Your Morning Coffee Podcast

Hosted by YOUR MORNING COFFEE newsletter creator / curator Jay Gilbert along with Mike Etchart, former host of the syndicated Sound & Vision Radio program. Every week, Jay & Mike break down the top stories so you stay on top of the latest news and trends in this new music business.

Episode 283 01/05/2026

Episode 283 Episode 283 On this the first episode of the YMC podcast for 2026, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart discuss these important music industry stories: "Spotify And The Cost Of Chasing Numbers" (Ariel Hyatt); “2025 - The Year In Music” (Bob Lefsetz); "The BOTS Act Was Created By Ticketmaster. So Why Is The FTC Using It Against Them?" (A Guest Column For Billboard By Barry Kahn). Plus audio drops from Rick Beato on artists promoting their own music, and Liam Mason on the 5 most f**cked up things Spotify did last year. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39609020

Episode 282 12/29/2025

Episode 282 Episode 282 On this last edition of 2025 for the the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart discuss these important music business stories: "Anna’s Archive, Spotify, And The Shadow-Library Playbook: Why Spotify Is A Crime Scene" (Chris Castle’s Music, Tech Solutions Blog); "Music Lawyer Chris Castle Shares His 2026 Music Predictions" (Hypebot); "Xania Monet’s Manager And BMAC’s CEO Debate AI Artists’ Place On Charts And Streaming Services" (Billboard Staff). Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39549305

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Will Page 12/24/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Will Page YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Author and Economist Will Page On this very special episode of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart call into our friend, author and economist Will Page to chat about his most recent report entitled "Global Value of Music Copyright Reach $47.2B in 2024". Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39526650

Episode 281 12/22/2025

Episode 281 Episode 281 On this week's edition of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart discuss these important music industrry stories: "Podcaster, Writer & Consultant Jay Gilbert’s 2026 Music Predictions!" (Jeremy Young for Hypebot); "Global Value Of Music Copyright Reached $47.2 Billion In 2024, Says New Will Page Report" (Murray Stassen for Music Business Worldwide); "Billboard Just Made ‘Free’ Streams Worth More On Its US Charts. But YouTube Is Not Happy – And Is Pulling Its Data" (Mandy Dalugdug for Music Business Worldwide). Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39491600

Episode 280 12/15/2025

Episode 280 Episode 280 On this latest installment of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart discuss these important music industry stories: "How To Market Old Artists? A Lot Like Marketing Younger Artists, Survey Finds" (Glenn Peoples / Billboard); "How Country Songwriters Are Combatting - And Adopting - Artificial Intelligence" (Tom Roland / Billboard); "Do Music Stars Write Their Own Songs? A Statistical Analysis" (Daniel Parris / Stat Significant). Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39405815

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Downtown's Geoff Halliday 12/11/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Downtown's Geoff Halliday YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Geoff Halliday On this very special episode of the YMC podcast, your host Jay Gilbert sits down with Downtown Artists and Label Services SVP of Global Marketing Geoff Halliday. They discussed all of the different aspects of what Downtown does, as well as the crafting of individual release stategies that actually grow engaged audiences. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39365410

Episode 279 12/08/2025

Episode 279 Episode 279 On this week's edition of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart cover these important music industry stories: "What Do The Suno And Udio Licensing Deals Mean For The Future Of AI Music?" (Kristin Robinson at Billboard); "Congress, Please Close Radio’s 'Music Loophole'" (An Op-Ed from Gene Simmons of KISS for the Washington Post); "Spotify Wrapped 2025 Is Here — And It’s More Vital To The Company’s Bottom Line Than Ever" (Millie Giles at Sherwood). Plus an audio drop from Rob Abelow from Openstage. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39316785

Episode 278 12/01/2025

Episode 278 Episode 278 On this week's edition of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart cover these important music industry stories: "Warner Music Group Strikes ‘Landmark’ Deal With Suno; Settles Copyright Lawsuit" (Murray Stassen at Music Business Worldwide); "It’s About Time Spotify Raised Subscription Prices In The U.S." (Jem Aswad at Variety); "In Staff Memo, iHeartRadio Exec Says Company Won’t ‘Play AI Music’ Or Use ‘AI Generated Personalities’" (Kristin Robinson at Billboard). Plus an audio drop from Rick Beato on The AI Race Is Over. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning. Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39216505

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Livia Tortella 11/26/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Livia Tortella YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Livia Tortella On this very special episode of the YMC podcast, your host Jay Gilbert sits down with Black Box Music Agency founder and CEO Livia Tortella to discuss the evolution of the music industry, and the importance of real engagement in artist marketing. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39162680

Episode 277 11/24/2025

Episode 277 Episode 277 On this week's edition of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart chat about these important music industry stories: "The AI Music Deals Are Here. They Raise Big, Complicated Questions" (Robert Levine at Billboard); "AI Music Creators: Music’s Superfans" (Mark Mulligan at MIDiA); "AI Is Transforming How We Think About Music" (Erik Hayden at Variety). Plus audio drops with Kristin Robinson from her podcast On The Record, and Stephen Parker, Executive Director of NIVA (National Independent Venue Association). Subscrnibe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39145880

YMC AI Roundtable #2 11/19/2025

YMC AI Roundtable #2 The YMC AI Roundtable #2 On this very special episode of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart convene a second edition AI Roundtable special since so much has happened since we did the original back in February. Our panel joining us on this new special is Kristin Robinson (Billboard), Virginie Berger (Matchtune), Vickie Nauman (CrossBorderWorks), and Bobby Owsinski (Music 3.0). Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39091305

Episode 276 11/17/2025

Episode 276 Episode 276 On this week's installment of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart break down these important music industry stories: "AI Artists May Be on the Charts, But They’re Not That Popular— Yet" (Glenn Peoples at Billboard); "50,000 AI Tracks Flood Deezer Daily – As Study Shows 97% Of Listeners Can’t Tell The Difference Between Human-Made vs. Fully AI-Generated Music" (Murray Stassen for Music Business Worldwide); "The Independent Artist With 1 Billion Streams - Mike Explains How Nic D Does It…" (Mike Epstein From His "Hey Mike" Blog). Plus audio drops from Chris Nolte, COO and Co-founder of Duetti, Rick Beato on the AI artists on the charts, and Eliah Seton, CEO of Soundcloud! And a correction: Soundcloud celebrated their 18th year! We incorrectly said 27th.... Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39054710

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Josh Gruss 11/12/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Josh Gruss YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Josh Gruss On this very special episode of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart sit down with Round Hill Music co-founder, Chairman and CEO Josh Gruss to discuss the evolution of music rights and catalog investing. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/39004420

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With MIDiA's Mark Mulligan 11/04/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With MIDiA's Mark Mulligan YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With MIDiA's Mark Mulligan On this very special episode of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart sit down with MIDiA's founder and Senior Analyst Mark Mulligan to discuss their recently released report "The Future of Streaming: Change or Be Changed". Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38904195

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Chris Dalla Riva 10/29/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Chris Dalla Riva YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Chris Dalla Riva On this special edition of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert chats with Chris Dalla Riva. Chris lives at the intersection of data and music with his job as Senior Product Manager at Audiomack, where he focuses on data analytics and personalization. He also writes the popular newsletter Can't Get Much Higher and has a new book coming out entitled Uncharted Territory - What Numbers Tell Us About The Biggest Hit Songs And Ourselves. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38820040

Episode 273 10/27/2025

Episode 273 Episode 273 On this week's edition of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart discuss these important stories:,"Spotify Exec Talks Working With Music Biz On Gen AI Products, Removing ‘Spammy’ Tracks: ‘It’s Still Early Days for AI Tech’" (Billboard); "Let’s Have an Honest Conversation About [Generative] AI" (Mark Mulligan at MIDiA); "Ticketmaster Lawsuit Explainer: Breaking Down The FTC Case With Veteran Attorney Paul Singer" (Billboard). Plus an audio drop from Kristin Robinson's podcast On The Record. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38787685

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Serona Elton 10/23/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Serona Elton YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Serona Elton On this special edition of the YMC podcast, your host Jay Gilbert speaks with Serona Elton! Serona is the Interim Vice Dean at University of Miami's Frost School of Music, and the MLC Head of Educational Partnerships, as well as the co-author of the Music Business Handbook and Career Guide (Baskerville / Elton). Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38752395

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Nathan McCartney 10/21/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Nathan McCartney YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Nathan McCartney. On this very special edition of the YMC podcast, your host Jay Gilbert chats with Nathan McCartney, founder of the bag newsletter and discusses his recent article "First Week Sales: The Most Misleading Stat" Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38722250

Episode 272 10/20/2025

Episode 272 Episode 272 On this week's edition of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart cover these important music industry stories: "Spotify To Develop ‘Artist-First’ AI Music Products In Partnership With Sony, UMG, Warner, Merlin, And Believe" (Music Business Worldwide); "The Average Musician Makes $12 A Month,’ Garbage Singer (Shirley Manson) Says In Onstage Rant" (SF Chronicle); "Facing ‘Stream-Ripping’ Allegations From Labels, Suno & Udio Weigh In" (Music Business Worldwide). Plus audio drops from Dimitri Vietze on the upcoming Music Tectonics conference; music attorney Dina LaPolt, and Shirley Manson from Garbage. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38640975

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Rio Caraeff from Musixmatch 10/15/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Rio Caraeff from Musixmatch YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Rio Caraeff from Musixmatch On this very special edition of the YMC podcast, your host Jay Gilbert sits down with Musixmatch Co-President Rio Caraeff to chat about the music data platform that allows users to search and share song lyrics, and how music publishers can monetize their lyrics catalogs. For our YMC podcast listeners, here's a link for an exclusive discount code for Musixmatch Pro: https://www.musixmatch.com/pro/partners/your-morning-coffee-podcast Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38588850

Episode 271 10/13/2025

Episode 271 Episode 271 On this week's installment of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart chat about these important music business stories: "First Week Sales in Music: The Most Misleading Stat" (Nathan McCartney); "Spotify Brings Music Recommendations To ChatGPT Via New Integration" (Music Business Worldwide); "I Spent a Day Scrolling On Sora. The Music Industry Should Pay Attention" (Billboard). Plus audio drops with Travis Rosenblatt from A&R research and scouting platform Meddling, and Kristin Robinson from Billboard on her piece on Sora. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38560825

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Doc McGhee 10/08/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Doc McGhee YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Doc McGhee On this very special edition of the YMC podcast, your host Jay Gilbert sits down with the legendary music manager Doc McGhee to chat about his insights and wonderful stories from his decades-long career. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38508335

Episode 270 10/06/2025

Episode 270 Episode 270 On this week's edition of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart discuss these important music industry stories: "Can Spotify Maintain Its Dominance After Daniel Ek’s Departure As CEO?" (Glenn Peoples at Billboard); "AI Artists Are Here. Is It Ethical To Sign Them To Record Deals?" (Steve Knopper for Billboard); "Michael Rapino Thinks Concert Tickets Are 'Underpriced.'. Here’s Why He Might Be Right" (Eric Alper); "On Spotify, Not All Streams Are Created Equal" (Austin Staubus). Plus an audio drop from Billboard's Kristin Robinson's interview with Atlantic Records CEO Elliot Grange from her new podcast On The Record! Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38475345

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Trapital's Dan Runcie 10/01/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Trapital's Dan Runcie YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Trapital's Dan Runcie On this very special Your Morning Coffee episode, your host Jay Gilbert sits down for a conversation with our friend Dan Runcie, a respected music industry writer and entrepreneur. Dan's company Trapital is a hip-hop media and research firm founded in 2018. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38419245

Episode 269 09/29/2025

Episode 269 Episode 269 On this week's edition of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart discuss these important music industry stories: "Spotify Has Deleted 75m+ ‘Spammy Tracks’ – As It Unveils New AI Music Policies" (Music Business Worldwide); "How TikTok Partnered With Luminate To Measure TikTok’s Impact On Music Discovery, Monetization And Chart Success"(Luminate); "Denis Ladegaillerie (Believe) Sees The Future Of Music. It Looks Nothing Like The Past." (Music Business Woreldwide). Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38389540

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Verswire's Sherry Saeedi and Nick Lippman 09/23/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Verswire's Sherry Saeedi and Nick Lippman YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With Verswire's Sherry Saeedi and Nick Lippman On this very special episode of the YMC podcast, your host Jay Gilbert sits down with Verswire's founders Sherry Saeedi and Nick Lippman for a conversation about their artist-first music industry disruptor, that empowers artists with a venture capital model that champions fair pay and creative freedom for musicians. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38320895

Episode 268 09/22/2025

Episode 268 Episode 268 On this week's episode of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart discuss these important music industry stories: "AI Won’t Replace Artists — It Will Make Them Unstoppable" (Guest column from Lyor Cohen in Billboard); "FTC Sues Live Nation, Ticketmaster for Allowing Ticket Brokers To Break Its Rules for Profit: 'Directly Inflates Prices'" (Billboard); "Ad-Supported Streaming Is Struggling. Is Short-Form Video to Blame?" (Billboard); Plus audio drops from Kristin Robinson at Billboard, Jardson Almeida from Moises, Rene Ritchie and Johanna Richardson from YouTube, and Stephen Parker from NIVA. Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38299845

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With MIDiA's Tatiana Cirisano 09/16/2025

YMC Special Episode - A Conversation With MIDiA's Tatiana Cirisano On this very special YMC episode, your host Jay Gilbert sits down with MIDiA's VP of Music Strategy Tatiana Cirisano to discuss their recently released report entitled "All Eyes, No Ears: Why Virality Is Not Building Fandom", which was written by Tatiana and Olivia Jones. This just-released white paper tackles one of the music industry’s biggest questions: how is social media really shaping discovery, streaming, and fandom? Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38233950

Episode 267 09/15/2025

Episode 267 Episode 267 On this week's edition of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart chatted about these important music business stories: "US Streaming Subscriptions Hit 105m In The First Half Of 2025, But Recorded Music Revenue Was Up By Less Than 1% YoY" (Music Business Worldwide); "Nearly A Third Of All Tracks Uploaded To Deezer Are Now Fully AI-generated, Says Platform" (Music Business Worldwide). "What Would An AI Music License Even Look Like? It's Complicated" (Billboard); "Spotify Is Finally Launching Lossless – But It’s Not Part Of A ‘Super Premium’ Tier" (Billboard). Plus comments from Kristin Robinson at Billboard with thoughts on the Spotify Lossless article! Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38219170

Episode 266 09/08/2025

Episode 266 Episode 266 On this week's edition of the YMC podcast, your hosts Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart cover these important music industry stories: "CHRIS CASTLE FROM MUSIC TECHNOLOGY POLICY joins us with his latest OP:ED: Spotify’s Updated Terms of Use: Your Data Is Their New Oil"; "Downtown Music Boss Speaks Out On UMG Deal: ‘The Debate Must Be Honest. It Must Be About Facts, Not Agendas'" (Music Business Worldwide). “The Music Industry Must Work WITH AI Companies Rather Than Fight Them In Court” (Charles Goldstuck White Paper/Billboard); Subscribe to the newsletter! YourMorning.Coffee /episode/index/show/yourmorningcoffeepodcast/id/38124510

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