Ari Herstand

Do you want to know who the most powerful gatekeeper in the music industry is right now?  No, it’s not a Spotify playlist editor. It’s not a major label A&R. It’s not even a person. It’s the TikTok algorithm.  TikTok is currently the most powerful free promotional tool that musicians have at their disposal.

This week on the New Music Business, the 4-piece Georgia band Walden breaks down their fully independent and successful Where’s Walden Tour that grossed $80k and carried them across the entire U.S. with only a $50 budget.

Enrollment is NOW OPEN for Ari’s Take Academy! In this episode of the New Music Business, we’ve got all the ATA instructors together to discuss the current state of the music industry. We also invited our community to be a part of this special live round table discussion, so be sure to stick around for the Q&A at the end. To learn more about ATA, please visit: https://aristakeacademy.com and use code NMB for 10% off!

Robert Brown, the founder and front man of the steampunk band Abney Park remembers one week in March 2020 when every one of their upcoming concerts got canceled.  The band had been gigging for two decades, supporting the four members...

Nonstop Management founder and principal Jaime Zeluck Hindlin has signed, shepherded, and spearheaded the success of numerous GRAMMY® Award-winning multi-platinum songwriters and producers. In 2018, the roster ignited smashes such as Meghan Trainor’s “No Excuses” and “Let You Be Right,” XXXTentacion’s “Numb,” Jason Mraz’s “Have It All,” Young The Giant’s “Simplify,” and more as well as singles for Alesso, Bebe Rexha, Jack & Jack, Zara Larsson, and BTS.

This week on the New Music Business, I interviewed the multi-faceted Benoni Tagoe. As the president of Issa Raes’ music label and supervision agency, Raedio, Tagoe breaks down the “audio everywhere” company, what it means to develop an artist, as well as his experiences supervising shows such as Insecure and The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.

In this week’s episode, I spoke with artist NEFFEX and his manager Ryan Sullivan. We breakdown NEFFEX’s impression release strategy in which he successfully released one copyright free song a week (yes, you read that right!) to eventually surpassing 4 billion DSP streams all independently. We also dive into his previous record deal with 12Tone Music, embracing TikTok’s open verse challenges as well as how he expanded his role as a songwriter and producer.

This week on the New Music Business, I spoke with the co-founder and partner at Brilliant Corners Artist Management, Jordan Kurland. Artists such as Death Cab for Cutie, Toro Y Moi, She & Him, Best Coast, Soccer Mommy, Real Estate, New Pornographers, and Pup are all amongst their diverse talent roster. We discussed what the role of an artist management entails, his history working with Death Cab, building career artists without relying on TikTok, as well as the best methods for artists who are seeking management.

Ryan Chisholm is the General Manager of Work of Art Management, as well as the Senior Vice President of Arista Records’ West Coast division. At WoA, the company currently represents notable artists such as Mike Posner, Trevor Daniel, Verzache, Tai Verdes, Wes Period and MILCK. Prior to WoA and Arista Records, Chisholm worked with Nettwerk Music Group under their Artist MGMT and A&R department. In this episode, we dove into Tai Verdes’ musical journey, the significance of TikTok, influencer marketing deals and gaining leverage with the major labels.

This week on the New Music Business, I spoke with Pink Noise’s business manager Khloe Churko, alongside tax preparer and fellow podcaster Stephanie Belcher. We dive deep into the weeds of music industry finances including bookkeeping, 1099s, LLCs versus S Corps, DBAs, how PROs pay artists, and so much more!