Music Tectonics 2025: Three Innovations We Spotted

This week, we’re wrapping up 2025 with something special: three rapid-fire interviews from last month’s conference with companies that represent some of the most fascinating developments happening at the intersection of music and tech

First, we’ll hear from Rachel Francine of SingFit, who’s pioneering music as medicine by bringing therapeutic singing programs to senior living communities 

Next, we have Matt Sherman from Str3amcore Labs sharing how he’s helping IP owners manage their catalogs with blockchain technology, drawing on his family’s hundred-year legacy in music (his grandfather wrote “It’s a Small World”). 

Finally, we have John Gearty from PulseJet taking us inside the future of music entertainment, with immersive VR experiences, including a nine-song album with Björk where you can literally walk around inside the music. 

These conversations were all recorded at the Shure podcast booth right on the conference floor. Three very different innovations, three conversations that show just how diverse and exciting music technology is right now 

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Episode Transcript

Machine transcribed

[00:00:00] Dmitri: Welcome back to Music Tectonics, where we go beneath the surface of music and tech. I'm your host, Dmitri Vietze. I'm also the founder and CEO of Rock Paper Scissors, the marketing and PR firm that specializes in music innovation. This week we're wrapping up 2025 with something special.

Three rapid fire interviews from last month's conference with companies that represent some fascinating developments happening at the intersection of music and tech. We have Rachel Francine of SingFit. Matt Sherman from Str3amcore Labs and John Gearty from PulseJet. One of the things we're always looking out for at the conference each year is innovative companies pushing the boundaries of what's possible.

These three conversations were all recorded at the Shore podcast booth, right at the poolside deck where all the exhibitors were. Three very different innovations, three conversations that show just how diverse and exciting music technology is right now. Let's dive in.

First we'll hear from Rachel Francine of SingFit, who's pioneering music as medicine by bringing therapeutic singing programs to senior living communities.

I'm here with Rachel Francine from Sing Fit.

[00:01:08] Rachel: Hello, Dimitri. It's nice to meet you. And we

[00:01:09] Dmitri: just literally met here on the floor at Music Tectonics.

[00:01:12] Rachel: We did. We did. It's, it's looking to be a nice day here.

[00:01:15] Dmitri: Yeah. I'm so glad you're here.

Where'd you come in from?

[00:01:17] Rachel: Actually, from West Hollywood.

[00:01:18] Dmitri: Okay. So you made a

long trip.

[00:01:20] Rachel: Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. No,

[00:01:21] Dmitri: it was across to 4 0 5. There

[00:01:23] Rachel: was quite a bit of traffic on the way.

[00:01:24] Dmitri: Yeah,

that's, I heard.

[00:01:25] Rachel: Yeah,

[00:01:25] Dmitri: so tell

me about SingFit, what is it?

[00:01:26] Rachel: Yeah. Well, at SingFit we have a digital health platform that, delivers singing as a therapeutic tool to treat a variety of healthcare conditions in older adults.

 we've digitized an evidence-based music therapy practice that essentially can create a full brain workout. It releases all the good neurochemicals like serotonin and oxytocin, and it does it all through music. And I think one of the most interesting things about it from this perspective is that music as medicine is creating a whole new line of

[00:01:53] Dmitri: I love it

[00:01:54] Rachel: of revenue for, music.

 you know, for the writers, for the musicians, and also for the rights holders.

[00:01:59] Dmitri: Yeah. No, I love it. for the revenue, but also for the treatment. I mean,

[00:02:02] Rachel: yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's amazing. So,

[00:02:04] Dmitri: so, ends up using it? How does it work?

[00:02:06] Rachel: Yeah.

[00:02:06] Dmitri: what's it good for?

[00:02:07] Rachel: Yeah, so we're right now at over a thousand senior living communities and skilled nursing centers across the country.

So the majority of our users are both the activities, directors and clinicians at these locations, but the majority of the users are, people, you know, from 65 to 105 who have dementia and Parkinson's and depression and, loneliness. You know, music is an amazing thing to treat. Loneliness.

[00:02:33] Dmitri: Yeah. Are we at a point yet where music can get prescribed as medicine?

[00:02:37] Rachel: We're getting there. there's actually a really great, organization called Arts Pharmacy.

[00:02:42] Dmitri: Mm-hmm.

[00:02:42] Rachel: And they do that

[00:02:43] Dmitri: Arts pharmacy?

[00:02:43] Rachel: Yeah. Oh, that's, yeah. They, they work with a lot of the big insurers and, they're able to actually, to prescribe a lot of variety of arts.

 interventions. We are actually covered by what's called an ISNP in 400 of our locations, and that's a specialty insurer. that's essentially covering it for those people.

[00:03:00] Dmitri: Gotcha. Wow, that's so interesting. And what are you doing coming to Music Tectonics? What are you looking for? What are your hopes here?

[00:03:06] Rachel: You know, I'm really actually, 'cause I'm used to going to health conferences actually.

[00:03:10] Dmitri: I bet.

[00:03:10] Rachel: Which is, I, I go to more than music conferences, but, here we're really looking actually to integrate with, some service providers, which is a PR company. some marketing companies.

[00:03:20] Dmitri: Ooh, I know some

of those.

[00:03:21] Rachel: I know, I bet you do. as well as some of the music influencers, because you know, like I said, I think this is a really great opportunity for all kinds of musicians. To have a different route for their music and, to be able to connect with their fans in a different way.

[00:03:35] Dmitri: Awesome. I'm so glad you came out, um,

[00:03:36] Rachel: thanks

[00:03:37] Dmitri: to the conference and came onto the podcast.

[00:03:39] Rachel: Yeah.

[00:03:39] Dmitri: And introduce yourself. I'm excited to hear what you guys do.

[00:03:41] Rachel: Yeah. Thanks so much. All right. Thank you. Bye bye.

[00:03:43] Dmitri: Next up we have Matt Sherman from Str3amcore Labs sharing how he's helping IP owners manage their catalogs with blockchain technology. Drawing on his family's a hundred year legacy in music his grandfather wrote. It's a small world.

All right. I am here with Matt Sherman with Str3amcore Labs.

What's up Matt? Thanks for coming out to Tectonics

[00:04:20] Matt: Dmitri. Thank you so much for having me. I hopped off a plane this morning and came directly here.

[00:04:25] Dmitri: Where did you fly from?

[00:04:26] Matt: The Bay Area.

[00:04:27] Dmitri: Nice. Okay.

[00:04:27] Matt: Yeah.

[00:04:28] Dmitri: And what made you come to Tectonics?

[00:04:29] Matt: Honestly, When I looked at the speaker list and I looked at all of the different people that were gonna be here, I was like, this is our people and I'm really happy that you put something like this together. also being in Silicon Valley, I'm talking to a whole lot of. Data or health ai people that don't understand the music industry or some of the problems that I'm sure everyone here is facing.

 so it was, really exciting to be in a event full of people who get it. You know,

[00:04:54] Dmitri: it's, it's, you're gonna have a blast this week, Matt.

[00:04:56] Matt: Yeah.

[00:04:57] Dmitri: So tell us what Str3amcore Labs is.

[00:04:58] Matt: Yeah, so Str3amcore Labs is a data management system, essentially, where we work with IP owners to clean their files, organize all their metadata, including the contract splits, where it was recorded, when it was recorded, and then we mirror that on a blockchain so that people can get paid quicker, people can get paid transparently, and all of the analytics.

Of where that file went are all aggregated into one place.

[00:05:24] Dmitri: Wow. So who's the, primary customer?

[00:05:27] Matt: Yeah, so our primary customer are IP owners, and that can either be an independent creator with a fairly significant catalog, or it can be somebody like. A litmus or one of these music investment firms that have acquired large catalogs that are still looking on how is, how are we gonna track this?

How are we gonna monetize this new $200 million acquisition and make it make sense? Right.

[00:05:51] Dmitri: Wow. How did you get into this?

[00:05:53] Matt: So myself, I come from a hundred year legacy in American music. My dad,

[00:05:58] Dmitri: you look, you look

younger than him.

[00:06:00] Matt: Yeah, my dad, he produced television shows in the nineties, like Wind, Ben Stein's, money Card Sharks, things like that.

And he wrote all the music for that.

[00:06:07] Dmitri: Ah,

[00:06:07] Matt: uh, my grandfather Richard, he and his brother were the only two staff songwriters at Disney.

[00:06:13] Dmitri: Oh, wow.

[00:06:14] Matt: So they wrote. It's a small world.

[00:06:16] Dmitri: Oh my God.

[00:06:17] Matt: Mary Poppins,

[00:06:18] Dmitri: holy cow.

[00:06:18] Matt: Uh, jungle book. Winnie the Pooh, Charlotte's web.

[00:06:20] Dmitri: Oh my gosh,

your childhood must have been magical.

[00:06:22] Matt: It was magical.

 and then even his dad, Al Sherman, he was in Tin Pan Alley in the twenties working with Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Eddie K. So I have a longstanding history in the music industry and in those hundred years, the technology has changed so much. and then I also have another co-founder who sat on the board of the Grammys and fought for DMCA copyright laws in Washington, DC

[00:06:45] Dmitri: Wow.

[00:06:45] Matt: was mentored by Public Enemy. So we really have a comprehensive view, not just on the industry side of things, but also some of the technology side of things. As I got really deep into blockchain about five years ago, my co-founder got really deep into the AI side, so. our goal is to prepare the creators of today for the industry of tomorrow.

[00:07:05] Dmitri: That's funny because Flavor Flav was a, a mentor of mine as well, but I only got to do it through his recording. So

[00:07:10] Matt: Nice

[00:07:10] Dmitri: cassettes actually. so what's the biggest problem you're trying to solve right now for Str3amcore?

[00:07:15] Matt: Oh, man. The biggest problem I think. Like the problem for the company?

[00:07:19] Dmitri: The company, yeah.

[00:07:20] Matt: Well, at the moment we have great momentum. We just finished our USC Techstars program and we need the funding to get to the MVP at this point.

[00:07:30] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:07:30] Matt: We have a great prototype. We have a great CTO, we have an awesome advisory board across the industry. It's just time to get some funds in the door and.

Actually iterate on the prototype so that we can start testing with some of our network.

[00:07:46] Dmitri: Well, if you find some investors

at Music Tectonics, you'll know they'll like music.

[00:07:50] Matt: Yes.

[00:07:50] Dmitri: So that's for sure. And I think you're in in the right space. Yeah.

[00:07:53] Matt: Thank you.

[00:07:53] Dmitri: Anything else you're hoping to get outta Tectonics this year?

[00:07:55] Matt: yeah, potential partnerships. I mean, we really take a collaborative approach. We want to be the piping and the infrastructure underneath, and that means that you lead to all of the different houses. So I'm just excited to see what everyone else is building and how that can possibly work with the system that we're making.

Yeah.

[00:08:11] Dmitri: Awesome. Well, so glad to have you here. Thanks for coming on the podcast, Matt.

[00:08:14] Matt: Thanks, Dimitri. Appreciate you.

[00:08:15] Dmitri: Finally, we have John Gearty from PulseJet taking us inside the future of music entertainment with immersive VR experiences, including a nine song album with Bjork, where you can literally walk around inside the music.

I am here with John Gearty from PulseJet. How you doing, John?

[00:08:42] John: I'm doing good. How are you Dmitri?

[00:08:43] Dmitri: Good. Now. How many music tectonics have you been to?

[00:08:45] John: One. This is my first one.

[00:08:47] Dmitri: where'd you come in from?

[00:08:48] John: San Francisco.

[00:08:48] Dmitri: Awesome. And what drew you here?

[00:08:50] John: Um, I mean, music and tech. that's where we live. That's our vibe. That's our jam.

[00:08:54] Dmitri: So, so tell us about PulseJet. What is it?

What are you doing?

[00:08:56] John: Yeah, we are, um, we think the next generation of. Music, entertainment. We're the MTV killer in there, as we discussed, laying down already?

[00:09:02] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:09:03] John: So, uh, we've done our job already, but

[00:09:04] Dmitri: what does that mean?

[00:09:05] John: So what does that mean? We think the future of music entertainment is three things.

It's immersive, it's interactive, and of course it's 2025. It's gonna be AI powered.

[00:09:14] Dmitri: Oh, wow. so what does that look like for PulseJet?

[00:09:16] John: So, um, we just did, for example, a, big launch with Bjork in Iceland with the nine song immersive album.

[00:09:21] Dmitri: Wow.

[00:09:22] John: Um, and you're, you're in the music, you're inside the music.

 you can touch the music, literally, you can touch the, the scores and the chords and, walk around in her Icelandic environments. And

[00:09:30] Dmitri: You mean the sheet music you can touch?

[00:09:32] John: Yeah, we have, we Cool. We work with this, really cool, artist called Stephen Malinowski that actually animates the scores.

He animates me these scores. And so it's all around you and you can stretch and pull them.

[00:09:42] Dmitri: Oh, really? What does it look like?

[00:09:44] John: they look very creative. They're Bjork-ified so, oh, every note. It doesn't look like an average score, like every single note has its own. every instrument has its own look and feel.

[00:09:54] Dmitri: Uhhuh.

[00:09:54] John: but it's wrapped around you and swimming around.

[00:09:56] Dmitri: When you're experiencing the Bjork, experience, what do you love most about it?

[00:10:01] John: I love that. well, it's actually a heartbreak experience, and so she's pulling you through her experience. It's a painful experience, but then at the end, you're stitching her heart back together.

 and she's like, you know, floating off into space, floating down these amazing, Icelandic canyons and all these crazy colors.

[00:10:16] Dmitri: Wow.

[00:10:17] John: It's incredibly creative.

[00:10:18] Dmitri: But you're going from the sheet music into this visual experience of traveling through the story of the song.

[00:10:23] John: It's kind of two different things.

Each song has like a full immersive experience. But it's also got a score. So when you go into the score, then it's just the scores around you and you can just hang out and trip out in the scores.

[00:10:33] Dmitri: Wow, that's interesting. And, where do you experience this? Is this an Oculus, type thing or?

[00:10:38] John: We are on Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest right now. We'll be on Android XR soon. and also you can watch it on your phone so we have a phone version so you can kind of step into the immersion, which we think is a big piece of this whole immersive thing. It's like stepping into the experience.

[00:10:52] Dmitri: Do you have to build out several different experiences for each platform?,

[00:10:55] John: You know? actually no. unity is a platform that allows us to go across all of them. And then the nice thing is we do the full in piece and then we can kind of render out different parts pretty easily. so we can get back to like the 2D old fashioned version if you want.

Pretty easily.

[00:11:08] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:11:09] John: And give you kind of the stepping stones to get there.

[00:11:11] Dmitri: So,

 how much traction is this sort of VR experience for music having now?

[00:11:16] John: Yeah, very good question. I think it's just starting to take off. We're getting good traction with Bjork. It's doing well in the app store so far. she's leading the way.

Absolutely. But it's still nascent. And so, you know, the VR industry we're watching very closely. You saw Android, jump in with Samsung and release their device this year. and there's more coming. and then the glasses form factor will be the next thing. So a lot of people are, meta's having good success with the meta ray band so far.

[00:11:39] Dmitri: One last question since we always talk about the business of music here. What's the business model for?

[00:11:43] John: Yeah,

[00:11:44] Dmitri: PulseJet music.

[00:11:44] John: Uh, we're starting out with albums. We're going back the old, do you remember what an album is?

[00:11:48] Dmitri: Yes I know what an album is.

[00:11:49] John: Yeah. Okay. A lot of people, I, maybe some people don't, but we're really doubling down on the album concept.

 again, Bjork led the way with a nine song immersive album. You can go buy the album, you can flip through the album. Literally, if you go into our app on Meta Quest, you're in a record store flipping through albums, finding the one you want.

[00:12:04] Dmitri: Oh, that's fun.

[00:12:04] John: So we want people to sell albums and we want artists to make money by selling albums, not with the streaming model.

That's become pretty ridiculous.

[00:12:12] Dmitri: Amazing. Well, thanks for making the trip over here, John. Fun to hear about what you're doing with Pulse Jet. I hope you have an amazing technology.

[00:12:17] John: Yeah, thanks Dimitri.

[00:12:18] Dmitri: Appreciate it

Let us know what you think! Tweet @MusicTectonics, find us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, or connect with podcast host Dmitri Vietze on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Weekly episodes include interviews with music tech movers & shakers, deep dives into seismic shifts, and more.