One of the main strands at our Music Ally NEXT conference this June<\/a> is \u2018next-gen labels\u2019. A keynote interview with broke Records founder Andre Benz and a follow-on panel will be exploring how a new wave of disruptive labels are addressing different pain points in the music industry.\n\n\n\n<\/p> There are a lot of examples to choose from, as we\u2019ve been following in our daily news coverage. New labels (and label-like startups) are rethinking various facets of The Way Things Are Usually Done, from their relationships with musicians to their use of AI.\n\n\n\n<\/p> Others are springing up to connect some of the most exciting local music scenes with the world, or forging links between artists across those geographic boundaries. To set the scene for Music Ally NEXT \u2013\u00a0you can get your tickets for the 18 June here<\/a>, by the way \u2013 here are some of the next-gen labels on our radar.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n Good Boy Records<\/a><\/strong> has been in the news recently for its partnership with James Blake, freshly emerged from his major-label deal in search of partners to build his business as an independent artist.\n\n\n\n<\/p> It helped him to put together a group of companies<\/a> that also included Virgin Music Group and Stellar Music to handle his new album, with each entity contributing funding and sharing in the album\u2019s commercial success.\n\n\n\n<\/p> However, Good Boy Records has also innovated on the technology side of its business, building a service called Clearnote<\/a> that uses AI to draft music contracts for independent artists. The company has also invested in startups Notes FM, Good Neighbor and Indify.\n\n\n\n\n<\/p> Another independent label taking this approach is Futures Music Group<\/a><\/strong>, which we covered recently when it raised $6m of seed funding<\/a>. Besides working with artists including Lykke Li, Mt. Joy and Cavetown, it has invested in music\/tech firms Indify, Splice, Chordal, Big Effect and ITM Studio.\n\n\n\n<\/p> A trend we\u2019ve been following with interest in recent years is new independent labels who have made songwriters one of their key priorities. And in a specific way: by giving them \u2018points\u2019 on recordings of their songs, so that they share in the recordings royalties.\n\n\n\n<\/p> Milk & Honey Records<\/strong> launched out of management firm Milk & Honey in October 2025, promising to offer songwriters<\/a> \u201cas much as double digits worth of points perpetually accounted directly to them as a production royalty\u201d.\n\n\n\nNew models for music-makers<\/h2>\n\n