Trapital

Our third annual Trapital Summit is right around the corner, live September 15 at the Sunset Room Hollywood. We're kicking off a new segment called Bold Predictions, where you’ll hear from the executives from our sponsors who made this year’s summit possible.

Today we’re joined by Lucas Keller, president and founder of Milk & Honey as he explains why shrinking splits could turn songwriting into a vanity business. We’re also joined by Maurice Slade, head of music of SoundCloud, who predicts why AI will mint a new kind of creator the way that sampling once did.

CHAPTERS

04:13 Bold Predictions: A New Series

04:58 Lucas Keller: The Future for Songwriters

11:47 Why The AI Threat is Overstated

17:26 Maurice Slade: The Dawn of a New Creator

22:57 When Music Becomes Self Expression

Trapital Summit Tickets - Early bird pricing ends July 15

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TRAPITAL

Where technology shapes culture. New episodes and memos every week. Sign up here for free.

My April 2026 interview with Clive Davis (watch here or listen here) was one of his last before he passed away in June 2026. Here are my reflections on my interactions with Clive, and a few parts of his legacy that still get overlooked.

You can also revisit our original Trapital episode on Clive’s career Here.

CHAPTERS

04:23 Reflecting on our interview

06:03 Clive's overlooked career peak

10:03 Clive's relationship with American Idol

13:15 Clive and the Future of Music

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TRAPITAL

Where technology shapes culture. New episodes and memos every week. Sign up here for free.

AI keeps getting called music's biggest threat. Or its biggest opportunity. Both framings miss the point.

The real question is harder: if AI can handle the cognitive work, what's left that actually matters?

We're joined by Jessica Powell, CEO and co-founder of AudioShake, to figure that out. We talked about why experienced practitioners get the most out of AI, what happens to the creators caught in the middle, and whether "AI-generated" is already a useless label.

We also break down how AudioShake works — not generative AI, but subtractive stem separation and why physical media and community could be music's quiet hedge against digital abundance.

CHAPTERS

04:53 Music vs. Code

07:46 Taste and Differentiation

14:27 Should We Label AI Music?

17:41 How AudioShake Works

26:23 Vibe Coding, Jobs, and Disruption

SUMMIT

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Symphonic: Distribute your music to one of the largest networks in the industry. Symphonic delivers your music to over 200 digital service providers ensuring that you’re monetizing every stream and use of your music on Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, and more

TRAPITAL

Where technology shapes culture. New episodes and memos every week. Sign up here for free.

Interstellar wasn't a phenomenon when it dropped in 2014. Now it's widely seen as a masterpiece. It’s more popular now than it was on release.

How does that happen? Can we see it coming?

In this solo episode, we break down the mechanics of a cultural reappraisal: why some polarizing work ages into greatness, and why other art quietly disappears. From Yeezus to Reasonable Doubt, Mr. Brightside to Cruel Summer, the pattern is more predictable than you'd think.

CHAPTERS

02:16 The Four Buckets
03:25 Cruel Summer, Mr. Brightside, Queen, Freaks and Geeks
06:01 Dan's Top 5
13:55 What Enables Reappraisal
18:39 Recent Candidates
26:30 Why Reappraisal Fails

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Trapital Summit Tickets - Get them here
Chartmetric: Listen in for our Stat of the Week

TRAPITAL

Where technology shapes culture. New episodes and memos every week. Sign up here for free.

Was there ever truly a "monoculture”? Or have we been telling ourselves a comforting story about past shared experience? We sit down with Tatiana Cirisano, VP of Music Strategy, MIDiA Research to unpack how we got from finale watch parties to infinite algorithmic feeds.

If culture is so fragmented, why does everything online look, sound, and feel the same?
We did more into the great cultural collapse, and whether live events are the last water-cooler moments standing.

CHAPTERS

04:11 Was Culture More Fragmented Than We Remember
05:42 Consumption vs. Consciousness
10:35 Stages, Porches, and Living Rooms
15:44 Internet Culture Sameness
20:39 Algorithms as Gatekeepers
29:03 Live Events and Differentiation

SPONSORS

Trapital Summit Tickets
Chartmetric: Listen in for our Stat of the Week
Symphonic: Distribute your music to one of the largest networks in the industry. Symphonic delivers your music to over 200 digital service providers ensuring that you’re monetizing every stream and use of your music on Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, and more

TRAPITAL

Where technology shapes culture. New episodes and memos every week. Sign up here for free.