7: Ari Herstand - Artist, Actor, Blogger

Most people now know Ari Herstand as the guy who helped them fly with their instruments. His Carry Your Instrument On The Plane… It’s The LAW blog post went viral and has been viewed over 300,000 with over 40,000 Facebook Likes, a Reddit and HackerNews thread. In just under two years, Herstand’s music business advice blog, Ari’s Take, has been nominated by the LA Weekly as the best music blog in Los Angeles and has become a go to resource for DIY musicians.

Ari Herstand is a DIY musician who has played over 550 shows around the country, has opened for or toured with Ben Folds, Cake, Matt Nathanson, The Milk Carton Kids and Ron Pope, and has had his music featured in countless TV shows.

Herstand has written for many of the top musician trade magazines and websites including Music Connection Magazine, Digital Music News, American Songwriter, Playback Magazine, CD Baby, Tunecore, Reverbnation, Discmakers, ASCAP, Hypebot and others.

As an actor, he has co-starred in TV shows including 2 Broke Girls, The Fosters, Sam & Cat and Touch.

Before acting and blogging, Herstand spent a full year working on his newest release, Brave Enough, in his former home of Minnesota. Teaming up with his long-time engineer and close friend, Paul Marino, the two organized an all-star band, including Herstand’s “favorite drummer on the planet” Dave King (The Bad Plus), to create his 3rd full-length record. Herstand is best know for his live looping: combining the trumpet, beat boxing, keys, acoustic guitar, percussion and vocals to create a full, sonic live experience.

He recently joined the Digital Music News team as a staff writer. Herstand brings the musician’s perspective to most current topics.

Brave Enough is out digitally everywhere streamed or sold.

We talk about Ari's advice for musicians just getting started, the resolve you need to have as an artist, why John was always using mini-discs wrong in the 90's and much more.