Ari Herstand

The Rare Occasions are an LA-based, New England-bred indie rock band known for their explosive garage rock anthems with catchy vocal harmonies. In 2021 the band released their first album as a trio, Big Whoop, which received significant press and radio play. Around the same time, their 2016 track “Notion” went viral on TikTok and continues to make waves, topping Spotify’s viral chart in the US and several other countries, and later landing on Billboard’s alternative charts and top 100 singles charts in the UK, Ireland, and Canada. The Rare Occasions released their new EP, Attaboy, on November 4th, 2022. The first single off the EP “Seasick” has already garnered the attention of radio DJs across the country including SiriusXM’s Alt Nation with the second single “Not Afraid” being an explosive follow up. After sharing Attaboy’s hard-hitting riffs, danceable grooves, and ear-catching melodies with audiences across the nation on their Fall 2022 headline tour, the band has shifted its efforts towards new music in 2023.

The manager is the most important person in your operation. Your manager is your teammate. Your partner. Your friend. Finding a manager is about timing, being in the right place at the right time and, really, making it seem like you don’t need a manager.

Jason Grishkoff started a music blog called Indie Shuffle back in 2007, when music blogs were still cool. After a 3-year stint at Google, he was lucky to take the blog full-time in 2013. From 2014 to 2015 digital advertising in the music industry changed rapidly, and a number of bloggers found themselves looking for alternative sources of income. Many gave up to focus on their day jobs, but Jason decided to double-down on his coding abilities and created a website called SubmitHub, where musicians, labels and publicists could submit their songs to blogs like Indie Shuffle. Flash forward to 2022 and nearly 30 million submissions have been submitted through the platform. Jason still runs the operation as the only developer, and the product is constantly evolving to meet the needs of the modern music promotion industry.

When you’re at a show, you are onstage from the moment the doors open to the moment they close. Even if you’re not physically standing on the stage. You are the artist and there is a spotlight on you, even if you’re hiding in the corner trying to get ready. If you’re being loud and obnoxious at the bar during the opener’s set, people will notice.

Shirley Halperin is an Executive Editor at Variety, where she spearheads music coverage for the print magazine and Variety.com.

The “music industry bible” by Ari Herstand has been widely adopted by music schools and universities across the world, inspiring tens of thousands of musicians to stop waiting around for that big break and take matters into their own hands.

Can you feel it? The kindling of hope. The match of passion. The flicker of possibility.

This week on the New Music Business podcast, we are joined by Veteran booking agent Tom Windish. As Head of A&R and Business Development at Wasserman Music, Windish has developed the touring careers of some of the hottest names in music, including Billie Eilish, Lorde, alt-J and The xx. In this episode, Ari and Tom discuss the state of the live music industry, how booking agents operate, why tour buy-ins are unethical, the process of signing new artists, running a record label, and much more!

breaking down the current state of the touring landscape of both the micro and macro touring industry.

Spotify just announced that this year’s Wrapped, fans will get personalized messages from their favorite artists.