by Mat Dirjish
Music Tectonics, a music-industry event that unites music tech innovators to share insights and do business, claims its October 27 to 29, 2026 seaside conference in Santa Monica, CA will focus on growing the music market for all. The event will offer programming that suits every stakeholder, from big deal makers to creators.
Music Tectonics weaves panels, speed networking, startup pitches, and demos from music companies. The event’s founder Dmitri Vietze explains, “Music Tectonics is setting out to transform this industry. We want to ask challenging questions and face the answers that will let us grow music substantively. It’s time we stepped away from the kneejerk reactions to tech and music and step to business interests and creativity working together, so that we can attract everyone to the conversation. We all love music and want to see it succeed.”
Music Tectonics will break down the practical ways artists, managers, labels, publishers, and tech companies can work in concert to grow the industry. One theme for growing music is providing the right tech to support, not disrupt, music industry growth. Several panels and conversations focus specifically on artist and manager perspectives and on what tools and practices can enable artists to make the most of an expanding market.
Music Tectonics 2026 sessions include:
- Grow the Artist, Grow the Market: The Tools Turning Independent Artists and Labels Into Industry Forces.
- Context Without Compromise: The Music Executive’s Guide to Safe and Effective AI.
Operations include:
- What if AI Grows the TAM? A New Licensing & Royalty Paradigm.
- Don’t Sell Before You Know Your Options: How Artists Are Growing the Music Economy Without Signing Away Their Rights.
- Rising Tide, Uneven Boats: Closing the Royalty Collection Gap.
- Investor Confidential: Where the Money’s Moving in Music Tech.
- Making Music Make Sense on Roblox: 123 Million Daily Players and the Next Fan Culture Frontier.
- What is a Music Creator? Growing the TAM in the World of Creators.
- Creating and Optimizing Partnerships with Artists’ Estates.
- Open Mic for the Innovators of Music Tech: The Pulse of Startups, Scale Ups, and More.
- Music Is Worth More: Tech That Multiplies Revenue, Not Disrupts It.
- Find a Show, Buy the Merch, Skip the Industry. Real Income, Direct to Indie Artists.
- Startup Hotbox: Labels React to Music Tech Startups.
- Growing the Market for Music Worldwide.
- Find the Money: A Live Game Show About Streams, Payouts, and Data.
- Should Your Software Have a Hardware Partner? A Real Talk on APIs, Affiliates, and Integrations with Shure Microphones.
- The Future of IP is Transmedia: The Cross Platform Secret Weapon.
- Physical, Connected: Bringing Digital Innovation Into the Physical Music Experience
- What is Direct to Fan in 2027?
- Blurt.FM: Find a Show, Buy the Merch, Skip the Industry. Real Income. Direct to Indie Artists.
- Beatlibrary: Recognizing Catalog Valuation and Revenue Recovery for Sampling and Derivative Works.
- Swimming with Narwhals: Music Tectonics Pitch Competition Final.
- Music Tech Investor Speed Networking.
- UMG Startup Studio.
Speakers include:
- Merck Mercuriadis, Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships
- Matt Adell, Musical AI
- Darryl Ballantyne, LyricFind
- Laura Davidson, Shure
- Cerys Davies, Los Angeles Times
- Dani Deahl, BandLab
- Jason Feinberg, KOSIGN
- Bridget Ferris, ElevenLabs
- Matthew Gawrych, Beggars Group
- Susan Genco, The Azoff Company
- Andreea Gleeson, Beatbread
- Heather Johnson, Sub Pop Records
- Andrew Kahn, Yamaha Music Innovations Fund
- Spencer Klein, Morrison Foerster
- Constantin Köhncke, FL Studio / Image Line
- Sierra Lever, Category 1 Entertainment
- Rob Levin, Interscope Capitol
- Liora London, DISCO
- Jaime Marconette. Luminate
- Paul McCabe, Roland
- Ryan McMahan, Oath Management
- Jessica Meehan, Roblox
- Eddie Micklovic, Nero
- Sho Mitchell, Beatlibrary.io
- Vickie Nauman, CrossBorderWorks
- Dominic Pandiscia, Primary Wave
- Chirag Patel, A2IM
- Michael Pelczynski, Rostrum Pacific
- Xena Plat, 411 Music Group
- Ed Poston, Symphonic Distribution
- Anthony Ramirez, Morrison Foerster
- Rian Rochford, Loma Vista Recordings
- Matt Rose, KOBALT
- Ishan Sachdev, Deciens Capital
- Scott San Filippo, Blurt.FM
- Helen Sartory, Beatport
- Allen Schrott, Xperi
- Marisol Segal, 138 Strategic
- Neil Sheehan, Vocana
- Colby Silon, Rostrum Pacific
- Jason Sklar, Shamrock Capital
- Neil Sheehan, Vocana
- Jennifer Sullivan, KiTbetter
- David Tauber, Creator Partners
- Jason Thurman, Sirius XM
- Matthew Tilley, beatBread
- Lexi Todd, Primary Wave
- Matt Urmy, Artist Growth
- Dmitri Vietze, Rock Paper Scissors
- JR Walker, The Orchard
- Mike Walsh, Structure VC
- Vivian Wei, NetEase Cloud Music
- Jason Yeh, Patron Fund
- Sun-Ui Yum, MUSIC
- Sun Jen Yung, Jakota Capital US
For deeper details, peruse the Music Tectonics 2026 website.
