He Went from 40K Listeners to 11 Million and a Coachella Slot in Under a Year as an Indie Artist

About this episode

Ari interviews Oskar Med K about his rapid rise in the music industry and the strategies that contributed to his success.

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 Feel 05:24 – Albums vs. Singles: Building a Body of Work in the Streaming Era 09:12 – The Remix Story: How Khalid Ended Up on a Remix 12:52 – Behind the Tracks: Songwriting and Collaborating Remotely 17:19 – The Early Grind: From iPad Beats to Music School in Norway 19:00 – From 0 to 1: The "Hustle" of Emailing 500 Record Labels 20:17 – Breaking Through: Finding the Right Label via LabelRadar 25:12 – Marketing Strategy: Simple Content vs. High-Production TikToks 33:42 – Moving to the Stage: Transitioning from Studio Producer to Live Act 40:40 – The Coachella…

People in this episode

Host: Ari Herstand

Guest: Oskar Med K

Topics covered

• indie music success
• marketing strategies
• music production
• live performance
• streaming era
• Coachella experience

Keywords

• EDM
• indie artist
• monthly listeners
• TikTok marketing
• music festival
• songwriting
• record labels
• music school

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Coachella, LabelRadar, Brassroots District, Ari’s Take

Books & works: Feel

More episodes of The New Music Business with Ari Herstand

• How This Manager Sold Out Tours Without Venues and Develops Artists, Songwriters and Producers · June 10, 2026 · 1h 8m
• Has SoundCloud Cracked Superfandom and AI Music? · June 3, 2026 · 1h 9m
• Breaking Hard Rock and Metal Bands with Sumerian Records · May 27, 2026 · 1h 5m
• Going Viral In The Right Way Allowed Him To Turn Down Record Deals and Sell Out Venues Around The World · May 20, 2026 · 1h 6m
• New Global Booking Agency from ATC and Arrival Artists Now Reps 800 Artists · May 6, 2026 · 1h 19m
• How This UK Indie Label Sold 25K Records For 1 Band First Week · March 18, 2026 · 1h 2m