Ari Herstand

Most music companies around America participated in #TheShowMustBePaused movement and gave their employees the day off to do THE WORK. But some did not.  Last Saturday I attended the Black Lives Matter peaceful protest in Los Angeles. It was very inspiring. For the first hour in Pan Pacific Park right by CBS studios and The Grove (and Canter’s Deli - my favorite), we listened to speeches by black community members. Namely, we heard from family members of people who had been killed by the LAPD and have yet to see justice. We all said their names together over and over again. There were so many names I didn’t know. 

For the first couple months of living on my own, I was very unstable. I was living amongst boxes. I couldn’t unpack my former life into my new one until a friend came over and forced me to. I hadn’t quite learned how to stand on my two feet and hold myself up - on my own. I buried myself in work, in community, in live music and occasional sexual explorations which were fun, but confusing. 

Kevin Garrett is an extremely talented R&B, Neo-soul, and soul songwriter. It was such a treat to speak with him. Famously, he's Grammy-nominated for writing Beyonce's track "Pray You Catch Me" from her 'Lemonade' album.

You can create a way for fans to save your song to their library or playlist in advance of the release. Why do this? If Spotify notices that your song gets a ton of saves or playlists on day 1, it will trigger their algorithms and potentially pop your song into various algorithmic playlists like Discover Weekly, Radio, Your Daily Mix, Releaser Radar, Radio, etc. And the more saves a song gets, the more likely a Spotify playlist editor will add it to a playlist.

Andrew Leib is my good friend and an artist manager at Red Light Management. He's worked on the teams of Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Counting Crows, Three Doors Down, Emily King, Lecrae, Luke James, Cory Henry, Victoria Canal, Nu Deco Ensemble. He's worked with a lot of artists.

Madame Gandhi is an incredibly inspiring person, an activist, and feminist. She started her career drumming for M.I.A., Thievery Corporation, and embarked on Oprah Winfrey's Vision 2020 tour. Gandhi is also a recording artist and speaker. She also holds an MBA from Harvard University.

Last month musicians and other independent contractors got a HUGE win by getting included in the CARES Act benefits program. Independent contractors were promised at least $600/week from this stimulus package. However what ended up happening, in many cases, was...

Dani Deahl is the music and technology writer for The Verge. In addition to being a journalist, she's a DJ and the Vice President of the Recording Academy, Chicago Division.

Zaytoven is one of the most influential producers in hip-hop right now. He's a Grammy winner and has worked with artists like Future, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Usher, T.I., Pusha T, and 21 Savage, to name a few.

Lucidious has an interesting story from the business perspective. He has over 500,000 monthly listeners on Spotify without any official playlist inclusion, label, or manager. This translates to more than $20,000 per month from streaming revenue.