Dead Air
Music-industry true crime. Stolen masters, ghost royalties, vanished bands. Every Tuesday, Maya Okafor follows a single case from the first tip to the last unanswered email.
- Episodes
- 142
- Seasons
- 3
- Rating
- 4.9
Every case file
- 142
Season 3 · Sep 29, 2026
The Master Tapes That Walked Out the Door
In 1998 a box of two-inch reels left a Brooklyn studio in the back of a cab. Twenty years later, they showed up on eBay.
00:00 / 52:07 - 141
Season 3 · Sep 15, 2026
Ghost Royalties, Part Two
Following the money from a defunct publishing company to a PO box in the Cayman Islands.
00:00 / 49:50 - 140
Season 3 · Sep 08, 2026
Ghost Royalties, Part One
A songwriter discovers her 2004 hit has been earning money for someone else for two decades.
00:00 / 50:55 - 139
Season 3 · Sep 01, 2026
The Band That Never Existed
Two million monthly listeners, zero live shows, no members. Who is behind the playlist band?
00:00 / 46:00 - 138
Season 2 · Aug 25, 2026
Bootleggers of Camden Market
Inside the 90s cassette bootleg trade with the man who ran it from a fish stall.
00:00 / 43:40 - 137
Season 2 · Aug 18, 2026
Who Owns a Scream?
A sampled scream, a lawsuit, and a vocalist who never got credited.
00:00 / 39:45 - 136
Season 1 · Aug 11, 2026
The Fire at Sunset Sound
What really burned that night — and which tapes were already gone.
00:00 / 53:30 - 135
Season 1 · Aug 04, 2026
The A&R Who Signed Nobody
Eight years, a corner office, an expense account, zero signings. Pilot episode of season one.
00:00 / 42:20
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Maya Okafor
Maya spent nine years covering the music business for trade papers before she realised the best stories were the ones editors kept cutting. Dead Air is where they go now.