EDITOR'S NOTE:
Call & Response pairs two Curious Goldfish conversations, recorded months or years apart, with artists who may or may not know one another. Different paths with the same question running underneath. "Call and Response" is one of the oldest structures in music: carried from West Africa into American spirituals, gospel, blues, and jazz, where a leader sings a phrase and the community answers. The form survived because music has always been a way for people to talk to each other across distance and time. It's a reminder that music connects people who don't know they're already in a conversation.

Doing It All Yourself - Click to Read More

Have you read the free summary of findings yet? We surveyed nearly 600 people about today's music industry. No matter if you are a fan, an artist, or work in the industry, this report has insightful stats and key takeaways about people's views on AI and how to engage with artists and fans. It's the coolest thing I've ever created.

Below is a sample data point from the report. The full, paid report is available for $24 and contains more than 100 pages of insights, anecdotes, comments, and analysis straight from the survey. The State of Music in the Age of AI & Streaming is the first independent survey report on these important topics.

Are you surprised at this stat about the challenge independent artists are facing today, even as the overall industry continues to grow?

This is where we track the breakthroughs, controversies, and conversations shaping how technology changes what we create and how we hear it.

The BBC's music division announced a policy to prioritize music that comes from meaningful human creativity, while still allowing AI as a tool. The broadcaster pledged not to knowingly air AI-generated music that infringes on existing copyright.
Source: The AI Musicpreneur

Why it matters — for musicians: One of the world's most influential broadcasters just made "was a human meaningfully involved?" a gatekeeping question. If tastemakers start programming that way, human authorship becomes a competitive advantage, not just a principle.

Why it matters — for fans: It's a signal that the places you discover music may start protecting the human story behind a song — the exact thing that makes you care about it in the first place.

Major trade bodies (RIAA, IFPI) introduced a voluntary labeling system: an "AI" tag for tracks where AI generated the bulk of the creative work, and a lowercase "ai" tag for human-made music that used some generative tools. Suno pushed back, arguing labeling should be left to artists and platforms; streaming's trade group (DiMA) and the BBC both weighed in on the side of clearer metadata and prioritizing human creativity.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine

Why it matters — for musicians: This is the first real attempt to draw a line between "made with AI" and "made by a human who used a tool." How that line gets defined will shape how your work is categorized, surfaced, and paid.

Why it matters — for fans: It's a step toward knowing what you're actually listening to — whether the voice moving you belongs to a person or a prompt.

CVC Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in DistroKid, one of the primary distributors for DIY and AI-generated uploads. A firm whose job is returns now controls a piece of the pipeline independent artists rely on to get paid.
Source: The AI Musicpreneur

Why it matters — for musicians: When the infrastructure beneath independent distribution changes hands, the terms of how you're categorized and compensated can shift with it. Worth watching who owns the road your music travels on.
Why it matters — for fans: T he tools that let a 100-listener artist reach you are increasingly owned by financial firms, not music people — which quietly shapes what gets promoted to your ears.

I have spent a lot of energy dreading things that hadn't happened yet. A hard conversation. A goodbye I wasn't ready for. I rehearse them for months, and then they go nothing like I planned, and I realize I spent all that time bracing instead of paying attention.

Dan Navarro told me about a goodbye he got to plan. His musical partner Eric Lowen had Lou Gehrig's disease for eight years, six longer than the doctors gave him. Near the end, Eric was offered a tracheal breather that might buy him more time, except he wouldn't be able to leave the house or speak. He turned it down. "I'm done. How about Friday?" They were all together when he went, and Dan watched him die.

What took me back was what Dan said about the years before that. He got to grieve while Eric was still here. Eight years of knowing. Playing shows until Eric, in a wheelchair against a black backdrop, looked like a floating head under the lights. Asking his friend what he wanted to do and hearing, "I want to go till the wheels come off." By the time Friday came, Dan had already done a lot of the crying.

Most of us treat loss like something that jumps out at the end. Dan lived it the other way around. He let it in early, while his friend was still there to sit in it with him, and it changed what the last day actually was. Not painless. But not a stranger, either.

Some losses give you no warning and no Friday. But when there is time, I think we tend to spend it looking away from the hard thing, when the person is right there in the room with us the whole while.

Dan Navarro has written songs you have heard without knowing his name and voiced characters you have watched for years. We sat down to talk about a long life in music, the craft underneath the credits, and what keeps him curious this far in. Watch on YouTube:

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Thank you for reading and for supporting the podcast. Remember, don't just be a goldfish…be a curious one. — Jason English, Host.