The New Music Business with Ari Herstand· Staffel 7· Folge 26

How This Indie Publishing Company Got Over 100 #1 Hits

Mittwoch, 28. Oktober 2026 · 1 h 09

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This week on the New Music Business podcast, Ari sits down with Chris Farren, Grammy-nominated songwriter and founder of Combustion Music, a Nashville-based music publishing and artist development company responsible for more than 100 number-one hits.
Chris shares decades of experience navigating the music business, from writing hit songs to building a publishing company and developing artists. Ari and Chris break down how professional songwriters get signed, how songwriting rooms work, how publishing deals and advances are structured, and how songwriters earn royalties.

Follow Chris Farren:
instagram.com/combustionmusic
combustionmusic.com

Check out Ari’s Take:
aristake.com

- Building a music publishing company and developing artists
- How music publishers pay songwriters
- Songwriting as a craft: practice, productivity, and getting better
- Teaching songwriters to write for the market without sacrificing creativity
- Writing songs for specific artists
- How artists' involvement in songwriting has changed
- How songwriting rooms work
- Pitching songs and getting them to artists
- Music catalogs and the renewed life of older songs
- Advice for aspiring professional songwriters

Edited and mixed by Ruben Zarate
Music by Brassroots District
Produced by the team at Ari’s Take

Order the THIRD EDITION of How to Make It in the New Music Business: book.aristake.com
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