Ari Herstand

A detailed breakdown of how songwriter and producers split up song ownership.

Three years ago the northern Virginia conscious hip hop artist Lucidious was struggling to get listeners to his music. He had about 150 monthly listeners on Spotify (no I didn’t forget a zero) with merely 45 followers, about 1,500 followers on Instagram and Facebook. And was ma...

Because of my digital distribution comparison piece, I act as de facto customer service rep for all 16 companies I reviewed (yay me).I lovingly try to let these artists and managers know that each company has their own customer service department at their disposal. But if they do...

Photo by Maya DondonyanI just had a meeting with Sentric Music publishing CEO, Chris Meehan. I’m currently working on a admin publishing company comparison between Sentric, Songtrust, CD Baby Pro Publishing and Tunecore Publishing. Chris happened to be in town so we decided to...

The headlines this past week read something like: LA Band Faked Social Media Numbers to Book a European Tour That No One Attended. Nearly every music outlet in existence has written about this incredibly peculiar saga. MetalSucks, in particular, has devoted wall to wall coverage...

For the past few years the industry has been obsessed with Spotify. And rightfully so. It has proven to be one of the most powerful tools at, wait for it, making money in the digital age. I know I know, this is totally counter-intuitive based on all the headlines you’ve read si...

Your bio is your story. It should reveal why people should care about you. What sets you apart? Why are you unique? And if you have a new album, what is the album’s story? +Why No One Cares About Your MusicMake sure you have three bios: a long one, a short one (1 or 2 paragraph...

It seems every artist is trying to figure out how to get their songs licensed to TV shows, film, trailers and commercials. And rightfully so, there can be a lot of money in it. But it’s not easy. And there are only so many placement opportunities. Only so many songs each TV sh...

“From the point of view of the person doing the hiring, it is far better to contract with a competent player who has a great and professional attitude than with a brilliant but irresponsible and egotistical musician who will likely require reigning in and micromanaging. No matt...

Every small business needs a website. Similarly, every musician needs a website. If you're doing it right, you're operating your career like you are running a small business. Yes, Facebook is great and you should probably have a Page there. And yes, Instagram is the hottest thing...