 So tonight we got my boy deep October as a special guest Yes, well So deep October is an artist from Charlotte, North Carolina. Tonight. We're gonna be talking about some Different ways y'all could go about building building a fan base from scratch online My boy deep October Charlotte, North Carolina Different ways y'all could go about building building a fan base from scratch online I think you got it pulled up on another screen. I think you're watching the stream on another screen as well. You hear me, bro I'm doing this off There you go Was popping What's up, bro? Yeah, I couldn't hear anything for a second cuz like it was like like two audios were over playing each other So I couldn't hear anything. I think you got it pulled up on another screen. I think you're watching the stream on You are watching the stream on another screen as well Mr. Deep October All right Yeah, my fault for the silence there for a minute. I didn't know what was going on with that So did you mute it though? Oh Yeah, no, I did I just exited out the top that it was in I forgot I pulled it up on YouTube first So all right bet bet. Okay y'all so my bad about the technical difficulties Tonight we gonna be talking about Different ways y'all could build a fan base online and offline Let's go. This is my boy deep October. Thank you, Mr. Deep October for coming in tonight Go ahead and tell the people a little bit about yourself. They already know a little bit about me So I'm gonna let you start off My name is deep October. I stay in Charlotte, North Carolina. I started making music like 2014 and started taking it seriously like 2000 and probably 17 is whenever I really started, you know, like taking it seriously and make a shit happen You know, that's really all there is to know man. I just I just enjoy making music and Yeah, that's it. I live out here in Charlotte. So So you started taking it serious in 2017 what you mean by that like as far as just recording all the time or actually Investing into the music that yeah, actually investing I'm getting up with people who had, you know, like the same intentions of making it a career as I did Um, like before it was kind of more just like a hobby like I started when I was in high school And I was recording just because I could I made actually one song when I still went by like my my government name and It did pretty good at least for like my high school and then after that like I was still kind of making music But it wasn't anything serious. I would just go over to a friend's house and I record on like a usb microphone Um, usually an audacity was like what I started off using like the most basic of all basic programs to record in and um Yeah, so It wasn't until about 2017 I think I was like 18 at that time and I had moved out and I decided that it was actually what I wanted to do So then I started like investing in myself going to actual studios or people who had studios in their houses That were actually professional and knew what they were doing. So That's pretty much that means so so did it start to take off for you? When you started releasing higher quality music Would you say? Yeah, actually you think the quality even had a lot to do with it No, the quality definitely did have a lot to do with it. So um Like you you mentioned once I'm on your stream like how important uh a mix is and I agree with that it wasn't until I had probably put out at least like 16 songs on my own Like just shit that I was doing by myself and with a friend who didn't really know what he was doing And the mix wasn't all that good. It's actually still up on my soundcloud too But it was just way different back then and I didn't really have any professional mixing and we were recording off of just very basic equipment and then I ended up going to I met this one guy through the girl I was dating at the time and um, he had a studio at his house And he was working on being a mixing engineer and he kind of just like he didn't charge me at the time Which I'm lucky for uh, and he just brought me over to his crib and We made a song and like just through the sheer fact that Uh, his mixing was so good and made like really made my vocals come out in a different sense that they hadn't before That's when stuff really started. That's when people really started to tune in and listen Yeah, that mix is important. I try to tell people that as much as possible You know when you really want to start to take things to the next level You know, you got to have that mix. So this this episode that we're doing right now is Is for people that have have the music ready to go Like if you have a song and the mix is there and you believe in that project Then I feel like it's time to start investing and getting that fan base You know, whether it's spending money on advertisement or setting up to do shows But I believe that until you get your product right until you have your mix, right? You need to focus all your time and energy on getting that mix together on getting that product together getting that Presentation together. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, no, it's so important because like the thing is that like when it comes to mixing your vocals and having a Uh a sound in your voice That is like listenable. It has to do with the replay value It's really hard for people It's it's easier for people to hear a song and think it sounds good But it's really hard for them to like listen to it over and over again Usually the reason being is because the mix isn't done, right? Or like their vocals just like sound watery like if they use autotune or Just things of that nature and it's super important for people to have those like Just it doesn't even have to be professional work Just something that sounds like quality that sounds like you put time into it whenever and you didn't just just Layer vocals over a beat and say okay. I'm done with it and uh But I mean like there's other things too that are super important like whenever it comes to actually like uh like marketing yourself As an individual too that kind of steps away from the uh like the mixing side of things Yeah, I feel like when people Have that mix down when they have that product then it's time to really focus on marketing But until then like I said all energy guys I would Put into getting that sound together finding that right engineer. That's going to make your music sound good Investing in the equipment that you need to record quality vocals I think for most people is smart for them to figure out how to do that by themselves That's something that I really wish that I did from the start was learn how to do all this by myself because like I'm kind of I kind of gave up the reins on a lot of things when it came to like making beats or Um mixing my own my own vocals and I'm trying to learn a little bit now But it's like whenever you learn how to do that stuff yourself and you actually educate yourself Educating yourself is so important and it's so like you can just go on youtube and learn how to do these things And then you'll never have to rely on somebody else to do it for you And uh, also, you know, it takes like having other people being not not like not like your friends who are yes men But like honest people around you telling you like Okay, this sounds good and this doesn't sound good and that all comes along with like educating yourself on how to do it as well So if you can learn to make your own beats and you can learn to record and mix your own vocals You really got to go mine because You could just create Digital asset after digital asset after digital asset and not have to rely on anyone else Every song that every song you put out is going to be an additional stream of revenue It's going to be another chance for you to make some money. So That is important. I feel like if you have the time to To educate yourself And you have a knack for it naturally Educate yourself because that's going to put you in the best position being able to do everything everything by by yourself Yeah, I've had so many bumps on the roads because like I I fell out with engineers or A producer who I worked with often Just like we grew apart and weren't we didn't have the same chemistry we used to and every single time I find myself in the same position like Honestly wishing that I had learned how to because I've spent so much time on music already It's probably been like six years now Since I officially started that like that's one thing I think about a lot is that it would it you really do How like you said you have a goldmine you really do have a better chance at doing Doing it yourself just because you know exactly what you want to hear And you don't have to go through a bunch of trials and errors to find out like who's going to mix me the best and You know all that shit. So So right now. Are you still uh going and paying for studio time and paying for mixing? Nah, so actually, um I make enough income now for music to where I can split with my producers and one of my uh, one of my friends who lives with me He's my roommate. He's actually uh, his name is sonny vega. He's done a lot of my a lot of my music Um, he mixes my stuff and he produces it and I split revenue with him whenever I release music Yeah, so we make we make money off of streams doing shows from time to time. Um Selling features as well Sorry, um, so it was popular screen selling features as well. Um things like that But yeah, we we usually split revenue and that that's how we that's how we do now But there was a time there was a time where I was paying a lot of money Like I don't I think people underestimate how much money it actually takes to invest in yourself in music like people people like I used to get really discouraged just by spending like Like let's say like $500 to get an album and that's just a rough price But like $500 to get an album mixed-mask dude and recorded But later on I realized how much it benefited me as an artist to do that Definitely people get scared to invest in their selves because like it's money And it seems like it's money going into nothing because like it doesn't work right away So like it is really hard to like see it as it uh as that money serving a purpose But in time it really does in time like you look back and you realize it definitely did serve a purpose So out of the fan base that you have would you say more came from? Doing things locally or or would you say more came from building the buzz online? Um, yeah, so that's actually uh, that's actually a good question. Um So like my buzz originally started I'm trying to like think about how to keep this short. Um, so it started online that's where it all like really started it happening at was online and um For a while like I was getting You know 10k streams on a song because at the time I wasn't on Spotify It was just soundcloud and um I was getting 10k streams on a song within like two months, but like I was kind of capping at like exactly where my Like where my streams were capping off at and so I would I I ran into like this predicament where it seemed like I wasn't growing as much online as I was the previous like two years and um Someone I was really close friends with at the time Introduced me to the Charlotte music scene and at the time, um These are artists you may and have not heard of before or you may have but uh, one was NASCAR allo There was another girl. There's a girl named Belize Um, then you had 10 cell phones around so cold which are like artists that are coming up out of my city Are fairly big now and now she wanted to go to those shows and she was always telling me how they would benefit me Just by meeting people in the scene and getting out like showing my face basically for face value And um, I was really reluctant because at the time I was just so used to just doing everything and getting all of my streams and like networking online So it was a little odd for me, but I ultimately decided to And after going through that and actually getting involved in my local music scene There's a lot of people that I met where who I had never heard of but were actually already in the industry and new People and were able to connect me with other people that got me Music video placements, um promoters in the city who are who like are obviously trying to make money So they want people to perform at their shows who have some type of buzz But if so, I think people underestimate that it's super important that if you especially if you live in a big city How important it is to if if not get involved in a music scene that's already pre-existing to start one And it's super easy as well. So both both had their both had had their their benefits for short So do you want to talk about do you want to talk about? What you was doing to build a buzz online and then we'll go into talking about some things that that these artists can do locally Yeah, sure For sure. Um, so so basically Sometimes it's just luck because I in the very beginning whenever my first song went viral quote unquote Which was a song I dropped called molly melancholy. Um That was that was really lucky Basically, so I had dropped that song It was my first song that I ever had professionally mixed And it was also the first song where I was kind of doing that like singing rapping type view on Like on a track and um that one Ended up just hitting the algorithm and um at the time This was like 2017 and it got posted to a lot of playlists on soundcloud a lot of people in my city That I was mutuals with heard it. They really liked it and they shared it And um word of mouth is super important when it comes to people spreading your music so You never want to underestimate that but later on when I was dropping other songs and That hype that I got off that that one song was kind of slowly dying away um, I started getting into Networking with people online and that's one thing I want to throw in real quick Is that what people also don't understand is that when it comes to the music industry and it's something I learned really late was that it's Five percent talent and the rest is who you know whether that be virtually or in real life It's super important to meet people that already have a foothold and something you're trying to accomplish so I actually ended up getting in touch with this really big music channel and they're called trash and um I had never heard of them before and they ended up hitting me up on instagram because my best friend um actually grew up with one of the admins of that page and um, they post they posted They have over a million subscribers now They're posting people like ghost man and suicide boys and artists like that at the time and um, they asked me if they could have permission to post one of my songs and after they did that I started learning about other big music channels and They most of them charge, but I've realized how much it helps artists to get posted on YouTube channels that post am v's or music videos and even if you have to pay for it So like their standard price is probably around like five hundred dollars But they have an over a million subscribers and as soon as like someone That the thing is about having a million subscribers or just any Any music channel that has a lot of subscribers is that instantly all their videos are hitting algorithms and um I just think it I think it's super important to pay Sometimes to get put on those channels because I've done it before I um I I paid it wasn't as much at the time because they were smaller But there was another place called promoting sounds that I paid to get my song God in the room on there and it helped tremendously with how many people were able to engage and see in my song and then they find it on other platforms such as Spotify soundcloud and iTunes and all that That's a great way to to really promote your music is by um Getting getting bigger channels to post stuff for you even if you have to pay So how how do you feel about the new wave with the short form content? Uh tick tock id reels YouTube short stuff like that What like asking how I feel what exactly do you like or are are you taking advantage of those? That's something that i'm actually working on taking advantage of right now Especially tick tock is tick dude. I've seen people who Who just last year Were getting 20,000 less streams a month than I was that blew up on tick tock and now they're doing like Like gold plaque numbers just because tick tock tick tock is honestly if not one of the most important platform for getting your song heard now, but it's odd though how it works with tick tock because I saw a video the other day that was explaining how the algorithm Doesn't pick up people who are just strictly promoting their music. They have to do it in other ways like creating a challenge to a song or um Just doing something that would make a make it go viral and having the song attached to that video, but just strictly um Promoting your song on tick tock apparently doesn't actually work for the algorithm But it's but but tick tock is is like it's literally a gateway to just blowing your entire catalog up So Everybody look into Tick tock everybody look into ig reels everybody needs to look into youtube shorts Because you can create this short form content these videos that are under 30 seconds or Or these videos that are up to a minute And they just have The potential to go viral you have a much larger chance to go viral on one of these platforms But the most important thing Is your music has to be available on these platforms Your music has to be available on spotify so The most important thing That that I would say to do is get that music available on there and then you can start to create Create those videos with your song attached to it if you create a tick tock and it has your song on it And it gets 500,000 Plays then you just got 500,000 streams Yeah On spotify because that's what they use to put music on the videos So if you guys aren't on distro kids sign up sign up with distro kid They know that's something That's something I actually didn't know as a matter of fact that the the plays that you're getting on tick tock are going directly to your spotify Yeah, that's that's why you see people People blowing up on spotify because they blow up on tick tock And those streams are going over to their spotify Yeah, if if if you guys aren't on distro kid, there's a link in in the description To distro kid make sure y'all go and and sign up even if you don't pay right now Just click on the link go and sign up and whenever you ready to start Distributing your music on there It will be available to y'all I think it's like 1999 For a whole year right 30 30 for a premium Yeah 30 for premium and basically you pay $30 and you could release as many songs as you want You could release a thousand songs For $30 I'm glad that you said distro kid because I've gone through multiple um platforms that That offer those services throughout like since 2017. Um, I'm on tunecore um repost network was another one Distro and um, I tried united masters But I ended up not going through with it But out of all of them that I've tried distro was hands down the best for artists That just I just feel like distro kid is the best value for independent artist Right. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely because you're you're paying you're paying once a year whereas things like um, for example tunecore What they do they pay you per single and they they charge you per single and they also charge you per album and um And you pay that once a year whereas with distro You're paying one time and you can upload as much as you want and then you have things like repost network and united masters Which in my opinion robs artists because they take a percentage of your income They take 20 percent and when you do the math, let's say that that you're one of your songs go viral and you get Let's say you get paid a thousand dollars from one month, right? So 20 percent of that would be 200 dollars that you're paying them just to keep your music on spotify and things So distro this shows the safest and best bet for independent artist hands down Okay, so so once Once your music is available on tick tock and ig reels and things like that It's just important to create content post as many times a day as possible. Go and see what other artists In your genre are doing that successful And reinvent that with your own taste or your own style It's already out there. You don't have to reinvent the wheel like there's already things that are working Do the research if you do the research, you'll see who's got things that are working There videos you can see which ones got hella views and which ones that don't got hella views the ones that got Obviously that thing is working for that audience So just try to recreate that with your music with your own sense of style. You see what I'm saying Yeah And what you said though, it's important just to discover who your audience is too um And like who you're not necessarily marketing to but Who is it like the type of people that you think are going to hear your music and really enjoy it? Because sometimes it's not even the people who are like you who actually end up enjoying your music um And that all comes from like, you know, like looking at the things that DistroKid or any other any other thing you use such as soundcloud paying attention to your insights and like which cities Like you have paying attention to who tags you on instagram and like whenever whenever you really get shit going so Engagements all of that engagement. Yeah right So another thing that I wanted to talk about Is is facebook ads instagram ads youtube ads or Are you hip to those like I know you're hip to them, but Do you implement any of them in your campaigns? I'm actually I'm I'm actually I don't I've never so this is the This is the YouTube ads are much better than the than the ladder, but when it comes to instagram ads I've seen a lot of it's a good way to get in front of people's faces but I know I've said I've not talked about the algorithm like Three like three times already, but it actually is super important how the algorithm Hit certain things and the issue with instagram ads is that often it brings more hate to your channel than it does positivity um Which doesn't which obviously something you need to learn to deal with as an artist But the reason it wouldn't be as much of an issue if it was able to get Your post in front of the right people But the issue with the instagram algorithm is that it never really seems to do that accurately It's it's very rare that you see somebody use an instagram ad and it turns out good for them or it helps them in any way I've always kind of seen it as a waste of money specifically for that, but like I'm also not completely educated on it because i've never done it I've never actually paid for an instagram ad just because of how i've seen it go for people I know who have done it facebook ads on the other hand I don't use facebook So i'm not i'm not really hip to exactly what those are like how they pop up And who they would get your songs in front of So see the cool thing about facebook and i'm pretty sure we're instagram too because it's the same company right facebook ads you can you can put your ads in front of Your exact potential potential fan Say there is a five artists that you can closely resemble yourself to or your style of music, correct? You can all right You can only place your ad in front of people if they follow all five of those artists You see what i'm saying, okay, so not only can you pick a sex location? but You can target people based on their interests based on different pages they like And even based on if they have made an online purchase in the past 30 days See that's actually interesting because i'm never like i said i've never used instagram ad and i wonder if they do Actually have the same options, but if that's the case That's really cool because that's putting you in control Of exactly the type of people based off of algorithms who your music going to get in front of and if you have more control Over them like that and i think it's no harm done But you do needs before you do things like that and i honestly can't stress this enough You need to learn how to take criticism Before you do anything like that because a lot of people have a really and it's no one's fault It's really just how a lot of people grew up a lot of people have a hard time accepting criticism in any shape or form and um whenever you do posts like that and You're not necessarily shoving it down people's throats, but people will perceive it that way Some people are going to be harsh about shit and like you can't let that type of stuff discourage you or make you Not want to do it again You know i'm you know what i'm saying like And so i think i think it's a good thing to do in my honest opinion Something you don't do is spam people with your music like i'm talking like If you send somebody one of your songs on instagram, that's cool, but if they don't respond or they don't really seem like they're trying to like Engage with you you don't want to shove it down people's throats because it It kind of gives you like a It just gives a look to you in a way like i don't not not a look It just gives people an idea of you that like maybe your music isn't good And that's why you have to push it on them so hard. Yeah, like let the product speak for itself. Basically Exactly exactly Not exactly So this is something that i want to uh Say to you guys if you do plan on doing facebook ads I would suggest Not promoting like a professional music video something of that sort I would suggest promoting something Something shot off a cell phone portrait mode because those those are the type of videos that tend to go viral Videos that someone can relate to It's hard for people to relate to these professional music videos where you're doing all uh type of extravagant things but if you just shoot a video off of a cell phone kind of doing a freestyle rap or or Uh Singing or maybe you're homie beatboxing in the background like something that people could see themselves doing There are a lot more More more likely to share that type of content versus something that's on the professional side Yeah, no, actually I I I agree with that wholeheartedly and I didn't really think about that when I was talking about that. Um It's really it's really only best to to promote the the professional side of things Whenever you already have people paying attention to you because like a lot of people get the idea that You know, well It's give or take because you do have people who appreciate cinematics and things But for the most part with the way that especially with younger kids now and the attention spans of people They really do prefer seeing things that they could have made themselves So I I actually agree with that completely Yeah, so another thing that I wanted to let you guys in on is Is youtube ads? Okay You can you can bid for A click and they'll put you on a bumper ad you guys are familiar with those those are the ads that they show before a video And after like six seconds, you can hit skip ad. So say you're searching for a Gucci man video And then my video pops up But if you watch it for for 30 seconds before you click it, I just got a view on my video But I don't actually pay for that unless you click on my ad So nobody's gonna click on the ad everybody hits skip ad you see what I'm saying But if you can make your video If you can make your video intriguing enough just to get people to watch the first 30 seconds You can get Free youtube views all day hundreds of thousands of youtube views And that's happened to me while I've been watching like videos before like there's a lot of times where people will promote their music And I'll skip through it just because it just didn't intrigue me But there actually have been a lot of times where like Especially especially there's especially been times where I've heard something. I'm like like what is this? Like why did you but then like something about it was just intriguing enough to be like Well, hold up. Let me give that a second chance. Let me hear that again And um that that's something that happens a lot like people are naturally defensive and like whenever they see somebody doing something especially when it comes to music though They'll get kind of like and like their first thought is usually bad But like if if it's something that could actually click with them and they relate to They'll go back and change their opinion that happens a lot And that's that's another reason you can't be scared of what people say But because people change their opinions all the time like you see people often getting hated on hard just to blow up later like all um all uh Someone said it to me before I can't remember the exact saying but all the time even bad attention is good attention basically You froze a little bit whenever you said that No, it's all publicity is good publicity. That's that's that's what I was trying to that's what I was trying to think of Yeah, that's what someone told told told told me before. So yeah Yeah, so another thing that I wanted to touch on is When you are trying to get people to buy into you it's it's more than just the music You know, you got a whole personality and a whole character That that you can sell to people to get people to buy into you see what I'm saying So it's important to not only share your music but to share share your story You know talk about things that you've went through talk about things that you struggle with Stand behind different causes like if you struggle with a mental health or your parents struggle with addiction or you struggle with addiction Stand behind those causes make music related to those causes. And then it's easier to it's easier to identify a fan base It's easier to identify people to market because you know, there's facebook groups. There's uh subreddits There's all type of different communities Dedicated to these topics. So, you know, if you create music around these different topics It's easier to find people that might be interested in those topics Oh, I think that's something that that works for me really well as an artist. Um, Especially from like the environment that I come from I'm often surrounded by a lot of people who make You know, like trap music and uh, just things you hear often But like my music touches a lot on those subjects on, you know, mental health Uh some more um More uh angsty shit like uh, like heartbreak and stuff, but also very much on like questioning Beliefs in god things like things of that nature Especially now, especially in the times we live in now people need music that they relate to more than like genuinely relate to more than ever More than an escape is more like a lot of a lot of music is for escapism, but like people really enjoy Listening to an artist that they feel like they relate to because it makes them feel less alone And um, it also ties hand in hand with like um with social media image with um That's like part it's like a that's a minor form of marketing is like how you present yourself to the public Your public image face value what people see you for and then with that comes talking about the things that people relate to People people kind of take that like there's a lot of people who who will who make music But like they won't develop their character as an artist so people can see who's behind the music A lot of them a lot of people they won't even post their face or they won't even post which isn't always necessary but Do you see what i'm saying like people don't try to get connected with people Like they should and that's something I had to learn myself Yeah, I try to tell everybody, you know get people to buy into you as a person and they are going to buy into everything you put out Yeah, no for sure for exactly because like so many people so many people Like find artists to feel less alone about you know Whatever situation they're going through and even if in a song like when you're talking about that type of shit Even if I can cuss on here, right like you're not gonna get flagged for that like when I say like shit and stuff like that No, that's not a thing. Well, well, you just said it. So here come the flags. No you're right Yeah, I was I thought about that. I was like damn. We need to pay attention. But um But uh, yeah, yeah, it's just that's why people listen to music Like I at least personally like I grew up listening to music that like I felt like was talking about things that I was going through and um You can make it work just talking about the same thing over and over again, but it's like it's not likely It's not likely to have any longevity at all and longevity is important way more important than going viral tomorrow Like creating something for yourself And that's why I try to tell people like be yourself Don't try to don't try to rap about stuff that you're not doing Even if you're not doing some extravagant shit The majority of people on this earth Are normal people that do normal shit every day That have problems with their siblings or fight with their parents or be for the teacher at school Like just talk about the regular shit that you go through and you will be surprised How many people relate to that and how many people resonate with it and how many people Get behind you Not and with that being said do it differently though. Like do it differently that that's something No, nobody nobody wants to hear somebody who sounds like someone who already exists because they have that person They don't need they don't need someone who sounds just like them It's so important that when you do this do it differently than how someone else has already done it I can't tell you how to do it differently But when you do this for a long time and you You actually you know put an effort to grow as an individual and an artist You'll learn naturally how to do it differently how to sound differently How what's gonna what's gonna sound good, but it's also gonna sound like something that somebody hasn't heard before You know I'm saying Yeah, yeah for sure And you know that right there is a whole another topic that we can really dive into and we'll save that for another show So right now before this stream ends we still got about 20 minutes, but I want to touch on some things for the viewers about building a buzz locally and I have a list of different things that I want to share with you guys And you spoke on one at the beginning of the show You said your friend tried to get you to go to the concert And you know That is one of the things on the list. Just getting around and networking You know being in the places where you need to be seen things like that So important So that's so important that and like you don't even necessarily have to Go to a show as soon as you get there talk to everybody See what you can do like some people aren't built like that Some people don't have the ability or the social the social confidence to do that type of stuff But let's say that you start going to these local shows even if it's music that you don't necessarily like You just start going to these local shows like just showing your face there Even if you don't talk to anybody right away like even if you're just there alone You're like you're a shadow in the crowd basically like You'll start building that confidence just from going that One day you're going to be at one of those shows you're going to accidentally bump into somebody You'll have a conversation. It's somebody you may be new in the past whatever and it's like that's exactly That's how you start building just by getting out there is like That's important because that's something I wasn't doing for a long time I was always to myself in my room and making music at my house So something that a lot of people sleep on is open mics and even though Don't be really deep or popping like that You never know who could be at an open mic And that right there is going to get you used to going out used to perform And you might only be performing for 10 20 30 people but It's a good place to start. It's a good place to get practice It's a good place to start getting your face out there and getting people Familiar with who you are. So I know that some of you guys living in towns or cities that don't have things like open mics that don't have things like like talent showcases and recording studios, but If you do live in a city that has open mics, you need to be frequent at these open mics if there's upcoming talent showcases Studios even if you're not recording pull up network network with the engineers network with the other artists network with the producers Oh, that that's another that's super important. You don't even honestly Networking with producers and people on the technical side of things is so much more important in my opinion Then networking with artists like you don't necessarily have to network with artists But like it's super important to network with people who know what they're doing which are typically producers They're typically the ones who know what they're doing um I want to touch back on like what you just said though because about the open mic stuff because like uh It's in a similar way is actually how I got put into the music scene in charlotte Um, which like you said I was thinking that when you're talking about it like not everybody has that around them But a lot of people live near places that do even if you have to drive for it Like that that's where social media comes in like seeing what's around you What's close enough to drive to to get to do it to be able to do stuff like that But um, actually the way I got my I performed at my first show or got on track to performing at my first show in my city was um There was which is also how I met sonny vega Briefly at the time. Um, there was a promoter in charlotte, north carolina Who's kind of trying to start up set up shows do all these things just get them the music scene really Really back to life in charlotte and it was called wavy town and they did this thing where you sent in $20 for a spot and two people were gonna be able to open for like three bigger artists and um, which and there was going to be a pretty big crowd size and um But the way that they did it was you send in $20 you sent in two songs You push the post of them on the website and then people would go through your songs and vote on Like who they wanted to see open I actually ended up losing that losing that raffle and like I became I came in like third place So I didn't get to perform but through that um I actually got to meet A mirror the guy who was over wavy town and all the people he was connected with and through that I started learning how people set up shows and I started learning how to actually get back How to get onto shows and eventually I ended up headlining a show for them So like the open mic is a similar idea. It's just it gets you in front of people and it like also helps with other things like You know stage fright and shit like that. So like something that I want to touch on Uh, if there isn't an open mic in your city, but you see that there's a lot of artists and a lot of rappers Host your own open mic All you have to do is go to a venue whether it's a bar or a small nightclub or a restaurant something of that sort and get with the manager Every restaurant or bar has a slow day Usually it's going to be on a monday tuesday wednesday or thursday any day. That's not the weekend Find out what day is a slow day for this bar and tell them like hey, I want to host the open mic I'm gonna charge five dollars at the door and then give me a percentage of the bar and I'll pack it out So if there's not an open mic in your Area, but you see that there is a need for an open mic make it happen to start one the same with Hosting other events putting on shows link up with some artists that got some buzz in the area and put on a live show You know start small with small bars if you can get 50 people to show up like And pay five 10 15 dollars at the door you putting money in your pocket You building the buzz locally you getting your name out there and you Are getting practice getting practice and doing shows on a smaller scale So then when it comes time to do something on a larger scale you already know the ends and outs of it You've already made some connections and that right there would definitely help you build a buzz Locally and it's and it's not honestly in as necessary It's not even really a choice like it's something that you if you want music to work out with you Like you have to put that type of work in Like it's it doesn't it doesn't call for the question of if you should it's it's literally a necessity for you Because like if you if you don't have shit already happening around you you have to go out and make it work Like it's it's just kind of how it's just how things work because if no one else is doing it you have the idea No one's going to take your idea and do it for you But you have to do that by yourself and and that's why like, you know, it's understandable Like some people aren't around those environments often So it's a little bit harder but what you said is great advice And even if you have to lose money like even if you have to lose money to do it um like we were talking about like talking to a bar owner and um Doing an open mic charging five dollars even if you have to do it for free to make sure you get more people out there That's just part of investing yourself It seems like money that's being wasted But over time in some way shape or form you're going to make that money back So and and it's all about perspective. You can look at something like man I just lost $200 or you can look at something like I just spent $200 to get this knowledge and get this experience To get me ready for my next event. So Perception is is how you perceive it. How you perceive this is huge to me Like everything in life is perception like I can look at my background as yo My background is is holding me back from getting a job or holding me back from getting an apartment Or I can look at my background like hey, I can use my story to help other people So it's all about perception with anything in life. I feel like so the same with this is all about perception You got to spend that money. Don't look at it as a loss. Look at it as an investment in yourself Yeah, so another thing that I wanted to touch on um is Doing work around the community charity events when I was in florida, I worked for a record label and I Organized a three month campaign october november december october We did a blood drive november We did a turkey drive and december We did a toy drive and it's things like that that's also going to get you Get you notice in the community and not just by the music scene but by the community in general That's going to get the community to stand behind you no matter what type of music you're doing because they see like Oh This dude's for the community. This dude is doing doing Doing the right thing. He's using his voice and his platform to To make a change so the cool thing about those type of events if you organize a blood drive You could write up a press release send it to the newspaper. Boom. You're going to be in the newspaper Same thing for the turkey drive You might mess around and make it on the news To a drive you definitely probably going to make it on the news if you stand in people face october november december consistency and if you don't Make it that year just stay consistent Eventually you're going to be on the news in your community getting that free publicity. You see what i'm saying I did the flag football event. It cost me a couple dollars to put together but I sent a below press release to to the newspaper Dude called me back the next day put me on the front page. You see what i'm saying Yeah, that's all that all has to do with like character and how and how you want to be perceived by other people as well There's definitely on that's definitely Especially if you're in those smaller communities like that. I think that's a super important way That's a good way to really get your face out there and how people know who you are because that kind of expands That is an expanded just one group of music listeners that kind of expands to all types of people That are involved in things like that. So that's actually that that's an even that's an even greater scale of um Of like really getting people to know who you are so Definitely a great way to definitely a great way to build a bus Okay, another couple things that I wanted to talk about is collapse Okay So at when I was making music Heavy when I was real heavy in the dropping You know I made a lot of mistakes, but I used to not want to collab with people I felt like I was too good to collab with people. That's that's not the case Collab with whoever you can collab with as long as they doing what they need to be doing to get their music out there And as long as they serious with their music collab with people the more people you collab with especially locally The more people going to get to know who you are I I agree and disagree in this sense and I'll explain why so like I actually didn't start doing collabs in general I didn't start doing collabs with people until probably 2020 was whenever and I had been I had a buzz since about 2017 And um, and it wasn't because I felt like I was better than people or like I didn't Deserve or I didn't want people to be on my songs, which I think it's kind of what it was But it was like it was hard for me to find people who I felt like were making the same type of music I was making and Sounded would sound good on me like chemistry wise on it on a song and even though I think collabing is good I only think it's important. There's two things one. You can do it too much. There's some people who Just throw all their friends on a song even though their friends one aren't as talented as them or art aren't necessarily They don't have the same goals in mind and when it comes to that it when you have too many features It doesn't give people time especially before you really have any fan base. It's hard for people to like Really discover who you are what sound you're trying to portray because in my opinion whenever you're a smaller artist um It's super important to get a lot of your own songs out there because there's been too many times where like Someone has sent me their song and they want me to check it out. They're like a like i'm from here I don't know like I just want you to hear my song and then Yeah, no, no, and it's like it's like no They don't tell me that and they I click on the song it's a bunch of features and it's like I don't know who This person is like I don't know which one. I've never heard their voice before I don't know who i'm listening to but the thing is though is like If you have people around you who have a similar sound and are also chasing the same things you're chasing and are at the same level as you Doesn't mean you have to be big like i'm just saying like like Growth wise is on that same that same plateau as you Then yeah, I think it's important to keep those relationships alive, especially if you feel like Chemically you guys are good in the studio but overall though When it comes I don't think that I don't think that you have to Personally, I don't think it's like completely necessary because um It just not in the growth sense just just in the sense of growing like Over time you should do class, but it's also important to like This sounds weird, but like it's important to like pay for features sometimes That right there takes me to another question that I want to ask you I know how I feel about it, but I want to know how you feel about it How do you feel about paying to open up for a large act like say there was a artist in town And they have the exact fan base that you want your ideal fan base and They want to charge you $300 To open up a show for them in front of 2,500 fans. I've literally done it before Yes, so So you would agree with doing that. No, I think it's I think it's really smart There's two ways to go about it. Actually, there's two ways to go about it. So, um I actually used to look at it as like I felt like I was being underestimated Because I had to pay to open up for somebody who was bigger than me but It wasn't till later that I realized how much opportunity it gave me because there were so many people At that person's show who had never heard of me before and literally as soon as I stepped off stage They were over at me saying like yo like your music is so fine Like I want to like what what's your spotify? It's like you have to drop your pride for something Some things you really do have to just drop your pride and not be so egotistical or prideful and think like You're like you can't pay for a show But like it's just is what it is. It is what it is at the time. It's part of investing Of course. Yeah, no, I literally is I think that's so important. That's honestly that's honestly like A great way to get yourself in front of other people Um that I've never heard you before and it's plus with you being an opener You don't have to worry about being the main the main attention while you're there It's like if you have anxiety about things like that like you're just the opener So like you're gonna have people who are not really paying too close of attention to you But your music's gonna be good enough to where they hear it and they're like, okay Like I want to see more about who this person is And going back to talking about Paid features I know someone that paid for a feature But the song turned out so good that the artist he paid for the feature took him on tour with him So that investment that he made on that feature turned in to so much more The same with paying to open up a show like if you pay to open up with the show with somebody and and you kill it They might ask you like, yo, why don't you come on tour with us? So you never know what can happen. I would just always say When you're going to invest and make those investments make sure everything is in place Make sure you're on your a-game if you are going to pay to open up For this huge crowd, you know, make sure you got it set up to where these people got somewhere They can go and buy your merchandise to where they can go and subscribe to your mailing list to where they can go And support you because people want to support their creators that That they fuck with so make sure you got it set up before you go And put yourself in front of all of these people make sure you got it set up to where you can take advantage Of what's to come out of that Yeah, and like what what sonny said in the chat is like it's true like the thing is is like Not only does that put you in front of a crowd But it also like links you up with people that you never thought you would have ever talked to in your life And like and that that brings me back to what I was saying earlier Like it sucks that the music industry is like this But it is what it is that it's 25 talent and the rest is who you know In networking that's so important like who you know, like you'll see people Who you have never heard of in your life They get posted on instagram with some artist who has like 100,000 followers And now all of a sudden everyone's like yo, I want to like see who this is and then oh, they have a song together Let me listen to it blah blah blah like you know I'm saying like it's All of this is just like it's just pieces of the puzzle when it comes to Like people knowing who you are Yeah, so for the person that asked in The comments about the best thing to do to meet people when you're starting out that right there's the last thing That I have on my list, but like we'll also go back to some of the things that we talked about before Uh deep october was talking about Just going to concerts, you know going going out to shows That artists of your same genre are performing in going going to events that you know People are going to be at networking also networking with with djs networking with radio stations club owners writers magazines all type of people like that if if you're not In an area that has those type of events Use the internet, you know find the closest big city to you and try to try to link up Link up with people that are active in the industry Like just network just reach out to people you would be surprised How many people will reach back to you if you hit them up on linkedin you got instagram You can go to linkedin and then just type in music business or Music promoter in your area and hundreds of people to pop up Yeah, just do the work do the work and do the research and reach out to people You might reach out to a hundred people if 10 people hit you back out of a hundred you're doing good Yeah, you know, um, I don't know if you've ever heard of gary v um, but he's uh Yeah, he talks about a lot of that same stuff. He uh, that the thing is is that like you can't let your pride get in the way Like you can't pride being like you feel like One embarrassed for doing those type of things or two like you're just too good to do those type of things Like nobody is like you're you're not shit until you are And like too many people and I had that issue I actually had that issue myself for a long time like I was in in over my head Like I thought I was bigger Then I actually was so I wouldn't pay for features I wouldn't hit people that were paid to open for them and like winning reality like It did help it did hold me back And so like once I actually started getting out and getting out and networking and stuff Like it just things just kind of fall into place That's just like that's just it's just what comes with it And if you don't want to do it then then don't but it's like you're gonna have a lot harder time Getting ahead and um, you just can't if you choose not to do those things you can't you you can't really be mad That you're in the position that you're in because like you never actually tried Things that are uncomfortable for you so You can't be mad about where you at for for uh doing the things that you was doing Exactly exactly you it's like it's things aren't going to change if you don't if you don't approach things differently So and and that's something that I have that I have to I tell myself that to this day Like there's still things where I have to approach differently where I have to sit back with myself and think like okay Is this a time where my pride is getting in the way? Is this a time where my ego is causing me to not do things that could benefit me? And most of the time the answer is yes, and then you just it takes a lot of self-awareness for sure Hey man, so I'm I'm glad that we did this Yeah, I'm glad that I had you on as the first guest you uh, you definitely had a lot of insights that I feel like could could help the help the listeners man, and I would be happy to have you on for another episode You know, maybe we can talk about a different topic uh Maybe that finding yourself as an artist. I believe that's real real important stuff But it's just a lot of information to jump into man. So, you know, maybe we can get together on On that topic maybe a week or two from now Yeah, well, but one more thing before we get off. I just want to I want to answer the what uh, Tracy just said in the in the chat Um, they said I played plenty of shows and pay-to-play is always a ripoff And I totally understand that because there's actually been situations where I paid to play and it didn't benefit me at all and that's why it's important to really like Really pay attention to what you are paying for because if you're like paying if you're paying to perform it from an artist to Like you're genuinely just paying to play but like there's no benefit in it. There's no bigger artist playing like after you There's no crowd size. There's not like a big, um There's it's not a big turnout. Then yeah, you you are wasting your money But it's all trial and error It really is just all trial and error like you're gonna lose money and there's gonna be times where you feel like You really got ripped off. There's been too many situations where I felt like I was just ripped off and I wasted money But like there's also been a lot of times where I didn't and I'm glad I did that so Yeah, I just want to answer that before before we uh deep october go ahead and let people know where they can find your music Everywhere Spotify, um deep october apple music is deep october soundcloud is deep october two words So that's that's everywhere. So and guys, uh as soon as this Session ends of the live music review is going to start right up. So you guys should see Should see that on the screen. It's about to start So if you guys have any music you want to submit you could just pull up right over there And we'll get you play. Thank you for for doing this with me tonight deep october I had a great time and then I look forward to another session real soon Yeah, I mean, of course, bro. I love your stream. So it's good to talk to you I'm definitely about to start the stream out with a deep october song. No, let's go. Let's go. Yeah All right. Thank y'all for tuning in man. Let's go