Merck Mercuriadis will deliver a keynote address at the Music Tectonics 2026 conference in Santa Monica, California, on October 28, the second day of the three-day event, Billboard reported on July 29.

Music Tectonics 2026 runs from October 27 to 29. The conference, held at beachside venues in Santa Monica, bills itself as a gathering for innovators across the music business — startups, major and indie labels, streaming services, social platforms, investors, legal experts and live-event executives, according to its official website. Past participants listed on the site include Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Twitch, Roblox, TIDAL, Deezer and SoundCloud, among others.

Mercuriadis is the founder and former CEO of Hipgnosis, the song-management company that spent billions acquiring music catalogues — the bundles of rights attached to a songwriter's or artist's body of work — before a turbulent period that included a shareholder vote to wind down its investment fund. He recently launched a new venture called Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships, which targets investment in artist management companies and music catalogues. The Financial Times reported that the new group would operate under the Hipgnosis name and bring artists and their managers together as co-owners in a partnership structure. Proactive Investors, writing in July 2025, also reported that Mercuriadis plans to push for better streaming pay for songwriters as part of his return.

Billboard's report did not attribute the announcement to a specific originating party, using the passive construction "it was announced." Statements from both Mercuriadis and Dmitri Vietze, the founder of Music Tectonics, appeared in the article, suggesting the conference and Mercuriadis's camp were the sources. Vietze provided a statement about Mercuriadis's keynote appearance, and Mercuriadis discussed what he described as the transformation of the music industry over the past decade and the decade ahead. The Music Tectonics website lists Mercuriadis in its "First Wave of Speakers" and labels him as a "Keynote" for the 2026 conference.

Mercuriadis is also scheduled to appear at SXSW London 2026 as a speaker, according to the event's website, which listed him in early June.

Early-bird pricing for Music Tectonics 2026 tickets is available until August 11, according to Billboard.

For an industry that has spent the last two years watching catalogue deals slow, interest rates climb and streaming-revenue debates intensify, Mercuriadis's return to a keynote stage is a signal worth tracking — not because of any single deal it might produce, but because the man who built one of the most aggressive catalogue-acquisition machines in music history is now pitching a partnership model that puts artists and managers at the ownership table. What he says about streaming pay for songwriters, and whether the new venture's structure differs meaningfully from the old fund's approach, will be the questions to listen for on October 28.