Open mics are a great place to gain experience. When you're starting off, you should be playing anywhere and everywhere. Your first 30 or so shows won't be paid. As they shouldn't be. You're most likely not very good yet and don't deserve to be paid for these performances. Open m...

You know where to play locally. You've been to most clubs and have made mental lists of the venues you'd like to play. Some of them are venues you want to pursue now and some you set as ones to work for when your fan base is a bit bigger. Some you've played and have vowed never t...

Photo by Roman SobusWow. I just had 3 of the most amazing shows of my career. They weren't the biggest audiences I've ever played to or the highest paying shows I've ever had and they weren't the best musical performances I've ever given.These were some of the best shows I've had...

I've recently been obsessed with one of the local openers' albums for my upcoming tour. I hear a lot of new music. Most of it is average. Some of it below average. And very seldom do I hear a record that stops me in my tracks like this one has. I've been playing it on repeat on S...

I'm doing a quick Midwest tour at the end of the month and I want to meet the Ari's Take crowd! I've hosted a couple meetups before my shows in LA and they went really well. Lots of people exchanged business cards and made connections. Past meetups have included entertainment law...

I just returned from a 3 week tour visiting about 15 states and 3 seasons. Yay America. Most of these shows on this run were on college campuses. I do a fair amount of college shows. They're fun. They pay well. And the audiences are mostly very attentive. However, once in awhile...

It's always been one of the biggest difficulties for an independent musician: how to get their music heard by 'important people.' Influencers. Industry people. Celebrities. Bloggers. Radio DJs. Music supervisors. Promoters. Booking agents. Managers. Labels.The issue has always be...

You may not get Phish. But that's because you've never been to a show. Phish isn't their hits (they've had one - 20 years ago). Phish isn't their albums (however some are pretty damn good). Phish isn't just the music (however they're all masters on their instruments).Phish is abo...

It's been a long time coming. This past May at the SF MusicTech Summit I was told by Pandora's VP of Business Affairs, Chris Harrison, that this was coming. An exact date had yet to be announced. Well, AMP was officially unveiled yesterday. And it's awesome.AMP gives artists an i...

The thing you start to learn the longer you're in this business is no one really knows anything. They think they do. They pretend they have all the answers. But no one really knows.People have their personal experiences. If they became successful by doing it one way, they'll clai...