The New Music Business With Ari Herstand

Angry Mob Music’s CEO, Marc Caruso joins Ari Herstand on this week’s The New Music Business Podcast to talk all things music publishing, his recent Billboard op-ed, sync, music licensing, social media music rights, inequities in the industry, and more!

This week Ari sits down with Marc Caruso, the CEO and co-founder of Angry Mob Music, an independent music publisher based in LA. Aside from being an advocate for independent artists in the publishing world, Marc is a composer, producer, and Emmy-nominated music editor himself. He is a board member and former President of the LA chapter of the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP), a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, a member of The Recording Academy, and a member of The Motion Picture Editors Guild.

In this episode, Marc describes the evolving landscape of music publishing, particularly in the context of our streaming economy. He breaks down essential terms, like ‘music publishing’ itself, ‘copyright’, and ‘royalties’, before diving into the deeper complexities of the publishing world. Marc is incredibly transparent about how the money gets made at his publishing company—giving detailed accounts of how much sync licenses pay these days and what royalties look like for microsyncs on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. Rounding out a more global view, Marc and Ari discuss Universal’s deal with Spotify, the MLC’s failed lawsuit against Spotify and what all this means for independent publishers and independent songwriters.

– Ari’s Take

Listen to the Full Interview