Why Algorithms are Getting Smarter with Ari Herstand Trapital

I had a great chat about the future of streaming and more with Ari Herstand, who isan independent artist who also runs Ari’s Take, an education business to teach others artists about the industry. He just released the third edition of his book, How To Make It In the New Music Business.

Ari joined me to discuss how artists are navigating new music releases. It's increasingly getting out of the artist’s hands in favor of the uncontrollable algorithms powering the likes of Spotify and TikTok. Ari says it’s like, “playing the lottery.” 

While algorithms are taking the human element out of music discovery, that human touch has found itself into new artist monetization tools like NFTs. It has inverted what Ari calls an artist’s “pyramid of investment” for an artist growing their fanbase.

Ari and I covered a lot of ground on this episode. Here’s what you can expect to hear from us:

[3:10] Waterfall release method infiltrating Spotify
[8:15] Music discovery power shifting away from human, toward algorithms 
[11:40] DSP’s purposely pulling power away from playlist editors
[19:21] TikTok isn’t for every artist
[21:26] Evolving team structure of an indie artist 
[27:55] Role of music NFTs
[31:44] How Sammy Arriaga sold $250k of NFTs to non-fans
[40:02] The Pyramid of investment 
[49:10] Ari the musician vs. Ari the educator 
[50:05] Updated version of How To Make It In New Music Business book


Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | Stitcher | Overcast | Amazon | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | RSS

Host: Dan Runcie, @RuncieDan, trapital.co
Guest: Ari Herstand, @ariherstand

Learn more about Ari's book, How to Make It in the New Music Business here: https://book.aristake.com

Learn more about Ari's Take here: https://aristake.com/

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TRANSCRIPTION

[00:00:00] ARI HERSTAND
I'm not a good recording engineer and I'm not a producer. So that's another team member that I'm going to hire when I make a record. Like I'm not Finneas. I'm not going to make a record in my bedroom. Like I can't do that. And that's not what I want to do. Like honestly, that doesn't inspire me. What inspires me is to make music with other people.

[00:00:26] DAN RUNCIE INTRO
Hey, welcome to the Trapital Podcast. I'm your host and the founder of Trapital, Dan Runcie. This podcast is your place to gain insights from executives in music, media, entertainment, and more who are taking hip-hop culture to the next level.

[00:01:36] DAN RUNCIE
Today's episode is a playbook for all the indie artists out there. I had a great conversation with Ari Herstand, who is a musician himself, and he's also the founder of Ari's Take, which is his education business that focuses on how artists can make it today, especially indie artists. How indie artists can make it today in the new music business. And that's actually the title of the third edition of this upcoming book. Ari and I talked a lot about some of the new and updated insights that he has in this edition of the book, specifically around streaming, and how artists are starting to favor and prefer focusing on algorithms and how that can get them more listeners and where playlists currently sit with artists prioritizing them. And we also talk about NFTs, TikTok, and Ari's concept in the book called the Pyramid of Investment. This is a great conversation for anyone that wants to better understand the music industry, especially for the growing segment of independent artists that are carving their lanes out for themselves. Here's the episode. Hope you enjoy it.

[00:01:48] DAN RUNCIE
All ri