Break the Business

This week, Ryan talks to one of his favorite guests, music lawyer Erin M. Jacobson. Named one of this year’s top music lawyers by Billboard, Erin writes frequently on important legal subjects for indie artists. Ryan talks to Erin this week about a recent article she wrote in Hypebot about how artists should protect their music. Erin talks about the importance of copyright registration, why artists...

This week, Ryan sits down with Jesse Cannon. Jesse is an acclaimed producer, mastering engineer, author, and the creator of the Musformation YouTube channel, which is an educational resource for musicians and creative entrepreneurs. Jesse talks to Ryan about his recent YouTube video “The 4 MusicBusiness Con Artists You Will Meet in 2020,” and discuss the types the music industry “professionals” th...

This week, Ryan sits down with Karen Allen, an acclaimed businessdevelopment consultant, live streaming expert, and the author of Twitch for Musicians. Twitch for Musicians is an e-book and online course that teaches musicians how to produce a Twitch channel, grow a fan base, and earn revenue on the Twitch live streaming platform. On this week’s show, Karen shares some great advice on how musician...

This week, Ryan sits down with Matthew Adell, the co-founder and CEO of OnNow. OnNow is a new website where people can discover, share, and promote livestreams happening on platforms such as Twitch, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and even Zoom. OnNow could prove to be a valuable tool for livestreaming musicians to help their fans find their streams on one convenient platform. Matthew talks to Ryan...

This week, Ryan sits down with representatives from the collaborative mobile recording app Audiobridge. As COVID-19 continues to disrupt the daily lives of musicians, it is more important than ever for artists to use the power of platforms like Audiobridge to keep creating and collaborating with others. Our guests talk about their platform and give advice on how artists can make their recording pr...

This week, Ryan sits down with Amplify X CEO Adam Cowherd. AmplifyX is a platform that allows investors to directly fund the careers of musicians while allowing musicians to retain control over their intellectual property and career decisions. Adam talks to Ryan about the platform and how direct musician investment could fix the flawed way that musicians' careers are funded today while also streng...

This week, Ryan sits down with Venture Music President Chris Nardone. Venture Music is an acclaimed marketing company that specializes in creating custom-built marketing plans for musician clients. Ryan talks to Chris about Venture Music and about how musicians can use the social media video platform TikTok to create exciting content, build their following, and foster fan engagement. Chris shares...

This week, Ryan sits down with AIMS API co-founder and CEO Martin Nedved. AIMS API is an AI-based music similarity search tool used by production music companies, TV and film productions, record labels, and music publishers to help these users search for the right track from their catalogue fast, easy, and with precision. It is a powerful piece of technology that levels the playing field for indep...

This week, Ryan sits down with indie artist and Modern Musician founder Michael Walker. As a musician, Michael was able to build his fan base quickly through a technique that he calls “tour hacking.” It is a simple process and any musician can do it and find quick results. And even though his tour hacking practices took place at physical concert venues, Michael has created resources to help musici...

This week, Ryan sits down with award-winning singer-songwriter and multicultural activist Raye Zaragoza. After a video of her song “In the River” went viral in 2016 and became a rallying anthem for the Standing Rock protests, Raye has dedicated her career to amplifying the voices of disadvantaged communities. Raye also truly embraces the “Break the Business” mindset through her inspiring work in s...

This week, Ryan talks to Kai and Lyron of electropop duo Les Flair. Kai and Lyron talk to Ryan about how they were able to use the power of word-of-mouth marketing to sell out a string of shows across Europe before even releasing a single record. Kai and Lyron share their expertise on mastering word-of-mouth marketing. Listeners looking for advice on crafting an effective social media strategy and...

This week, Ryan sits down with vocal performance coach and Star Singer founder Tiffany VanBoxtel. The Star Singer Platform provides training resources for recording artists to help them improve their performance and run an effective music operation. Ryan talks to Tiffany about how musicians can achieve optimal vocal performances on livestreaming platforms and common general mistakes that performer...

This week, Ryan sits down with artist coach and music business consultant Lindsey Kirkendell. An accomplished expert who specializes in working with female creatives, Lindsey talks to Ryan about her coaching philosophy, time management strategies for artists, and how she focuses on coaching the “whole person” when working with clients. Lindsey shares lots of excellent advice for indie artists alon...

This week, Ryan sits down with Zack Zalon, founder and CEO of Super Hi-Fi. Super Hi-Fi is an award-winning audio innovation company that uses AI to allow music services to transform the gaps between songs on digital platforms into relevant and personalized content for listeners. Ryan talks to Zack about his company and also gets his perspective on the future of music streaming and the potential op...

This week, we are joined by Canada-based indie country artist Drake Jensen. Fresh from being recently featured in Billboard Magazine and The Advocate, Drake talks to Ryan about building a successful music career as a member of the LGBTQ community in the country genre, and how he was able to find his voice and celebrate his community through his art. Drake has lots of great advice for listeners abo...

This week, Ryan sits down with Jack Forman, booking agent and executive vice president at Bicoastal Productions. We get Jack’s perspective on how COVID-19 is affecting the live music industry, the rise of online live shows, and how physical and online are blending together in the live performance space. Jack also gives some helpful advice on how artists can get a booking agent. You can find out mo...

This week, Ryan talks with James Landry and Elliot Tousley, the co-founders of the De Novo Agency. De Novo is an organization that partners with independent musicians to assist them in finding more business opportunities by utilizing data-driven marketing. James and Elliot talk about how indie artists should be using data, what sort of data is “overrated,” and how De Novo works with artist clients...

What is the data telling us about how COVID-19 is affecting different sectors of the music business, and how are indie artists being affected? The answers may surprise you. We talk to our guest Jason Joven of data analytics platform Chartmetric this week to get some insight. Jason does a deep drive into the data and gives some great advice for indie artists based on his platform’s findings. Be sur...

This week, Ryan sits down with Bitfury Surround CEO Stefan Schulz. Surround is a platform that will offer an ecosystem of blockchain-based management services to provide transparency for the exchange and monetization of intellectual property in music. Blockchain can be used to strengthen music ownership, create smart contracts for music, facilitate efficient payments for artists, and much more. Bl...

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, independent musicians are continuing to embrace the diversification of their income streams beyond live performances. One important area of income for many indies is in the sync licensing of their catalogs to movies, TV programs, commercials, and video games. Our guests this week, Shellie Lewis and Cestjon McFarland, are executives at Syncfloor, a platform that aims to...

This week, friend of the podcast Clarence Charron of Pop of Colour stops by. Pop of Colour is a brand management agency that provides marketing and consultation services for musicians and other creators. We talked to Clarence about his own experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic and support programs that exist for artists in his home country of Canada. Clarence also offers some great advice on live...

This week, Ryan sits down with Katie Zaccardi. She is a musician, songwriter, and wellness coach that works with musicians in the areas of self-care, mental health, and time management. She is also the host of the podcast “Out to Be,” a weekly program featuring expert interviews on those areas. Katie talks to Ryan about self-care techniques that musicians can do during the pandemic, and the import...

This week, Ryan sits down with friend of the podcast Ashley K. Stoyanov of Women Crush Music. Women Crush is a nationwide nonprofit organization that provides education and support services for women in music. Ryan talks to Ashley about the support services that WCM is providing for female musicians during the pandemic. Ashley also gives advice on the importance of building and fortifying your com...

Things are crazy right now and we all want to just relax and laugh, so we brought back our co-host Dave this week to update us on his life and talk pop culture. Ryan and Dave talk about Tiger King, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and more. Longtime fans of the Podcast will appreciate that we also brought back an old favorite segment, “Dave The Ultimate Arbiter.” For indie musicians looking for reso...

This week, Ryan sits down with friend-of-the-Podcast and CD Baby Marketing VP Kevin Breuner. Kevin provides some valuable insight as a musician and music executive on how artists can continue to move their careers forward during the pandemic. Ryan and Kevin talk about best practices in livestreaming and how to make the most of time spent at home. CD Baby has an excellent resource of helpful advice...