Ari Herstand

On Thursday, July 16th, in a brave act of solidarity and dissent against their employer, black musicians penned an open letter to the founder and leader of Postmodern Jukebox, Scott Bradlee.  Many posted this letter and subsequent demands to social...

Jonathan Azu is an artist manager for artists like Cory Henry, Luke James, Emily King, and Michelle Williams among others. He used to be the executive vice president and general manager of Red Light Management. He is also a two-time Billboard magazine 40 Under 40 power player. Over a year ago, he launched his own management company called Culture Collective.

Laura Escudé is a fantastic violinist, producer, and Ableton's first ever official certified trainer. She was hired by Ableton to teach people how to use Ableton Live. She then went on to tour with artists like Kanye West and Herbie Hancock.

Nick Bearden has played thousands of shows with Jamestown Revival, but we go heavy on the business side of managers, where he shares a story on one of the shadiest managers I've ever heard of. We also discuss how freelancers operate.

Bina Fronda is the marketing director for Ultra Records. Ultra Records has released artists like Steve Aoki, Alexandra Stan, Alan Walker, Lost Frequencies, and more.

Seth Kallen is an artist manager for JP Saxe, X Ambassadors, Jukebox The Ghost, and many others. He talks about how to get opening slots on tours and how he was relentless early on. We discussed creating during quarantine, sync licensing, and touring.

#BlackOutTuesday and #TheShowMustBePaused day (started by two black female executives) encouraged everyone in the music industry to take the day off from the normal business at hand and reflect on how we, as an industry, can do better for...

Yesterday, the SBA clarified that if you’re self-employed, a freelancer or independent contractor you can get a PPP loan with forgiveness. It was previously thought that the PPP program was only for companies with W2'd employees on payroll. But now...

We talk about what it's like running our careers and writing music during COVID-19 and quarantine. We hear from all of the Ari's Take Academy instructors, including Lucidious (Streaming & Instagram Growth), Vo Williams (Advanced Sync Strategies for Film, TV and Video Games), Kristen Mathe (Cracking Colleges), Andrew Spalter (Breaking China), and Allyson Toy (Breaking China).

Ari Herstand's thoughts on what this moment and movement surrounding Black Lives Matter, #DefundThePolice and the death of George Floyd requires of white people. Namely musicians.