If you follow this series closely, you know we scour the entire world in search of amazing guests. For this episode, I have crossed the Atlantic and am pleased to share two Brits who you need to know about. Between them, they have worked inside the music industry's most iconic institutions — from Sony and Spotify to Amazon — and now spend their time making sense of where it's all heading. They bring that rare combination of insider experience and strategic distance to help us cut through the noise.

Keith Jopling is is a music strategist, author, podcaster and mentor with executive experience at Sony Music, Spotify, EMI, the BPI, and IFPI, and most recently served as Consulting Director at MIDiA Research. In 2026 he has two books publishing on music, business and culture, and has lectured at leading music business schools including NYU, Henley Business School, Syracuse and Belmont.

Patrick Clifton is a strategist and writer who built his career across the UK indie music scene and Amazon, where he helped launch their streaming service and led their UK music business. He now runs a music and tech strategy consultancy, writes for Medium and Substack, and serves as Executive Director of the Organization for Recorded Culture and Arts, a think tank backed by the world's leading independent labels.

The Smartest People In The Room® is a series of one-on-one conversations between music industry executives and personalities hosted by Tom Truitt, Managing Director of the Music & Live Entertainment practice. These hour long conversations draw an audience of hundreds and feature every type of global music industry executive, including agents, managers, attorneys, business managers, promoters, publishers, working musicians, songwriters. The audience is global, with strong concentration in music business centers like New York City, Los Angeles, Nashville, London, Toronto, San Francisco, Austin and more.