MBW Views is a series of exclusive op/eds from eminent music industry people… with something to say. The following op/ed comes from Ran Geffen Levy the Founder of OG.studio, a platform that claims to be “bridging music industry evolution, technological innovation, and capital investment”. He is also the CEO of Amusica Song Management.
In my last op-ed, I outlined the vision for Songwriting 2.0 – a world where creators embrace Vibe Songwriting, form strategic clusters, and truly own their complete creative output. But vision without infrastructure remains wishful thinking.
In August 2021, MBW published my first op-ed – “How Future Proof is the Current Evaluation of Music Copyrights?” I wrote about personality rights (Name, Image, and Likeness – NIL) becoming the key battleground and that AI-based music creation tools would democratise creativity through Fan-Generated Music. I envisioned an evolution, and it came to pass. Only it has not been an evolution, it has been nothing short of a revolution.
Every day we delay building creator-friendly infrastructure, other stack holders gain more control over the future of music Udio and Suno have already evolved from simple music generators into sophisticated DAWs – and they’re just getting started. What I am presenting here is an outline of what we must build, and an action plan for both artist managers and collective management organizations to reclaim that power.
Artist Management 2.0
The priority for artist managers right now is to address rights that have so far never been defined or transferred. The transformation of college athletics offers the perfect blueprint: For decades, universities generated billions while athletes received scholarships and exposure. Everyone agreed this was just how it worked. Then Name, Image, and Likeness rights changed everything overnight.
Today, college athletes control their personal brand and license their likeness. Universities still benefit, but they no longer own what they never actually purchased. The ecosystem didn’t collapse – it evolved.
Music faces even greater opportunities.
Three critical moves for artist managers
- Build a Portfolio of Unassigned Rights
Audit every client contract. Identify rights never transferred to third parties: voice rights, AI training rights, synthetic persona licensing, cross-format development – some never existed when deals were signed.
Simple question: an agency licenses a public domain recording for a commercial without paying the label. Does this require a separate licence from the singer’s manager or estate for using their unique vocal signature?
Complicated answer: Laws vary by country, but in many jurisdictions, publicity and moral rights absolutely exist. There’s money on the table. Lots of it.
- Map Territory-Specific Opportunities
These rights play differently across territories. Worthless in Australia, gold in France. Future-proof management requires jurisdiction arbitrage – identifying where clients’ unassigned rights portfolios have value and building territory-sensitive monetisation mechanisms.
This is where cluster creation becomes practical. Look across your roster for natural collaborations, complementary skills, shared audiences – but also for unfulfilled dreams and hidden aspirations. The goal isn’t managing individual careers – it’s orchestrating creative ecosystems where artists can become who they’ve always wanted to be without having the full skill or natural ability.
These opportunities often appear as “invisible ships” – like the legend of native peoples who could not see European vessels approaching their shores because they had no concept for them. So foreign to our experience that we literally can’t see them, even when they’re right in front of us.
Learning to see invisible ships
Recently, I met with the owner of a management company with an impressive roster: actors, screenwriters, songwriters, influencers and more. I tried to explain cluster creation and gave him a few examples.
“What’s the difference from what I do now?” he asked. “I already connect my clients when it makes sense.” I paused, searching for the right words, but couldn’t find them. What I should have said was: “Yes, but not all of them have to be human.”
We were looking at the same ocean but seeing different horizons. He was thinking traditional collaborations – screenwriter writes script, songwriter contributes theme song, actor stars in it. Clean, separate, familiar.
But AI creates invisible ships between these roles. His songwriter, who writes beautiful melodies but has stage fright, can now perform through an AI avatar – finally living his dream of being centre stage while maintaining creative control. Each client has the potential to become a Renaissance creator.
The invisible ships aren’t just bigger opportunities – they’re entirely new categories of creative collaboration. But seeing them demands finding each client’s Archimedes point – that leverage point from which you can move them into territories they never imagined.
We’re all learning to navigate this together. The challenge isn’t intelligence – it’s that we’re using old maps for new territory.
Collective Management 2.0
At 80, Björn Ulvaeus is writing a new musical “assisted by AI”. He has described the technology as “such a great tool” and “like having another songwriter in the room with a huge reference frame.” He is at the helm of one of these invisible ships – the same visionary who created ABBA Voyage, partnered with YouTube and Universal’s innovation labs, and continues to pioneer uncharted creative waters.
But as president of CISAC, an organisation that just predicted creators will lose 24% of their income to AI by 2028, Ulvaeus carries both immense responsibility and a voice that commands attention.
He can ask the uncomfortable question: will the millions of songwriters whose work built that “huge reference frame” finally secure an equal share of AI’s economic windfall – or will they, as so often before, be left collectively behind?
Which brings us to the collective challenges facing every CMO and PRO worldwide…
A collective Kodak moment
Collective management organizations are reporting unprecedented results – record payouts, rising memberships, expanding territories… By every traditional metric, the system looks stronger than ever. But this picture-perfect moment risks becoming music’s Kodak moment. In 1999, Kodak celebrated record revenues and global dominance. Within a decade it had collapsed because it treated digital as an add-on instead of the core. What happened to Kodak in 10 years could happen to CMOs in five.
While CMOs collect royalties, fight for scraps from digital revenues and talk about the risks around AI, master owners are already building the infrastructure for music’s next chapter: filing AI patents, launching innovation labs, monetising superfans, and striking deals with AI companies. Meanwhile, the value gap – that persistent drain on songwriter income – has returned like a broken record.
Which raises the real question: what must CMOs do now to avoid becoming the next Kodak?
5 strategic imperatives for CMOs
Help Björn Ulvaeus turn his AI-assisted musical into the tipping point where songwriters secure both their fair share of AI-driven revenues and compensation for training on their works. Talking to legislators is important, but not enough. We must follow GEMA’s proactive lead: take legal action against infringing platforms and stop anyone who grants access to train recordings without songwriters’ consent.
Revenues are set to contract. CMOs must use AI to cut costs and improve services: AI tools can answer member queries instantly, process licences, and manage workflows. Trusted technologies already exist – use them to protect margins while the pie gets smaller. Take it further: make AI the operational backbone, not a side project.
We cannot cling to centralised systems that cannot handle the tidal wave of data and micro-rights AI brings. Every delay shifts power to platforms thriving on fragmentation. The answer is tokenisation – making new and derivative rights transparent, enforceable, and tradeable. What was once dismissed as “too complicated” is now straightforward with AI. If we fail to decentralise together, others will build the system without us – locking songwriters out of the future economy.
What once seemed impossible is now survival. With CMOs turning private and GEMA acquiring a digital distribution company, collecting royalties alone is not enough. CMOs must evolve from administrators into platform builders, creating licensing tools that connect songwriters directly with brands, fans, and new ecosystems. If we leave this to tech companies, they will control not just the data but the relationships – and once lost, no amount of collection power will bring them back.
The next wave won’t come from traditional models but from vibe songwriters and cluster creators. Their value lies not in data payments but in derivatives – rights tied to physical products, experiences, and cross-format creations. If we don’t open the gates to them, someone else will – and they’ll control tomorrow’s licensing. The question is: who?
Who will control the licensing of tomorrow?
The truth is, no one knows. Since publishing this piece on the value gap, I’ve spoken with players across the industry – and with those who could soon become ones. A likely scenario: the very platforms now selling cheap subscriptions for content creation will change their terms, demand a cut of derivative revenues, and build their own monetisation systems.
The money is there. The question is whether it will preserve the past or build the future. From SESAC’s new capital to Merck Mercuriadis’ evolving management venture – the stakes are enormous.
And from my own conversations, the boldest appetite to build new systems that could support cluster creation isn’t coming from the usual suspects. It’s emerging from Saudi Arabia, India and the Emirates – warming up on the sidelines. Not the usual power brokers.
Who has the power?
In 1935, Walter Benjamin wrote “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” – the cornerstone of art philosophy for 90 years. He understood that when technology changes how art is made, it reshapes who controls it. When art loses its “aura”, its unique presence, that power redistributes.
AI redistributes it among far more human beings, where it will grow within them, with varying intensity.. The secret of this “aura” has always resided in the divine spark that exists within each of us.
Benjamin opened his essay with a prescient warning from Paul Valéry, written in 1928 in “De la musique avant toute chose” (Music Before Everything Else):
“Our fine arts were developed, their types and uses were established, in times very different from the present, by men whose power of action upon things was insignificant in comparison with ours. But the amazing growth of our techniques, the adaptability and precision they have attained, the ideas and habits they are creating, make it a certainty that profound changes are impending in the ancient craft of the Beautiful.”
Who has the power? Humans do – with the choice to exploit or to empower. The hope, and the responsibility, is that the latter will prevail.
Human-to-Human (H2H) ecosystems will emerge. What will they look like, and how will they reshape licensing? That’s for next time.Music Business Worldwide
