The New Music Business with Ari Herstand

Most know this week's guest, Cory Wong, as the guitar player for Vulfpeck, but he's also played in Jon Batiste's band for Stephen Colbert's late night show as well as Blake Shelton and others. He currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I encourage you to spend time with this episode, especially if you're a session player, band leader, or studio cat. We talk about payment models, ethics, and etiquette when you're in the studio. He also shares some interesting stories about playing with Vulfpeck.7:35 - What it's been like for Cory not being able to tour or play live21:37 - Real world value vs. vanity metrics28:07 - Cory and the Wongnotes56:10 - What is the etiquette when working with other musicians in the studio or on set?1:03:52 - How Cory dictates what sessions he takes1:09:00 - Pay structure for Cory's hired musicians and Vulfpeck1:25:00 - What it means to Cory to make it in the new music businessConnect 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 Cory Wong: Website: https://www.corywongmusic.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coryjwong/Twitter: https://twitter.com/corywongFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/corywongmusicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQqC08JWnJGJIgw43XJ0GXw Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel McCarthy is the CEO of FM, which includes the music platform Musicbed. It's one of the more popular sync hybrid platforms. It includes the typical sync agency but also acts as a music library. Musicbed works with indie filmmakers, wedding video filmmakers, and photographers. Their clients go all the way up to brands that place commercials in the Super Bowl and everyone in between.We talk about how all of the smaller placements work and how artists get paid. We discuss how big sync licensing placements work and how artists are making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some of their artists have made millions of dollars.5:54 - How Musicbed got started and Daniel's story13:12 - Musicbed's business model and definition of one stop23:25 - What is micro licensing and content ID?31:23 - How Musicbed subscriptions and the various levels of clearance work35:45 - Getting screwed on a licensing deal and how to prevent it43:21 - Fees for TV, film, and ad campaigns49:09 - What Musicbed's artists are making annually53:17 - Musicbed user interface59:21 - How does an artist work with Musicbed?1:01:36 - What it means to Daniel McCarthy to make it in the new music businessConnect 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.

My guests today are Noble, a production duo originally from South Africa now residing in Los Angeles. They recently signed a publishing deal with Campfire Songs. They talk about their story and are most known for their cut of Beyoncé's Lion King soundtrack. They have tons of other cuts with artists from all over the world, but they're just getting started. We nerd out a little bit on gear, analog and digital plugins, and they give some really good advice on how to get a publishing deal.3:35 - How Noble met7:30 - Noble's production process and how they work a session15:09 - MIDI vs. acoustic instruments vs. plugins23:18 - How Noble went from kids hustling to working with Beyoncé31:18 - Attending a writing camp for Lion King and why it was such a humbling experience 35:00 - How Noble met their manager Seth Kallen38:51 - How Noble's publishing deal is structured 45:00 - The difference between record deals and publishing deals49:00 - Advice to upcoming songwriters and producers looking to get a publishing deal55:26 - Next steps for Noble58:45 - Why Los Angeles1:04:00 - What it means to Noble to make it in the new music businessConnect 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 Noble: Website: https://www.noblemakesongs.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noblemakesongs/Twitter: https://twitter.com/noblemakesongs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest is Alexandre Williams, the co-founder and COO of Create Music Group. They're a distribution, publisher, YouTube royalty collection, rights management, influencer, and TikTok (through Flighthouse) marketing company. Inc Magazine named them the second fastest growing company in America in 2020.Create Music Group has over 25,000 artists and 5,000 label clients. They distributed Tekashi 6ix9ine's track "Trollz" with Nicki Minaj, and it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's the first time that a completely independent, distributed single has ever reached the No. 1 slot in the Billboard Hot 100.We discuss playlist pitching, release strategy, and how Create Music Group approaches working with their artists. 6:20 - What is the core mission of Create Music Group?10:53 - Create Music Group's business model12:27 - How CMG allocates their resources for their 25,000 artists18:15 - Advances and CMG's proprietary algorithm to determine them19:59 - Devoting time and resources into the 'middle class musicians'24:52 - How CMG decides which artists to work with28:18 - Building strategies for and with artists31:55 - The secret to pitching to official Spotify playlists38:18 - How much goes into the release plan before and after a track comes out41:07 - How important is release day?45:35 - How relevant is press today? Is it worth it?48:36 - Breakdown of a marketing budget54:16 - Advice to artists who don't get the response they're hoping for after their release59:16 - What it means to Alexandre to make it in the new music businessConnect 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.

Michael Walker is a keyboardist for the band Paradise Fears, who made headlines years ago for a thing they called "tour hacking." What they did was sold 24,000 CDs at around $10 in just a few months to fans standing in line for concerts. Not their concerts. This is the DIY method of DIY'ers.Obviously this tactic doesn't really work anymore, so we talk about the evolution and what that turned into, what his ideas are now, and how you can turn those tour hacking ideas into something that works today. We went deep into marketing concepts, tactics, and human psychology.4:15 - Selling CDs to people in line at other bands' shows and making more than $100k13:12 - Going on tour with All Time Low18:12 - Selling merchandise and building fans through social media33:24 - Making money and just to make money + the super fan concept39:10 - What has Michael learned by working with this grassroots band over the past few years? 47:55 - Facebook Messenger and paid traffic and goals56:40 - Building effective funnels1:07:45 - What it means to Michael Walker to make it in the new music businessConnect 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 Michael Walker:Website: https://www.modern-musician.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themodernmusician/Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjwalker0Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelmodernmusician/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is Austin Georgas. He is the senior account manager at Flighthouse Media. They are a full on influencer and media agency that help break songs on TikTok. They've worked on previous campaigns like Doja Cat's "Say So," Internet Money's "Lemonade," Surfaces' "Sunday Best," and Arizona Zervas' "Roxanne." They are one of the best at what they do.Austin breaks down exactly how going viral on TikTok works and what the process is behind it and how micro and macro influencer campaigns are run at this moment. The influencer campaigns change all of the time, so he talks about how they change. If you're new to influencer marketing and TikTok, you're going to get a ton of valuable information out of this conversation. 6:00 - Background on Flighthouse and Austin Georgas9:52 - The "Roxanne" campaign on TikTok12:24 - Who is considered a "micro influencer"? 14:27 - TikTok's algorithm works much differently than Instagram's18:45 - What it's like engaging micro influencers for a campaign20:55 - Macro influencers and running campaigns with them25:44 - What does viral and "number of videos" mean on TikTok?29:29 - Using sounds on TikTok39:36 - Does Flighthouse give creative guidance to influencers they're working with?42:03 - How Flighthouse decides on influencers' compensation48:10 - Working with labels' artists51:19 - How many influencers does Flighthouse have in their roster?52:17 - Why doesn't money go as far anymore on TikTok?54:11 - How does an independent artist find micro influencers on TikTok?1:00:42 - What it means to Austin to make it in the new music businessConnect 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.

Joe Conyers III is the EVP and Global Head of NFTs at Crypto.com. He's also the co-founder of Songtrust, the largest admin music publisher. Songtrust is owned by Downtown Music Holdings, and when Joe was the chief strategy officer at Downtown they purchased CD Baby. He was named a digital power-player four years in a row by Billboard magazine. The real headline of this episode is that Crypto.com hosts their NFTs on a much more environmentally friendly blockchain. It is not on the Ethereum blockchain, which has a massive impact on the environment.4:48 - Joe Conyers III being the co-founder of Songtrust and explaining what an NFT is9:35 - How NFTs relate to music right now10:50 - The most popular NFTs, why people are spending so much money on them, and authenticity18:46 - Tracking resells of an NFT21:47 - The difference between a sale and an auction28:15 - Blockchain technology and how a transaction works31:25 - What happens if a place you purchase an NFT goes down or gets hacked?35:03 - Buying and reselling on different platforms36:50 - How does Crypto.com work?45:17 - Environmental impact of NFTs and the blockchain55:09 - What it means to Joe to make it in the new music businessConnect 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.

Kris Ahrend is the CEO of the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). This is the organization that was set up and appointed by Congress by the Copyright Office after the Music Modernization Act was signed into law. They officially went into effect in January of 2021. What the MLC does is collect mechanical royalties from streaming services in the United States. These are just royalties for songwriters. The DSPs pay the MLC and the MLC pays the rights holders. Article: https://aristake.com/songwriters-claim-mlc-money/MLC's website: https://www.themlc.com/ 4:35 - What is the MLC and what do they do?8:00 - Mechanical royalties and PROs, and where does the Harry Fox Agency play into everything?14:50 - What is the statutory rate? 17:03 - How to find how much you've earned in mechanical royalties through the MLC18:50 - Why you don't need the MLC if you have an admin publisher21:08 - Why BMI, SESAC, ASCAP, or GMR is not enough to collect all of your royalties24:30 - International mechanical royalties26:47 - How much money is being lost to ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC's commissions? 32:30 - The MLC and admin publishers34:58 - Where does the data in the public search feature come from?39:20 - The MLC has $430 million in unpaid royalties46:47 - Additional sources where the MLC gets its data50:10 - How much it costs to register with the MLC51:43 - Who calculates the data and royalty amounts? 54:30 - Historical royalties from the DSPs57:58 - Different types of publishers the MLC lists in their database1:03:45 - How to search MLC's database by song title1:07:11 - How long you have to collect your royalties from the MLC 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.

VÉRITÉ is an incredible 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. We also dig into NFTs. She's, to date, dropped 3 NFTs and made 10s of thousands of dollars on them. She explained what they are, how she got started, what the future of them is, why they're important, and their challenges. If this is your first introduction into NFTs, get ready. We go deep. But she also breaks it down really well. She's also the host of the podcast, Anatomy of an Artist, which I was a guest on: https://spoti.fi/3npAAMHQuick links: 3:00 - Discussing "voice social" and how it's changed6:15 - VÉRITÉ's Anatomy of an Artist podcast and her episode with 3LAU9:58 - The process and approach of "by now"14:26 - How VÉRITÉ feels before and after releases17:07 - Setting expectations for releasing music and getting feedback from fans21:15 - NFTs and fans investing in VÉRITÉ's sound recordings24:32 - Explaining NFTs as if we were five-year-olds32:20 - How the blockchain can revolutionize metadata in music35:15 - VÉRITÉ being an independent artist38:34 - Was it a conscious decision to remain an independent artist? 42:30 - HypeMachine and being covered by blogs to propel VÉRITÉ's career45:30 - VÉRITÉ's five strategies for every release51:28 - What is next for VÉRITÉ? 54:22 - Taking into account the environmental impact of NFTs59:00 - What it means to VÉRITÉ to make it in the new music businessConnect 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 VÉRITÉ:Website: https://www.veriteofficial.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/veritemusicTwitter: https://twitter.com/VeriteInstagram: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is the CEO and co-founder of Audiosocket, Jenn Miller. Audiosocket is a sync licensing company. They have an agency side, ASX, and a micro licensing section, which we get all into the nitty gritty and depths of what that actually means. They're the inventors of mass music as a service, which deals with the micro licenses that we talk about. They invented the platform. So if you need a song for a wedding, mom and pop local shop, ad for your YouTube, then you can use Audiosocket for that at very affordable rates. We talk about what it's like running a sync agency and the kinds of briefs Jenn 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.  Quick links: 3:50 - Background on Audiosocket and what they do7:07 - What is ASX? What is micro licensing and how does it work? 9:23 - How do you clear a micro license?14:06 - How does an artist make money on a company licensing an entire catalog for $500/year subscription?19:27 - Leaving the retitling era and how exclusive/non-exclusive tracks work23:33 - How does Audiosocket ensure that artists in their catalog are not devalued? 25:51 - Does Audiosocket have artists that do micro licensing and in ASX? 27:27 - About the placements Audiosocket has placed 29:27 - How do deals with composers work?  30:20 - Jenn's tips to artists for getting more sync placements35:14 - Should artists spend time building relationships with music supervisors or work with a sync agent/agency? 39:18 - How Audiosocket negotiates credits for artists41:11 - Ari's Take Academy student questions51:58 - How to get your music into Audiosocket's catalog 53:39 - What it means to Jenn Miller to make it in the new music businessConnect 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 Audiosocket: Website: https://www.audiosocket.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/audiosocket/Facebook: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.