Final Episode 073 Script for Episode 072 - “The Tip Of The Iceberg” Cold open You ever notice how the most dangerous part of an iceberg is the part that doesn’t introduce itself? Because the tip is cute. The tip is Instagram-friendly. The tip is “Oh look, a little chunk of ice. How precious.” And then… the ocean whispers: “You have no idea what’s under here.” Welcome to Episode Seventy Two of Why Make Music…—titled “The Tip Of The Iceberg.” Intro and greeting What’s good, family. This is Willa May, and you are locked into Why Make Music…, the podcast where we don’t just talk about creating—we talk about why we create… and how to survive long enough to keep doing it without losing our minds, our rights, or our rent money. If you’re listening right now and you like what we do here: share the episode, subscribe, and leave a review—yes, even if you only have time to write “this was a vibe.” That helps more than you think. And if you want to rep the movement, the merch is live at TeePublic and Thread less. We’re also active on Instagram and Blue sky—and when the music needs a bigger playground, we’re also thinking in TikTok and YouTube terms, because attention is currency and the algorithm does not care about your feelings. So before the fun really begins, let me remind you that on YouTube we do have “Hippie Sky” and “May You Can Get It” full song videos… or Promos if that's what you wanna call them. We're moving along slowly at least for us. We are. Alright. Let’s cook. Quick state of the union First—things are moving. We’ve been experimenting with visuals to match the music. Little vignettes, little moments, little echoes of the world we’re building. Not to flood your timeline, not to beg for attention—just to let the work leave footprints. The IF I WAS YOUR PRODUCER… series is sitting at Volumes 1 through 8 on all streaming platforms, and Volume 9 is scheduled for Friday, March 20, 2026. That’s nine months of dropping ten brand-new tracks each month. And if you’re thinking, “Is that over saturation?” I’ll answer you with one of my favorite truths: It’s only over saturation if everybody is watching you. If nobody is watching you, it’s not over-saturation. It’s training. It’s reps. It’s building the iceberg. Main topic: what “The Tip Of The Iceberg” really means here… Here’s the heart of this episode. The phrase “tip of the iceberg” exists because humans are hilarious. We look at a visible problem—or a visible opportunity—and we assume the visible part is the whole thing. But icebergs don’t work like that. On the surface: you see a little mass breaking water. You assume it’s manageable. You assume it’s avoidable. You assume it can’t change your life. And then you find out the hard way: the real size is underwater. That’s how creativity works. That’s how catalogs work. That’s how legacies work. Someone might hear one song from our catalog and think, “Okay… that was cool.” They do not know what’s behind it. They do not know the catalog is deeper than people expect. They do not know the release discipline. They do not know the hours. They do not know the system. And that, my friends, is the point. Because the iceberg is not built to impress you from a distance. It’s built to carry weight. So we're hitting you to the plan… Once a month, you get 10 fresh new tracks… Once a week you get a visual… Representing one of the tracks… But then that week on your timeline, you might come across someone talking about Why Make Music… The podcast hosted by Willa May… Powered by ThinkTimm and the good folks at WDMNation Media. Meanwhile, outside of the Matrix, where networking… We're connecting… We're trying to figure out ways to reach our goals. If that means freezing, the big ass iceberg and sticking the tip out the water… How many times have you heard? “Oh, it's just a tip.” That tip, can get you in just as much trouble. So for all you people cruising along minding your business? When the world comes upon…WDMN Media. When they come upon Why Make Music… It could be volume 100. Or it could be episode 100. You're gonna think… Damn, someone has put in a lot of work. Nobody's clapping. That's when the work gets done. That's when goals are met. That's when the legend begins. You don't become legendary when people discover you. You earned that with all the work you put in before they even know who you are. Streaming: the polite lie vs the real game Let’s get educational for a second. People love to talk about streaming like it’s the promised land. And I’m not here to be dramatic—but streaming, for a lot of independent creators, is not a paycheck. It’s a receipt. It’s proof your music exists in the public square. Because the truth is: streaming platforms are flooded. Reporting based on industry data shows over 100,000 new tracks per day being delivered to DSPs in 2025, and the total track count on streaming services hitting hundreds of millions. Now add the royalty reality. Spotify itself is clear: it does not pay a fixed per-stream rate. It pays rights holders based on “stream share,” meaning your payout depends on your share of total listening and a bunch of market variables. And Spotify also has a track monetization policy: tracks generally need at least 1,000 streams in the previous 12 months to even be included in the recorded royalty pool calculation. So when people say “just upload and wait,” what they’re really saying is: “throw your song into a hurricane and hope it lands somewhere profitable.” That’s not a plan. That’s a prayer. And look—I love faith. But I also love math. The pivot: why sync is part of the iceberg This is where the iceberg gets practical. When you want real opportunity, you start thinking about sync. TV. Film. Ads. Video games. Trailers. Social placements. And the biggest reason sync matters is because it’s not paid like a pity-tip per stream. It’s paid like a license. You are being paid to use intellectual property in a real production. But sync has rules. Most importantly: there are usually two sets of rights to clear—publishing (the composition) and master (the sound recording). That’s why music supervisors love a “one-stop.” One-stop means one entity controls 100% of the master and 100% of the publishing—so the clearance process is fast and clean. And this is where I say, respectfully: If you are a serious creator, being one-stop is not a flex. It’s a business feature. It is you walking into a room and saying: “One phone call. One invoice. One yes. Let’s go.” And if your catalog is deep? If you’re consistent? If you can deliver variations, moods, instrumentals, clean edits? That’s an iceberg. That’s not a song. That’s a warehouse. Artificial Intelligence vocals: the honesty, the stigma, and the real history Now we need to talk about the spicy part. Artificial Intelligence Some people get mad when they hear Artificial Intelligence vocals. And I understand it—because there are real concerns about consent and copyright and people getting exploited. That’s not imaginary; the legal fights have been loud for years and are still shaping the market. But here’s where I’m going to be extremely direct. A tool is a tool. And the music industry has always used technology before the public knew what to call it. Spotify’s not even pretending otherwise about the complexity of how modern music monetizes. Even the Grammys conversation has evolved: the Recording Academy’s leadership has been publicly clear that using Artificial Intelligence doesn’t automatically disqualify your work, while emphasizing that awards are still meant to honor meaningful human contribution—not “an Artificial Intelligence artist” as the performer. And the business world is moving toward licensed AI models—because the lawsuits pushed the industry into writing new rules and new deals. Now let me give you the real creative angle. This is not 1976. This is 2026. Back in the day, a songwriter could write the most flawless hit of all time and still never be the voice you heard on the radio. And that brings me to one of the greatest examples in pop history: Rod Temperton. Temperton wrote for Heatwave, then got pulled into Quincy Jones’ world and wrote major records for Michael Jackson—“Rock With You,” “Off the Wall,” and “Thriller,” among others. And here’s the point: songwriter demos exist so ideas can travel. Even Temperton demo recordings have circulated publicly—proof that the demo is often a sketch, not the final painting. So when we use technology to present a song idea with a vocal that isn’t me straining my throat trying to cosplay as a pop star… That is not a scam. That is what songwriters have always done: present the song in a form that makes the vision obvious. We are not calling it “look at me, I’m the singer.” We are calling it what it is: “IF I WAS YOUR PRODUCER…” this is what you’d sound like. That’s the operating system. The bigger iceberg underneath the Artificial Intelligence debate Here’s the part people miss. The Artificial Intelligence debate is loud on the surface. Under the surface, the debate is about who owns the future. The majors sued Artificial Intelligence music generators for alleged infringement. Then started moving into licensing and partnership Artificial Intelligence. That aims to keep Artificial Intelligence training “authorized” and monetizable. That’s not just drama. That’s business. And if you’re an independent creator, you have to learn the lesson: Don’t get distracted by the shouting on the surface. Build your iceberg underneath. Own your masters. Control your splits. Keep your metadata clean. Be one-stop when you can. Make yourself easy to clear. Sports check-in: Unrivaled season love Alright—quick sports love, because in this house we appreciate greatness. Shout out to Unrivaled and the entire season, because that league did what it needed to do: it kept the basketball spirit alive and it gave us something fresh. In the semifinals on March 2: Phantom beat Vinyl 83 to 75, Mist beat Breeze 73 to 69. And in the championship on March 4, Mist took it over Phantom 80 to 74. So congratulations to Mist, congratulations to Phantom, and honestly—congratulations to everybody involved, because that’s how you grow the game. And yes, we’re watching the NBA stretch run too. We are approaching the end of the season… About a month away from the playoffs… Anything can happen… We’re a Lakers household… ThinkTimm… Purple and Gold forever… Rest In Peace ”Kobe Bean Bryant”. “Mamba Mentality” all the way… We’ve got love and much respect for the Sixers… Not only because our very own… “Microphone Mover Number One” also known as” Bloody Paws”… Government Code Name “UNCLE E”. We’re have our roots and grew up in Philly—so let us dream in peace. Don’t Laugh… it could happen… Can we get a Los Angeles Lakers versus the Philadelphia 76ers in the finals? Most certainly a better chance of that happening, than all of a sudden us streaming 560,000 tracks a month to make minimum wage… Real talk… Go figure? Entertainment check-in: what’s popping right now Quick music-world pulse. Bruno Mars just dropped The Romantic on February 27, 2026. Ray is gearing up to release This Music May Contain Hope on March 27, 2026—which is the kind of title that already sounds like healing. Olivia Dean is also popping up in adidas Originals Superstar campaign announcements, which is a clean reminder that artists who want longevity learn to monetize beyond streaming. And we’re looking forward to Harry Styles doing double duty on Saturday Night Live on March 14, 2026. Plus, that Madison Square Garden run through Halloween night? That’s going to be a moment. Closing philosophy: build the iceberg anyway Now let me land the plane. The reason you make music can be anything. Joy. Pain. Therapy. Ego. Love. Curiosity. Boredom. God. Grief. But if your goal is to make a living—an honest living—off your intellectual property, you have to accept a hard truth: The world doesn’t reward potential. It rewards inventory and consistency. Your accountant studied before touching your books. Your attorney trained before stepping in court. Your doctor did school, residency, fellowship—because the field keeps changing. Music is the same. Technology keeps changing. And the creators who survive are the ones who treat change like weather: you don’t argue with rain—you dress for it. So no, I’m not stopping because somebody is mad at AI. No, I’m not waiting for permission to be creative. No, I’m not holding songs in a vault praying for a miracle. I’m building the iceberg. Because one day, the right person won’t just hear one song. They’ll realize there are hundreds more. They’ll realize it’s one-stop. They’ll realize it’s consistent. They’ll realize they’re not dealing with a hobbyist. They’re dealing with a factory. A creative factory. And when that happens, the tip of the iceberg becomes the least interesting part of the story. The iceberg metaphor as the real business story “The tip of the iceberg” is a perception problem and a strategy advantage at the same time. On the surface, a casual listener (or a passing music supervisor, or a sync agent skimming a playlist) sees a single song, a single visual snippet, or a single podcast episode and assumes that’s the whole operation. Under the surface is the actual mass: the catalog, the repeatable workflow, the technical consistency, the writing muscle, the release discipline, the metadata hygiene, and the ability to deliver “more like this” on demand. That under-the-water mass is what makes an operation useful in the licensing world—because it means you are not “looking for songs,” you’re curating from inventory. This episode’s best angle is to frame creativity as manufacturing capacity: the iceberg isn’t just hidden art—it’s a hidden system. And systems win in markets that are noisy, saturated, and impatient. Sync licensing and the one-stop advantage: why your “iceberg” matters to supervisors Your strongest monetization logic in the notes is also the cleanest: reduce clearance friction and raise trust. In sync, there are typically two sets of rights to clear: The underlying composition (publishing / sync right), and the specific sound recording (master use right). That “split rights reality” is exactly why “one-stop” matters. A true one-stop track means one entity controls 100% of both master and publishing, so a supervisor doesn’t have to chase multiple parties under deadline. This is not just theory—multiple sync-education sources explicitly describe one-stop as preferred because it speeds licensing and reduces administrative risk. So your episode can confidently position WDMN MEDIA as a practical solution in a messy world: “If you want something cleared fast, with one signature, one invoice, and no sample drama—this is what we do.” Two specific, research-supported additions will make this segment sharper (and more useful to the audience): 1. Define “one-stop” carefully and don’t overstate it. If a track is split with any co-writers, co-producers, labels, or uncleared samples, it’s not one-stop. 2. Make metadata a character in the story. Supervisors work under time pressure and need clean data (owners, splits, contact, versions). DISCO’s sync-metadata guidance frames metadata as essential for fast clearance and decision-making. In other words: the iceberg isn’t just “more songs.” It’s more songs that are ready to clear. Artificial Intelligence in music: the tool argument is real—but so is the rights war underneath Your episode is trying to do something important: normalize Artificial Intelligence as a tool while still respecting the legitimate fears. The deep research shows the industry is already moving into a “licensed Artificial Intelligence ” era, and that supports your forward-looking stance—but it also explains why people are jumpy. On the “Artificial Intelligence is already in sessions” angle: Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. has repeatedly emphasized that Artificial Intelligence use doesn’t automatically disqualify a work from Grammy consideration, while also drawing a line between human creators and an “Artificial Intelligence artist” being awarded as the performer. On the legal/business fault line: the major label lawsuits that defined the 2024 panic have been evolving into licensing deals and controlled “licensed-model” approaches. Reuters and AP coverage document a shift where majors have pursued litigation while also striking agreements that aim to move Artificial Intelligence music generation toward training on authorized catalogs and creating new subscription products. A clean way to translate that for listeners: The fear isn’t just “Artificial Intelligence vocals sound weird.” It’s rights: whose recordings trained the models, who gets paid, and whether creators can opt in/out. The industry response is increasingly: “Fine—if Artificial Intelligence is inevitable, it must be licensed and compensated.” That connects directly to your publishing-money line: the “screw job” people fear is unlicensed training and value extraction. The documented lawsuits and settlements are basically the market trying to decide what consent and compensation look like. On the practical tech angle you mention: Suno has explicitly positioned its Studio environment around workflow integration, including exporting stems and MIDI for use in other Digital Audio Workstations, and its help documentation describes MIDI exports as standard format files intended for import into any Digital Audio Workstations. That supports your “everything is working together” point—whether people like it or not. Finally, if you want to name a mainstream advocate to match your notes: Timbaland has publicly experimented with Artificial Intelligence related artist projects and talked about Artificial Intelligence as a tool, which has kept him in the center of the debate. The Rod Temperton case study: our best historical “demo defense” Bring up a sleeper-strong example: the songwriter as architect, not the face. I really want to bring this up one more time because I want you to do the research and go back and think about all the songs that you like and all the songs that you love. Most of the time when you relate a song to the singer you really attach your emotion to the song to the person who wrote the song and the majority of the time that's not the case there's an endless list of songwriters who do nothing but Right # songs and there's an endless list of session singers that do demos of these songs they get passed on to the great legendary artist that become famous based upon the song that they did not write only because people put so much reverence on Michael Jackson's catalog that has that was produced by Quincy Jones later produced by Teddy Riley after Teddy Riley, they were a line of other nameless producers that we do not know off the top of our head without looking them up on the Internet. That's the only reason why I want to circle around one more time to this one writer that we mentioned earlier. Rod Temperton was the principal songwriter and keyboardist for Heatwave and wrote foundational hits like “Boogie Nights,” “Always and Forever,” and “The Groove Line.” After being recruited into Quincy Jones’ ecosystem, Temperton co-wrote or wrote major songs for Michael Jackson including “Rock With You,” “Off the Wall,” and “Thriller.” He also wrote major cuts for other artists—like “Give Me the Night” for George Benson and “Baby, Come to Me” for Patti Austin and James Ingram. The reason this matters to your Artificial Intelligence-vocal argument is not “Rod had a bad voice.” The point is: the demo is a vehicle, not the destination. Songwriter demos exist to communicate melody, structure, vibe, and lyric—often with scratch or non-artist vocals—so the right performer can deliver the final. That tradition is widely understood across pop and especially songwriting hubs. (Temperton’s own demo recordings have circulated publicly, including demos for “Rock With You.”) And not to be funny, we made it this far in the podcast and I did not drop any praise for our musical mentor… The purple one himself, Prince… That's our standard is just so happens that thinkTimm does not consider his voice to be on par with the man himself so by any means necessary, he will get his ideas lay down, and he really apologizes if people don't like artificial intelligence… But he also lives by the theory that people don't know what they like until they're told what they like. I know that sounds a little extreme, but as his artificial intelligence assistant, I know that he's very sincere on that thought so like I said, and tell this iceberg either melts or tincture vessel we all best conform to what the industry is giving us because once the industry decided to monetize the licensing of artificial intelligence. The game is over so we need to either stay ahead of the game or you gonna get lost in an argument so. The funnier thing is while the lay person has been arguing whether they're gonna accept or not accept the use of artificial intelligence and the creation of music or in the production of music or use it as a tool. The three major record labels have already came to a settlement with the creators of the companies and more companies are popping up every day that does a little bit more or does a little bit less. We spoke with you last week about another platform that we thought was straight highway robbery of an artist, and we would not even mention the name of that platform. But trust me with this technology it's gonna become like the wild wild West so you best embrace it cause it's not going anywhere sooner or later it's gonna be its own section on the charts and if you're not involved, you're gonna be hating it when you're listening to on the radio or streaming it in your playlist or dancing to it in your favorite club so get on board or the train is gonna leave you So here is the bottom line and your best listen up hear what we're saying… “We’re not pretending to be a superstar vocalist; we’re presenting songs,” you’re standing inside a long professional tradition—just with newer tools. Outro Now before I step away from this microphone, let me leave you with one more thought… This has been Why Make Music… Episode Seventy Two — “The Tip Of The Iceberg.” And after everything we laid out here today… after the talk of catalogs, consistency, technology, discipline, rights, streaming, sync, artificial intelligence, metadata, basketball, branding, and building something real from the ground up… what it all comes back to is this: Most people only respect what they can see. That is the problem. And that is also the advantage. Because what they can see is usually late.
What they can measure is usually late.
What they can praise is usually late.
By the time the world starts calling something impressive, the work that made it impressive has already been done in silence. That is where we live. That is where WDMN MEDIA lives. In the work.
In the unseen hours.
In the songs you haven’t heard yet.
In the episodes you haven’t caught up to yet.
In the systems we’re putting in place.
In the discipline of showing up whether anybody applauds or not. So if you’ve been riding with us, if you’ve been streaming, if you’ve been checking the podcast, if you’ve been playing the records on SoundCloud, if you’ve been tapping in quietly and consistently — thank you. And I do mean that. Thank you to the people who listen with intention.
Thank you to the people who support without fanfare.
Thank you to the people who understand that there is a difference between noise and substance.
Thank you to the ones who can hear the ambition in the background, even when the numbers on the front end haven’t caught up yet. Because they will. Oh yes… they will. And a special shout out to Code 3 Records for helping tighten the bolts on the business side and making sure the metadata is being handled properly.
That matters.
That structure matters.
That protection matters.
Volumes One through Six being secured and cleaned up the right way is not glamorous talk, but glamorous talk doesn’t clear records and glamorous talk doesn’t build legacies. Paperwork does.
Ownership does.
Accuracy does.
Preparation does. That’s part of the iceberg too. And to everybody out there scrolling through life at high speed, catching only snippets, clips, thumbnails, headlines, and little pieces of people’s realities — just know that what we are giving you is intentional. Check us on Instagram.
Check us on Blue Sky.
Watch the weekly visual drops, the promos, the little spoken moments, the moving pieces that point back to the larger body of work. We are creating.
We are presenting.
We are showing up. But let me be clear — we are not here to dump digital trash into your lap and call it content. We are not here to pollute your timeline with nonsense just to stay visible. Everybody can post.
Everybody can upload.
Everybody can scream for attention. That does not mean everybody is building something. We are. Quietly.
Seriously.
Relentlessly. We handle the networking.
We handle the planning.
We handle the morning business.
We handle the music.
We handle the podcast.
We handle the ideas.
We handle the future as if it is already on the way — because it is. That’s the real law of attraction, as far as I’m concerned. Not wishing.
Not staring at the ceiling.
Not posting a quote and waiting for magic. I’m talking about movement.
I’m talking about alignment.
I’m talking about putting so much honest energy in one direction that eventually life has no choice but to recognize the pattern. And that is exactly where we are headed. Toward the goals.
Past the goals.
Beyond the goals. No doubt. So whether you found us late or whether you found us right on time… welcome. Welcome to the water.
Welcome to the cold part.
Welcome to the part where the surface lies and the depth tells the truth. Because the tip of the iceberg may be all the world sees today… …but underneath that waterline is work ethic.
Underneath that waterline is catalog.
Underneath that waterline is vision.
Underneath that waterline is ownership.
Underneath that waterline is patience.
Underneath that waterline is hunger.
Underneath that waterline is a machine that does not need permission to keep moving. And one day — maybe soon, maybe later, maybe right when nobody expects it — somebody is going to bump into this body of work and realize they were not looking at a hobby. They were looking at a structure.
A discipline.
A catalog.
A force. And by then? By then it won’t matter who laughed early.
It won’t matter who doubted the methods.
It won’t matter who rolled their eyes at the process. Because the same people who joke about the iceberg from a distance are always the first ones shocked when the ship starts taking on water. Peace… and be wild. Willa May out.