TICKETS On Sale Now
The 2026 Music Tectonics Conference focuses on growing the total market for music.
Join us October 27-29, 2026 in Santa Monica, CA!
The music industry could be, should be bigger. Everyone from the largest companies in the business to creative new startups, from emerging artists to established execs, agrees that music punches above its weight when it comes to cultural impact. Music Tectonics brings the ecosystem together to translate that impact into revenue.
Music Tectonics is unlike any other conference in music and tech. Top industry movers and shakers mingle with rising innovators and thought leaders.
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Speakers
Announcements
Full Programming Announced!
Music technology has often been framed as disruptive, but the most innovative changes in music grow the market for everyone. 2026 Music Tectonics conference sessions are focused on real solutions to the central challenge facing music: growing revenue for all.
It wouldn't be Music Tectonics if we didn't have some surprises up our sleeve, so stay tuned!
Music’s Value Shift: A Keynote Chat with Merck Merck Mercuriadis
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Merck Mercuriadis, Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships; Dmitri Vietze, Rock Paper Scissors, Inc.
Grow the Artist, Grow the Market: The Tools Turning Independent Artists and Labels Into Industry Forces
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Darryl Ballantyne, LyricFind; Colby Silon, Rostrum Pacific; Matthew Gawrych, Beggars Group; Andreea Gleeson, beatBread.
Investor Confidential: Where the Money's Moving in Music Tech
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Jason Yeh, Patron Fund; Sun-Ui Yum, MUSIC; David Tauber, Creator Partners; Sun Jen Yung, Jakota Capital US.
Context Without Compromise: The Music Executive's Guide to Safe and Effective AI Operations
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Xena Plat, 411 Music Group; Heather Johnson, Sub Pop; Matt Urmy, Artist Growth.
What if AI Grows the TAM? A New Licensing & Royalty Paradigm
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Matt Adell, Musical AI; Matt Rose, Kobalt; Vickie Nauman, CrossBorderWorks; Lexi Todd, Primary Wave Music.
Don't Sell Before You Know Your Options: How Artists Are Growing the Music Economy Without Signing Away Their Rights
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Matthew Tilley, beatBread; Ed Poston, Symphonic Distribution; Laurel Stearns, LSS Mgmt; Helen Sartory, Beatport.
Rising Tide, Uneven Boats: Closing the Royalty Collection Gap
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Jason Feinberg, KOSIGN; Ryan McMahan, Oath Management; Sierra Lever, Category 1 Entertainment; Marisol Segal, 138 Strategic.
The Music Creator Playbook: What's Working for Labels and Artists Today
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Fefi Oliveira, Influur.
Growing the Market for Music Worldwide
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Vivian Wei, NetEase Cloud Music; Isaac MIranda, ONErpm.
What is a Music Creator? Growing the TAM in the World of Creators
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Eddie Micklovic, Nero; Dani Deahl, BandLab; Andrew Kahn, Yamaha Music Innovations Fund.
Find the Money: A Live Game Show About Streams, Payouts, and Data
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Neil Sheehan, Vocana; Michael Pelczynski, Rostrum Pacific; DAOuda Leonard, CREATESAFE; Vivian Donohue, ROSTR; Jess O'Donnell, ROSTR.
Should Your Software Have a Hardware Partner? A Real Talk on APIs, Affiliates, and Integrations with Shure Microphones
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Laura Davidson, Shure; Constantin Köhncke, FL Studio / Image Line.
Trains, Planes, and Holograms: Adding Music Everywhere and the Data That Powers New Experiences
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Allen Schrott, Xperi; Jason Thurman, Sirius XM.
Music Is Worth More: Tech That Multiplies Revenue, Not Disrupts It
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Bridget Ferris, ElevenLabs.
Startup Hotbox: Labels React to Music Tech Startups
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Rian Rochford, Loma Vista Recording; Heather Johnson, Sub Pop Records; Chirag Patel, A2IM.
Making Music Make Sense on Roblox: 123 Million Daily Players and the Next Fan Culture Frontier
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Jessica Meehan, Roblox; Rob Levin, Interscope Capitol; Cerys Davies, LA Times.
Creating and Optimizing Partnerships with Artists’ Estates
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Dominic Pandiscia, Primary Wave; Jason Sklar, Shamrock Capital; Susan Genco, The Azoff Company; Spencer Klein, Morrison Foerster; Kenny Nemes, Jampol Artist Management.
Open Mic for the Innovators of Music Tech: The Pulse of Startups, Scale Ups, and More
The Future of IP is Transmedia: The Cross Platform Secret Weapon (a fireside chat with Luminate)
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Jaime Marconette, Luminate.
Physical, Connected: Bringing Digital Innovation Into the Physical Music Experience
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Jennifer Sullivan, KiTbetter; Liora London, DISCO; Anthony Ramirez, Morrison Foerster.
Blurt.FM: Find a Show, Buy the Merch, Skip the Industry. Real Income. Direct to Indie Artists
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Scott San Fillipo, Blurt.FM
Beatlibrary: Recognizing Catalog Valuation and Revenue Recovery for Sampling and Derivative Works
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Sho Mitchell, Beatlibrary.
Swimming with Narwhals: Music Tectonics Pitch Competition Final
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Jury:
Andrew Kahn, Yamaha Music Innovations Fund; Mike Walsh, Structure VC; Ishan Sachdev, Deciens Capital; Dmitri Vietze, Rock Paper Scissors, Inc. -
Startups:
Sam Friske, Cadence IO; William Larras and Julius Graf, EquitX; Cutter Grathwohl, Resolut; Sebastian Mourra, Visuals.fm.
What is Direct to Fan in 2027?
Narwhal Finalists Revealed!
Cadence IO - Sam Friske
EquitX - Willem Larras and Julius Graf
Resolut - Cutter Grathwohl
Visuals.fm - Sebastian Mourra
Ten semi-finalists pitched their innovations addressing needs all over the music industry. The semi-finalist jury selected four outstanding startups to pitch in the final round at the Music Tectonics Conference in Santa Monica.
These four finalists will pitch, demo their tech, and connect with attendees October 27-29.
Music Tectonics and Yamaha Music Innovations Fund joined forces to expand the 2026 Swimming with Narwhals Pitch Competition to welcome earlier stage startups and students. Attendees will sense the fresh energy all this year's Narwhal applicants bring to the conference!
Become a Music Tectonics VIP
For the first time ever, Music Tectonics and MoFo have partnered to create a VIP experience – MoFo House - for senior executives and IP investors to access the most important meetings and content. This VIP experience is designed so every minute of it is spent in the right conversations, with the right people.
MoFo is hosting this VIP experience at the Marion Davies Guest House during the 2026 Music Tectonics conference in Santa Monica. We will have dedicated space for meetings, networking, and selective programming. Catch up with and meet executives representing catalog buyers, IP investors, labels and publishers, private equity, investment bankers, artists’ estates and management companies, DSPs, and technology companies.
VIP Ticket Price: $999
UMG Startup Studio x Music Tectonics
Music Tectonics startup attendees are invited to join Universal Music Group's Digital Innovation team in a state-of-the-art studio space and get an insider’s perspective on what it takes to build meaningful partnerships with one of the world’s most iconic music companies.
All Swimming with Narwhals competition applicants will be submitted for an additional pitch opportunity with UMG. Three founders will then be invited to present and receive feedback directly from UMG leaders in an intimate studio setting. Other attending startups will also have an opportunity to hop on mic and introduce themselves and their companies to the UMG team. We’ll wrap the session with drinks, light snacks and a networking opportunity with the UMG team and fellow founders.
Come for the access. Stay for the connections. Leave with a better understanding of how to partner with UMG.
Music Tectonics conference ticket and advance RSVP required.
RSVP now open to ticketholders!
Rising Tide: Growing Music, Growing Value
This year Music Tectonics is making a deliberate move.
We’ve evolved from being known as a music tech and startup conference to being the conference where the whole music industry comes to grow its market. The theme is: A Rising Tide: Growing Music, Growing Value. . .
Merck Mercuriadis Keynotes Music Tectonics 2026
Merck Mercuriadis knows all about successfully growing the value of music. As Executive Chairman of newly launched Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships, Mercuriadis shares his view on how the next decade will transform the fortunes of artists, songwriters, producers and managers without whom, he says, "there is no music industry.”
As Founder and CEO of Hipgnosis Song Management, FTSE 250 listed Hipgnosis Songs Fund and private Hipgnosis Songs Capital with funds from Blackstone, Merck sensed that a radically different approach to music catalogs would shake up the industry to the benefit of artists and songwriters, and generate significant, predictable, and reliable revenue for creators and institutional investors through proving intellectual property rights are a premium asset class.
EVENT PARTNERS
Are you ready to make a major impact in music tech? Help shape the conference experience with creative activations.
Conference Timeline
Oct 13 - $549 Walkup Rate Tickets
October 27-29 — Music Tectonics Conference
Tue 10/27 — Santa Monica Pier Carousel — 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
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Creator Fair
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Demos
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Opening Party
Wed 10/28 — Annenberg Beach House — 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
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Keynote
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High-Energy Panels
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Exhibitors around the Pool
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Creative Activations
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Startup Pitch Competition Final Round
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Pool Party
Thu 10/29 — Annenberg Beach House — 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
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Startup day
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Networking & Meetings
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Investor-Startup Speed-networking
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UMG Startup Studio (off-site at a UMG studio!)
SEEN AT Music TEctonics
HOTEL
The 2026 Conference takes place at eclectic venues by the beach in Santa Monica, California. Our room block is located conveniently near conference venues, the beach, and downtown Santa Monica's dining and shopping district!
Our room block is sold out, but rooms are available at competitive regular rates.
Shore Hotel
1515 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Looking for other lodging options? Center your hotel search around Santa Monica Pier (200 Santa Monica Pier. Santa Monica, CA 90401), our venue for Day 1.
What Makes Music Tectonics Different
Music Tectonics was founded to explore the deep seismic shifts that keep the music industry unsettled. At the next annual conference in 2026, we'll delve into the consequences of these shifts and the new fault lines poised to change the industry yet again.
Music Tectonics unites music tech innovators across industry boundaries to share insights and get business done. The Music Tectonics team intentionally crafts experiences in unexpected beachside venues to foster openness to new ideas and new partnerships. The result is a conference and a community unlike any any other.
Music Tectonics is a community of innovators everywhere in the music ecosystem: startups, major labels, indie labels, AI pioneers, streaming services, distributors, social media platforms, investors, accelerators, legal experts, live event execs, gear makers, music software developers, consultants—in short, everyone who works where music and tech meet.
Meet Music Tectonics' Past Participants: Spotify, Bose, Pandora, YouTube, Google, TikTok, BeatSaber, Instagram, Facebook, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, BMG, Twitch, Reddit, TIDAL, Deezer, SoundCloud, Riot Games, Epic Games, Bandsintown, Raised In Space, Sony Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Plus Eight Equity Partners, Waverley Capital, Crush Ventures, Techstars Music, Roland, PioneerDJ, The MLC, TuneCore, Luminate, Rumblefish, Atlantic Records, Capitol Records, Concord Music, FUGA, 4AD, Secretly Canadian, Run the Jewels, Peloton, BandLab, BeatStars, Sonos, Seven20, Cameo, Patreon, AEG, Roblox, Audius, Pixelynx, Billboard, Forbes.
Who We Are
PR firm Rock Paper Scissors, Inc. explores the new terrain at the epicenter of music and technology through their PR and marketing services as well as the Music Tectonics Conference, podcast, online events, and in-person meetups.
Everything Music Tectonics does explores the seismic shifts that shake up music and technology the way the earth’s tectonic plates cause quakes and make mountains.