Music Entrepreneur Club
Hosted by Music Entrepreneur Club
Two music industry veterans, a label founder and a platinum producer, break down the week's business news for aspiring independent creators.
A weekly roundtable where two experienced music entrepreneurs dissect industry news. Using viral clips and news stories as jumping-off points, the hosts debate topics like AI's impact on copyright, royalty splits, and distributor practices. It's less a formal lesson and more a candid conversation, grounded in the hosts' own recent wins and losses in the business.
“The show's tagline, "We talk it 'cause we live it," is its core differentiator. Unlike purely journalistic or academic podcasts, the hosts share their own recent business dealings, including one host's public departure from a music distributor he used to work for and promote. [ysvVojZ0We0]”
Who hosts this show
The Music Entrepreneur Club is a weekly podcast hosted by Damien "Dame" Ritter and Pacal "DJ Pain 1" Bayley. Ritter is the co-founder of the independent record label Funk Volume, known for its success with artists like Hopsin. DJ Pain 1 is a multi-platinum record producer who has worked with artists such as Young Jeezy, Ludacris, and Public Enemy. Together, they analyze current events, business strategies, and controversies in the music industry, drawing from their direct experiences to advise artists, producers, and managers.
Credentials & credits
- Damien Ritter: Co-founder & former CEO of Funk Volume Records
- Damien Ritter: Stanford University MBA
- Damien Ritter: Former Director of Communications at Too Lost Distribution
- Pacal 'DJ Pain 1' Bayley: RIAA Platinum-Certified Record Producer
- Pacal 'DJ Pain 1' Bayley: Master's degree in applied English linguistics
- Pacal 'DJ Pain 1' Bayley: Educator (University of Wisconsin pipeline programs, YouTube tutorials)
Other ventures
- Damien Ritter: Co-founder of Funk Volume (defunct)
- Damien Ritter: Manages talent
- DJ Pain 1: The Vintage Vxndals (production collective)
- DJ Pain 1: Violator All-Star/Record Breaker DJ
- DJ Pain 1: Urban Community Arts Network (UCAN)
What kind of podcast
- Country
- United States
- Region
- usa
When new episodes drop
- 01Find Out if Your Music Was Stolen by AI | @MusicEntrepreneurClub S. 2 EP. 96Jun 22, 2026 · 57 min
- 02The Griselda Split: Why Groups Break Up | @MusicEntrepreneurClub S. 2 EP. 95Jun 15, 2026 · 1h 06m
- 03This Will Destroy Your Music Career | @MusicEntrepreneurClub S. 2 EP. 94Jun 8, 2026 · 56 min
- 04Why We No Longer Promote Too Lost | @MusicEntrepreneurClub S. 2 EP. 93Jun 1, 2026 · 59 min
- 05She's Exposing Music Business Educators | @MusicEntrepreneurClub S. 2 EP. 92May 25, 2026 · 1h 03m
- 06Are Music Producers Robbing Artists? | @MusicEntrepreneurClub S. 2 EP. 91May 18, 2026 · 57 min
- 07Why Rap Music is Declining | @MusicEntrepreneurClub S. 2 EP. 90May 11, 2026 · 55 min
- 08Spotify's New Badge Feature | @MusicEntrepreneurClub S. 2 EP. 89May 4, 2026 · 55 min
Notable episodes
- 01Why We No Longer Promote Too Lost | S. 2 EP. 93
Host Dame Ritter gives a firsthand account of why he left his role at the music distributor Too Lost, detailing alleged payment discrepancies and opaque terms of service. It's a prime example of the show's transparent, "we live it" ethos. [ysvVojZ0We0]
- 02Find Out if Your Music Was Stolen by AI | S. 2 EP. 96
The hosts react in real-time to discovering their own music was used to train AI models, providing a personal and practical discussion on a major technological shift affecting all musicians. [_Ql6Q_KzDYg]
- 03The Griselda Split: Why Groups Break Up | S. 2 EP. 95
This episode exemplifies the show's format of using current hip-hop news (the rumored Griselda split) to explore timeless music business challenges like equity splits and group dynamics. [WVz36dhilyI]
What you'll be asked on this show
This is a two-host conversational show, not an interview-based format. Each episode opens with personal check-ins and a "Weekly Wins" segment before diving into several topics spurred by news or social media clips. The hosts often take opposing or complementary viewpoints to illustrate the complexity of music business decisions.
Signature segments
- · "We talk it 'cause we live it, we live it so we give it."
- · Weekly 'Wins' segment
Topics covered repeatedly
Where to find this show
Audience & reach
The show recently ended a sponsorship with the distributor Too Lost, which host Dame Ritter discussed in detail on an episode, citing payment discrepancies. [ysvVojZ0We0] This move underscores their commitment to transparency for their artist-entrepreneur audience. The show does not currently appear to have major sponsors.
Subscriber and view counts are pulled live from YouTube and re-verified on a 30-day cycle. Listener estimates for the RSS feed aren't published here unless they're host-verified.
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People also ask
- Who are the hosts of Music Entrepreneur Club?
- The hosts are Damien "Dame" Ritter, co-founder of the indie label Funk Volume, and Pacal "DJ Pain 1" Bayley, a platinum-selling music producer.
- What is the format of the show?
- It's a conversational podcast between two co-hosts. They discuss and debate recent news and topics in the music business. It is not an interview show.
- Is Music Entrepreneur Club still active?
- Yes, the podcast releases new episodes weekly.
- Who is this podcast for?
- It's aimed at independent artists, producers, managers, and label owners looking for practical advice and insider perspectives on the music industry.
- Where can I listen to the podcast?
- The podcast is available as a video show on the Music Entrepreneur Club YouTube channel.
Built from the show's public RSS feed, YouTube, the host's own websites, and the cited sources below. Computed and AI-extracted fields are labelled. Facts only — no private info, no fabrication, no transcripts republished.
Sources & how this page was built
This page is AI-assisted, grounded in the public sources cited below, and host-verifiable. We publish facts only; we do not republish transcripts. If anything here is wrong, the host can claim and correct the page above.Model: gemini-2.5-pro · high confidence
- [01]DJ Pain 1 - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- [02]Funk Volume - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- [03]Indie Industry: Damien Ritter on the Business of Being Funk Volumedjbooth.net
- [04]Songtrust Spotlight: DJ Pain 1songtrust.com
- [05]For Madison platinum producer, hip-hop is more than just music - The Badger Heraldbadgerherald.com
- [06]Damien Ritter on Building Funk Volume with Hopsin and Why it Fell Apart - YouTubeyoutube.com
- [07]Music Entrepreneur Club YouTube Channelyoutube.com
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