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This week on the New Music Business podcast, Ari sits down with Oskar Med K, a breakout Norwegian EDM producer. Oskar breaks down the “overnight” success that was actually years in the making—from the days of sending 500 cold emails to labels with no response.

In this episode, Ari and Oskar talk about the marketing strategies that helped him scale from 40k monthly listeners to 11 million, why “simple” content often outperforms high-production on TikTok, and the surreal feeling of playing Coachella as his first-ever music festival.

https://www.instagram.com/_oskarmedk/

03:54 – Intro: The Release of Oskar’s Debut Album Feel
05:24 – Albums vs. Singles: Building a Body of Work in the Streaming Era
09:12 – The Remix Story: How Khalid Ended Up on a Remix
12:52 – Behind the Tracks: Songwriting and Collaborating Remotely
17:19 – The Early Grind: From iPad Beats to Music School in Norway
19:00 – From 0 to 1: The “Hustle” of Emailing 500 Record Labels
20:17 – Breaking Through: Finding the Right Label via LabelRadar
25:12 – Marketing Strategy: Simple Content vs. High-Production TikToks
33:42 – Moving to the Stage: Transitioning from Studio Producer to Live Act
40:40 – The Coachella Milestone: Playing Your First-Ever Festival
44:29 – The Future of Music: Addressing the AI Debate and “Making It”

Edited and mixed by Ruben Zarate
Music by Brassroots District
Produced by the team at Ari’s Take

Order the THIRD EDITION of How to Make It in the New Music Business: https://book.aristake.com

Transcript:

00:00:00:10 – 00:00:32:17
Oskar Med K
It actually is. Yeah. I use, like, label radar, like a site for this. And, and then I sent out rain, my first single, which is kind of funny because I remember when I sent it out, I wasn’t like to excited about the song. I was like, it was kind of like, yeah, whatever, I’ll just upload it. And then Dalton, like the the boss of the label seven, called, found it and loved it and released it and.

00:00:32:19 – 00:00:52:00
Yeah. Been working together ever since. Just so he just found it. It wasn’t from your your cold emails to them. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. Like I you found it on the label radar’s page. Oh and I like I upload. Interesting. Yeah.

00:00:52:01 – 00:01:17:11
Ari Herstand
What’s going on? Welcome to the new music business. I’m your host, Ari Herstand, and author of How to Make It in the New Music Business. The book, third edition is out now. All formats e-book, audiobook, hardcover. However you like books, you can find the book today. My guest is Oskar Med K. Oskar med K is an Oslo born that’s Norway electronic producer, and this year he is playing Coachella and Red rocks.

00:01:17:11 – 00:01:42:14
He’s on tour currently right now. I caught him mid tour. He just released his debut album called feel and already he has tens of millions, actually hundreds of millions of streams on many of the songs, specifically on the song Make Me Feel, which was the lead single off of this that was released last June, and that has over 184 million streams on Spotify alone, 23 million on YouTube, tens of millions of streams on his other songs.

00:01:42:14 – 00:02:04:11
He has 11 million monthly listeners just on Spotify alone. He’s an electronic artist now, like I said from Norway, there are some collaborators on this, this album, and we talk about that Haley Joel, he does an alt version, a collaboration with her. She’s a previous guest of the show. Oskar has collaborated with Khalid. We talk about that a little bit, how that came to be.

00:02:04:12 – 00:02:26:17
He is an interesting way, especially being in Oslo, being in Norway, how he collaborates with these artists that are around the world. So we talk about that, you know, he’s a young guy. He I believe is just 26 or so, and he talked about kind of how he started releasing music under a few different artist names on SoundCloud and, and how he has made it to this point and how he’s got support.

00:02:26:17 – 00:02:48:21
And he’s now working with a label and what that label does. It’s a very different type of label that he’s working with, and they are very kind of marketing focused, very hands off as he’ll tell it. So we talk all about his kind of creation process, the reason he decided to release an album and his collaborating, how that works.

00:02:48:21 – 00:03:06:02
We also get into AI towards the end. And so his his thoughts on AI, you know, for someone who’s younger and I’ll let him tell you his thoughts on AI, but he is a human artist and a lot of his videos are see him at his most synthesizer, just kind of making the song. And that’s kind of what his social media is about these days.

00:03:06:02 – 00:03:28:20
So anyway, you can find Oskar med K, that’s Oskar Med K on the streaming platforms, on social media, on all of that stuff. You can find me at Ari Herstand on Instagram, find all of us that make the show happen at Ari’s, take on the socials. Most importantly, visit and get on our email list. That’s actually the best way to stay in touch with us.

00:03:28:20 – 00:03:54:16
But right now, if you wouldn’t mind, pause this episode. Leave us a five star review on Spotify Apple Podcast. Give us a thumbs up on YouTube, hit the subscribe button, hit the follow button, all that good stuff. All right, let’s kick into the show. Oskar Med K, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. So I well, first off, congratulations on the new album feel I know, released just a few days ago.

00:03:54:16 – 00:04:07:21
So big congrats on that. How does it not to be. Oh, I’m going to step right into it. How does it feel to have feel out in the world right now? It feels amazing.

00:04:07:23 – 00:04:29:00
Yeah. I mean I’ve been working on it for so long, so it’s so good to just get it out there and see everybody’s reaction. And, and I think people like it at least as far as I know. So. So yeah, it really means a lot. Nice. Well, I know you released the lead single, Make Me Feel. Gosh, about a year ago.

00:04:29:00 – 00:04:48:15
I want to say was when that came up. But you said you’ve been working on this album for so long. So what does so long mean to you? I’m curious your time frame, because you do release a lot of music and you’re quite prolific. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so like, I decided to, like, make an album when I already had like, started on the songs, like when I released Make Me Feel.

00:04:48:17 – 00:05:09:22
I didn’t know it would be like, end up being a part of a bigger project. Okay. So yeah, but like sometime this fall, I was like, we got I got so many songs we need to like, make it, yeah. To something bigger than just singles. Yeah, but some of the songs are. Yeah, like a year old.

00:05:10:00 – 00:05:38:13
Yeah. Nice. And what was the decision, I guess. What is your decision? Because you’ve released so many singles the years. What made you decide that this was the time to release an album? I don’t know, it just felt right. And and I think it’s it’s just so much fun to to, like, put it together and, and have, like, something to work towards and, and.

00:05:38:14 – 00:06:00:17
Yeah. So probably going to do lots of albums in the future as well because I really like it. I really love the, the process and, and. Yeah. Yeah. Well tell me about how is the process different from making an album or I guess once you decided that you’re going to make an album versus just making singles and putting those out?

00:06:00:19 – 00:06:29:01
I mean, it’s it’s kind of just. Yeah, I mean, way more songs, way more job and, and and, yeah, for me, it kind of, I kind of want to make the, the bigger projects to it has to have like some meaning for me. And, and yes, it just so much so cool to try and like, we have this song which means this.

00:06:29:01 – 00:07:18:05
And then we can, like, have this song and they those two songs can mean something and. Yeah. So, so yeah, it’s a bit more work obviously to, to to do a whole album. But I mean, I make so much music. So it just, it just feels so naturally. Right. So was, were you pretty intentional about the I guess you said, you know, the songs in the order that they’re in, but also once you decided you’re going to make an album, did you then start creating more music in that same vibe and kind of that, that same energy of what you had started, or did you just have a bunch of songs and say, you know

00:07:18:05 – 00:08:01:07
what, let’s throw them together. You know, package him in these 17 and call it an album. Yeah. So probably like a good mix. I wouldn’t say I just threw a lot of songs together, but I also didn’t like make songs like just for to sound like this or that. I just like made songs I thought sounded cool and, and like we had like so many more demos and we kind of just like, or I like, chose the ones that felt right to have on this project and, and save the other for later.

00:08:01:13 – 00:08:25:17
Sure. So so it makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. Tell me about kind of putting this together and, you know, from the demo stage to kind of the final master getting on the album, I mean, so you’ve done, you know, quite a few collaborations you did, I guess, I don’t know if you call it a remix with Khalid for Make Me Feel, but that one didn’t actually make the album.

00:08:25:19 – 00:08:47:20
And then I saw you did a collaboration or kind of a flip on or a remix. I don’t know what you call it. What do you call it? Is there a term that you use when it’s kind of a a reversion, a remix of your own song? Do you call it a remix or what is it called? I mean, it’s technically it’s remix, but but yeah, I don’t know.

00:08:47:21 – 00:09:11:09
Yeah, yeah, yeah, just I’m curious. Yeah. You also have one with Haley Joel who? She a previous guest of our show who’s an incredibly talented singer songwriter in her own right. These collabs that you’ve done were like with Haley Joel. It’s actually a take on one of her songs, addicted. So with that song you call it now, I think I’m addicted.

00:09:11:10 – 00:09:33:19
Did you just kind of hit her up and say, hey, I love your song, can I remix this and put it on my album? Or what was that process with With Haley? Yeah, like so the song was kind of like just blowing up everywhere, and lots of people just made these remixes. So yeah, and I got the opportunity to make one as well, and I’m so happy it worked itself out.

00:09:33:20 – 00:09:59:12
I really loved the song when I played live. People go crazy, so it’s so much fun. Yeah, yeah. Have you met Haley? No, but I’m meeting her in San Diego, I think. I think so. And I really want to, like. Yeah, I really want that. I’m not sure we’re gonna do it for this tour, but maybe the tour in the fall would be super sick.

00:09:59:14 – 00:10:24:05
She got, like, this. Such, such an incredible voice, and. Yeah, so that would be cool. Oh, that’d be great. Super fun. And tell me about Khalid. What was it? How did you collaborate with him? Because then I guess it was a remix of your song that he kind of added his take to his verse. Yeah, that was also just an incredible version in my opinion.

00:10:24:07 – 00:10:51:07
Just we got some different remixes or alt versions. Yeah. So, and I just really love that one and I’m a huge fan of this as well. So yeah. And it just, it felt cool and, and to have like the same song but just with some more lyrics on and and Yeah. So we made it happen.

00:10:51:12 – 00:11:18:08
Really, really glad. I love, love that song so much. It’s great. How did you make that happen? McAleese a superstar I’m curious. No no no. Yeah yeah that’s. Yeah, that’s a good question I think I think just people hit up like my label and they got like. Yeah, requests of remixes I guess. So. Cool. Yeah. Oh wow. So you weren’t really part of that process of putting it together anything,

00:11:18:10 – 00:11:40:11
It just. They just sent you a. Really? Yeah. This is cool. Yeah. Oh, that’s so fascinating to me. I’m not super familiar with how that works, but step me through that process of, you know, I guess it’s collabs, you know, with other artists that you’re actually not collaborating with. It’s just kind of remixes or people are doing alt versions or something like that.

00:11:40:11 – 00:12:06:08
So you’ve done old versions of other people’s songs. People are doing all versions of your songs, remixes. What’s that process like? It’s kind of just like, yeah, yeah, you got some, you get something and you just work on it by yourself. But like for me, I really love, like being in the studio with people, but I mean, people are so far away, so it’s kind of not always the easiest to just you basically.

00:12:06:08 – 00:12:30:05
Norway. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. Also. Yeah. So yeah. But but yeah. So just gotta, gotta like work with what we got. And I also really enjoy working alone though and feel like I’m, I’m very like productive and, and, and I kind of just used to it because I’ve been doing it for so long, so. Yeah. Sure.

00:12:30:08 – 00:12:57:03
Cool. Yeah. Well, tell me about other kinds of collaborating. So the opening track, release me if if what is correct on. I’m checking the credits on both Spotify and Apple Music. And there’s a little discrepancy, but maybe you can help me out with who’s all part of that. I saw there was a few different songwriters and there’s a singer on it, but who are these people that are credited on Release Me specifically?

00:12:57:03 – 00:13:31:00
And what was that process like putting that song together? So those are some Swedish people really good. So there’s a guy called Killen, just so talented producer and two like songwriters, one Tiger and Phoebe and Phoebe. Ryan, I think. Right. She’s a man. Yeah. Oh, maybe she is. Yeah. And, yeah. Got the demo and the song was actually, like, just like the intro, like the first minute.

00:13:31:00 – 00:13:53:20
That was the whole song. And then I just kind of mixed it into like, my style, which I just really loved. And yeah, that’s also an old demo like I made in June or July or something. So you said you got the demo, someone sent you a demo, and then you kind of turned it into your version.

00:13:53:22 – 00:14:22:00
Yeah, exactly. So it was just kind of like. Yeah, it was just kind of this chill acapella with some atmospheric sounds. So, yeah, I mean, people send music to each other all the time and just, hey, we got this song idea. Maybe it fits you and sometimes it does. Yeah. Oh, so it does sound like you.

00:14:22:00 – 00:14:49:04
You work mostly on your own and. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So those. Do you do much, I guess, in person collaborating. And so what’s that process like for you? I’ve done some and I really love it. It’s it’s, it’s really special to like, start with nothing with a group of people and then have something at the end.

00:14:49:06 – 00:15:24:13
So, so, yeah. I, I’m gonna, like, do more of that as well. Like, when I can and. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. So I noticed some of the tracks have other artists that are kind of featured or credited, and then others have singers on them, of course, but their names aren’t listed. Who are some of these things that are singing on these tracks like, like Release Me or Spellbound?

00:15:24:15 – 00:15:57:06
Yeah. Where do these singers and these vocals come from? Mostly like through like seven cult, like the label? And yeah, people having like, demos and send it to other artists and I can get and it’s maybe the most fun thing ever for me is to just get a good, like, vocal, and just mess around because, like, there’s so many things like you can, there’s so many ways you can take it.

00:15:57:06 – 00:16:23:09
You can make a happy vocals hat or like, you can just do whatever. And I that just keeps me up all night just messing around doing that. So, so yeah. So that’s that’s really interesting. So the so you get a vocal is that kind of how your process begins. You get a vocal first and then you build the track around the vocal sometimes.

00:16:23:10 – 00:16:45:20
Yeah not always but yeah sometimes and I yeah it’s really fun. Yeah. Cool. You said you get some of these from your label, do they just kind of send you a vocal or a demo and say, hey, we got clearance to to use this if you want to use it, or they sent this for you or and then you kind of decide if you want to use it or not.

00:16:45:21 – 00:17:12:01
That’s how it works. Exactly. Yeah. Or so or not all the way through the label. But like it depends. Sometimes it’s it’s people I know or. Yeah. So cool. Yeah. I want to go back a little bit. When did you start making and releasing music like start like like how old were you in the beginning? In the very beginning.

00:17:12:02 – 00:17:37:00
Yeah. Way back. Way back. Yeah, yeah. How old were you when you started? So, like, I started like when I was 14, 15 maybe. But that was kind of just like. Like on my iPad. Just messing around like, nothing too serious. But when I was, like, probably 20 years old, I started. I started studying like, a music production at the university in Bergen.

00:17:37:01 – 00:18:07:09
Then it got kind of more serious. And then. Yeah. So then I had my first release on this project, though, in 2023 with seven colors. But yeah, I’ve had like I’ve had other artists projects before. Yeah. So been releasing music for a while now. Yeah. What were some of the other artist projects? There’s so many I got.

00:18:07:09 – 00:18:47:04
What, like lullaby? Okay. Like. Yeah. I haven’t got like, 3 or 4 songs on there, and just like, lots of, like, SoundCloud things and. Yeah, nothing to nothing too special. But it was fun. And it’s, it’s, Yeah. Some, like, different styles and. Yeah. What was the focus of that back then? Kind of why did you do different projects or different names or artist projects or kind of what what inspired you to do those different projects?

00:18:47:06 – 00:19:15:05
I’m not sure. Just like trying to figure out how to like, become something that could, like make a living out of making music, probably. So I remember like it was very like, yeah, I made a song and I just spent all night just emailing to like, everyone I could find, and I spent almost as much time as making music, just doing that, just emailing.

00:19:15:06 – 00:19:46:00
And I had like this list of like 500 emails and I just sent it every time. And yeah, I got some replies and mostly like none, no replies at all. Who were you emailing? Who were some of these people like labels and agents and like, like, selected kind of labels and hexagon and those like the labels that, that were like in my Jara.

00:19:46:01 – 00:20:21:15
Sure. So the, the goal was to, like, get one single sign, right, and just do that over and over again. Yeah. Did that. Is that how you found your label? It actually is. Yeah. I used, like, label radar, like a site for this. And and then I sent out rain, my first single, which is kind of funny because I remember when I sent it out, I wasn’t like to excited about the song.

00:20:21:15 – 00:20:44:00
I was like, it was kind of like, yeah, whatever, I’ll just upload it. And then Dalton, like the, the boss of the labels have been called, found it and loved it and released it and yeah, been working together ever since. And just so he just found it. It wasn’t from your, your cold emails to them. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

00:20:44:00 – 00:21:10:12
Like I found it on the label radar’s page. Oh and like I upload. Interesting. Yeah. Label radar I’m not familiar with that. What is that. It’s like a website for basically just pitching demos to labels. Oh okay. See Beatport runs this okay. So it’s more of like an electronic. Yeah. Interesting. And you said you were putting music on SoundCloud before that.

00:21:10:16 – 00:21:36:12
Oh yeah. Tell me. Yeah, yeah. So tell me about kind of early on and how you approached and what what was SoundCloud like for you? What was the purpose of putting music on SoundCloud versus releasing it, or were you also releasing it to Spotify and everywhere else to YouTube? I never did Spotify or YouTube actually, like without a label or publisher or anything.

00:21:36:13 – 00:21:59:06
I just did SoundCloud and tried to just like get people to listen to the music, I guess. Yeah. So that was kind of just always the goal in my head. It was like, okay, if you get the track signed to a label, they have like a bigger audience, so maybe you can get some more, like traction from doing that.

00:21:59:08 – 00:22:29:20
Yeah. Cool. So you released rain officially is like it’s the first project or the first song of this project of of Oskar Med K and in 2023 and that, I mean, did it blow up right away? I know currently it has 10 million streams on Spotify, but what was the journey? It did it just start to take off? Yeah, it just did super well.

00:22:29:20 – 00:23:00:01
And then we just kept on releasing music and and yeah, it was so much fun. Like in my head like finally. And I remember talking to to Dalton when I like made some other demos and I went for like a little walk listening to my own demos, and he was like, hey man, we won. We started off with just signing that one single, but we want to, like, work with you and help you grow as an artist.

00:23:00:03 – 00:23:28:10
And it was just like, finally, like somebody wanted like put time and energy, energy and use that on me. It was like, yeah, just an incredible feeling. Yeah. That’s great. So that’s so interesting. So it started just by releasing signing one single to the label. And then because of the success of that, they decided to sign it to a longer deal.

00:23:28:12 – 00:24:07:05
Yeah. Exactly. Nice. And what is the deal. What can you share about the deal that you have with seven cult. I don’t know like what. I can share it but it’s a very good deal in my opinion compared to other artists deals. So I guess super super good like a good royalty split and, and and yeah, they just I couldn’t have been like more happy with a label because they’re so, like, taking care of me and, and we just work so good together.

00:24:07:07 – 00:24:27:16
So. Yeah. That’s great. Tell me, what is how do you work together? What makes it so good? Just like the communication. And, like, we talk all day, every day, and it’s easy to reach everyone and and.

00:24:27:18 – 00:24:55:15
And. Yeah. So it’s just it’s just they also like respect like me as an artist is if I like, have a vision for something and and want to like yeah like, no, I want to do this. Then they’re like, okay, let’s we trust you on this. So I would imagine lots of other labels would I be like, no, we’re not going to do this because we we know this works, but it’s a part of it.

00:24:55:15 – 00:25:19:18
Just like try out new things. So yeah. Yeah, I, I’ve noticed just by kind of reading the YouTube comments on a lot of your videos, a lot of people discover you through Instagram ads. Yeah, that’s kind of been the common, common thread. And I know Dalton and seven Colton members, media and all of that. They they specialize in that.

00:25:19:20 – 00:25:41:09
Is that something that you guys work on together or do you just hand them the music and then they take it, and then you just start seeing these streams and fans come in and comments popping up on YouTube? Yeah, that’s pretty much it. But the music has to be like good though. Like or like. Yeah. Like, we, we try it out.

00:25:41:10 – 00:26:07:07
Like in 2024, I released also an album, Keep Your Feet, and those songs just didn’t convert well on ads and there’s nothing much you can do about it. So, so yeah, but that’s one way they promote and work super well, they’re so good at it and I don’t want to, like, I promote myself as well, like on Instagram and TikTok and when I’m on tour and and but I don’t like.

00:26:07:08 – 00:26:45:17
Yeah. Yeah. I don’t do so much of the Instagram ads stuff. Right. Because they’re like the pros and I just try to make good music. Do you, do they encourage you or do you feel pressure to do any promotion on your Instagram or TikTok or post more, or what is that relationship like? When you talk to them, do they guide you or encourage you to post a certain way or post number of times, or use these platforms in any specific way?

00:26:45:19 – 00:27:12:19
I mean, in the beginning, like in 2023, there was. It was really like, yeah, you need to start post. And it’s a good thing because I didn’t post at all and I, I just hated it. But like now I’m used to it and I think it’s so I think it’s kind of fun. And just to share your experiences in your life and your music with people who want to see it.

00:27:12:21 – 00:27:40:20
So, so yeah, just, just so much fun and, and. Yeah. Do they help you with your social media or do you have someone else who kind of helps guide your the way that you use social media? I have like I have like a social media manager. Yeah. We’ll look kind of like she helped me a lot and, and.

00:27:40:22 – 00:28:05:00
Yeah. But I’m like, in control of everything, and I’m the one who like, replies to people and and like, runs the accounts. But I’m, I’m asking for like, advices and yeah, different things here and there. And we’ve kind of worked together towards like this goal and yeah. So it’s, it’s fun and I really needed the help as well.

00:28:05:01 – 00:28:31:04
And and like before she came into the picture, I had like a couple of thousand followers on each platform. And now we got like way more because she was very on like like it’s important to keep it consistent and to like post a lot, which I didn’t do. I posted like maybe once a week, but and when you’re like, it’s your.

00:28:31:06 – 00:28:58:23
It’s kind of like a habit now to just yeah, go to post. And it’s I don’t overthink it the way they say the same way I did a year ago, maybe. Do you make all your posts or is she there helping you and filming you and kind of putting the captions and structuring the posts? I make everything I do get some help, like for my girlfriend sometimes though to like hold the camera and stuff and yeah, sure.

00:28:59:00 – 00:29:17:13
But I would say I do like mostly everything of like editing and stuff and but again, I think it’s fun. I like making the videos and. Yeah, yeah. And a lot of the videos are just kind of you playing at your keys and just kind of crazy. Yeah. And then you got like some words on there or something.

00:29:17:13 – 00:29:38:07
I’m going on tour, whatever. And the videos sometimes tend to catch, they just find an audience because it’s just so simple and it’s just the music, and the music kind of brings people in. And it’s so funny like about that, because I spent like, like so many years trying to to figure out the Tik Tok, like what videos are working.

00:29:38:09 – 00:30:03:09
Right. And I did like all these edits and just spent so much time just, just doing all this weird stuff. And the second I post, like just put up a camera and just sit down and play like no cuts or anything. Just does super well. And I get a buy on collab with on Can’t Find You and from there I make make me feel and yeah.

00:30:03:10 – 00:30:32:03
So it’s, it’s really like you’ve heard it before as well. Just keep it simple because people like they can smell it. If you’re being like to to like, try hard or like, yeah, yeah. You just want to enjoy. Yeah. No, that makes a lot of sense. And let the music speak for itself. Yeah. That’s great. You have some great music videos, very high production music videos, and they’re really well done.

00:30:32:04 – 00:30:54:13
So my first question is for the music video on the ground. How did you get your synth to the top of the mountain where you’re playing it? Oh, that’s a good question. It’s not that heavy though. It’s not that bad at all. So you hydrate it. Did you ruin it? You’re out. You’re out in the elements there in the wintertime on a snowy mountain.

00:30:54:19 – 00:31:19:20
Yeah. But actually it’s actually actually a different mountain though. So the mountain I was on wasn’t that tall or anything. So. So, Yeah. Yeah. It’s still alive. Yeah. Yeah, actually. Yeah. Well that’s good. Do you have a video team that you normally work with? Yeah, got a few different ones. The one that did on the ground and make me feel.

00:31:19:20 – 00:31:48:15
And now sweet nothings. They’re all, like, from Oslo. Super creative and good guys. Actually went to school with the one guy, just like some grades above me. So, yeah, they’re so good and just love working with them. And I really like the process of like making music videos as well. I think it’s so much fun and just being around on on the like the shoot days and and.

00:31:48:17 – 00:32:20:18
Yeah, I mean, tell me about the thought around making music. I mean, these look like they were very expensive music videos to make. Is this something that you’re funding or is the label funding or is it a collaboration or is it not that expensive because it’s friends in Norway versus a production team in LA? I mean, yeah, it’s kind of expensive, but it will like it will just be paid out of what the song makes.

00:32:20:18 – 00:32:48:10
So yeah, it’s it’s worth it, in my opinion, to, to kind of like just like an investment just probably going to help increase listeners and, and help the song overall. And yeah. So for like some of the songs, it’s just super cool to do. Right. So you said it’s an investment and you think it will bring in more listeners.

00:32:48:10 – 00:33:14:09
What is the intention of releasing a music video? Is it to find new fans, or is it to deepen the connection and relationship with your current fans? Yeah, exactly that. And just like for that one song, like just to have something cool and visual to like some. Yeah. For for the song and just, yeah, just brings a whole like a new feel to it.

00:33:14:09 – 00:33:41:01
And I just think that’s so much cool. And I love watching music videos, like when I was younger. And so, so yeah, it’s just fun and, and hopefully it can bring something to people. So yeah. That’s great. So you’re on tour right now, is this tell me about performing live was how long have you been performing live?

00:33:41:03 – 00:34:07:04
Not that long, to be honest. I had my first, like. Like a show where people bought tickets to see me. It was in August. I did some nightclubs and stuff when I was younger, but yeah, now it’s kind of different. And yeah, so I did like some shows in the fall and I supported band on his tour and in some cities, which was very fun.

00:34:07:06 – 00:34:36:08
And yeah, now I’m in America, never been there before. So it’s just I just love it. And my girlfriend’s with me and I just see, like, so many cool cities and meet so many like, new people and and. Yeah, the crowds are amazing over here. So it’s fun. And this is a headline tour. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. And what is the production and what is the team that you’re touring with?

00:34:36:09 – 00:35:01:00
Who are those people other than your girlfriend who are on tour with you? So I got a tour manager, Dan super nice guy, and he just takes care of everything. And for like, we have, like, photographers, but not on the whole thing. So we had like two guys for the first three shows. Then we got like some new like local photographers.

00:35:01:01 – 00:35:27:06
So it’s basically just me, Christine and Dan for this one. Wow. Yeah. That’s great. And what are you guys traveling in? We’re flying. We’re flying. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. They’re so like huge distances. But but for the next one it will be like some bus and some flying. Yeah. Gotcha, gotcha. Okay. Yeah, I was looking at your dates.

00:35:27:11 – 00:35:51:14
Right. So you have some some time in between some of these. So that’s. Yeah, you can fly and then I guess spend some time in each city if you want to just take a little, little time off in between. Right. That’s super super nice. Like for the first tour just do it. Do it easy and just enjoy.

00:35:51:14 – 00:36:17:08
And yeah but I’m really like getting getting into it now. And I just love to perform the songs I’ve made and people. It’s just such a good feeling just to see people dance and enjoy something you’ve made. Yeah. So yeah, I see you’re playing Coachella this year. Have you been there before? I’ve actually never been to a festival before, so.

00:36:17:10 – 00:36:44:05
Oh, wow. So this Coachella is going to be your very first festival? Yeah, it will be. So I’m excited. Yeah, I’ve no idea what to expect, but it should be fun. Yeah. So tell me about with this tour so far. I mean, you you said you kind of started last year playing live for the first time. What has been the biggest surprise for you performing live.

00:36:44:05 – 00:37:22:23
And then maybe what is just what have you enjoyed the most? I think the biggest surprise, it’s kind of silly because it’s like for you it’s probably kind of obvious, but I remember when I played like my first show, I had like this cool, like Texas cool kind of DJ set prepared, but like, people got way more hyped when I played my own songs, which I didn’t think they would because like, the other songs were way more like an energy, like higher energy levels and stuff.

00:37:23:00 – 00:37:51:00
Then I was like, oh, that’s pretty cool. And I just realized, yeah, they’re here to see me and like my music. So yeah, now I basically just play my own songs. Got like some other ones, but but, sure. Yeah. That’s great. Yeah. And what has it been like on this, this headline tour now having people buy tickets to your shows and show up.

00:37:51:01 – 00:38:12:19
I mean, I saw that music video, the one that you just released, that that kind of is in a club at one of your your concerts. Is it is it like that? Is it feel similar to to what what it feels like in that music video? Yeah. I mean kind of is okay. Yes. It’s so, so much fun people.

00:38:12:20 – 00:38:33:21
Yeah. Actually buying tickets to see me. It’s a crazy. It really is. Yeah. The sweet nothings. Yeah. That was the the video that just came out. That’s fun. It’s in the club. Was that actually at a real concert of yours or did you guys stage that. Yeah. No, no, no, it was in Stockholm. Yeah. Super cool venue. Yeah.

00:38:33:22 – 00:39:02:00
Yeah. Cool. Yeah, yeah. So tell me about when you’re what’s the difference for you on an opening tour, like when you open for bunk, you said. Or now on a headlining tour, it’s it’s both like, good things and bad things. So like, I remember, like, when I opened for bent, there’s no, like, pressure because he’s the headliner, so I didn’t.

00:39:02:01 – 00:39:23:14
And that’s kind of why I joined it as well, because I was like, it was so new to me and I wanted to like, feel how it is to play in front of lots of people, but without all the pressure. But again, when the crowd’s there for me, there way more. It’s way more fun for me to play because they know the songs and they know your songs.

00:39:23:15 – 00:39:45:08
And so like when I open for like in some of the cities, you can kind of just see the crowds were waiting on him, which is fine, because they’re here for him. But it’s way more fun having like, yeah, people come see me. But I did my best though, and I really enjoyed being on tour with him.

00:39:45:10 – 00:40:11:10
Yeah, sure. Yeah. And for this tour, you said you might have Haley come singing. Do you have any other people on stage with you when you’re performing, or is it just you? I had the same year on Night After Night in Nashville. He’s from there. So that was really nice. Okay, cool. That’s fun. But than the one show, right?

00:40:11:12 – 00:40:39:14
Yeah. And I might have some on the stage for the Oslo show. Okay. And we’ll see, like, for the next. Oh, that’s a good question. Everyone’s going to be there. You guys just grab somebody out. You know, every on stage. Yeah. All right. Cool. Is there anybody that you’re excited to see at Coachella?

00:40:39:16 – 00:40:49:12
Like to see play or to meet in person? I’m I’m really excited to see,

00:40:49:14 – 00:41:16:11
How is it? Yeah. Let me know. No, no, no. Nimmi. Nimmi. No. Oh, no. Okay. Yeah. I think he’s playing, like, at least after part or something. Yeah, yeah. Oh. They’re not. I think I’ll just have, like, kind of just gonna stick around and see who’s gonna play. And, Yeah. Just enjoy. Cool. It’s gonna be fun.

00:41:16:13 – 00:41:41:22
Oh that’s great. So what what do you do next? I mean, are you making music while you’re on tour? Are you just focusing on the tour right now or kind of. What’s your creation process like these days? Yeah, I mean, making some music. I’m also like, I’m taking it super slow in between the shows. Just, Yeah, just relaxing and reloading and.

00:41:41:23 – 00:42:12:20
Yeah, but making some music and and that’s also just fun to do. Yeah. Yeah. How do you like LA so far? I love it. We were sitting some friends last night and there’s like these, these wolves, just like in the streets. It was crazy. Oh the coyotes here. Yeah. It’s better wandering everywhere. Yeah, yeah, it’s super crazy.

00:42:12:22 – 00:42:36:04
Yeah, yeah. Don’t don’t leave your small pets around them because. Yeah. Right up. But what are you getting the true LA experience. That’s good. Yeah. Thanks to you. Yeah. It’s probably going to like. Yeah, I think we’re gonna, like, go to the beach tomorrow or something. I think it’s a good weather tomorrow. So, Yeah. We’ll see. Nice.

00:42:36:05 – 00:43:02:14
And I see you’re playing sound Nightclub in a few days. What is that like? What size rooms are these? These are kind of 500 to 1000 cap rooms. This tour? Yeah. Yeah, I think, sound is 700. I think 700. But it’s all like Nashville was like 400 and Copenhagen was like 1800. So it’s kind of like. It depends.

00:43:02:16 – 00:43:29:05
But it’s, it’s fun either way. Like. Sure. Yeah. What’s the difference to you? How does it feel playing like, in Copenhagen in front of 1800 people versus Nashville in front of 400 people? What’s the difference in the show and the performance? Like, for me, probably like the adrenaline for sure. It’s way like, yeah, it’s intense to play in front of lots of people.

00:43:29:07 – 00:43:59:03
The coupon Hagan show was just incredible. Loved it so much. And I also like it’s it was super fun to play in Nashville as well, but it’s like a different thing. It’s chiller. It’s, it’s fun in a different way. So so, yeah, I kind of like both, like, like, like DJing at the club and and on bigger stages.

00:43:59:05 – 00:44:23:15
Yeah. Cool, cool. Yeah. I want to get back to the kind of the creation process for you and especially with, with this album. Have you experimented with any AI tools or how do you make your music these days, or have you tried? No. Have you tried any of that? I haven’t, but I’ve learned that many people have.

00:44:23:17 – 00:44:52:22
But yeah, I just, like making making it myself, I guess. Or. Yeah. So I, I kind of like, I love to mess around with samples, though. Always done that. Where do you find your samples? At different places. Yes. Splice or like, track lib or there’s lots of, like sites and and. Yeah, it’s just nice to, like, get it started.

00:44:53:00 – 00:45:17:03
But, but yeah, I’ve never tried pseudo but I mean, probably, like, in a few years, probably everyone will use it. I’m not sure. I don’t know how it works, actually. Is it like the the AI makes the song or like, how does it work? Yeah. You I mean, there’s a there’s a few different ways. I’ve never used it either, but it’s from my understanding.

00:45:17:03 – 00:45:39:06
You can type in a prompt, a few words. They make me a song that sounds like this, that maybe has this, and it’ll pump out a full song for you, but it won’t sound as good, though. Or I fucking hope not. Yeah, it’s it’s actually sounding unfortunately very close to it is fooling a lot of people. Let’s just put it out that way.

00:45:39:08 – 00:46:18:10
Yeah. Because I’ve actually like, seen comments on my videos, like or like got DMs like, is this AI music? Or like, I thought you were AI, but now I see you’re not just stuff like that. And I’m like, kind of kind of getting offended by that because, yeah, music shouldn’t sound like for me, it’s, it’s a huge difference between like, like, like midi, piano versus real piano being played in live, like, there’s such a huge difference.

00:46:18:12 – 00:46:45:09
But maybe that’s just something like people who make music notice. I’m not sure. Or like, yeah, they’ve done the studies where a very small percentage of average listeners can tell the difference between AI generated music and human generated music right now, which which is a problem for us human musicians. Yeah, but but that being said, I mean, it does change, you know, the marketing and it changes the way that human artists need to use social media.

00:46:45:10 – 00:47:08:15
Like, I know early on, just from looking at your YouTube comments, some of the marketing for your early songs, you know, maybe a couple of years ago or even last year, you weren’t in necessarily. This had something about a dancing rat or dancing rat and a cowboy hat or something like that, and that if you’re seeing that and you hear some dope music behind, you’re like, oh, that’s not a real person.

00:47:08:15 – 00:47:31:06
That’s just, that could be AI, that could be whatever. But now when you’re actually sitting at the keys and you’re sitting at your sins and you’re playing people like, oh, that’s a real human, I’m going to emotionally connect deeper with this because I know it’s a person behind this song. Yeah, that’s true. And probably like at some point it’s going to be like a law or something that they have to mark it.

00:47:31:06 – 00:47:55:07
If it’s AI, don’t you think? I hope so, I hope so, they’re talking about that and some, some DSPs are doing that already like Deezer is labeling it. Apple music said that they’re going to start to label AI music. The challenges these days is like, you know, it’s it’s on the labels and distributors and artists to kind of self-report.

00:47:55:07 – 00:48:17:16
So if you’re trying to trick the system, you’re trying to trick people and just, you know, make money and you’re trying to pull revenue away from the whole royalty pool, then you’re not going to self-report that it’s AI. And, you know, sonno, they some people say that that they are putting their own little audio watermarks on it to know which tracks are sooner and which tracks or not.

00:48:17:17 – 00:48:39:17
They don’t even publicly admit that as much. Yeah. And people are also just taking parts of, you know, sooner. So they they might say, make me a beat. And so instead of like finding a sample on splice, people are actually generating the type of sample that they want from Suno. And then they take that sample and then build a track around that.

00:48:39:20 – 00:49:03:00
And so the other I can respect that though. Yeah I can yeah. Yeah yeah. Exactly. So but then is that should should that be labeled AI. That’s the that’s the big debate right now. Where do you draw the line at. What is AI and what is not. Maybe like 100% AI is I, but I mean, if it’s like I don’t remember this because I was born yet, I think.

00:49:03:00 – 00:49:29:13
But I’ve heard like when the tune came, people were like, that’s not real singing or like people hated it. But at some point everyone starts using it. And it’s become like this thing that everyone uses. So probably the same thing will happen and just, yeah, we’ll use it to, to our benefit and help create even better songs and, and push like the creative process maybe.

00:49:29:15 – 00:49:57:00
Yeah. So you’re open to that. Yeah I like I am I haven’t tried it yet though, but probably will at some point just for fun. We’ll see, we’ll see. Interesting. Cool. Well, Oskar, thank you so much for for chatting with me. And congratulations again on your album. It’s fantastic. I’m encouraging everyone to go listen to it. It’s super vibey and it’s yeah, very dynamic and you did a great job with it.

00:49:57:05 – 00:50:11:11
Thank you. It’s yeah, it’s great. Great work of art. I have one final question that I ask everyone who comes on the show, and that is what does it mean to you to make it in the new music business? What does it mean?

00:50:11:13 – 00:50:41:19
Good question. I mean, it’s kind of like overwhelming because I’ve like I’ve like pictured it and like dreamed about it for so long. So it’s kind of like surreal to be here in L.A. on, on a tour and, and all that stuff. So it just means I can’t like, describe it. It’s, it’s I’m literally like living my own dream, which is.

00:50:41:23 – 00:51:02:00
Yeah, it’s such a good feeling and I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as possible. Keep enjoying it. That’s great. Thank you so much. That was great. Thank you. This episode was edited by Ruben Zarate with music by Brass Roots District, and produced by all the great people at Ari’s Take.