Tuned Global Founder and CEO Con Raso has been named to The CEO Magazine's Innovators 2026, a list recognising business leaders who turn bold ideas into measurable results. Alongside his profile, Raso was asked the same question put to every honouree: what one shift must leaders make today to stay competitive over the next five years? For Con Raso, the answer comes down to adaptability.
The CEO Magazine's Innovators 2026 profiles executives whose strategic thinking is shaping the future of their industries, from CEOs and founders to chief innovation officers, AI pioneers and sustainability leaders. Announcing Con Raso's inclusion, the magazine recognised his work building Tuned Global into one of the world's leading music infrastructure platforms.
"It's a genuine honour to be included among this year's list. Personally, it's a nice moment to look back at something that started as a fairly simple idea back in 2010 and see how far it's actually come. But I think the more interesting part is what it says about the company. Tuned Global has built its reputation quietly, on infrastructure that has to work properly for labels, publishers and the businesses relying on it every day. Being recognised alongside leaders solving very different problems, in AI, biotech and sustainability, tells me that approach still counts for something," Con Raso said.
Con Raso's answer to the magazine's central question — "What one shift must leaders make today to stay competitive over the next five years?" — echoes a theme running through many of this year's profiles. Alongside calls to redesign organisations around AI rather than bolt it on, and to keep human judgement at the centre of automated decisions, several honourees pointed to the same underlying shift: away from fixed, long-range plans and towards businesses built to adapt as the market moves.
"Success will belong to leaders who are willing to challenge assumptions, rethink business models and continually evolve ahead of the market. Leadership is no longer about creating a fixed five-year plan, it’s about building a business capable of pivoting quickly to capitalise on market opportunities and adapting continuously while remaining grounded in a clear long-term vision." Con Raso said.
Con Raso argues that fixed five-year plans do not hold up in a market where AI, technology and customer expectations are moving faster than any roadmap can keep pace with. Rather than treating artificial intelligence as a threat, he has pushed Tuned Global to build it directly into the platform, from music discovery to fraud protection, while keeping governance and security built in from the start.
Con Raso founded Tuned Global in Melbourne in 2010, when the opportunity in music was largely about access, helping businesses offer streaming without building complex infrastructure from scratch. Since then, the company has grown into a Music Cloud platform that brings together catalogue access, rights governance, APIs and AI-driven discovery and engagement tools in one place. The acquisitions of Pacemaker and Figaro.ai added intelligent mixing and music intelligence to that platform, which now supports DSPs and streaming services as well as businesses building music into aviation, telco, gaming, kids tech and connected devices.
That Music Cloud Platform has been supporting more than 100 brands across 70+ countries, managing over 220 million music assets and scaling rights management from around 10 billion to 100 billion records, underpinned by sub-licensing agreements with major partners including Universal Music Group, Believe and Empire. For Gabb Music in the United States, Tuned Global helped launch the world's first kid-safe streaming service in four months rather than an estimated two years, cutting time to market by around 80%; Gabb Music went on to be named to TIME's Best Inventions list in 2025. A similar rollout with e& and Twist Music across the Middle East and North Africa cut time to market by more than half.
Recognition like this is a reminder that innovation in music infrastructure rarely makes headlines on its own. It shows up in how quickly a partner can launch, how confidently rightsholders are paid, and how well a platform holds up once millions of people are using it.
See how Tuned Global's Music Cloud platform, licensing solutions and AI-powered music discovery tools can help your business build and adapt faster. Connect with us today.