
First close (finally official)
It happened!!! Closed my first single production deal since I started with Dark Label for 1,5k. Deposit payment and everything. Super excited and grateful! Gives a lot of energy.
Every week, members of the Dark Label Music community ship work, sign artists and close deals. These are their stories, shared in their own words.Members of the community ship work, sign artists and close deals, in their own words.

It happened!!! Closed my first single production deal since I started with Dark Label for 1,5k. Deposit payment and everything. Super excited and grateful! Gives a lot of energy.
Right on @Jaap!

Congrats @Jaap !

Yesterday’s price is not today’s price!! Let’s go man 🫶

Eyy nice one Jaap! Happy for you man!
Let's goo!
Congrats!

Excellent! Congrats!

Hi Jaap, Great win🎶

Let's go Jaap! All the hard work and ups and downs have paid off!

let’s go!

Hell ya!!!

Dude and just like that.. it happened! Super excited for you!

Let’s goooo

Awesome

Had my first sales call with a potential client to produce her next album. Went great! We booked a proof session early next month, which we already had been talking about, but finally landed on dates, agreed on my first price and to start working on two songs if the proof session goes well.

Let's go!

Nice one Collin, way to go!

Great win Collin 🎶
Right on @Collin!

Awesome win!

nice!
Hope you get the deal, bro! Congrats on starting something with the client

Great job, Collin!

The headline is slightly misleading because outreach started for some of these almost 2 months ago, but yes...I'm very excited to share with you all that I signed 3 EP's from 3 different artists and a single from another this week. (14 songs total). I've been a producer for over a decade, this is the first time in my life I've ever signed so many projects in this time period, but also charging what I'm supposed to charge and feeling incredibly excited because the artists feel, from the get go, li... See more

Woah dude! That's amazing. Exciting stuff!

Brilliant work Fede, top win 🎶
Nice job @Fede!

This is amazing!

ells yea let’s go!

Heck yeah, congrats!

To pick up a draggable item, press the space bar. While dragging, use the arrow keys to move the item. Press space again to drop the item in its new position, or press escape to cancel. 1
Congrats, bro! That's exciting!

Incredible to hear man! Way to go!
congrats man! that's amazing 🎉

Incredible! Well done

Congrats! What a huge win!

Yassss! So happy for you, Fede!

Way to go Fede that's awesome!!!

Awesome

Took my first official payment and session booked as I transition from hobbyist toward full time!

That's just awesome Ken! This stuff works

Great news Ken.🎶
Right on Ken!

Congrats @Ken !

Congrats Ken!

Congrats dude!

ayyyy 👏🏼👏🏼

Great work Ken!

Nice! Congrats 🎉

Huge win! I remember this feeling, savour it my friend you’ve earned it.

Yassss, way to go @Ken !

Nice Ken!

Just landed a 5-song EP mixing project. I took the client through the SSF framework from discovery to offer. We spent most of the conversation clarifying the artistic vision and the desired outcome, then I presented a packaged solution instead of pricing individual songs. It was approved on the call.
Jul 27Congrats man! That’s awesome 🔥

Jul 27@Tristan thanks! 🙏🏼

Jul 28Lets gooo!!

Jul 28@Fede 🙌🏻🙌🏻

Jul 28Yeww let's go man! Approved on the call 🎉

Jul 28🔥 Awesome Diego 🎶
Jul 28Nice job @Diego!

Jul 28@Daniel thanks Dan 🙏🏼

Jul 28So dope bro! 🙌🏼

Jul 28@Simon 🙌🏻bro

Jul 29Way to go Diego!

Jul 29@Destry 🙌🏻♥️

Jul 29Awesome

Jul 29@Ken 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

Just closed my first production sale thanks to the DLM framework! It was awesome to experience how effortless the calls felt. The call frameworks made it easy to guide the conversation without it ever feeling salesy. More importantly, I genuinely felt I could help the artist solve the challenges he was facing, which led to a proposal that really resonated with him. Two singles locked in 🚀 Can't wait to get into the studio and start creating music!

Jul 25Yesss Lets go bas!

Jul 25lfg

Jul 25Congrats!!!

Jul 26Way to go!!!

Jul 26Fantastic! It’s so good to see this works. I’m new here so seeing the wins makes it feel achievable! What genre are you into?

Jul 27@Baz I can relate man! I'm into indie-folk 🙏🏼

Jul 27Bas you joined not even 2 months ago. Let's freaking go man!!

Jul 27Great t win Baz 🎶

Jul cool! what were the materials you used that you felt really helped you go through the process?

Jul 28@Assaf basically the whole 'Selling Music Production' section but in specific the SSF call and Follow up call gave me a lot of perspective 🙏🏼
Jul 27Nice one @Bas! Thanks for sharing.

Jul 29Yeah Bas, way to go!

After 2 weeks of outreach, I got solid replies (~20%), but had 0 booked calls. But week three? 1 casual, 1 proof, and 1 sales call: Booked. It's a win for me because though I have done freelance before, I've never really done outreach. Always been a friend of a friend, and working out of commercial studios, work just came in (right place, right time). Feels good to step back from all the DMs and see at a high level that there is movement

Jul 24lfg!

Jul 25Yes man! Epic to read you see the fruits of your labor. Let's go!

Jul 29Great work Fredd! Consistency will pay off

Jul 29Progress

Okay so I know I shouldn't get too attached have too many expectations until that first deposit, buttt this sales call went soooo well, at least better than the previous ones. Had a good ego-check last week with 4 projects that didn't go through, and learnt that maybe I hadn't uncovered their problems that thoroughly and stuck too much to the framework. Let that framework go a little bit today with the questions about vision, obstacles, scope in the back of my mind, but just really tried to hone... See more

Jul 23Nice! Good job Jaap

Jul 23@Omar Thanks omar!

Jul 23 (edited)Good work Jaap

Jul 25Yes Jaap! Beautiful lessons presented, epic to see how you handle them. Keep on walking and enjoy the ride :)

Jul 26Nice work! Thanks for sharing!

Jul 29Way to go Jaap!

so having struggled with outreach for some time I really wanted to share this win even though the client didn’t come from outreach per say it’s a dude I worked with in a cover band, and when I heard he’s making his own music I just went through the dlm process as I would with a lead from the internet and it worked great! he agreed to my rate even though it was more than twice the price he’s used to, and really seems he got a grasp of what a producer is supposed to do the proof session was pure ma... See more

Jul 22Way to go Assaf!

Jul 22Great win, Assaf.🎶
Jul 22Definitely still a win. Thanks for sharing @Assaf!

Jul 22lfg!

Jul 22Awesome!

Jul 23Every win is a win! That's awesome!

Jul 23Good job man!!

Jul 23Thats awesome Assaf!

Jul 23Nice Job Assaf!

Jul 26Nice work man!

Jul 26Great win, gives me hope!

Jul 27@Ken happy to hear man!

Jul 26Great work!

an industrial-pop artist i'm producing flew from Atlanta to LA this week to finish an EP it's the first time i've structured a project specifically in this way and it was fun so i figured id share here! i brought this project in back in january 2026 - three songs at $5250 paid out at 750/month we spent about 2-3 hours diving deep into pre production. listening to music. telling stories. i had her prep a moodboard so we had visual references, and we put a music ref list together, and a roadmap that ... See more

Jul 18Sounds really fun tbh! Concept eps / albums are the good stuff. Any possibility to listen to it?

Jul 19@Stirling would have to check w the artist
Jul 18Love this @Donny. Appreciate ya sharing!

Jul 19@Daniel ofc!

Jul 18Wow that's a time efficient process! Thanks for sharing

Jul 19@Destry in retrospect it feels fast but i was just moving through the project as i do with every other !

Jul 18That’s amazing super inspiring!

Jul 19@Devon 🤘🏼

Jul 19So sick man! Wildy fast imo. You're a beast

Jul 19@James flow state ftw ! lol

Jul 21@Donny honestly

Jul 19What an amazing idea @Donny and great execution! Really insightful to hear about. Gonna think about how I can package in some musical tourism for a client to fly down to Brazil to finish a record! <

Jul 19@Noah i gotta jet to brazil sometime myself !

Jul 20SOOOOOO many amazing musicians and studios that I can show you!!! Tour guide of the ages hehe

Jul 20@Noah say less - might just have to set up a writing camp fr

Jul 20Great case study, @Donny , thanks for sharing. Super inspiring. Can't wait to hear it.

Jul 24@Phillip 1

Jul 20And, just curious, @Donny , did the artist compensate the writer, or did the writer work for splits on publishing?

Jul 24@Phillip the writer in this case asked to be a part of projects for splits only as she wanted more songs as a writer. so this case was splits but generally i compensate my writers

Jul unds like a dream! can’t wait to hear the result

Jul 24@Assaf 🤙🏼🤙🏼

Jul 23This is mad inspiring, good shit Donny!

Jul 24@Omar ty!

Jul 30Madness. Love your flow state work-ethos haha. Inspiring to see you also did a visual moodboard for vibes. Might steal that idea in the future, you'll be credited!

Jul 30@Bas moodboards are v helpful check out are.na

Jul 30also cosmos.so

Just wanted to share a quick update — and I know, this isn’t going to be the norm 😂 Yesterday I finally kicked off my outbound efforts to connect with potential clients. I figured it was time to stop overthinking and just start reaching out. The response so far has been surprisingly positive: • Already have a casual call scheduled with an artist and former acquaintance I had honestly forgotten about. • A few other folks I hadn’t heard from in years (who are also artists) randomly reached out and ex... See more

Jul 16Great stuff Ken everything starts with a conversation!

Jul 16Way to get started, Ken! I overthought it too for the longest time, but was very glad when I finally just dove into it all.

Jul 17Way to go Ken, A win is a win no matter how small you think it is atm.🎶
Jul 17Right on, Ken!

Jul 17Ey nice one Ken! Feel that feeling, store it somewhere in your heart and tap back into it whenever things are different 🙏🏼

Jul uge win

Jul 21Huge win! I just stared this consistently and deff in phase where I feel I just have to go. Best of luck🤞🏽

Jul 21Way to go!

Boom. Just had my close with the Dark Label Method. Lessgoooo!! Literal quote: "What I really liked about your proposal is that it seems you're really invested in trying to help me with my specific situation". I had already upped my fee at the €1,500 mark, but it was really hard to sell it before DL. Now some of the missing puzzle pieces are definitely clicking, which gives a lot of clarity and mental rest. So stoked for what the future might hold! Thank you Dark Label

Jul 8Great stuff Jaap 🎶

Jul 8Congrats Jaap!

Jul 8This awesome

Jul 8Ey that's epic Jaap! Lesssgoooo🔥

Jul 8Way to go Jaap!
Jul 8This is huge, congrats 🎉🎉

Jul 8awesome!!
Jul 8Nice work @Jaap! Thanks for sharing

Jul 9lfg!

Jul 9Let’s gooo Jaap

Jul 10🔥🔥

Sending out my third proposal this week. This new framework and process is awesome!

Jul 7EYY nice one Jaap! Keep it up man

Jul 7@Bas thank you bas!
Jul 7Right on Jaap!

Jul 7Told you! Great work dude

Jul 8Way to go!

Having a bit of a pinch me moment right now. Closed a little over 22k in projects in the last four weeks. Notably 17k of that was inbound via TikTok.. like whaaaat?! Wasn't expecting that number when I sat down to add it up. 5k came from pre-DL clients - but I'm very sure I landed those gigs because of my upgraded sales framework, not despite it. I could spot the client's needs fast, come up with a creative solution on the spot, and actually make them believe I was the right guy for the job. That's... See more

Jul 2Nice Simon !! Love it !

Jul 2🙌🙌🙌 well done bro!
Jul 2Dang dude congrats!!
Jul 2 (edited)Killer month, Simon! Congrats on that. You sort of answered your own question regarding trying to trace it back... You did the fundamentals consistently over a period of time and it's compounding. Believe me, I wish it was more magical than that too 😂

Jul 3@Daniel And the fact that I did things over a period of time - that's fully due to Dark Label. Without it - I probably would have lost faith (in outreach or short form) somewhere along the way. Or confused or burnt out. But the system just works. All you gotta do is patiently stick with it and practice practice practice.

Jul 2My maaaaan!!! This makes me so happy for you and your family!! Keep it up! 😃

Jul 3@Michael whoop whoop!

Jul 2Love this man! So hyped for you

Jul 3@James Your group calls were such a big part of this. Can't thank you enough!

Jul 3@Simon so glad to hear it!

Jul 3Way to go dude!! 🤘🏻🤘🏻

Jul ude this is awesome!

Jul 3Simon that's awesome, way to go!

Jul 3Very inspiring man! Thanks for sharing!

Jul 3YES man! Epic to see you grow

Jul 3What a month and what a win, congrats Simon🎶

Jul 3Crazy number dude, good work!

Jul 3Way to go, Simon! 🔥

Jul 4very impressive! good work!!

Jul 4@Nick looks like we both had a big month! 🙌🏼

Jul 4Crazy numbers! Congrats Simon!

Jul 4Frickin awesome man, congrats!

Jul 4This is incredible, congrats!

Jul 4So cool to see Simon, congrats!

Jul 4Congrats. Goals

Jul 5One thing I just realized that feels worth adding: this is all happening in a non-music city, working remotely from the guest bedroom, with almost nothing but a base model M1, a few basic guitars, a decent microphone, and a pair of $150 headphones. Crazy how simple it is. I could literally pack everything into a suitcase and move to anywhere in the world with an internet connection and just keep going.

Jul 6Great to hear Simon,Very inspirational!!

Jul 6Huge congrats @Simon !!

Jul 7Super inspiring to hear this, @Simon, especially because I was literally on your IG this morning trying to catch some inspiration for a video session!

Jul 7@Phillip ha! hope you found something :) may your content go mega viral!

Hey Everybody! Wanted to share I closed my first gig under the guidance of Dark Label. Originally, before joining Dark Label, this client seemed like they wanted to do a full record, but there was something not said in our calls that was confusing to me. On Dan's & Aaron's Q&A I brought this up and they were able to anticipate that there was some issue that needed to be explored, specifically that she might want to start with one song to create establish the working relationship. Before joining D... See more

Awesome, congrats! This reminds me of my new favorite question: "Is there anything other than pricing that you're worried about?" Opens up this kind of hidden hesitation before it kills the deal.

es, well done!

Nice job @Fede!

@Simon I'm getting a tattoo with this question dude.

Congrats, Fede 🎶

@Fede haha I should too! Credit goes to James for that one btw!

NICE!

Epic! Way to go man 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

Nice man! So nice to see wins.
Had my first over the phone casual call and landed my first proof session! Felt super natural and was cool to hear someone who was not thrilled with their most recent project be excited about the next one.

lfg!

Nice work Collin 🎶

Way to go!

Just had my first "Casual Call" and it was eye opening! I've done dozens of calls in the past 2,5 years but never realized how much pressure I put on both the call and myself by framing at as "I have to close this one now", making it a sales call halfway through without them maybe wanting it. Even though it landed me clients sometimes this new method defenitely feels so much more natural, fun, open and even more so genuine! I can already see how you can much more easily gain trust with this meth... See more

Great to here Jaap, good luck with the next call.🎶

Way to go Jaap!

Well done man!

Cool, hope it goes well!

nice!

Yewww let's go Jaap!

I wanted to share this little win i had lately, i think it could inspire some of you who are also artists. I played a small record store gig a couple weeks ago where i was creating improvised beats with a friend and we had a small but high quality freestyle rap cypher going on in three different languages. The vibe was crazy and it was a beautiful celebration of hiphop culture. I Sold one beat on the spot for 300 while playing and got booked again by the store-owner. After the gig i got approached... See more

this is awesome

@Stirling that sounds great man! Can you get footage of events like these and use them for content to drive further engagement combined with outreach somehow? I mean a cypher seems like a crazy good opportunity to actually spread your name in the scene when every involved rapper is tagged in it and they push it themselves too. And btw, any change for a session and a coffee this summer? ^^

Right on!

@Michael we actually got a good recording and a nice video and are now spreading it on social media!And yeah dude let‘s meet up! We might come busking in Basel this Summer. Let‘s move this convo to the dms tho ✌️

Just wanted to share my first win. Got my first sale and started working with a artist a week ago and have made great progress on a single,We even managed to hire and record a string quartet for the song. The client also wants to work on a project. Took a bit of time to get here but Im feeling confident with all the help from the DLM Team.Thank you

🎶 Great work Chris, thanks for sharing.

Nice one @Chris!

Way to go, Chris!

Well done man! Way to keep with it

let's go!

Yes!! So good!

Congrats Chris!

lfg!

Congrats, Chris!

Let’s go Chris!!

That's dope Chris! How many people did you end up reaching out to before you landed this one?
There you go! Awesome work man🔥

Inspiring! Heck yea

Oh yeah 🙌

Momentum is really starting to pick up now that I’ve dedicated my time to focusing more on outreach! I also created my own custom CRM with Claude code that is helping me a lot with staying on top of my business (highly recommend it!). Also, now that I’m finally in LA, any producers out here that want to meet up, let me know! Would be happy to meet y’all!

Dooope! Congrats Dan

Congrats! I’d love to see the CRM as well!

Way to go!!!

Ooh nice! Would love to hear about your custom CRM!
Congrats! Care to share the CRM?

lfg!

Congrats Dan!

Congrats Dan! Would love to see the CRM

Right on!

Great work Dan.