ABOUT
Dan is the executive editor of business at Billboard, overseeing all coverage of the music business, from record labels to publishers to touring to radio and digital service providers. He has closely covered the music industry for more than a decade, including five years as the lead beat reporter covering the record-label business for Billboard, and has written cover stories on Eminem, Lil Wayne, Pusha T, the Marley family, Lucian Grainge and the estate of Whitney Houston. Dan has also written extensive features on some of the leading companies in the business, including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Republic Records, Island Records, Def Jam, EMPIRE, BMG, Concord, Roc Nation, Primary Wave, Cash Money, The Orchard, ADA, AWAL, 300 Entertainment, SoundCloud, Tidal, Spotify and Stationhead, while running the regular Executive of the Week column and overseeing annual coverage packages on the independent music business and the intersection of music and sports. Over the years, his work has appeared in and been highlighted by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, VICE and Hot Press magazine. Prior to Billboard, he worked as the senior editor of XXL. He probably likes funk music more than you do.
PANELS
All Grown Up: Independent Artists and Human Creativity in the Age of Technology - Fireside Chat: Virgin Music Group Co-CEO JT Myers & CD Baby President Molly Neuman
Today’s independent artists find themselves at a crossroads. The barriers to entry, once a critical gatekeeper to their careers, have all but disappeared; it has never been easier, cheaper or faster to release a song to a global audience. But with this accessibility has come an avalanche of content and growing pressure on artists seeking long-term, sustainable careers to keep up.
CD Baby has spent nearly thirty years at the vanguard of music distribution and consistently maintained its position as one of the leading distributors of independent music. Following Downtown’s acquisition by Virgin Music Group, it finds itself with renewed resources, newly powered by the infrastructure and global reach of one of the industry’s leading independent music companies. But as models change, trends evolve and competitors come and go, its core dedication to quality over quantity remains.
That new home also reflects a broader evolution across the independent music sector, as Virgin Music Group brings together a growing range of services, technology and global capabilities designed to support independent artists, labels and entrepreneurs at different stages of their development — while preserving the independence at the heart of their businesses.
In this fireside chat, Virgin Music Group Co-CEO JT Myers and CD Baby President Molly Neuman discuss this new chapter and the rapidly changing independent music landscape around it: how technology is reshaping the opportunities and pressures facing artists; the need to focus on craft despite the pressure to join the noise; and how the industry can help artists build sustainable careers without losing sight of the human creativity that drives them.
Billboard Executive Editor of Business Dan Rys hosts.
Wednesday, October 14, 2026, 12:00 PM
PANELS
The State of the Music Business, Tuesday, Oct 13
As we continue the Mondo tradition of this important opening panel, Dan Rys, Billboard's Executive Editor of Business, Billboard kickstarts our Mondo 2026 conference with a panel of industry experts and provocateurs.
Tuesday, October 13, 2026, 11:00 AM