The New Music Business with Ari Herstand

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 Georgas

9:52 - The "Roxanne" campaign on TikTok

12:24 - Who is considered a "micro influencer"? 

14:27 - TikTok's algorithm works much differently than Instagram's

18:45 - What it's like engaging micro influencers for a campaign

20:55 - Macro influencers and running campaigns with them

25:44 - What does viral and "number of videos" mean on TikTok?

29:29 - Using sounds on TikTok

39:36 - Does Flighthouse give creative guidance to influencers they're working with?

42:03 - How Flighthouse decides on influencers' compensation

48:10 - Working with labels' artists

51:19 - 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 business

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.

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 is

9:35 - How NFTs relate to music right now

10:50 - The most popular NFTs, why people are spending so much money on them, and authenticity

18:46 - Tracking resells of an NFT

21:47 - The difference between a sale and an auction

28:15 - Blockchain technology and how a transaction works

31:25 - What happens if a place you purchase an NFT goes down or gets hacked?

35:03 - Buying and reselling on different platforms

36:50 - How does Crypto.com work?

45:17 - Environmental impact of NFTs and the blockchain

55:09 - What it means to Joe 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_/

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.

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 MLC

18:50 - Why you don't need the MLC if you have an admin publisher

21:08 - Why BMI, SESAC, ASCAP, or GMR is not enough to collect all of your royalties

24:30 - International mechanical royalties

26:47 - How much money is being lost to ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC's commissions? 

32:30 - The MLC and admin publishers

34:58 - Where does the data in the public search feature come from?

39:20 - The MLC has $430 million in unpaid royalties

46:47 - Additional sources where the MLC gets its data

50:10 - How much it costs to register with the MLC

51:43 - Who calculates the data and royalty amounts? 

54:30 - Historical royalties from the DSPs

57:58 - Different types of publishers the MLC lists in their database

1:03:45 - How to search MLC's database by song title

1:07:11 - How long you have to collect your royalties from the MLC

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.

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/3npAAMH

Quick links: 

3:00 - Discussing "voice social" and how it's changed

6:15 - VÉRITÉ's Anatomy of an Artist podcast and her episode with 3LAU

9:58 - The process and approach of "by now"

14:26 - How VÉRITÉ feels before and after releases

17:07 - Setting expectations for releasing music and getting feedback from fans

21:15 - NFTs and fans investing in VÉRITÉ's sound recordings

24:32 - Explaining NFTs as if we were five-year-olds

32:20 - How the blockchain can revolutionize metadata in music

35:15 - VÉRITÉ being an independent artist

38:34 - Was it a conscious decision to remain an independent artist? 

42:30 - HypeMachine and being covered by blogs to propel VÉRITÉ's career

45:30 - VÉRITÉ's five strategies for every release

51:28 - What is next for VÉRITÉ? 

54:22 - Taking into account the environmental impact of NFTs

59:00 - What it means to VÉRITÉ 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_/

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

Connect with VÉRITÉ:

Website: https://www.veriteofficial.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Verite

Instagram:

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 do

7:07 - 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 work

23:33 - 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 placements

35:14 - Should artists spend time building relationships with music supervisors or work with a sync agent/agency? 

39:18 - How Audiosocket negotiates credits for artists

41:11 - Ari's Take Academy student questions

51:58 - How to get your music into Audiosocket's catalog 

53:39 - What it means to Jenn Miller to make it in the new music business

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

Connect with Audiosocket: 

Website: https://www.audiosocket.com/

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

Facebook:

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

You may know Ricky Montgomery from his Vine days. You may know him from his band The Honey Sticks. Or you may know him because a few of his songs went viral on TikTok in 2020. This led to a massive bidding war amongst 50 major labels. He ended up signing a deal with Warner Records. 

This is a very interesting deal he signed. We get all into the weeds of this, so I encourage you to listen to the very end if you want to hear what major label deals look like for artists these days. He shares some really interesting anecdotes on how the bidding wars went down. 

Quick links: 

2:45 - Ricky Montgomery's Los Angeles space and where he calls home

7:51 - About The Honey Sticks' tour before the pandemic cancelled

11:15 - Ricky Montgomery's success on TikTok and how it happened

17:14 - What inspired Ricky's love for the digital world

22:27 - What it looks like running an indie career for The Honey Sticks

26:27 - How Ricky figured out and navigated the digital world

30:46 - How did Ricky convert his Vine fans over to other platforms when Vine died?

39:00 - Social media platforms have no regard for the creators that make their platforms thrive

41:44 - Why Ricky signed a major record deal and the details of his deal

54:20 - What's the difference between a licensing deal and master ownership? 

57:02 - The stories behind the re-releases of "Line Without a Hook" and "Mr. Loverman"

1:03:28 - What's the next step for Ricky now that he's signed a record deal? 

1:09:50 - How are remote writing sessions working for Ricky? Does he like them? 

1:14:48 - What it means to Ricky Montgomery 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_/

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

Connect with Ricky Montgomery: 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rickymontgomery

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ZUvK7zGdXLd78mQr3t1Tw?si=R9jUhEZ2TuuCp9RY087jrA

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

My guests today are Livia Tortella and Brian Popowitz of Blackbox, a marketing agency that has worked with artists like JP Saxe, Christina Perri, Jesse McCartney, and many others. Before Livia started this marketing agency, she was the co-president and CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of Warner Brothers Records. Before that, she was the SVP of Marketing at Atlantic Records. And before Atlantic Records she worked at Island/Def Jam. And before Island/Def Jam, she was at PolyGram. She's been in the major label system for many years, but just under a decade ago she broke out and started Blackbox. 

Blackbox is a marketing agency that has worked with Andra Day, JP Saxe, Best Coast, Christina Perri, Dirty Honey, Jesse McCartney. They even worked on Kid Rock's faux Senate run. With JP Saxe specifically, they worked with him before his record and publishing deal and when he was completely independent. They helped take one of his first songs, "The Few Things," to over 20 million streams. They also helped Andra Day to acquire more than 250,000 social media fans. 

Brian and Livia break down their process, what they do, and how they help an artist tell their story effectively. They also give some really great strategies on how to tell that story. 

Quick links: 

5:08 - What is Blackbox?

10:38 - What is a narrative? Why is it important?

12:15 - Does Blackbox function as a manager for artists? 

15:40 - How Blackbox developed JP Saxe and helped him tell his story

21:22 - What does the onboarding process look like? How does an artist tell their story?

35:36 - How do you get an artist to communicate their story visually?

39:38 - When does paid media advertising come into play in a marketing strategy?

43:38 - Where are we at with paid media? What platforms is Blackbox using for its clients?

46:40 - What is influencer marketing? How is it working in the space today?

48:05 - How's TikTok marketing functioning right now? Is it effective? 

51:15 - Ari's Take Academy student questions

1:05:11 - How Brian and Livia define making 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_/

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

Connect with Blackbox:

Website:

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

Today's guest is Jessica Severn. She, for 7 years, worked at Scooter Braun's company, SB Projects, doing creative direction. She spearheaded the campaigns for Justin Bieber's stuff over the past decade. She also worked with Yungblud and Ariana Grande. If you look at Scooter Braun's roster you will see the kinds of campaigns she's worked on.

Don't worry! We didn't talk about how to run a superstar campaign. We talk about artist branding. What does that mean? What is a design aesthetic, the importance of it, and why you should think about branding. How do you put together album, single, and music video campaigns? I think you're going to enjoy this conversation.

--

Quick links: 

3:31 - When and how an artist should think about branding

9:29 - The next steps after an artist fills out Jessica's "brand therapy" form and how to create a mood board

13:20 - Why does someone do a mood board? What's the point? 

17:39 - Why does anybody need to care about the brand aesthetic from a philosophical view? 

20:54 - The importance of visuals and sonic branding remaining similar

23:05 - How Jessica's packages have changed since marketing has become less "glossy"

24:54 - It seems like the more money that is spent on social media campaigns, the worse it's going to do

27:14 - Is it necessary for someone like Jessica to be involved in a project? 

30:32 - Which platforms are catching and doing well for artists and brands? 

33:18 - Does Jessica and her team help with TikTok strategy? 

36:24 - How do you refocus an artist or brand that doesn't think a project is "on brand" for them (TikTok, for example) 

38:22 - What platform is the artist "hub" or "calling card" these days? The website? Instagram? 

45:03 - The "why" is the most important question when working on projects

47:00 - Should you waste money on a high priced photo from a shoot or save them for a high profile press outlet that wants exclusive photos? 

53:11 - Jessica's company Deadhappy and how the creative direction business works

1:00:31 - What does a licensing agreement look like for the work that Jessica's company creates? 

1:04:42 - What it means to Jessica Severn 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_/

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:

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

Winslow Bright is a music supervisor and music producer at Search Party Music. They primarily put music in commercials. They do really big campaigns like Sephora, Beyond Burger, Calvin Klein (the one that featured Justin Bieber and Lil Nas X), Mini Cooper, and many more. 

We talk about what that job is all about and how they decide what songs are going to get placed. Winslow shares information on what goes on behind the scenes when a song is placed. She also talks about how cover songs get placed. We also talk about how original music gets composed and scored for commercials, who those people are, and where they come from. 

Winslow has an interesting background. She's an actress and musician. She's currently working as both. She's in a Shonda Rhimes show called Inventing Anna. She discusses all of the hats she's wearing as a music professional and what it's like. 

--

Quick links:

4:45 - What Winslow Bright does at Search Party Music

7:27 - When does Search Party Music get involved in a project?

10:33 - What does a budget for original music look like?

19:30 - Is a 50/50 split between master and publishing common these days? 

22:08 - Are most favored nations clauses (MFNs) common? 

24:23 - What's the process for placing cover songs? 

31:29 - Is an existing cover used? 

34:33 - How does Search Party Music approach lesser known artists? What's the process like? 

41:22 - How Winslow Bright got into music supervision

58:44 - How does Winslow balance and bounce between everything she does? 

1:03:52 - What it means to Winslow 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_/

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

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

I'm so excited to have Lindsay Wolfington on the show today! She is a music supervisor and initially broke into the music supervisor world when supervising for One Tree Hill. I feel very closely connected to this show because it was one of my first massive, massive placements. It changed the trajectory of my career once my song got placed. I tell the story of how it all went down and what came from that placement. 

She also works on Virgin River, Fear Street, and Warrior Nun on Netflix. She won awards for the music she placed in To All the Boys I've Loved Before and To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. Her music supervision list is long, and she is a superstar in the music supervision world. We had such a great conversation.

At the end of this episode we brought in students from the Ari's Take Academy course Advanced Sync Strategies for Film, TV and Video Games to ask their questions. 

Learn more about Advanced Sync Strategies for Film, TV and Video Games: https://aristakeacademy.teachable.com/p/advanced-sync-strategies-film-tv-video-games

--

Quick links:

3:45 - Music supervision being recognized in mainstream media and what the Guild of Music Supervisors is

7:30 - What music supervision is according to Lindsay Wolfington

11:00 - When and how Lindsay was brought into working on Virgin River

13:12 - The process of clearing the sound recording and publishing

16:43 - Lindsay's advice to independent artists when pitching music to make music supervisors' jobs easier 

21:34 - How Lindsay prefers to listen and receive music

23:08 - Ari's story of getting placed in One Tree Hill

25:45 - How Lindsay works with budgets for independent artists and major label artists

34:14 - Netflix's sleazy contracts on artists giving up their publishing rights

41:23 - How Lindsay keeps her music library organized

44:02 - What're the differences between a sync agent and a music library? 

48:23 - Advice from Lindsay for people who want to become music supervisors

54:13 - Questions from Ari's Take Academy students

1:04:03 - What it means to Lindsay 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_/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArisTake

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aristake1?sub_confirmation=1

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:

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