The Heavy Music Collective is stepping up for artists, and at the same time, Converge is pushing forward creatively with yet another powerful release. In this episode, we connect with Jeff Price (The Heavy Music Collective) and Ben Koller of Converge to break down both the business and the art shaping heavy music in 2026.

Converge has officially announced their second full-length album of the year, Hum of Hurt, arriving June 5, 2026 via Deathwish Inc. and Epitaph Records. The band also dropped the intense and emotionally charged title track, diving deep into the concept of “The Hum” — a haunting idea imagined as the collective frequency of human suffering.

Vocalist Jacob Bannon describes the album as a raw and exposed reflection of the human condition, distinct from its 2026 predecessor Love Is Not Enough. While that record leaned more metal, Hum of Hurt explores a more emotional hardcore direction, delivering one of the most dynamic and vulnerable releases in Converge’s career.

Recorded and mixed by Kurt Ballou at God City Studios, the album also features visually striking artwork created in collaboration with Thomas Hooper, blending themes of chaos, elemental forces, and internal struggle.

At the same time, Ben Koller is helping lead a major shift in the music industry with the launch of the Heavy Music Collective — a new initiative alongside Jeff Price designed to help artists recover lost streaming royalties and better understand how they get paid.

Too often, songwriters miss out on what’s known as “black box” royalties — unclaimed money from platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. The Heavy Music Collective works directly with these platforms to track down and recover those earnings while also educating artists on how to protect their rights moving forward.

Powered by Word Collections, the initiative represents a wide range of heavy artists and is built to support the entire spectrum of the genre — from hardcore and metalcore to doom, sludge, and beyond.

If you’re a fan of heavy music, an independent artist, or someone trying to understand the realities of today’s music business — this is a must-watch.

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