March Newsletter
Notice anything different about us? Yes, we have a new header image for our newsletter… but that’s not all! We are in the process of launching a new website and updated branding to go with it. It’s the classic Birdy with some fresh new tricks! Stay tuned to www.jaybirdcom.com in the coming weeks to check out the new site, and don’t be shy to let us know what you think!
In the meantime, as Spring approaches and we head into the busy conference and event season, we are hard at work snapping up opportunities for our clients. Take a look at all the latest below!
SXSW
Attending SXSW next week? Jaybird clients Symphonic Distribution, LyricFind, and SourceAudio will all be in attendance.
On March 11 at 10:00 AM CT, Andrew Harding of SourceAudio will be speaking as part of the Ignite Talks: Music & Tech series in the Austin Convention Center room 18CD. In case you’re unfamiliar with the format, speakers are given 5 minutes to present 20 slides on a topic of their choosing, with each slide set to auto-advance after 15 seconds. Andrew’s topic will be “AI Music Licensing: It Can Be Done, Here’s How (and Why).”
On March 11 from 5:30-7:30 PM CT, LyricFind will be hosting a mixer at Foxy’s Proper Pub. Please send us a message if you’re interested in attending.
On March 12 from 6:00-9:00 PM CT, Symphonic is hosting a mixer at Malverde. Please send us a message if you’re interested in attending.
Recent Client News
Symphonic
In January, members of the Symphonic team spoke at the Music Business Association’s Trust & Safety in Music Symposium in New York City. CEO Jorge Brea spoke on the “Industry Update: Where Are We Today” panel about Symphonic’s current initiatives to fight music fraud, and General Counsel Patra Sinner moderated the panel “The Legal Angle,” which covered the details of the recent Michael Smith streaming fraud case.
In addition, Symphonic recently launched their new Spanish-language podcast “Tírame Por Face.” Hosted by Dominican media personality Jennifer Mota, the series dives into the personal stories behind the creators who are transforming the Latin Urbano music scene. Each episode is dedicated to a specific artist or producer who represents a unique Latin Urbano genre such as Trap, Dembow, Reggaeton, Merengue Típico, Funk Carioca, or Latin Hip-Hop.
The first episode, released on January 15th, features Dominican-Spanish artist and producer Lennis Rodriguez, who has over 1.8 million followers on TikTok and is known for her hit song “Diablita Remix,” which has reached nearly 55 million streams on Spotify. For more information and links to listen to the podcast, click here.
On March 25th, Jorge Brea will be speaking at the Miami MusicTech Summit. Stay tuned to Symphonic’s and Jaybird’s social media for more information in the coming days!
SourceAudio
SourceAudio has announced the launch of SongLab, an AI-powered suite of music tools built on a fully licensed, ethical foundation that directly credits and compensates original artists for AI-generated works. In addition to the launch of SongLab, they’ve hired Drew Silverstein as President, Head of AI Strategy, where he’ll be responsible for leading SourceAudio’s AI initiatives and establishing them as the go-to source for AI music dataset licensing, and protecting the long-term value of copyrights.
Read more in Music Ally.
SourceAudio also announced their partnership with the Wolfman Jack Archive. Their SongLab AI tool, AudioGenius, has provided the Archive with tools to repurpose and uncover new monetization opportunities for shows featuring the iconic radio host by identifying, separating, and tagging each audio file.
Read more in RAMP.
Finally, SourceAudio announced their new partnership with Cyanite, offering improved music discovery for sync licensing via AI-powered tagging and search. The integration enables SourceAudio’s vast network of music libraries and content owners to opt-in to instantly access Cyanite’s AI tagging and search system within their existing workflows, dramatically streamlining the metadata enhancement process for millions of tracks.
Read more about the partnership here.
DDEX
The Music Business Association announced that DDEX will receive the 2025 Impact Award for Technological Excellence at the Music Biz 2025 conference’s Bizzy Awards. DDEX was selected for being at the forefront of innovation in the music business, providing solutions to meet the needs of the modern industry, and pioneering the ways it will operate in the future. Past Impact Award recipients include The MLC (2024) and SoundExchange (2023).
You can read more on the Music Biz website.
In January, Niels Rump took part in the 2nd annual Music Biz Trust & Safety in Music Symposium, speaking on the panel “The Lessons We Need to Learn.” He spoke with representatives from The MLC, NMPA, FUGA, and Rostrum to discuss takeaways that the industry needs to examine from the Michael Smith case, including current streaming models, the need for databases of truth, communication of “data anomalies,” and international legal implications, among others.
Save the date! During the week of November 17, DDEX will hold their next Plenary. More details including the location will be announced in the coming months.
Deborah Mannis-Gardner
Deborah Mannis-Gardner (Owner/President of DMG Clearances, Inc.) and Pär Almqvist (Co-Founder and former CEO of Tracklib) have launched AYO Music Group, an active copyright administrator offering global administration of publishing, neighboring rights, and recordings. AYO’s mission is to organize and protect music copyrights while educating their owners on how to utilize all licensing opportunities to maximize their earnings. The company helps clients “copyright copy-wrongs” by correcting administration issues that can date back decades, and prioritizes rightsholder education at the forefront of the company’s services.
Read more about the launch from Music Business Worldwide here.
LyricFind
On February 6th, LyricFind hosted the webinar “Elevate Your Game: Video Content That Boosts Streams” as part of the Music Business Association’s Common Ground series. The webinar showcased how the Rotor Videos tool can help distributors craft captivating visuals like Spotify Canvas videos, Apple Music Album Motion, and more.
Martin Clancy
On February 26, Martin Clancy appeared on BBC News to speak with Helena Humphrey. They discussed the silent album that was released on February 25 by more than 1,000 British musicians including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Cat Stevens, and many more to protest proposed changes to U.K. artificial intelligence laws.
Angry Mob Music
At the beginning of February, Angry Mob announced the signing of multiple admin deals with artists Aiko, Alto Moon, Jacob Sigman, MashBit, and Nicole Chambers. All five artists are signed to worldwide publishing admin deals covering specific catalog items and will participate in new co-writes and work-for-hires.
You can read more about the signings in Music Connection.
On January 16th, Angry Mob Co-Founder and CEO Marc Caruso joined the Break The Business Podcast to talk about his recent Billboard op-ed (“Why It’s Time for Indie Publishers to Get Angry”), his 80s cover band, the indie landscape, and more! They even put together a little Marc Caruso theme song.
You can watch Marc’s interview in full on YouTube (Marc’s section starts at 40:40 seconds) or listen to it on Spotify.
On the February 18th episode of the Your Morning Coffee Podcast, Marc joined Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart for a quick audio drop discussing his Billboard op-ed, Spotify’s new deals with UMG and Warner, the indie landscape, and more!
Listen to Marc’s segment on the podcast here! (Marc’s segment starts at the 10:05 mark).
On February 19th, Marc was the guest on Ari Herstand’s The New Music Business podcast! Their wide-ranging conversation covered the evolving landscape of music publishing and publishing in the context of the streaming economy, gives detailed accounts of how much sync licenses pay these days, and what royalties look like for microsyncs on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. And lastly, rounding out a more global view, Marc and Ari discussed Universal’s deal with Spotify, the MLC’s failed lawsuit against Spotify, and what all this means for independent publishers and independent songwriters.
You can watch the full interview on the Ari’s Take YouTube Channel!
Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP)
The Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) has unanimously elected Frank Handy (Peermusic) as National Chair for 2025-2026.
In Atlanta, Tony D. Alexander (MIME LLC) was elected to a second two-year term as Chapter President, while Crystal Morris (Digital Royalty Distribution LLC) and Tye Huntley (Smart Cadence Media LLC) will serve as Co-Vice Presidents.
In Los Angeles, Chapter President Marc Caruso (Angry Mob Music) stepped down after a two-year term, passing the torch to Frank Handy (Peermusic). Eric Polin (Music Publishing Consultant) has taken over as Vice President.
In Nashville, John Ozier (EVP, Creative, Reservoir Media Management) was elected Chapter President, taking over for Ree Guyer (Wrensong Music). The Chapter has also elected Courtney Crist (Eclipse Music Group) as Vice President.
In New York, Debbie Rose (Sundae Songs LLC) was elected Chapter President with Jeff Pachman (Domino Publishing Company) taking over Rose’s former position of Vice President.