How This Classical Piano/Cello Duo Built a Sustainable Career For Their Family
How This Classical Piano/Cello Duo Built a Sustainable Career For Their Family  
Podcast: The New Music Business with Ari Herstand
Published On: Wed Sep 30 2026
Description: This week on the New Music Business podcast, Ari sits down with Patrick Laird, cellist and co-founder of the classical cover duo, Brooklyn Duo. Patrick breaks down how he and his wife built a music career without traditional touring. He discusses their journey from viral YouTube videos to building an evergreen passive income model, navigating revenue streams across Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube, the intricacies of sheet music publishing, catalog acquisition offers, and why creating utility-based music enabled the creative freedom to pursue personal projects. Follow Patrick Laird:https://www.patricklaird.com/https://www.instagram.com/brooklynduo/Check out Ari’s Take:https://aristake.com03:55 - Brooklyn Duo’s Origins & Moving Beyond Classical07:16 - Early Viral Success & Going Full Time12:50 - Monetization: Pandora, YouTube, and SoundExchange22:20 - Sheet Music Licensing & Publishing via Musicnotes30:20 - Arranging Process & Delegation Between Patrick & Marnie38:50 - Strategic Pivot to High Production Location Videos52:45 - Building an Evergreen "Utility" Model for Streaming58:30 - Retaining Masters & Rejecting Catalog Buyouts01:10:20 - What It Means to "Make It" in the New Music BusinessEdited 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.