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. Tanerélle toured with Ari Lennox over Europe. She had a massive sync in Insecure, which propelled her song to No. 1 on the Shazam charts. She was the December 2020 playmate of Playboy. She's also an actress and starred in Victoria Monet's latest music video. At the start of the pandemic, they did an amazing virtual live concert for Trillerfest. Tanerélle was also part Rihanna's Savage X Fenty lingerie line as a model. She has a very diverse career with many different facets, and I dig in with Felicia on how all of that happened, how they're making it work, and how they're planning out the trajectory for this interesting and diverse career. --Quick links:3:43 - How Felicia and Tanerélle's relationship started and what they've accomplished in the last year9:48 - Felicia's jump from a tour manager to an artist manager12:40 - Were Felicia and Tanerélle aligned when they first started working together?15:40 - What was Felicia's first things to do when she was brought on as the manager? 17:22 - Discussing the various headline moments that Tanerélle has had recently19:46 - Felicia's experience in what is 'moving the needle' - is it social media presence or music?23:04 - How women are reclaiming the Playboy brand and how Tanerélle landed the December 2020 playmate27:58 - How Tanerélle got a sync placement in Insecure and how it changed her career35:02 - Getting funding without a label (or giving up ownership)38:48 - Savage X Fenty and how the relationship came to be42:24 - Trillerfest and Galactica livestreams51:52 - What it means to Felicia Bennett to 'make it' in the new music business--Connect with Ari’s Take:Website: https://aristake.comAcademy: https://aristakeacademy.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aris.takeTwitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTakeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aristake/Connect with Ari Herstand:Website: https://ariherstand.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/ariherstandTwitter: https://twitter.com/ariherstandYouTube: https://youtube.com/ariherstand Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is Ari Nisman. He is the founder and president of Degy Entertainment. They are one of the largest booking agencies for colleges and military. They have hundreds of artists on their roster and book thousands and thousands of shows every year. But in today's conversation we 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. We also talk about how Degy Entertainment pivoted once live music was shut down and what the virtual space looks like, even ticketed ones they've been executing within the Degy market. We discuss Degy World, which is an avatar-based, virtual, interactive world that they've built. It's proprietary. This is how they're able to host festivals, conferences, concerts, and dating events.Ari also talks about the live entertainment world and what it's going to look like when it returns.-- Quick links:4:32 - What has attracted Ari Nisman to social media app Clubhouse5:58 - When is live entertainment going to return? What is it going to look like?11:30 - What is a middle man?13:54 - Why will college buying come back before anything else?16:55 - How does the college market work? 19:54 - Talking about the music and artists that work in the college market23:16 - Why do campuses push back against hip-hop music? 27:18 - Is Degy Entertainment booking more independent artists or bigger artists these days?29:09 - What can an independent artist expect for a guarantee on a military base? 30:30 - What are the buying opportunities for independent artists in the college market?32:49 - What are NAPCA and APCA?39:18 - How Degy Entertainment pivoted into the digital realm and what they're doing with Degy World44:58 - Working with FanFX to create a unique livestreaming experience and proprietary system48:45 - Has there been any work for artists livestreaming recently? 50:52 - Is the college market spending what they were spending pre-COVID?53:17 - What is Degy World? Where did the idea come from?1:05:38 - What it means to Ari Nisman to make it in the new music business --Connect with Ari’s Take:Website: https://aristake.comAcademy: https://aristakeacademy.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aris.takeTwitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTakeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aristake/Connect with Ari Herstand:Website: https://ariherstand.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/ariherstandTwitter: https://twitter.com/ariherstandYouTube: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are re-running an episode. This is the first time we've ever done this. It's an episode that initially premiered last July with artist manager Jonathan Azu. This is in honor of Black History Month this month because Jonathan and I had a really illuminating conversation about how to repair racial inequities in the music business. We also discuss how our industry, at the executive level, is so white. Specifically in Billboard Power 100, there's only one black person in the top 50. Jonathan has some ideas as to why and how we can help repair those disparities.Jonathan Azu is also a member of the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC), which I spoke about last week with Dina LaPolt who is one of the founding members. Jonathan also recently launched the Diversity in Music. It is the first ever employment talent directory for underrepresented women and minorities in music.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.A Forbes 2017 article outlined that hip-hop and R&B genres are responsible for 25% of all music consumption and over 29% of all on-demand streams across the United States. However, executives of color are still relatively scarce atop major music companies. The top 10 out of 10 on the Billboard Power 100 list are all white, and there's only two people of color in the top 50. Azu breaks this down on why he thinks this is and how to fix it because it's a problem.--Diversity in Music: https://diversityinmusic.org--Quick links:3:14 - How Jonathan Azu and his artists have been doing since touring has been shut down11:44 - What Azu's artists are doing in quarantine - how they are staying busy14:59 - Artists doing live streaming events17:47 - About Culture Collective and Azu's journey to get to where he's at today28:01 - Advice to white colleagues asking for advice on curbing systemic racism in the music industry34:27 - About The Black Music Coalition38:09 - Lack of racial diversification in the Billboard Power 100 list40:29 - Shifting internships to paid internships and going outside typical recruiting tactics - should there be mentorship programs?42:12 - Would reparations be the correct route to approach racial injustices in the music industry?53:02 - Are people losing interest in the black lives matter movement?58:04 - Was having an all black roster for Culture Collective intentional?1:03:59 - Azu's artist Emily King two Grammy nominations--Connect with Ari’s Take:Website: https://aristake.comAcademy: https://aristakeacademy.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aris.takeTwitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTakeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aristake/Connect with Ari... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wow! Today my guest is superstar music attorney Dina LaPolt. If you don't know who she is, she 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. She co-founded Songwriters of North America (SONA) in 2015. They're an advocacy organization representing songwriters. She was also instrumental in getting the Music Modernization Act passed in 2018, which has done wonders for songwriters and artists across the board. The Music Modernization Act was the first major update to copyright law in decades. She regularly advocates for artists, musicians, and songwriters on Capitol Hill. This conversation was fiery. We got into it. I told the challenges that independent artists and songwriters are dealing with and how we rarely get a seat at the table. When drafting new laws, independent musicians need a seat at the table. Dina also talked about what she did with the CARES Act. She made sure musicians and songwriters were included in the CARES Act and HEROES Act. Additionally, she made sure that a mixed earners stipulation was added in the follow-up bill. She described what she's working on right now with the new Administration to make sure that musicians and songwriters don't get left behind.Dina is an absolute rockstar on the business and overall. It was such a pleasure and honor to have her on the show. I know you're gonna love this conversation. She does not hold back! --Quick links:4:57 - About the CARES Act10:55 - Dina breaks down the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and where it's at now21:35 - Major music publishers like UMPG always get the best deal while smaller independent artists get screwed26:58 - What is the solution from the Copyright Office? What is the ask from the music industry? 39:45 - About the Music Licensing Collective (MLC) and how it functions43:56 - How politics gets involved in music activism (and how to communicate with Republicans and Democrats)49:06 - What it means to Dina LaPolt to make it in the new music business --Get involved: Songwriters of North America (SONA): https://www.wearesona.com/Music Artists Coalition (MAC): https://www.musicartistscoalition.com/Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC): https://www.bmacoalition.org/American Association of Independent Music (A2IM): https://a2im.org/--Connect with Ari’s Take:Website: https://aristake.comAcademy: https://aristakeacademy.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aris.takeTwitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTakeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1Facebook: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Brian Vickers. He is a music supervisor at Disney. Yes, thee Disney; Walt Disney Studios. He works on the in-house trailer department, which they call "The Hive." He's going to talk more about that. 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, and many, many more.He has worked at other trailer house and music supervision companies. He actually got a start as a performer. He performed on The Sing Off, believe it or not.We dig into all things sync licensing, specifically in the trailer department because that is Brian's current specialty. But we talk about getting the sync licensing on both sides, so as an artist of course (always my angle). We spend a significant amount of time on how to become a music supervisor yourself. Brian gives some great tips for how to do that.--Quick links:3:11 - Working as a music supervisor for Disney since COVID-19 hit and quarantine started12:38 - "Custom spots" and what the conversations look like between music supervisors and musicians17:41 - How to find reputable trailer music production companies20:13 - Do these trailer houses have in-house composers or producers that they work with? 23:10 - Clearing tracks / staying away from samples and making supervisors' jobs easier25:35 - Placing a song because it is perfect and then it doesn't work out when it 'goes up the chain'28:39 - Breaking down the song placement process33:59 - Brian's musical background42:28 - Music supervisor and sync licensing community45:40 - How to reach out to music supervisors50:30 - How to become a music supervisor58:00 - What it means to make it in the new music business--Connect with Ari’s Take:Website: https://aristake.comAcademy: https://aristakeacademy.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aris.takeTwitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTakeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aristake/Connect with Ari Herstand:Website: https://ariherstand.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/ariherstandTwitter: https://twitter.com/ariherstandYouTube: https://youtube.com/ariherstandFacebook: https://facebook.com/ariherstandConnect with Brian Vickers:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianvickers318/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChadTheCoolcatIMDb: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. He has a very impressive resume. He was the guy that created Spotify for Artists. Before that, he was at YouTube and created the artist tools like YouTube analytics. And depending on when you're listening to this episode, things may have changed and evolved quite a bit because we talk about specific programs and features, but the bulk of what we discuss is how to be successful on Twitch. Should you start Twitch? Who's Twitch for? Is it good for everyone or just a select few? Do you need millions of followers to make a living on Twitch (you don't)? He talks about a really interesting stat about making a living on the platform. It's astounding on what you actually need to make a living on the platform.Today's a special episode. It's a live podcast episode in the spirit of what we're talking about, which is livestreaming on Twitch. We invited Ari's Take Academy students to be a part of the conversation, and you'll hear a few of their questions at the end.--Twitch for Artists: https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/artists/-- Quick links:4:50 - About Tracy Patrick Chan10:23 - Challenges with musicians streaming on Twitch13:12 - Subsidizing lost income from touring with livestreaming on Twitch21:55 - Making a living on Twitch takes fewer fans than you think - here's how to do it41:42 - What are musicians allowed to stream on Twitch? Can they stream cover songs? 44:15 - How much of Twitch is live and how much is replays? 46:40 - What is Soundtrack?49:07 - How to get your music on Soundtrack52:00 - Ari's Take Academy student questions1:03:40 - What it means to Tracy Patrick Chan to 'make it' in the New Music Business--Connect with Ari’s Take:Website: https://aristake.comAcademy: https://aristakeacademy.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aris.takeTwitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTakeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aristake/Connect with Ari Herstand:Website: https://ariherstand.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/ariherstandTwitter: https://twitter.com/ariherstandYouTube: https://youtube.com/ariherstandFacebook: https://facebook.com/ariherstand Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to season two of the New Music Business podcast! This first episode of the new season is with Mothica. She is an incredible artist in the pop realm. She kind of blew up in 2020 from TikTok and is one of those crazy TikTok success stories. After her song went viral on TikTok, she gained a lot of traction on streaming platforms. Just in 2020 alone she garnered more than 25 million streams on Spotify.Mothica has been releasing music for about six years now and released her debut album in 2020. We talk all about that. The pandemic and quarantining got her to try out TikTok, and she exploded from there. I'll let her tell you how that all happened. We recorded this outside in-person in December socially distanced. We were very careful. We were wearing masks as we were setting up and tearing down. We only took them off during the interview. We sat probably 10-15 feet away from each other. We made sure we were being very safe. -- Articles/Links mentioned: Teespring vs. Printify vs. Gooten vs. Printful vs. Teelaunch: Best Print On-Demand Merch Companies for Musicians: https://aristake.com/print-on-demand-comparison/--Quick links:3:52 - How quarantine has been for Mothica7:10 - Advising musicians to join TikTok and what to do on the platform10:03 - Going viral on TikTok and other factors that attribute to Mothica's success13:50 - Getting sober and releasing a debut album17:58 - How the Mothica brand and world was created25:11 - Mothica's music video "Blackout" and how it came to be and funding the video from merch sales31:55 - Has Mothica been approached by major labels and will she remain independent?35:03 - Working with AWAL for music distribution39:15 - Being open with her suicide attempt, drugs/alcohol, and being sexually assaulted 45:25 - Writing "VICES" and the process behind it50:03 - The release strategy for Mothica's album 'Blue Hour'59:10 - How to build a TikTok strategy into your release strategy1:04:31 - What it means to Mothica to make it in the new music business--Connect with Ari’s Take:Website: https://aristake.comAcademy: https://aristakeacademy.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aris.takeTwitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTakeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aristake/Connect with Ari Herstand:Website: https://ariherstand.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/ariherstandTwitter: https://twitter.com/ariherstandYouTube: https://youtube.com/ariherstandFacebook: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is Anwar Sawyer. He started as (and still is) a songwriter and producer. He's based in New York and is a classically trained pianist. He studied classical piano and composition at Westminster Choir College and New York Institute of Technology. He's signed to Roc Nation Publishing and has now started a management company, SMG Entertainment, where his breakout artist is Audrey Nuna. She's currently signed to Sony Arista Records.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 this young artist and what the process is behind that. She has millions and millions of streams and has collaborated with DJ Snake and Jack Harlow. And by the time you're listening to this episode, she might be taking over the world because she's a pop star on the rise. This was a live podcast in front of Ari's Take Academy students. They were able to ask questions at the end. We included a few of their questions at the end, and I know you're not going to want to miss them.If you want to check out Ari's Take Academy head over to the website: https://www.aristakeacademy.com/--Quick links:3:35 - About Anwar Sawyer8:35 - How Anwar landed his Roc Nation Publishing deal17:44 - What's it like being a songwriter/producer signed to a publishing deal?19:25 - How Anwar and Audrey Nuna started working together24:00 - How do you promote an artist with 0 fans? What's the release strategy look like?28:33 - Once Audrey's following and stream counts begin growing, what were your next steps?33:18 - When "Soufflé" was released, where was Audrey Nuna at in her career? What were her numbers like?35:22 - A simple compliment can be your 'in' with a music professional41:42 - What made Anwar and Audrey Nuna sign with Sony Arista Records over other labels? 45:53 - Ari's Take Academy student questions52:31 - What it means to Anwar Sawyer to 'make it' in the New Music Business--Connect with Ari’s Take:Website: https://aristake.comAcademy: https://aristakeacademy.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTakeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aristake/Connect with Ari Herstand:Website: https://ariherstand.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/ariherstandTwitter: https://twitter.com/ariherstandYouTube: https://youtube.com/ariherstandFacebook: https://facebook.com/ariherstandConnect with Anwar Sawyer:Website: https://www.smgent.com/Instagram: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guests are Sam Hyken and Jacomo Bairos of the Nu Deco Ensemble based in Miami, Florida. 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. The Nu Deco Ensemble does something quite different. They were formed in 2015 and are an eclectic orchestra with members from all over the country. They're known for doing collaborations with pretty big artists like Ben Folds, Jacob Collier, Wyclef Jean, and Emily King to name a few. Their upcoming season starts October 29th, 2020, and this year is going to be quite different due to COVID-19. They're going to be livestreaming all of their performances.Nu Deco Ensemble's manager is Andrew Leib from Red Light Management. He was on a previous episode of the show: https://aristake.com/red-light-manager-andrew-leib/--Quick links: 4:10 - About Nu Deco Ensemble & how they uniquely collaborate with artists8:30 - Every instrument is mic'd in the Nu Deco Ensemble10:10 - The drummer's pocket is so deep; building a good repertoire with ensemble members13:55 - Have all of the members been with the ensemble since the beginning? 17:20 - How far in advance does Nu Deco Ensemble prepare before they collaborate with a guest? 25:04 - What other things does Sam factor into his arrangement of a piece? 28:33 - What is the identity for Nu Deco Ensemble?31:07 - Why Miami? 37:16 - How do you go about starting an orchestra in Miami? 45:05 - What is the future of Nu Deco Ensemble? Have they always featured artists? 51:10 - How much of Miami's cultural influence is integrated within the Nu Deco Ensemble arrangements? 1:00:07 - Nu Deco Ensemble's community involvement1:06:40 - What it means to Sam and Jacamo to make it in the new music business--Connect with Ari’s Take:Website: https://aristake.comAcademy: https://aristakeacademy.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTakeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aristake/Connect with Ari Herstand:Website: https://ariherstand.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/ariherstandTwitter: https://twitter.com/ariherstandYouTube: https://youtube.com/ariherstandFacebook: https://facebook.com/ariherstandConnect with Nu Deco Ensemble:Website: https://nu-deco.org/Facebook: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is Clare Means. She's 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. Since quarantine started, she went all in on livestreaming. Clare talks all about her journey livestreaming, how she built up to be the most successful livestreamer on Periscope, and what it's looked like since she started livestreaming on all of the other platforms. She breaks each of them down and explains how you can make money on them. She makes her full living exclusively livestreaming. I've been so intrigued by her journey livestreaming, which is why I asked her to be an instructor for an Ari's Take Academy course to teach it. Use code NMB for 10% off: https://aristakeacademy.teachable.com/p/livestreaming-for-musicians--Quick links: 2:55 - About Clare Means and her setup7:14 - Clare's livestreaming story and how she got started11:23 - Stories from Clare street performing17:07 - How Clare got people to stop and listen to her street performing22:25 - What about street performing has made Clare a better livestreamer? 27:20 - The platforms Clare livestreams to and why31:24 - Monetization possibilities on each livestreaming platform39:07 - Which platform Clare makes the most money on and where her engagement is the best47:58 - Clare's advice to musicians who want to get started livestreaming55:12 - What it means to Clare Means to 'make it' in the new music business--Connect with Ari’s Take:Website: https://aristake.comAcademy: https://aristakeacademy.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aristake_/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTakeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aristake/Connect with Ari Herstand:Website: https://ariherstand.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/ariherstandTwitter: https://twitter.com/ariherstandYouTube: https://youtube.com/ariherstandFacebook: https://facebook.com/ariherstandConnect with Clare Means:Website: https://www.claremeansmusic.com/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5gc2EPzFCpY9xxn1BGqjET?si=3UdTcG_-TsS1bu0-9ZprtwFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClareMeansTwitter: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.