The New Music Business with Ari Herstand

Latest Episodes:

Jamestown Revival's Bassist on Shady Managers, Thousands of Shows, Playing Conan, Tracking to Tape - Nick Bearden Jul 08, 2020

Show notes

I recorded this week's podcast guest Nick Bearden live from his studio, Retro Lab Studios, in Nashville, Tennessee. He's a sideman, bassist, guitar player, producer, and sound engineer.

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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Quick links:

3:15 - Nick Bearden, Jamestown Revival, and his instruments

8:05 - How not to do business in the music industry + sync licensing boom of 2009

18:45 - Tour managing

22:05 - Shady managers and getting ripped off

31:48 - How to know when someone is ripping you off

34:07 - How Nick finds gigs as a freelancer and who he's performing with

39:41 - The story of meeting and working with Jamestown Revival

1:12:58 - The music industry is always paying attention, whether you realize it or not

1:18:38 - Jamestown Revival's experience being signed to a major label

1:28:05 - Nick's advice for freelance musicians who want to be a "session cat" and touring musician

1:33:50 - How Nick defines making it in the new music business

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Connect with Ari Herstand:

Website: https://www.aristake.com

Instagram (personal): https://www.instagram.com/ariherstand/

Instagram (Ari's Take): https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aristake/

Twitter (personal): https://twitter.com/ariherstand

Twitter (Ari's Take): https://twitter.com/ArisTake

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1

Connect with Nick Bearden:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickbearden

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickbearden/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Nick-Bearden-84750813293/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TikTok and Instagram Influencers with Ultra Records Marketing Director Jul 01, 2020

Show notes

This week's guest is Bina Fronda. She's the marketing director for Ultra Records. Ultra Records has released artists like Steve Aoki, Alexandra Stan, Alan Walker, Lost Frequencies, and more. This was recorded live from Bina's apartment in Brooklyn, NY. She had just gotten back from a concert and festival.

We talk about a bunch of stuff, but specifically we dig into influencer marketing. The thing that I was interested to learn about was how they get in touch with TikTok "influencers" (people with huge followings on the platform, or social media in general). If you ever wondered how those influencers choose which song(s) to dance to, well, oftentimes it's labels paying them to do those dances, skits, or anything like that.

Quick links:

3:54 - Who distributes Ultra Records, and how long Bina has been at the label

9:50 - Amazon Music's official playlists and getting support from Amazon

11:57 - About Ultra Records and a background of the label

15:05 - Bina's role as a marketing director at Ultra Records

17:20 - Bina walking us through the the single release process

31:07 - The rollout strategies for each release and when the planning and rollout begins

37:15 - Who are dance influencers and how do you get in contact with them?

41:15 - What is a Latin influencer?

48:23 - How TikTok influencer marketing works and how to connect with them

54:45 - How to gauge effectiveness of a TikTok campaign

1:00:00 - Gamer artists on Twitch and how to connect with them

1:06:45 - Ultra Records' advertising campaigns with Facebook, Google, YouTube, etc

1:17:20 - Where Ultra Records puts most of its ad spend

1:19:15 - Does Ultra Records run the ads for the releases or do the artists and their managers do them?

1:20:40 - What does it mean to Bina to make it in the new music business?

Connect with Ari’s Take:

Website: https://aristake.com

Academy: https://aristakeacademy.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTake

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aristake/

Connect with Ari Herstand:

Website: http://ariherstand.com

Instagram: http://instagram.com/ariherstand

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ariherstand

YouTube: http://youtube.com/ariherstand

Facebook: http://facebook.com/ariherstand

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Manager for JP Saxe, X Ambassadors, Jukebox The Ghost is Persistent Jun 24, 2020

Show notes

Making Music During COVID-19: Ari's Take Academy Roundtable Discussion Jun 17, 2020

Show notes

We are in very interesting times. Last week's episode was all about musicians for black lives and what this movement is all about and what we can do as allies. It has been a challenge for me personally to understand where I fit in with this movement. I've been using my platform to encourage other musicians and people with influence, namely white people, to stand up and support our black brothers and sisters through this movement.

I've been getting a lot of questions about releasing music right now. I've thought a lot about that because it's not just about releasing music but what we should be posting on social media. Should we be promoting anything other than the movement? There's really not a right or wrong answer. I think everyone needs to do what makes sense for them.

If you have more money than time, then donate to organizations that are supporting the movement. If you have more time than money, then spend time educating yourself.

We recorded this episode about a week before George Floyd's death. So we're not going to be mentioning this uprising. We talk about what it's like running our careers and writing music during COVID-10 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).

Connect with Ari’s Take:

Website: https://aristake.com

Academy: https://aristakeacademy.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aris.take

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTake

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aristake/

Connect with Ari Herstand:

Website: https://ariherstand.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/ariherstand

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ariherstand

YouTube: https://youtube.com/ariherstand

Facebook: https://facebook.com/ariherstand

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

White Musicians for Black Lives Jun 10, 2020

Show notes

My thoughts on what this moment and movement surrounding Black Lives Matter, #DefundThePolice and the death of George Floyd requires of white people. Namely musicians.

Quick links:

1:20 - About the Black Lives Matter movement and the system that has been setup to strongly favor white people

3:30 - Attending the Black Lives Matter protest in Hollywood, California and the work the black America needs us to do

10:45 - What does defunding the police actually mean?

14:00 - Alicia Garza's interview on Meet The Press about defunding the police

15:24 - Patrisse Cullors on defunding the police

17:09 - "But all lives matter!"

20:18 - Trevor Noah on the right way to handle things

24:06 - This not a time to tune out and why the show had to be paused on June 2nd

30:00 - Two actionable things you can do to educate yourself

31:18 - Ta-Nehisi Coates testifying in Congress about reparations for HR-40

Resources mentioned:

Who in Music is Supporting the Black Community (spreadsheet): https://aristake.com/post/music-supporting-black-community

The Case for Reparations: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

13th: https://www.netflix.com/title/80091741

Rolling Stone: The Music Industry Was Built on Racism: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/music-industry-racism-1010001/

Sonya Renee Taylor: https://www.instagram.com/sonyareneetaylor/

The Show Must Be Paused: https://www.theshowmustbepaused.com/

Trevor Noah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4amCfVbA_c

Ta-Nehisi Coates testimony on reparations at House hearing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcCnQ3iRkys

Meet the Press interview with BLM’s Alicia Garza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxwFJIQUWfg&t=1424s

BLM’s Patrisse Cullors on Defunding the Police: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYa1WjHtzKc&t=119s

Connect with Ari’s Take:

Website: https://aristake.com

Academy: https://aristakeacademy.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aris.take

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTake

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1

Facebook:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kevin Garrett on Writing for Beyonce and Recording as an Independent Artist May 27, 2020

Show notes

Red Light Manager on When and How to Get Management with Andrew Leib May 20, 2020

Show notes

Today's guest is my good friend, Andrew Leib. He's 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.

Andrew and I get into his story and what he looks for in artists that he wants to work with and how artists can reach out to managers. We dig into artist branding and his process on how to put a package together.

This was a fun episode for me to be able to catch up with one of my best friends.

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Quick links:

2:04 - Andrew going to China for a nine city tour

7:20 - Being a hands-on manager and 'being in the band without being on stage with them.'

9:30 - Things Andrew's learned about being a manager from his years of experience in the music business

17:05 - Creating an authentic artist brand so fans can connect to them

25:51 - The Nu Deco Ensemble project, an orchestra for the 21st century

37:12 - Do you need a manager? What Andrew looks for in clients before bringing them onboard.

44:30 - Getting a manger doesn't happen from the first meeting. It takes time.

55:00 - How do you reach out to a manager after you've built up your business?

1:00:31 - How Andrew defines making it in the new music business