The Reality of Being a Music Creator in 2026 (ft. Aryy)

What does it actually look like to build a music career from the ground up as an artist in 2026? 

This week Dmitri sits down with Aryyzona, a Brazillian-born, LA-based artist who has been posting videos on YouTube since 2009 and recently released her hyper pop EP Gacha World, complete with a custom video game. 

With over a million YouTube subscribers and a devoted following across TikTok and Instagram, Aryy has a perspective on the creator economy that challenges a lot of assumptions. She breaks down why she refuses to call herself a social-first artist even though she posts constantly, how she balances paid brand partnerships with creative integrity, and what the traditional music industry gets wrong about creators who built their audiences outside the label system.

They also get into the emotional reality of being a music creator, including separating your self-worth from your analytics, navigating hate comments, and staying grounded when engagement is unpredictable. Plus, Aryy shares a story how her ukelele videos once landed her on a Southwest Airlines flight to Hawaii to teach an entire cabin of passengers how to play ukulele. 

If you are a musician trying to understand the creator economy, a content creator wondering whether you can make it as an artist, or someone who wants an honest look at building an audience and a music career at the same time, this episode if for you

The news

• Sony in advanced talks to buy Blackstone’s Recognition Music for up to $4B, reports Bloomberg

• YouTube allows creators to replace music with copyright issues with genAI songs

• Zuckerberg Personally Authorized Massive Copyright Infringement to Train AI, Multiple Publishers Allege

• Suno CEO Calls AI Platform “Ozempic of the Music Industry”

• How Duetti Finds Big Value in Small Catalogs: ‘It’s Not About Aggregating Rights… It’s About Taking Care of Them’

• Nebula becomes latest fan-to-artist investment platform

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Episode Transcript

Machine transcribed

[00:00:00] Dmitri: Aryy was born and raised in Brazil, now based in Los Angeles. She's been posting videos on YouTube since 2009 and finally started releasing her music under her name, Ari, A- R-Y-Y, in 2020, with her latest hyper-pop EP Gacha World dropping in the beginning of April this year. You gotta check it out.

There's more to talk about. Aryy, I'm so excited you're here. How are you?

[00:00:22] Aryy: I'm so good. I'm so excited to be here with you as well.

[00:00:26] Dmitri: Yeah. And, you know, like, I've been following you on Instagram for awhile, so I get to see all your content. But for anyone who didn't get to meet you at the Music Tectonics conference, where you were there in full colors, or who hasn't found your Instagram or your YouTube, TikTok, describe what you do.

[00:00:41] Aryy: Oh, I've been posting mainly music content since 2009, and I love just, like, playing, singing, sharing my own music, testing different instruments, uh, that kind of ... I love testing new instruments and seeing what music technology is out there. And also some, like, just lifestyle fun stuff as well.

[00:01:02] Dmitri: Yeah. How did you get started with the posting on socials?

[00:01:05] Aryy: So, it was ... The year was 2009. I was ... it was just, like, the beginning of YouTube. And I loved watching those girls like Christina Greamy and, like, Tiffany Alford back in the day, posting covers, posting their originals. And I was actually, like, super shy. I started playing and singing when I was 14, like, at around that time.

And, um, I was super shy to sing in front of people in real life, but I loved watching these girls on YouTube, and they inspired me to just put myself out there. And then I found that when I recorded videos and posted, I was ... Like, I wasn't shy about showing it to the world, because it was just me on the camera, usually in my grandma's bathroom, or in their living room or something.

Pretty acoustics. Uh, so I wasn't shy doing that, so that's how I got started, like, back then. And right away, I was posting, like, covers and also my original songs as I would write them, and then I would post them already, like, since back then.

[00:02:10] Dmitri: Yeah. Nice. And, and, I mean, you are a songwriter and a recording artist, and your following has gotten pretty big.

You have this regular cadence of content. What do you think were the moments that kinda went from just, like, "I'm gonna try this and post onto YouTube to sort of where you've become with great followings today

[00:02:28] Aryy: today." I didn't start it with anything in mind of being, like, uh ... Influencers didn't exist back then, right?

So when I started, it wasn't like, "Oh, I'm gonna try to be doing this and to get a following." It was really about connecting with people and just, like, I create because I have to. Like, you know, inside of me, I have to put it out and I love sharing it and I love connecting with other people around the world.

So that's, like, why I did it. It was never, like, "I'm gonna try to be something."

[00:03:01] Dmitri: Mm-hmm.

[00:03:02] Aryy: Like, you know, it wasn't I'm gonna try to be an artist. I wasn't gonna try to be an influencer. It was just, like, I wanna share and I wanna connect.

[00:03:10] Dmitri: So it's just through that early posting, that continuous cadence and so forth that you've built up this, this big audience.

[00:03:16] Aryy: Yeah. It's been like during YouTube, it was my main back in the day, you know, before Instagram, before, like, TikTok, before anything. And I used to post, like, you know, every month or, like, every week or something like that. And, and throughout the years, as more opportunities started happening too, like, with more platforms or just, like, possibility to actually make some income or things like that, I started just posting more on, like, Instagram and when it, since it came out, since it happened.

[00:03:46] Dmitri: Mm.

[00:03:46] Aryy: And then, like, TikTok I've been posting since 2020 and just, like, ever since I started releasing my own music too, that's when I started my TikTok account and that was in 2020 and it was like, okay, now I have to, like, really have this constant posting. But it wasn't ever to me like, "Oh, I have to do this.

I hate this. " No, like, since the beginning, I love making content. So I was bored at home. Like, of course we make content all day, like, we weren't during quarantine, you know?

[00:04:15] Dmitri: Yeah, totally. It's interesting because, um, there's, like, this, uh, and you probably saw this at Music Tectonics, there's this, like, convergence of, like, people who follow the traditional path of the record industry, and then there's creators like you who follow this other path of sort of, like, "I just love making music and sharing with people.

And I think a lot of people in the music industry, they know that artists need to post regularly on socials to build up their audience and for people to discover their music and their Spotify and their Apple and all this stuff. But you're this other generation or this other, I don't know, culture of artists who flip the script.

You're building an audience around content. Sure, it's musical, there's songs, et cetera, but it's not necessarily releases. You can just, like, do a cover song or write a new song and post like draft, a demo almost. And then you're, you know, whatever other things that you feel like posting.

I mean, I've seen you've got your martial arts and video game, all sorts of stuff on, on social posts. I guess what I wanna ask you is, what do you think people in the traditional music industry get wrong about social creators?

[00:05:15] Aryy: I think there, there's a lot of misconception, right, about, like, oh, these, like, TikTok people making music or whatever, whatever.

And the way that I see it is, like, we have all of these amazing ways to connect with people nowadays. Like, why are we not gonna do that? And, um, I love connecting with people, like, we're all multifaceted beings, you know? I love connecting with people in different ways. I love sharing my martial arts. I love sharing thoughts.

I love sharing music as well, and we're able to connect with people in different ways. And I see that sometimes people in the traditional, I guess, industry don't take that as seriously, you know?

[00:06:00] Dmitri: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:00] Aryy: You kind of have to be a niche product, like, at this mysterious image. And, like, I'm not mysterious. I'm not gonna, like, also pretend that I am, and that doesn't make me less of an artist, you know?

[00:06:15] Dmitri: Mm.

Yeah.

[00:06:16] Aryy: If anything, it's more like I'm closer to the audience because we're relatable. You know, I'm tell ... I'm working my day job. I'm doing life and I'm making music and, yeah.

[00:06:27] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:06:28] Aryy: I don't think one is better than the other in any way. Like, the people who don't have to do that because they're traditional, like, good for them.

 but also, like, I love doing the content and there's not one that's better than the other. It's just different.

[00:06:43] Dmitri: Yeah. Interesting. Okay. Cool. So what have been some of the best things about being such a prolific video creator as a musical artist? And then what are some of the biggest challenges?

[00:06:54] Aryy: I think one of the best things is, like, some cool opportunities that happen just because you're doing that.

Like, I, I don't know if you, if you were around for that time, but a few years back, like, I got to play ukulele on a plane, like, on the way to Hawaii and we, like, gave people a ukelele lesson and ukeleles and got to perform. And that's, like, the kind of experience that I would never have the chance to do if I wasn't creating content or even, like, uh, going to places like, you know, the music tectonics and conferences and experiencing all of this novelty that happens in the music world, that if I wasn't making content, it would just be, like, way harder for me to be able to be testing out all these things and having all these cool opportunities and connecting with people from, like, all over the world.

And, um, challenges for me is the ... It's just very unstable, right? Like, content, if you post content for long enough, you understand that your quote unquote success comes in waves.

[00:08:02] Dmitri: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:02] Aryy: And so, like, there's times where you're writing real high and there's times where that, when it's real low and there's times when your engagement's amazing, there's times when it sucks.

There's videos that for some reason get, like, millions of views and sometimes they have, like, nothing. And so it is challenging to separate your value as an artist and as a human from the analytics of your social platforms sometimes. Like when you ... There was a time during quarantine, mainly I was doing content full time and it got really hard at some point to differentiate, like, my value as a human.

 if my videos or my songs weren't doing well, and that kind of really messes with your mind and, like, haters telling you hateful stuff and, like, like really trying to tear you apart, like with every comment, I still suffer with that, like, all the time, but I've been in a good and stable mental space now where I can, differentiate that better, like, what is me and what is projections from unhappy people sitting on their couches.

Uh, so that is definitely challenging sometimes, like, when you're doing really bad in, in numbers and to be like, "Do I just suck?" But then, like, you post one more video and that video does really well and you're like, "Oh, I don't suck." But it's just like a co- a rollercoaster of emotions, you know?

[00:09:31] Dmitri: That sounds really hard.

I mean, I've seen so much stuff that you're posting. I can just imagine how much time and effort and energy and soul you put into every single video. It's like sometimes you're out at a park having a picnic playing music, demonstrating an instrument. Sometimes you're literally in the martial arts, uh, studio, you know, demonstrating some moves.

You're really good.

[00:09:50] Aryy: Thank you.

[00:09:51] Dmitri: And then sometimes you're doing, like, a live stage performance where it's like, whoa, this is a full on music video right here, you know? Thank you. Like, it must've taken so much production. I'm like, "How does she do this all the time?"

[00:10:01] Aryy: Yeah, thank you. I'm, I just became very organized over time.

Like- I, I lo- I'm a planner, like, and I very organized and I am very passionate about making videos, okay? So I feel like that is already, like, gotta put that out there because a lot of people, a lot of artists don't like making content, and I do. I genuinely enjoy. Like, I get so upset when I've been on my day job for, like, four days, uh, a week or something, and then I only have, like, one business day left to create, and I have to cram a bunch of stuff on that day, because what I want to do is be creative all the time.

[00:10:41] Dmitri: Mm.

[00:10:41] Aryy: But I've gotten to a point where, like, I organize my days off from ... Well, I d- did get a day job for, like, a little more stability because even sponsored posts or, like, making money online is also very unstable. So, you know, sometimes you'll end a deal, but then you might, it might be another month, it might be another two months until you land another one or, or maybe one deal won't pay for rent in LA.

You know what I mean?

[00:11:08] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:11:09] Aryy: Yeah,

[00:11:09] Dmitri: totally.

[00:11:09] Aryy: So, so I've been working my other job for, like, the stability and then usually on Fridays, Saturdays. I avoid, working on Sundays nowadays, only if I really have to. For Saturdays, I also try, I'm trying a lot of therapy, a lot of, like, mental health. Like I need the day off also.

So I'll just plan and be like, okay, this Friday I'm gonna record, like, a batch to record sometimes. I'll go to the park and I'll bring different outfits and I'll have rehearsed different songs.

[00:11:39] Dmitri: Wow. Wow.

[00:11:40] Aryy: And, but the only bad part of it is that I wish I could do it every day. Yeah. I wish I could go every day to the park and do more so that I didn't have to cram five days in one, but you, you just learn to be organized over time.

[00:11:55] Dmitri: I guess so. You're very organized, obviously, to do this much, this much content and have a day job. You know, I, I have a kind of a slightly different question, and I don't, I don't even know how to ask this exactly. Again, I mentioned that music tectonics, we see this convergence of sort of like the music industry and the creator industries, and obviously you're very musical.

It's not like you're not part of the music industry, but, you know, like the recorded streaming world versus the TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, video creation side. I sometimes think, uh, and, and use this term social first music creator. What do you think about that term? Is that even a thing? Should there not even be a distinction?

[00:12:30] Aryy: I think that that is a thing, but the way that I interpret that phrase, I wouldn't put myself in that group.

[00:12:42] Dmitri: Oh, wow.

[00:12:42] Aryy: Because there are artists and/creators that I know of because they openly talk about it online, that they will literally write music for social media.

[00:12:56] Dmitri: Mm-hmm.

[00:12:56] Aryy: And so I would put that in social first, you know what I mean?

Yeah. Yeah. Like there's even artists like I've seen, I think it was Somber that talked about it recently that he would like come up with a little snippet of a song, post it on TikTok and only finish writing the song if it did well, you know what I mean? I would call that a social first artist, but I wouldn't call myself that because I don't think it's like a social f- I, when I'm writing or making music, I'm not thinking about like the person that's gonna hear it.

I just wanna translate the feeling what I feel and put it out there- Yeah. ... and hope that it reaches the right people. And, uh, so, so yeah, I do think that that's a thing.

[00:13:42] Dmitri: Yeah,

yeah.

[00:13:42] Aryy: But I don't think-

[00:13:43] Dmitri: Yeah,

gotcha.

[00:13:43] Aryy: I think I'm, I'm a, I'm both a creator because I also do other stuff like, you know, like lifestyle and things like that in an artist, but I, it's never like, I don't live my life for the socials.

[00:13:55] Dmitri: Yes.

[00:13:55] Aryy: And I think that that is a thing that I do see often in the creator and artist world, you know?

[00:14:01] Dmitri: Yeah. Sounds like there's more of a spectrum there than I, uh, implied with my term, you know?

[00:14:07] Aryy: No,

for sure. It's just how I interpreted it, you know? Yeah. Like I don't know exactly how you meant it, but I'm like, when I see social first, I'm like, yeah.

[00:14:17] Dmitri: Yeah, you think of yourself as a musician first.

[00:14:19] Aryy: see that, that's confu- the first. That's what's hard.

[00:14:22] Dmitri: There is no first.

[00:14:23] Aryy: I guess. Like I'm an artist first because when I create, to me, it's all about the creation. It's all about the arts. Like I love-

[00:14:34] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:14:34] Aryy: ... going into the studio or just like writing songs in my bedroom or, or something.

And then, the creating everything is also because I just really enjoy creating.

[00:14:45] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:14:45] Aryy: I don't know. Like, I love creating anything. You know, I love drawing. I love like creating videos. I love creating music. It, the first is very confusing for my brain.

[00:14:58] Dmitri: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, okay, this is great. I feel like we got a good quick intro into your world.

We have to take a quick break and when we come back, I wanna ask you about the business side a little bit more and maybe some other stories. We'll be right back. Okay. We're back. Aryy. Super fun to kinda start to get to know you through your interview and this conversation. Before we talk about the business side, I'm wondering, could you tell us some stories about some of the most amazing interactions you've had or friendships you've made as a result of your video content creation?

[00:15:31] Aryy: Oh my gosh. I've, I've met so many amazing people and just like, uh, through music creation, okay, opportunities and like, I'll say the thing about playing ukulele on the plane, like that was definitely one of the best things I've ever done, like best experiences I've ever had that only-

[00:15:49] Dmitri: What, what

happens when you did that?

[00:15:51] Aryy: Huh?

[00:15:52] Dmitri: What happened when you did that? What, what was the experience like? Like how did people react?

[00:15:55] Aryy: Oh, it was, people loved it. People had s- and it's crazy because on the internet I got, the video got so much hate. It also got so much love, but it got like millions of views. It went like super viral. It was like a guitar center and Southwest collaboration and, uh, the video did super well for the campaign, which made me so happy.

But then so many people in the comments were like, "Oh, the flight of my nightmares, like I would literally off myself." And I'm like, no, like, you don't understand. Everybody was so happy on that plane because we were on the way to Hawaii. So like I got that opportunity two days before the flight. It was a Wednesday-

[00:16:39] Dmitri: Wow.

[00:16:39] Aryy: I was at home, I get an email and they're like, "Oh, are you available Friday to play on the plane to Hawaii?" I'm like, "I thought I was getting scammed." I was like, no way.

[00:16:53] Dmitri: Oh, the old, the old ukulele, uh, flight to Hawaii scam. I know that one.

[00:16:57] Aryy: Oh, I swear to God, I started like searching the woman from the email on LinkedIn.

I was like, "Is this real? Like I'm very confused." And then I was like, "Sure." And I was like, still the day before, I was like, "I'm gonna believe it when I actually sign a contract and like actually when I'm there." And, um, then I get there, when we go into the plane, they had set out ukeleles as a present for each passenger on their seats.

[00:17:27] Dmitri: Wow.

[00:17:27] Aryy: And they offered to, "You can take the uke with you or we can ship it to wherever you want us to ship it to like to your house or wherever." And then for like 30 minutes after we got on air, the teachers taught a simple and we had like cards on how to play and then people's face, it was priceless.

Everybody was having like the time of their lives. And then after the class, I went to perform a few of my songs because I started releasing music with ukulele music. It was a, a big instrument of mine, like on my YouTube and everything and, um, people were loving it. They were like, "Okay, come walking down the aisle because we can't hear as well."

And so I was singing, even like the babies were like chilling and people were so happy. I had the best time ever and that's to me is like, there's no, this would have never happened if I didn't put myself out there and post videos, you know, because they found me through my ukulele videos. So it's like, it's just something incredible to me that, that these opportunities exist in life and that I got to do that.

[00:18:38] Dmitri: That's cool.

[00:18:38] Aryy: Um, and as for people, I meet amazing people through the music conferences and also through just like social media and creation all the time. I've made friends at music tectonics. It's such a nice, such a nice time and like such nice people. I love connecting like last music tectonics. I sat right beside Blonde in Car

I love her videos. Like she plays the omnichord and so do I. And I looked at her and I was like, "Are you? " And she's like, "Yeah." And I was like, "Oh my God." And now like we comment on each other's videos. I'm like, "I love this so much." I would have never connected with these people if it wasn't through all of us putting ourselves out there.

And some of my best friends nowadays like here in my group in LA, it's because of content creation. Like one of my, one of my closest friends here, Sophie, she's an artist too and I just saw her at NAM a few years back and I was like, "I follow you on TikTok." And then from there we became friends and we like, you know, hang out all the time and make videos and make a, we made the, the karaoke video thing together and like we're, and I'm like, I love that it, it's all like- minded people, you know, that we're all putting ourselves out there and creating and singing and just doing what we love and getting to connect with people because of that.

[00:20:06] Dmitri: It is really interesting that the video aspect, you're putting so much of yourself out with video. You know, if you're just on recordings, just streaming with the occasional music video or something like that, you get sort of like, prototype or like an archetype of who the artist is.

But if you see video, you like start to know them. And then if two artists are posting videos and they're playing the same instrument like you said, or they just find out they live nearby or they meet up at a, a conference or an event or something like that, all of a sudden it's like you're almost more open to that in real, real life meetup in a sense because you already start to know each other.

It's kind of like a podcasting.

[00:20:42] Aryy: Yeah. And we like understand each other's struggles, you know? Like we were talking about the challenges and the like, hardness of separating yourself, like your worth from your content and, and all the hate and things that we go through. Other creators know exactly what that is.

Like we all know it's like to be cringe, you know, and it's to be free and we all know- ... Uh, what it's like to put ourselves out there that way. I

[00:21:10] Dmitri: never

[00:21:10] Aryy: heard that

[00:21:10] Dmitri: line. I love that. That's so good. So, um, I'm gonna take a, a slight turn here. I'm wondering if I can ask you how the business side of being a creator works.

Do you, uh, you know, can I ask, do you make more of a living from video content or from music? What are the different revenue streams that work for someone like you?

[00:21:30] Aryy: I barely make any money from music. If you look at my tax returns, it's always negative there, like how much I spend in the studio and to record and to eat.

And that's because I take most of my own photos or edit most of my own photos and videos and everything. with music, I barely make like anything, definitely negative at the end of the year for now, but that's because I'm not streaming, you know, those numbers yet, and I'm not like on tour, which is my dream.

I really hope I can do that. And hopefully I think that when I get to go on tour and then sell merch and that, and that will help to bring more income on the music side. But for me, the, creator side, of, it's still in music, which is a lot of my, like my side, but not like my original songs, right, is what definitely brings in more income, even more than my day job, but like, but not stable enough that I can count on it all the time.

[00:22:33] Dmitri: Yeah, yeah. Ups and downs. And so what, what, where does that come from? Is that the partnerships that you're talking about? Is it rev shares with the platforms? Is there

something

else

like Patreon?

[00:22:43] Aryy: Partnerships. Yeah. Because like even as a YouTuber, I don't know, do you know exactly how the, like, the

YouTube-

[00:22:50] Dmitri: I don't know the exact splits.

[00:22:51] Aryy: Okay. So if you post covers, which is a lot of my thing, you have to share like copyright with the label or with the artist or whatever and you don't get to put ads in between your song, right? When you're singing a cover. So you make a l- I make a lot less, like almost nothing-

[00:23:11] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:23:11] Aryy: ... from, from the YouTube video singing videos.

Uh, when it's a vlog then, or like review of an instrument and stuff like that, you get to put more ad breaks and also just like if you're not covering a song, you don't have to share that video like revenue with the label. But for me, in my case, it, I don't really make a lot on like platform paying-

[00:23:34] Dmitri: Revenues.

[00:23:35] Aryy: paying out for views or whatever, almost nothing. So for me, it's usually just like paid partnerships-

[00:23:42] Dmitri: mm-hmm.

[00:23:43] Aryy: ... which happened a lot like what I, I only work with people that I believe in the product, you know, so I, I'm not gonna work with any, just anything either. And I love, and I created a career of testing all different instruments and like, or a lot of things related in the music world and the occasional like beauty or other things that I'm passionate about.

But, uh, so it's usually from like, oh, I'm reviewing an instrument or promoting an instrument like, some things like that generally. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:16] Dmitri: Yeah. I got you. Okay. Well, that's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't sure whether, um ... I mean, you have a lot of followers. You get, some of your videos get tons, millions of views, um, but it's interesting to hear that in the end, it's still the, the partnerships that's really driving the revenue side, um,

which-

[00:24:30] Aryy: Oh, totally.

[00:24:31] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:24:31] Aryy: It's crazy. Like I, I even did a video on my YouTube back in, I think it was like 2021, because that was the biggest year of mine on YouTube. Like that was the year I reached a million subs and I had, I remember, I remember the numbers slightly from the video because it was so shocking to me. And that year, I had over 23 million views on my YouTube videos and I made like $6,000 in the year from the platform.

Yeah. And I'm like, that's really not a lot for that amount of use, you know? So I, I learned I learned the hard way that like for my niche, there's not much money in the revenue-

[00:25:14] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:25:14] Aryy: ... from the platform directly.

[00:25:15] Dmitri: Yeah. it might be you're going out to dinner once in a while money, but it's not paying the rent.

[00:25:20] Aryy: Oh, definitely not paying the rent. Yeah. Especially LA Rent.

Yeah.

[00:25:26] Dmitri: So I'm curious, what, what are some new things that you're trying in your career in 2026 and what are some things that you hope to try out in the future years?

[00:25:34] Aryy: Hmm, that I'm trying in my career. Yeah. I'm trying to think if there's any like new things.

[00:25:41] Dmitri: Well, I saw you posted about a video game you made.

[00:25:45] Aryy: Oh, yeah. I'm very excited about that. So yeah, like in my music career, this year, well, back in April, I just released my HyperPop EP, which is very different than the other music I had out there. And, uh, so I guess that's new in my career in 2026.

[00:26:02] Dmitri: Another style.

Yeah.

[00:26:04] Aryy: And together with the EP, uh, me and my boyfriend, fiance, we made a video game. I feel so obnoxious saying that word that I was just nice to stick with boyfriend most of the time. Um, we made a whole video game that was like, I'm a huge gamer and so was he. And so like when I started making this like what turned out to be hyper pop music, it was very just like video game theme, like video game inspired.

And so I started drawing, I drew like all the pixel art, like every frame, like everything. Wow. So, so exciting for me because I love, I love doing a lot of different things. And then my boyfriend, he knows how to program and stuff. He went to programming school and like whatever that's called. And so he programmed the whole game and we worked together on that.

And he's also my producer, right? So he produced most of the songs-

[00:26:59] Dmitri: Wow.

[00:27:00] Aryy: ... on the EP. So we worked together a lot. And that was like so exciting for me, like to release the video game. I'm so happy with it. I love trying different things and experimenting with different things like that.

[00:27:15] Dmitri: Yeah. When you look out into the future, is there something that you hope

I, I guess you mentioned you'd like to tour sometime. That would be a,

that would be a big change.

[00:27:21] Aryy: Yeah, that's literally my biggest dream.

[00:27:23] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:27:23] Aryy: Like if there's a, if I could say, oh, what, what do you want the rest of the year to look like or like next year to look like? I wanna be like booked and busy on the road, like showering at Planet Fitness.

Like I'm okay with that. Just like take me- ... Take me on tour. I just wanna be on the stage. Like I just, it's my favorite thing to do in life. It's like I love playing live shows because I, I love making videos, but a lot of it to me is about the connection with the audience. Like, you know, like since the beginning, I was so shy and then connecting with the audience and live show is like just that to the max.

It's like I get to play and people watch at the same time and we're all sharing this moment together. So that's like all I wanna do with my life. Like no joke.

[00:28:11] Dmitri: Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Awesome. Cool. Well, you've mentioned this as part of your, your revenue streams and the business conversations. You get to play a lot of new gear and products.

I'm curious, what are some of your recent favorites?

[00:28:25] Aryy: Ooh, recent ... I was just testing out a new one right before this meeting actually-

[00:28:30] Dmitri: Oh yeah?

[00:28:31] Aryy: ... that I'm excited for.

[00:28:33] Dmitri: What is it?

[00:28:33] Aryy: Um, that is a, is a really fun one. It's called like the Cyber G Pocket and, uh, it's like, I don't know if you've seen me play the Cyber G which is like that hybrid instrument that's like keyboard and pads.

That is like one of my recent faves because I think it's just so fun and it looks so cool and I enjoy like messing around with that. And then I also, I have to put out there that the Omnicord is not that new to me anymore, but like it's new in the past couple years to me and it's like one of my favorite instruments and like super different too and just like so, so fun And, uh, the Blipblox, the myTracks, I, I just love it.

I love these instruments that look super different and like fun. So I guess these three are like, like, you know, the Cyber G now with Pocket two, the Blipblox, the Omnicord are things that are just like, this is so cool. Like how do you look at this? And they're not like-

[00:29:35] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:29:35] Aryy: ... this is awesome.

[00:29:36] Dmitri: They look,

they, they look like they come from space.

All of them come from

like-

[00:29:39] Aryy: Yeah. ...

[00:29:39] Dmitri: a different planet or something.

[00:29:40] Aryy: Yeah, like it look, they look like a cartoon instrument. And I, I'm all about that. Like, you know, I wanna live inside a cartoon. I want to live in a video game actually. Like, yes, give me a weird looking instrument.

[00:29:55] Dmitri: They do. They kinda look like

game controllers too, don't they?

A lot of them look like

game

controllers, yeah.

[00:29:59] Aryy: Oh, totally. Yeah. The, the Blipblox is so game controller and that to me is just- Yeah. ... a vibe in itself. And like same with the Cyber G, that looks straight out of like a futuristic, like it would be on Futurama to me, you know? Yeah. Like people playing that.

So-

[00:30:15] Dmitri: Yeah,

[00:30:16] Aryy: totally. Thank you. And OmniCord is on adventure time, so, which is the reason why I love that instrument.

[00:30:24] Dmitri: So, uh, one, one more big question. I'm curious, how do you balance the, paid promotions with being true to yourself, to your creative vision and to serving your fans? And do you see that as different?

Like one video's different than the other or yeah, how do you address that kind of potential challenge?

[00:30:41] Aryy: I only accept partnerships with things that I a- align with. so that's not like hard for me. Like, you know, if I don't align with something, if I don't, uh, then I'm, then I'm just not gonna promote it.

I'm not gonna accept the money for it, which is kind of like, I do acting and commercial type of thing too. And a lot of times for those you don't even know what's happening, like until you show up. So that's different to me because that's acting.

[00:31:10] Dmitri: Yeah.

[00:31:11] Aryy: But what goes into my page and to my audience, I only do what makes sense.

Yeah. Yeah.

[00:31:17] Dmitri: Yeah, yeah. That makes sense. That

makes it-

[00:31:18] Aryy: I think it's fun and, and I genuinely like it. I say yes. And if I don't think it's a good fit, I'm generally honest with the people too. And I say, "Hey, I, I don't think I'm the right fit for that. " So-

[00:31:31] Dmitri: Yeah, yeah. Cool. Well, this has been so fun getting to know you more.

I mean, I got to see you at Music Tectonics. I got to see you at NAMM. Um, but getting to, you know, hearing from you to, like share the inside story of how you go about what you do and how it all works for you has been super valuable. I guess I'll end with one last question. You mentioned you met some people at Music Tectonics.

Were there any other favorite things you, uh, experienced you were attending Music Tectonics conference last year?

[00:31:57] Aryy: Oh, last year was really fun. Like it was fun because it was my second time there. So I had already met some people the year before and it was really nice to see them again and like deepen the, bond, you know?

And so that was really fun. And Music Tectonics, I just love meeting like Blond in Car. It was so nice. I met some other really nice girls and been following their content since now. I loved ... I, I ... Well, I ended up working with Blipblox right after seeing and meeting them again at Music Tactonics. That was super awesome for me to like see them.

I loved seeing that, oh my gosh, what is that called?

[00:32:36] Dmitri: The Tembo?

[00:32:37] Aryy: Yes. I was like, I was gonna call it Tempo. I'm like, " It's not Tempo. What is it called? "I loved seeing that. I love what I really like about the music's tectonics, especially like in comparison to like a bigger conference like NAMM, right? Which we all also go to is how intimate it feels.

So, and how there are people from really like the business side of music there and the barrier of meeting them and starting a conversation dissipates. So it's just re- very friendly to walk up to people and like just take that barrier. I'm kind of shy actually. Like I know I don't seem like that, but I'm kind of shy to reach out to people sometimes and like, I don't know, I'm kind of scared everybody's gonna hate me or something.

And in music tectonics, it always felt like everybody's super friendly, super ready to make friends, super ready to like connect in some way. And, um, I had a really great time there last year.

[00:33:34] Dmitri: Awesome. That makes me so happy to hear that, that, that we're able to remove those barriers. I think the setting is great, the intimacy of just a s- a smaller event, um, and just the vibe.

It's fun being at the carousel, being at the, the beach house, all those things, um, hopefully make that possible, but I'm so happy to hear that from you. Aryy, this has been so great to get to speak with you. I appreciate you taking the time. I'm excited to see you again at Music Tectonics, I hope, fingers crossed.

[00:33:59] Aryy: Oh, I'd love

to go. Yeah.

[00:34:01] Dmitri: Yeah. Nice. So I've been talking with Aryy. It's A- R-Y-Y. That's where you'll find her username on YouTube and on, um, other socials. Sometimes it's Aryyzona, A- R-Y-Y-Z-O-N-A. Aryy, thanks again. Look forward to seeing you soon.

[00:34:15] Aryy: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Let us know what you think! Find us on LinkedIn, and Instagram, or connect with podcast host Dmitri Vietze on LinkedIn.

The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Weekly episodes include interviews with music tech movers & shakers, deep dives into seismic shifts, and more.