By Amanda Büchert

Founder and CEO of the organization Complete Music Update (CMU) Chris Cooke invited the audience into the “podcast studio” Friday during SPOT 2021 to discuss five selected stories from the music industry. To discuss the stories of the week Chris Cooke had brought a proficient panel consisting of Maria Borg (Disco:wax and Sony Music), Helienne Lindvall (Novello Awards), Daniel Nordgård (University of Agder), Josh Greenberg (Green Mountain Lodge) and Stein Bjelland (Music Norway).

To get behind the scene – or rather, behind the recording – is always great. It gives a completely different experience when you’re witnessing the dynamic between the participants and to see their reactions and facial expressions in real time. The vibe in the room was great and relaxed, neatly facilitated by Chris Cooke who eagerly presented the stories and together with the panelists helped us get more knowledge about the complicated, business specific problems.

Today’s subjects ranged far and wide. We learned more about why Epic Games has sued Apple and the fight against the so called “Apple tax”, how Portishead’s cover of ABBA’s ‘SOS’ has achieved an earning six times higher than the normal, the future politicizing of streaming services, and what the panelists actually think about award shows. It was exciting to get a glimpse of a business which can be unmanageable for an outsider.

If you want to listen to the conversations from that day it was lucklily recorded and can be found on completemusicupdate.com.

Photo: Allan Niss