Author of best-selling book How To Make It in the New Music Business, Ari Herstand, is taking his expertise to the next level and hosting an online workshop series about artist management. In the first installment of Expert Conversations on the New Music Business, Ari will explore the topic What Does A Manager Do & How To Get One, while sitting down with six top-tier artist managers for 30 minutes each to dig on what they do, how they do it, what their days are like, and how to make things happen for their clients. He’ll also dive into how they look for potential clients and the right way to approach finding a manager. The session is designed for independent musicians or aspiring artists, and can be streamed online or attended in LA on Sunday, June 4.

The experts will include Rob Abelow (Roll Call), Jonathan Azu (Red Light Management), Nick Bobetsky (Red Light Management), Michele Ceazan-Fleischli (Constant Artists), Anna Geyer-Savage (Roc Nation), and Justin Little (Constant Artists). Their client lists have ranged from Kanye West, Rihanna, Feist, Grizzly Bear, Band of Horses, Sonic Youth, Beck, Tenacious D, Ryan Adams, Rage Against the Machine, Odesza, CHRVCHES, and so many more.

Expert Conversations on the New Music Business: What Does A Manager Do & How To Get One will provide a great overview to give independent musicians or aspiring artist managers the knowledge and insight when developing a successful career in the music industry. Attendees will also get a ton of additional resources at the completion of the webinar, including a sample management contract, sample pitch e-mail to potential managers, social-media calendar, and more. Read more about it here.

Live For Live Music caught up with Ari Herstand to find out more about what to expect about next Sunday’s workshop.

Live For Live Music: Ari, describe your professional career and how you got where you are today.

Ari Herstand: I started my music career in Minneapolis around 2005. Specifically on the University of Minnesota campus. I started playing everywhere and anywhere around town. I got a little street team together to help promote my shows and my audiences grew from coffee shops to bars to venues to theaters. When I left Minneapolis in 2010 for LA, I was selling out the 800-cap Varsity Theater and was touring the country regularly.

A few years back, I was getting so many questions from other musicians, first in just Minneapolis, but then all over the country, on how I was doing things for my career like booking tours, selling out clubs, opening for big artists, getting songs placed on TV, getting music online, etc etc. I had kind of become known as the musician who knew “the biz.” After awhile, I just didn’t have time to respond to everyone so I started a blog, Ari’s Take, and put up everything I had learned (and continued to learn) on there. Of course that brought in more questions so I kept it going. The reason I continue it is because so many musicians tell me how much it is helping them.

Since quitting Starbucks in 2008, I’ve been making my living from my creative pursuits. For awhile it was 100% music 100% of the time. But because Ari’s Take grew so big, it opened up doors to other opportunities like writing for Digital Music News, speaking at conferences, consulting, and even a book deal. I just released my book, How To Make It in the New Music Business, this past December.

L4LM: What makes you an “expert” source to host conversations on the new music business?

AH: Ha. Great question. So, once I got the writing gig with Digital Music News in December 2013, it opened up my access to speak to virtually anyone in the music industry I wanted to – which was incredible for a DIY musician who couldn’t previously get most higher ups to respond to my emails. I had coffee with the #3 at Spotify, spoke on panels with the head of artist development at Pandora, and was interviewing multiple people in the industry a week from startup founders to label execs to managers, agents, publicists and honestly anyone who works in the music business.

Then when I got the book deal to write this book, I interviewed a ton more people including DIY musicians making great livings doing it differently in the New Music Business. I have probably interviewed hundreds of people in the industry, most have been private Skype calls, and I have gathered a lot of knowledge and information on what is happening right now in music. In addition to, of course, learning from my own experiences as a working DIY musician.

Also, music business schools worldwide are widely adopting my book to teach for their music business curriculum. And it’s a best seller on Amazon (!!!). So I guess people think I’m on the right track at seeing what’s going on in the music business today and how to navigate it.

L4LM: What makes the music business “new”?

AH: Well, the “old music business” is something we all understand: getting signed to a record deal, touring, getting on the radio. Success in the “old music business” was defined solely by selling a boat load of small priced items (records) to a boat load of people. That was it. Simple. The “new music business” is much more nuanced and complicated. And success in the “new music business” is about making a comfortable living doing doing what you love. Oftentimes, it’s about targeting a niche community and getting them to pay you a lot more money than simply $15 a year on a CD or $40 a year on a concert ticket. It’s now more about developing relationships with your fans and getting the super fans to support your entire career. It’s no longer about making the quick sale on a plastic disc.

L4LM: What can we expect from this daylong conference?

AH: This will be unlike any panel at any other conference in the sense that, well, it’s not a panel. I will be interviewing each manager, one-on-one asking them the questions DIY musicians (and aspiring managers) want to know. One of the biggest questions I had in my music career (for a few years) was actually how to get a manager. And no one could give me a clear answer on it. I honestly didn’t even really know what management was, but I figured it was the key to my success.

I will dig in with each manager what they do on a daily basis, what management is, what they look for in potential clients, how musicians can get in touch with them (or any manager) if they feel they are ready for representation and, really, when musicians are ready for management and how they’ll know.

Every attendee will walk away with tangible, concrete advice and plans of action to use for their music (or management) career right now.

L4LM: Will it be worth it if we are watching from home?

AH: Yup! We are working very hard to make sure it is just as valuable to live stream this from home as attending it in person in LA. We are even dedicating time for online networking amongst live stream attendees.

L4LM: Story Time: Tell us the best thing you’ve ever experienced in the music industry. The worst?

AH: Ok let’s start with the worst: I once got an opening gig for the Country star Phil Vassar at a college in Minnesota. I had a 6 piece band with me, but Phil’s stage setup took up 95% of the stage. The 6 of us basically had to setup in a straight line at the front of the stage in front of the curtain. 2,000 drunk college kids in cowboy hats, cowboy boots, and Tommy Hillfiger cologne piled into the Field House.

We were told we were going to play a 45 minute set. 10 minutes before showtime the college kid in charge of the event, Sarah, told us that we they were going to push back the start time and cut our set by 15 minutes. As we stood in the wings waiting to go on, Sarah then asked us if we could cut our set even shorter – “like 20 minutes?”

House lights went off. Crowd started cheering and chanting “Phil! Phil! Phil! Phil!”

Sarah went out to the front of the stage: “Thank you all for coming to my event. I’m Sarah and the chair of the campus entertainment committee”
“Phil! Phil! Phil!”
“Oh yup Phil is coming”
“Phil! Phil! Phil!”
“But first I want you to welcome the guy who’s going to open the show…”
“Phil! Phil! Phil!”
“Please welcome Ari Herstand”
“Phi…. BOOOOOOOOOO!”
They legitimately were booing as the band and I walked on stage.

It didn’t get much better from there.

During my last song, I saw some drunk frat boys in the back joking around and whispering to each other. I knew something was up. There were 2,000 people between me and them so I wasn’t too worried. But just then, one of the dudes cocked his arm back and chucked something up over the 2,000 people and it hit me square in the chest. I debated bodysurfing back to the dudes, but decided to just finish the song, politely give a “fuck you very much” to the crowd, and get off stage. The ice cube didn’t hurt too much and luckily missed my guitar.

When we got up to our green room, two-hour old, dried out burgers were waiting with a big sign that said: “Thanks Airie!”

The best: Honestly, and it may sound cheesy, but it’s the fucking truth. Every time a musician comes up to me and tells me how much I have helped their music career. That’s it right there.

Signup for the June 4th workshop here.