Bajon”

🌅 Josh is giving Mount Kimbie’s The Sunset Violent album from last year a thorough rinsing.

🏜️ Ari has a deep cut for you in Painted Desert, the 1995 album from Ikue Mori, Robert Quine, and Marc Ribot.

That’s all for #69! By the way, if there’s something you’d like to see in the next edition, give us a shout.

Catch you next time!

- Mark & the Infinite Catalog crew