He Went from 40K Listeners to 11 Million and a Coachella Slot in Under a Year as an Indie Artist
He Went from 40K Listeners to 11 Million and a Coachella Slot in Under a Year as an Indie Artist  
Podcast: The New Music Business with Ari Herstand
Published On: Wed May 13 2026
Description: This week on the New Music Business podcast, Ari sits down with Oskar Med K, a breakout Norwegian EDM producer. Oskar breaks down the "overnight" success that was actually years in the making—from the days of sending 500 cold emails to labels with no response.In this episode, Ari and Oskar talk about the marketing strategies that helped him scale from 40k monthly listeners to 11 million, why "simple" content often outperforms high-production on TikTok, and the surreal feeling of playing Coachella as his first-ever music festival.https://www.instagram.com/_oskarmedk/03:54 – Intro: The Release of Oskar’s Debut Album Feel05:24 – Albums vs. Singles: Building a Body of Work in the Streaming Era09:12 – The Remix Story: How Khalid Ended Up on a Remix12:52 – Behind the Tracks: Songwriting and Collaborating Remotely17:19 – The Early Grind: From iPad Beats to Music School in Norway19:00 – From 0 to 1: The "Hustle" of Emailing 500 Record Labels20:17 – Breaking Through: Finding the Right Label via LabelRadar25:12 – Marketing Strategy: Simple Content vs. High-Production TikToks33:42 – Moving to the Stage: Transitioning from Studio Producer to Live Act40:40 – The Coachella Milestone: Playing Your First-Ever Festival44:29 – The Future of Music: Addressing the AI Debate and "Making It"Edited and mixed by Ruben ZarateMusic by Brassroots DistrictProduced by the team at Ari’s TakeOrder the THIRD EDITION of How to Make It in the New Music Business: https://book.aristake.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.