ABOUT THE SHOW
Ari Herstand is the best-selling author of How To Make It in the New Music Business. Forbes calls him “The poster child of DIY music.” In this show, he deconstructs the brightest minds in the music industry, digging deep to find the tools, tactics, and strategies that listeners can use to run successful careers of their own. Ari offers straight talk with no fluff and doesn’t let his guests off easy. If there is a way, Ari will find it.
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Podcasts
VÉRITÉ on NFTs and 350 Million Streams Without a Label
VÉRITÉ is an artist who has had over 350 million streams all independently. She has never signed to a label. She discusses why she stayed independent her entire career.
Podcasts
Sync Agent Explains the Game
Jenn Miller and I talk about what it's like running a sync agency and the kinds of briefs she is seeing these days, the price ranges, and what Audiosocket is doing specifically. She also gives great advice on how to be successful in sync licensing.
Podcasts
Ricky Montgomery From Viral on TikTok to Major Label Bidding War
You may know Ricky Montgomery from his Vine days. You may know him from his band The Honey Sticks. Or you may know him because a few of his songs went viral on TikTok in 2020. This led to a massive bidding war amongst 50 major labels.
Podcasts
How To Tell Your Artist Story and Connect With Your Audience from Marketing Experts
Blackbox is a marketing agency that has worked with Andra Day, JP Saxe, Best Coast, Christina Perri, Dirty Honey, Jesse McCartney.
Podcasts
How To Create an Artist Brand from Scooter Braun’s Creative Director
Jessica Severn, for 7 years, worked at Scooter Braun's company, SB Projects, doing creative direction. She spearheaded the campaigns of Shawn Mendes's "Wonder" and Justin Bieber's stuff over the past decade.
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How Music Gets in Commercials from Music Supervisor/Actor Winslow Bright
Winslow Bright is a music supervisor or music producer at Search Party Music. They do really big campaigns like Sephora, Beyond Burger, Calvin Klein, Mini Cooper, and many more.
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Music Supervisor for To All The Boys, Virgin River, One Tree Hill, Lindsay Wolfington on How She Places Music
Lindsay Wolfington is a music supervisor and initially broke into the music supervisor world when supervising for One Tree Hill.
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How To Become a Grammy Winning Producer from BTS and Beyonce’s DJ Swivel
DJ Swivel is a producer, engineer, songwriter, most notably for BTS, Beyonce, The Chainsmokers, Mary J Blige, Kanye West, Fabolous, Bow Wow, Redman, Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah, Mariah Carey. The list goes on.
Podcasts
Tanerélle’s Manager on Playboy, Livestreaming and Breaking Out Independently
Today my guest is Felicia Bennett. She is an artist manager and formerly a tour manager. She now manages Tanerélle, the breakout R&B artist. This last year they've had an incredible year.
Podcasts
College Booking and When Touring Is Coming Back
Ari Nisman and I talk about how the college entertainment market works; how the military booking market works; how much they pay for all of that; and how much each booking earns. Surprisingly they're paying guarantees. You're not having to worry about promoting those shows. So we break all of that down.
Podcasts
Repairing Racial Inequities in the Music Industry with Artist Manager Jonathan Azu
This episode is in honor of Black History Month because Jonathan Azu and I had a really illuminating conversation about how to repair racial inequities in the music business.
Podcasts
Music Attorney Dina LaPolt on Getting Laws Passed and Fighting for Songwriters
Dina LaPolt is one of the most well respected, well known music attorneys in the world. The amount of awards she has is unfathomable: Hollywood Reporter, Billboard's Power 100, Variety, MIDEM, Recording Academy, GRAMMYs. She's also been the attorney for 2Pac's estate, deadmau5, 21 Savage, Britney Spears, and Steven Tyler.
Podcasts
Disney Music Supervisor on Placing Music for Trailers
Brian Vickers works on the in-house trailer department at Disney, which they call "The Hive." He's worked on a number of Disney films, including The Avengers, Star Wars: The Last Jedi & The Rise of Skywalker, Black Panther, Soul, Hamilton, Frozen II, Black is King.
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Twitch VP of Music: $50K+/yr Only Takes 183 Fans
My guest today is Tracy Patrick Chan. He is currently the Head of Music at Twitch. He is the top honcho; the dude; he's the guy in charge of the direction of all things music at Twitch. He started at Twitch at the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020.
Podcasts
Mothica Went Viral on TikTok at Just the Right Time
After Mothica's song went viral on TikTok, she gained a lot of traction on streaming platforms. She garnered more than 25 million streams on Spotify in 2020.
Podcasts
Audrey Nuna’s Path to a Major Label Deal with Her Manager/Producer Anwar Sawyer
Anwar and I talk about being a producer/songwriter and writing thousands of songs and even how he got his publishing deal. We also talk about developing Audrey Nuna.
Podcasts
Nu Deco Ensemble Orchestra is Changing the Classical World
This episode is for all of you orchestra nerds out there. I'm guilty of that. I played in an orchestra for most of my life. For those of you who don't know, I'm a trumpet player. I love going to the LA Phil and love orchestra music. It features Nu Deco Ensemble founders Sam Hyken and Jacomo Bairos.
Podcasts
How to Livestream for Musicians with the #1 Musician on Periscope – Clare Means
Clare Means is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter. She got her start performing on the Santa Monica Pier. Now she's known for her success on the livestreaming platforms, specifically Twitch, Facebook, YouTube Live, and Periscope. She's actually one of the most watched musicians on Periscope.
Podcasts
Paradigm Fired Them So They Started a New Booking Agency With an Impressive Roster
Marshall Betts is an agent formerly of Paradigm, but after Paradigm dissolved its entire music division and laid off hundreds of employees he along with a few of his co-workers at Paradigm launched a new agency... TBA Agency. Get it?
Podcasts
Former Major Label Executive is Creating a New Investment Model
Nick Gatfield has been in the music industry for decades. He was a major label executive for 25 years, most recently Sony Music UK, which he left in 2014. He's worked at various majors over the years, including Universal and EMI. He was there when they signed Radiohead and was also part of Amy Winehouse's team.
Podcasts
Victoria Canal on Releasing Music During COVID and Staying Inspired
Victoria Canal and I discuss how she's been handling quarantine. 2020 was supposed to be her breakout year. She had two massive tours scheduled. She had just finished one supporting the band Tall Heights. Then she leveled up to an even bigger tour supporting Leslie Odom Jr. She also just came out with her EP, 'Victoria,' and as you can imagine, the release strategy changed quite a bit. So we talked about that.
Podcasts
How California Musicians Got F’d (and Now Relief) Under AB5
The music community got a major win when California governor Gavin Newsom signed AB2257 into law, the bill I and so many others, namely the organization I helped found, Independent Music Professionals United, helped write and get passed to save the California music economy from collapse.
Podcasts
Platinum Selling Producer / Songwriter for Drake, Travis Scott, Halsey, Khalid – Rogét Chahayed
Rogét Chahayed is a Grammy-nominated producer and songwriter whose songs have sold over 30 million copies. He's worked with some of the biggest names in the business, including Halsey, Travis Scott, Drake, Miguel, G-Eazy, Ke$ha, Calvin Harris, Carly Rae Jepsen, and more. I talk with him and his manager, Greg Katz, to get the production side as well as the business side.
Podcasts
#1 Malaysian Artist Yuna and Her Managers on Being Independent Again
In this episode I talk with Malaysian singer Yuna, Ben Willis, and Carlo Fox, the founders of indie-pop!, a management company based out of Los Angeles. This is the first time I've had a conversation with three people at once for the show. Yuna was coming to us from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Ben and Carlo tuned in from Los Angeles.
Podcasts
Emily Kinney on the Art and Business of Acting and Music
Emily Kinney is an actress, musician, and podcast host. Most people know her as an actress who starred in The Walking Dead from 2011-2015, Masters of Sex, The Flash, Arrow, Law & Order: SVU, and many others. She was also in Spring Awakening on Broadway.
Podcasts
Spotify’s Payment Model and Your Release Timeline
In this episode I discuss the controversy surrounding the CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek’s comment: "You can’t record music once every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough." I also go into how Spotify’s payment model actually works and if it’s fair or not.
Podcasts
Allie X on Creating Her Artist Package, Breaking Into LA and Staying Independent
Allie X is a Canadian singer-songwriter and artist who's been living in LA for the last few years. She is an incredibly talented artist and has over 100 million streams and 1.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
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How Artists Can Get Advances Without Signing To a Label
John Fung is the CEO and co-founder of The Music Fund, a startup company that issues advances to artists for their streaming revenue. They're not a record label even though labels are typically the ones offering advances to artists. They are innovating and disrupting in the music industry, and John goes over their business model.
Podcasts
Repairing Racial Inequities in the Music Industry with Artist Manager Jonathan Azu
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.
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Kanye, American Idol, Grammys, Herbie Hancock, Miguel, Cirque du Soleil’s Ableton Programmer on Making It Work
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.
Podcasts
Jamestown Revival’s Bassist on Shady Managers, Thousands of Shows, Playing Conan, Tracking to Tape – Nick Bearden
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.
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TikTok and Instagram Influencers with Ultra Records Marketing Director
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.
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Manager for JP Saxe, X Ambassadors, Jukebox the Ghost is Persistent
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.
Podcasts
Making Music During COVID-19: Ari’s Take Academy Roundtable Discussion
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).
Podcasts
White Musicians for Black Lives
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.
Podcasts
Kevin Garrett on Writing for Beyonce and Recording as an Independent Artist
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.
Podcasts
Red Light Manager on When and How to Get Management with Andrew Leib
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.
Podcasts
Oprah’s Drummer Madame Gandhi on Feminism, Activism, Music Video Budgets as an Indie Artist
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.
Podcasts
Sexual Harassment, Sexism and Life as a Female DJ in a Male Dominated Field with Dani Deahl
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.
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Zaytoven, ‘Godfather of Trap’ on Production in the Age of Coronavirus
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.
Podcasts
100 Million Streams Doesn’t Come Without Some Pain – Lucidious
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.
Podcasts
Patreon CEO on the Problems (and Solutions) of Digital Art
Patreon co-founder and CEO, Pomplamoose and Scary Pockets co-founder, Jack Conte, believes in digital art. He believes in artists and he believes in fans to support artists. So much so that his company Patreon is setup to facilitate a symbiotic artist/fan relationship.
Podcasts
Hip Hop Artist with Over 1,000 TV, Film and Video Game Placements with Vo Williams
Vo Williams is originally from Sarasota, Florida and has been very successful in getting his music synced in film, commercials, TV shows, and video games. He has thousands of sync placements and makes a lot of money from them. We go in deep to discuss practical, tangible, actionable steps you can take to get your music synced.
Podcasts
Austin Powers Music Supervisor and KCRW DJ Chris Douridas
You probably know Chris Douridas from Los Angeles' iconic, trend-setting radio station KCRW. He was the host of Morning Becomes Eclectic in the '90s. He has been at the station for about 30 years. Chris is someone who has hired most of the staff that we know at KCRW and is an extremely influential figure in the Los Angeles music scene.
Podcasts
Lauv’s 4 Billion Streams, Top 40 Hit, Without a Label
I sat down with Emma MacDonald, Lauv's label manager. Lauv is an independent artist, and I profiled him the second edition of How to Make It in the New Music Business. He is one of those incredibly successful artists without a label. In fact, he was the most spun artist in 2019 and has, to date, more than 4 billion streams.
Podcasts
Andy Grammer on Songwriting, Fear and Persistence
Multi-platinum selling pop artist Andy Grammer is the first male pop star in a decade since John Mayer to reach the Top 10 at adult pop radio on his first two singles.
Podcasts
Euphoria Music Supervisor Jen Malone Gives a Sh*t
Jen Malone has placed music and worked on Euphoria, Atlanta, Creed 2, The Resident, Boomerang, Baskets, Shelter, Lady Dynamite, and Step Up.
Podcasts
Welcome to The New Music Business with Ari Herstand
Welcome to the New Music Business! This podcast will focus on people who are innovating in the new music business. I will dissect their stories of success and pull out practical tips and inspiring anecdotes that will hopefully help you succeed as well. You're going to hear from artists, managers, music supervisors, radio DJs, agents, label heads, publishers and everyone else who Is kicking butt in the new music business.
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Latest News
20,500 Artists Made $50K+ From Spotify Last Year
Spotify just revealed its annual Loud and Clear report revealing some top level numbers with some granular insights from 2023.
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