Ari Herstand - How to make it in the new music business: practical tips on building a loyal following and making a living as a musician

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Copyright 2017 by Ari Herstand
Foreword copyright 2017 by Derek Sivers

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First Edition

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Names: Herstand, Ari, author.
Title: How to make it in the new music business : practical tips on building a loyal following and making a living as a musician / Ari Herstand. Description: First edition. | New York : Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016037591 | ISBN 9781631491504 (hardcover) Subjects: LCSH: MusicVocational guidanceUnited States. | Music tradeVocational guidanceUnited States. Classification: LCC ML3795 .H5 2016 | DDC 780.23dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016037591

ISBN 978-1-63149-151-1 (e-book)

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CONTENTS

BY DEREK SIVERS

by Derek Sivers

S INCE THE 1980S, IVE READ EVERY PUBLISHED BOOK ABOUT THE MUSIC business. Every single one. And there have been some good ones. But never before have I seen one book that sums it up so perfectly and helpfully as Ari Herstands How to Make It in the New Music Business . Its so brilliant I feel like doing personal house calls to every musician on earth to make sure they read it.

Now lets clarify a term: The music business is different than the musician business. The music business is covered by Billboard magazine, and talks about label executives moving from Warner to EMI, or this years top-grossing stadium tours by classic rock acts from the 1970s. You dont care about that. The musician business is how you make a successful living from your music. Thats what you care about.

Even the better music business books are usually written by consultants, executives, lawyers and journalists. Well intentioned, but missing one crucial thing: knowing what its like to be youto pour your soul into a song, the terrifying excitement of uploading it for the world to hear, the disgusting discomfort of self-promotion, the devastating disappointment of an indifferent world.

Ah, but Ari gets it. Hes you. Hes out there promoting his own music right now. Hes sharing lessons he learned firsthand. (And lucky for you, hes keeping this book focused on you and your success, not his.)

They say the best teacher is someone whos just learned it themselves, because they still remember what its like to not know, and how to explain it in a way that gets you from here to there.

Ive never met Ari and Ive never even heard his music, but Im a superfan of what hes done on ArisTake.com and now this book. Because Im a superfan of musicians getting successful, and I think this book is the best in the world right now at helping you do that.

HOW TO MAKE IT IN THE

NEW MUSIC BUSINESS

Before you dig in, I need to point out that everything in this book is based on my own experiences or what Ive learned from others in the biz. And even though things worked out a certain way for me and others I reference in this book, uh, results may vary. Also, Im a musician, not a lawyer. Please dont use this book as a guide to drafting contracts or navigating legal matters. Its not meant for that. Definitely consult an attorney for all legal issues you may have, and be sure to check out the Some Words of Caution (and Other Stuff You Really Need To Read) .

Also, without fail, things in the music industry will have changed by the time youre reading this. Companies may get acquired, laws may get passed, revelations may be made.

J ANUARY 15, 2008, WAS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE. IT WAS THE DAY I walked into the Minneapolis City Center Starbucks, shook my managers hand, handed him my green apron and made my final triple tall, nonfat, with whip-caramel macchiato.

It wasnt dramatic. I didnt tell my shift supervisor off or chuck an iced pomegranate green tea in his facelike I had dreamed of many a time. There wasnt a big send-off. No parade down 1st Avenue. My manager asked me what I was going to do. I told him that I was a musician and that I was going to make it.

He thanked me for my work and told me that there would always be an apron with my name on it if I needed it.

Luckily, I never did. Well, actually, luck had nothing to do with it.

People always ask successful musicians what their lucky break was. And most dont have an answer. They mention a few instances here and there that, in retrospect, were turning points or little victories. But very seldom do you hear, We were playing the Fine Line and after the show a bald man in a suit came up to us, handed us a record contract and told us it was our lucky day.

That is what everyone outside the music industry expects. No one really understands the music business. The songwriting process eludes people. But, even more so, the business confuses the hell out of everyonemusicians included.

I had been fortunate enough to take to the business early on.

I went to the University of Minnesota as a music education and classical trumpet major. Since eighth-grade band class, I thought I wanted to be a high school band directorlike Mr. Saltzman (whom I wrote a song about on my first record). But my freshman year of college, that all changed.

I had been in a ska/funk/rock/jam/pop band (we had an identity crisismore on that later) all four years of high school. I mostly played trumpet and sang backups. All six of us went to different colleges around the country. I was the only one who ended up in Minnesota. The first week of school in my dorm when everyones door was closed, I planted myself in the floors lounge with my acoustic guitar and started riffing. Someone walked by, poked her head in and said, Thats cool. Then walked off. (That song turned into one of the first I ever wrote, Rose Stained Red.)

I wrote a bunch of songs those first few weeks on piano and guitar. I spent more time in the practice space of the music building writing songs than practicing my trumpet.

When a group of friends and I stopped into the European Grind coffee shop on campus where a singer/songwriter happened to be performing, I asked the barista if I could get a gig. He opened up the calendar book and said, How about October 12? You get all the coffee you can drink.