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.
Wow artist were really outside living their best lives this summer. My outreach got really stale for June and July. I could barely get a response from anyone. But the summer slump is over! Artist are finally responding to DMs, and I just landed two new clients this weekend from sales calls last week.
Sep '24Awesome dude! Congrats
Aug '24Nice one Melvin! Looks like the summer slump is coming to an end.
Aug '24Nice! Congrats great to hear 🙌
Sep '24Way to go, @Melvin! That's super encouraging! Keep it up! 🤘
Aug '24@Daniel thanks for pointing that out during the business call a few weeks ago. It really saved me from a lot of frustration!
Aug '24Wow, great job Melvin!
Aug '24So glad to hear this. Congrats man.
Hey y'all. First off, After watching @Pete 's masterclass, I finally tried out talking into the camera as a piece of content... I never thought I would be this person, but I actually had a a ton of fun doing it. I initially wrote a script but ended up just improvising for 20 mins and chopped up the best parts. Then I posted it - and I've gotten more engagement from this post than anything I've ever posted before (excluding collab posts)... People even personally reached out to me outsi... See more
Aug '24Woahhh hell yeah Chris!!! So stoked for u
Aug '24Great job Chris, love how it's a nice and simple advice that fits perfectly for a reel and you also seem really confident on the video!
Aug '24@Rob thank you!
Aug '24Let’s go that’s awesome!!
Aug '24Congrats!
Aug '24nice job
Aug '24Great job, Chris!
Aug '24@Pete Thank you for the masterclass!
Aug '24Thank you everyone!!! Keep pushing!!!
Aug '24 (edited)Amazing Chris, congratulations! Phenomenal results! And I actually saw that video on my insta, found it super funny in a good way! Also planning to get back to making content soon!A quick question regarding you new project, is it an in-person or remote project?
Aug '24 (edited)I love the self-deprecating humor, it's a breath of fresh air from all of the videos trying to teach in a serious but high-energy manner.I have the same issue. I worked in front of large-format consoles nearly everyday for 15 years. I moved states and no longer have access to those studios. I don't have a single picture of myself in front of all these Neves, API's, SSL's... lol. But I do have some instructional videos where I look Covid-rough 🤷
Aug '24Congrats
Aug '24Nice work man!!!! Way to get after it
Aug '24Right on Chris!
Summer been not so winning in terms of outreach and we’ve discussed it in the forum and in yesterdays outreach meeting. That was inspiring to discuss with @Joes and @James , who have been through many more slow summers than most of us, how to stay calm and keep the consistent work as a main focus. Well, next thing you know I closed 2 new clients in the afternoon, so I guess for all of us who have been in the funk for a bit, keep walking ahead and doing your best everyday ☺️
Aug '24Way to go man!!! That's the power of community imo. Even just talking about a funk can sometimes be enough to shift a mindset ever so slightly.
Aug '24Hey nice one Flo!
Aug '24Great job pushing through!!
Just barely have my Instagram going with <500 followers, feel like I entered a cheat code 😮💨 The song I produced/mixed/mastered he followed me for is "good day" by Mofe. Just posted this in my Introduction but I'll link it here one last time. Mix/master was rushed so a couple things bother me unfortunately, but hey it got the job done till the next one https://open.spotify.com/track/6TUd4T0131P2Gd0z9TmTX8?si=591009f6c6474bac Hope to hear y'alls wins soon too 🙌
Aug '24Love this!
Aug '24Very cool!
I hit this milestone overnight! One of my goals for the year was to hit 10k followers on IG and in Jan it seemed impossible (I was at 3.5k in Jan). I can’t say enough how much Dark Label and the community here has helped me grow my confidence and persistence… really in all facets of my business and beyond. Thank you!!! This is also everyone’s sign to keep persevering with content as in my experience it’s definitely worth the time investment. I’m getting fairly consistent inbound now, and several ... See more
Aug '24@James hell yeah 20k!
Aug '24Great news Pete!
Aug '24Ha what? A nod from Nikki Glaser? That's awesome.
Aug '24Nice work Pete, that is not easy to do!
Aug '24That's so awesome, congratulations!
Aug '24Congrats Pete! Big accomplishments. I aspire to be as old and boring as you
Aug '24that's awesome mate!
Aug '24@Joes oops 3.5k in Jan, just updated post
Aug '24Phenomenal bro, keep up 🫶❤️🔥🔥
Aug '24That's awesome Pete! I've been watching a lot of your videos recently, and it's clear you've put a ton of effort into them. It's great to hear that you're attracting new clients. It really shows that it's all worth it.
Aug '24@Rob legend Rob
Aug '24@Daniel hahah insane right! On the video about comedy vs music too. Wild.
Aug '24Let’s gooooo!! Killing it man!
Aug '24Congrats, Pete! That's amazing 👏
Aug '24Congratulations Pete, real inspiring stuff
Aug '24Oh wow! Jeff Bhasker. Nice. Congrats.
Aug '24Let's goooo!!!! So inspiring. Can't wait to see it hit 2
I just had a really good proposal/sales call today with an artist I've been working with for a while but on my "old rate" $100 a song. I brought up how long it was taking me to finish tracks with her because I had to prioritise full rate paying clients and mentioned that I could send her a proposal similar to what I was doing with another artist to see if it was something she'd be interested in and was within budget. The call went so well. She had some questions about timelines, and payment option... See more
Aug '24 (edited)This was the framework I gave Joey if anyone else wants it...Upping rates with past client:- Get clear on the goals again- State the positives (what worked well)- State the negatives (what to improve)- Give a new approach / make sure they are bought in- Drop the new price- Handle objections
Aug '24@Daniel that's great to have thanks Dan.
Aug '24Right on Will! Thanks for sharing. Funny enough, @Joey just had a similar experience upgrading a client from his old rate to new.
Hi everyone, this is exciting for me as it’s a big career milestone. My first official gig as a composer was just released here in Canada on TVOkids and in the US it’s being broadcast on WNET/PBS. It’s been an amazing to be apart of and has really helped me expand my skills and palette as both a writer and producer of music. I made a social post that summarizes what I’ve been up to on it: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9KoQJugr8X/?igsh=OWhya2VsZW5ydGlh
Jul '24@Tyler yeah man, thank you!
Jul '24That’s awesome 👏
Jul '24Let's go!!
Jul '24@Daniel Thanks!
Jul '24Good work bro!
Jul '24@Robert thanks man
Jul '24congrats dude!
Jul '24@Hänz merci
Jul '24Congrats Dason!
Jul '24Thanks @Luke !
Jul '24@Chase thanks
Jul '
I'm at the tail end of working on three songs with an artist and as we were talking about wrap up he brought up how he'd like to continue working together with more song ideas and if there was a way to continue our payment plan indefinetly so we can continue to work on new music. He's great to work with and I've had a blast working on his current songs and was very fortunate having him find me to begin with so I am so stoked that he wants to continue working together. Time to go find some more artists. :)
Jul '24🏆
Jul '24Thanks @Joes
Jul '24Awesomeeeeee 🐐
Jul '24That’s awesome. Best type of client to have. Congrats!
Jul '24Ayy congrats!
Jul '24Nice job Will! Thanks for sharing this.
Jul '24Let’s go!!
Since I've been doing better at social media one of my goals has been to get a brand deal and start working with some music product companies. Just made my first post of a plugin creator I'm working with! Also talking with a few more that might work out!
Aug '24That's awesome @Luke
Aug '24That’s aces mate, love it
Aug '24@Matt Thanks man!!
Jul '24Congrats, @Luke! You've now introduced a 2nd income stream into your business. Very exciting.
Aug '24Awesome!!
Jul '24@Luke That's great advice cause I definetly would just wait for them to reach out. Hahaha!
Jul '24@Joes Thanks man!!
Jul '24This is great Luke!
Aug '24@Matt Thank you!
Jul '24Nice job, love your content!
Jul '24@Tom Thanks man!
Jul '24@Philip Thank you!
Jul '24Nice so cool! 👏
Jul '24@Joey Thanks!!
Jul '24Awesome, man! Congrats!!
Jul '24@Tyler Thanks!! Yes!!
Jul '24@James You got this! Also don't be afraid to message them first!
Jul '24So tight man! This is a goal for me as well so that's super inspiring!
Jul '24@Kamil Thanks!
Jul '24@Daniel Yes totally!
Jul '24Lets go man that's awesome!!
Jul '24@Immanuel Thanks you!!
Jul '24@Aaron Thanks!!
Jul '24amazing!
Jul '24@Matt Thanks!
Jul '24Great stuff man!!!
Jul '24@Pete Thank you!!
You know... there are very few extreme pleasures I imagine one goes through in this life. Eating food after fasting, getting married, holding your first child.... But I don't have to imagine what it's like to get paid from producing music. I JUST GOT MY FIRST CLIENT MATE! LET'S GO! 😂
Jul '24Woohoo! More to come for you Simon!
Jul '24@Daniel thank you for the support daniel!
Jul '24Excited for you, Simon! Congrats.
Jul '24The Legendary Nor Cal Kid cashed out 💰💰💰 Congrats Simon!
Jul '24@Kory thanks Kory!
Jul '24@Robert thanks man! stoked haha
Jul '24nice job dude
Jul '24@Elliot BLESS UP !!
Jul '24@Jamahl thanks bro !!
Jul '24Happy for you man 👊🏾
Jul '24@James thanks James!
Jul '24Awesome man!
Jul '24@Tyler 🙏🏾
Jul '24Let’s gooooo 👏👏👏
Jul '24@Hänz 😂😂🙏🏾
Jul '
Jul '24@Luke thank you bruv 🙏🏾
Jul '24My man making moves!😎😎 keep killing it!
Jul '24🔥
Hey everyone, I just closed a new project (hiphop, ironically) with an artist out in Queens. What helped me close was that after I presented my full rate I then gave the artist different options on how to pay which are listed below: A.) 50% to to start. 50% once deliverables are done. B.) 30% to start. 30% for full beat. 40% for mix vocals and master and stems. C.) 25% to start. 25% for full beat. 25% for mix. 25% for master and stems. The artist went for option C which is totally fine. The lesson I ... See more
Jul '24@James Thank you
Jul '24Love it man!
Jul '24@Jamahl Thanks G
Jul '24@Chad thanks man
Jul '24Congrats!
Jul '24Makes sense. Kind of reminds me of just selling session blocks like a local studio might do i.e. 6 hour block for X amount and we'll need 4 of them.
Jul '24@Daniel ✅
Jul '24I’ve admired your persistence with your process man, inspiring stuff 💪🏾
Jul '24@Tyler Thanks man
Jul '24@Joes Thank you
This weekend, the first tracks I made with clients since joining Dark Label last summer got released. Not one, not two, but three tracks all in the same weekend 😂 And for one of them, I ended up writing a press release for Billboard, which is pretty wild. Also, this was the first month in which I met my living expenses entirely through music-related income since starting Dark Label. I've got plenty of projects lined up for the next couple of months too. Oh, and I just broke 2,000 instagram followe... See more
Jul '24Congrats!!
Jul '24Yesssssss!!! I'm so happy to see this. Congrats Christian, well deserved! 🙌
Jul '24Dude congrats!!!!
Jul '24So pumped for you!! Well deserved, Christian!! 🎉
Jul '24Very Well Done @Christian , I have been following your posts on Insta, and really enjoy the light hearted way, yet see the serious promotional value behind the fun!! Fresh ideas, and entertaining, yet serious bizz. Super glad the clients, independence and income are rolllling in!! Inspirational Congrats! 🔥💥
Jul '24Way to be relentlessly consistent man!!! Super stoked to see how things have really taken off for you.
Jul '24Congrats!
Jul '24Proud of you, Christian! Nice work.
Jul '24thats what i’m talkin’ bout!
Jul '24Christian this is awesome! You’ve been crushing it on IG and very active on the platform. Happy to see you winning.
Jul '24Christian you've gotta be the most consistent member on here that I know. I see you on every livestream I attend. So so good to see you grow my bro. Keep killing it.
Jul '24love getting to see your growth and hard work pay off. inspirational.
Jul '24let's goooooo
Jul '24Great stuff, Christian! Awesome to see such a growth! I'm curious though, what has been the biggest source of clients for you at this moment? Do you still do outreach, or most of your clients just coming off content at this moment?
Jul '24Dude! This is amazing! Great to see the work paying off!
Jul '24SO stoked for you!
Jul '24Duuude so good!!! Congrats man. You’ve worked insanely hard so it’s awesome to see how much it can pay off
Jul '24Great to hear man, keep at it!
Jul '24Let’s gooooo! You’ve been an encouragement!!
Super excited to share that after 7 weeks of consistent outreach, I've finally taken payment for my first client project since joining Dark Label. Here's a quick breakdown of the deal and my numbers for anyone interested. It's a pretty straightforward job. The client has a song with all the parts recorded and the gear to record anything else I might need. My focus will be on layering the production, enhancing the percussion, producing the vocals and background vocals, and adding some polish. I did... See more
Jul '24congrats man!
Jul '24Nice work Tom, great to hear!
Jul '24Nice one Tom - First one is the hardest.
Jul '24Great work mate! Outreach calls have been really down in recent weeks, think it a bit to do with the time of year.I don't work with many self-producing artists, but my thought would be that there is a slight miss-match between your diagnosis and solution in your sales call. I will pretty much always secure a client if I can solve their pain points, the money becomes irrelevant, but if I don't do this correctly then I'll get objections.
got a nice gig win coming up in my hometown. just solidified all the plans and it will be my first time getting paid professionally to play a show that is entirely my original music :) payout: $500 length: 1 hour
Jul 'ick!! congrats robert. would love to see it if you're taping it
Jul '24@Kevin probably going to do some voice memos recording with a few phones… aaron gave me an idea
Jul '24Nice!!!
Jul '24Awesome Robert!
Happy to say that May was my biggest month so far since starting this thing. I signed 3 new clients worth a total of just over $5000 USD in new work, and perhaps more if they become repeat clients. This includes my biggest client yet (one of the artists I made a portfolio track with, unpaid) who is an incredible songwriter and I think is really going places - she signed on to finish a debut 3-track EP together and I'm so pumped that I get to work on it. I wish i could share some takeaways from th... See more
Jun '24@Isaiah thanks a lot Isaiah!
Jun '24@Daniel thanks for all your help Dan!
Jun '24@Tyler thanks Tyler!
Jun '24Congrats.
Jun '24@Hänz thanks Hanz!
Jun '24@Kamil thanks Kamil!
Jun '24Woo hoo! That's awesome Kevin! So glad to hear it.
Jun '24@Will thanks Will!
Jun '24@Joes thanks Joes
Jun '24Hell yeah dude!!!
Jun '24@Pete thanks for all your help Pete!
Jun '24Congrats dude :) funny I also onboarded my first three clients at once. Something just clicks after all the internal work and things start moving fast.
Jun '24Killer man. That's what'll happen more and more. The more consistent you are and the more seeds you plant the easier the work will come. Also repeat clients are the shit so make that the business model imo
Jun '24@James yo James thanks for all your help dude. you helped coach me on all three of these sales!
Jun '24Great to hear Kevin, I really enjoy your productions!
Jun '24That's an awesome win! Thanks for sharing :)
Jun '24@Kevin glad to hear it man!
Jun '24@Aaron thanks Aaron, your help with them has been incredible!
Jun '24@Tom thanks Tom
Jun '24incredible bro! well done. that speaks to your consistency and dedication
Jun '24My guy!! So glad to hear it congratulations
Jun '24Congrats man! That's really inspiring, as other said maybe all the experience, confidence and such has to 'pile up' before it really takes off hence 3 clients at once :)
Jun '24@Kevin My pleasure!
Jun '24Nice job Kevin!
Jun '24@Dave thanks Dave
Yesterday, I shared my first reel where I do a bit of talking—something that took me quite a while to overcome. A big shoutout to this amazing group, a few invaluable tips, and especially a call with @Pete, for helping me get past this hurdle! 🙏 While I still see plenty of room for growth, I’m thrilled to have taken this step! Check it out: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8KYX44tagC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== I’d love to hear any additional tips to improve. Your feedback is always appreciated!
Jun '24@Christian - I already made a few before this one, but was never satisfied. With this one out in the open and the nice and honest comments (who were aware of my struggle) of my friends I feel this resistance is melting!The amount of people reacting to this one or reaching is more than doubled.I also feel there is a lot potential in this kind of content which I didn’t tap into!
Jun '24@James thanks! without this group and your support this would never have happened!
Jun '24So so so good!!!!
Jun '24@Robert thanks!
Jun '24loveeeee it
Jun '24@Denys - I tagged you in Luke’s comment: lighting does it all! i have an old camera with a nice lens, but I think you can do this with almost everything as long as you have some nice lights!
Jun '24Amazing video, man! Love the atmosphere and the overall looks, really sick! What kind of settings did you use to create such a cinematic vibe? Is it the lights, or some coloring at the post production already? Filter perhaps?
Jun '24@Tyler - thanks, man!
Jun '24Great job with the content
Jun '24@Daniel - thanks! yeah, was doubting about this too! I feel this introshot of me talking is the least convincing, but hey …The other thing for, the talking could be a lot faster especially the first lines after the intro. Next time!
Jun '24@Pete - I had some really cool hero’s to look up to 🤪! Thanks for that, man!
Jun '24Man this is SO GOOD! Killing it Joes
Jun '24Outstanding work man! Tried the 'talking head' style before but I found it really challenging to pull off. You've managed to do it and make it feel authentic which is quite an achievement. Also great camera work/editing and very consistent style across videos. I like this 'faded' colour style. Just gave you a follow!
Jun '24Awesome, it’s a huge mindset hurdle for sure! Has posting this made you want to do more talking head style reels, or do you still have some resistance to it?
Jun '24@Luke - Thanks! I have an old GH5 with a Meike cinema lens. The lighting technique is called 3 point lighting: a warmer (more yellow) softbox is the ‘keylight’ on my face , a harder (more blue) rim light on my back (left) and the normal lights of my studio to fill it up. You can find lots of youtube tutorials!
Jun '24Dude killed it! Also love the video recording style very crisp and professional!
Jun '24@Kamil - thanks, working on it!
Jun '24This looks and sounds amazing. I want more!
Jun '24@Luke Yeah the vibe/colors are solid
Jun '24Nice job @Joes! Glad you broke the ice. If I was just 'picking at it' then I would say the opening shot could have just been you throwing on the hood and sneaking through the door (with the same voice over) then right to the drums. Think about the opening visual hook and what's more exciting... talking head or straight into action? This was a fun watch regardless!
Jun '24@Rob thanks - the faded footage comes out of my gh5 (s-log, and has not Lut) so I have to grade it myself but I quite like it.
i just had my first production session with my first official client (took payment monday, preproduction tuesday, remote session last night). during the whole preproduction call AND remote session, i felt a constant fear of "what if you misunderstand him? what if he doesn't connect with you + gets disappointed bc you're failing?" etc. but. first of all, this client got on a follow up call Excited To Pay Me (wut). i recommended a deposit; he insisted paying in full. he kept reiterating how excited... See more
Jun '24amazing mate. huge win. congrats!
Jun '24Hell yeah dude. That’s soo inspiring to read!!!!
Jun '24That's so amazing!! Keep killing it!
Jun '24Leveling up
Jun 'ell yeah dude!
Jun '24Nice job Isaiah!
Jun '24Well Done Thats really great! Some times self-doubt and the 'imposer syndrome' can be a producers biggest enemy. I found the more mixes, releases and wins you have, the easier it gets to diminish these feelings. Self Confidence is mighty attribute.
Jun '24This is sick! Well done!
Jun '24inspiring, this often plays a HUGE factor in live performance as well… just trusting your gut, it knows what to do :)
In the last two weeks I've had three successful sales calls, with one client onboarded today and two more starting in June. I've also got a bunch more casual calls and proof sessions scheduled for the next couple of weeks—and they're good artists too! If this momentum continues, I expect to have a full roster of paid clients within 2-3 months. This was after MONTHS of doing tons of outreach (about 1500 total cold outreaches) with virtually no success. I thought I'd share my diagnosis of what chan... See more
May '24Fuckyeah man!!!
May '24@Kamil I'm doing the same Kamil. A little outreach to just practice talking to people through DM's but a majority of my focus is switching to content. So much more important.
May '24YES 🙌 You really deserve it my guy!
May '24Awesome Christian, nice work! 🙏
May '24Awesome Christian. I'm not surprised, your content is awesome and you're a talented, likeable dude. 👏
May '24@Kensaye That's so sweet, thank you!
May '24Heck yeah bro! Content is key for sure 🔥
May '24Huge win. So stoked for you Christian. Thanks for sharing.
May '24Congrats. Like you said. Once one projects comes in it starts to snowball when you’re consistent. Thanks for the insight on the content creation. I start that Monday
May '24WOOOO!
May '
May '24Huge man! Congratulations 🙌
May '24Let’s go @Christian!!
May '24@Joes Thanks so much for saying that!
May '24That's amazing, Christian, super happy for ya ❤️🔥
May '24Really awesome to see, my man!
May ' glad to see it Christian. you're a killer man and it was only a matter of time. glad to see that time has come!!
May '24@Daniel Thanks! Maybe I'm being too optimistic haha. And yeah, I've discovered through all this that consistency is one of my superpowers whereas mindset and patience aren't.
May '24So stoked to see you succeed Christian. Your content has been so cool to watch. I'm rooting for you dude!
May '24congrats, your work ethic is inspirational!
May '24Impeccable consistency @Christian. Nice job! And thanks for sharing your insights. It took me 6 years of grinding in this business to finally have a full roster of clients.
So excited because after years of telling myself "I'm not good at content" and "I don't like social media" I have really put forth the effort to make my content better, serious, and consistent! Also been posting almost every weekday to force myself to get over the fear of posting, imposter syndrome, and fear of my family and close friends judging me. It's definitely worked! I just had a post pop off and right now has 130k views! What's better than that is I am actually enjoying making content! A... See more
May '24@Denys Thank you!
May '24@Christian yeah it’s a fun format!
May '24@Luke Livestreams on youtube is such a good idea. I'm gona have to try that.
May '24 (edited)@Will Almost all of them are from that post! Some from my post after that but I think that’s thanks to the boost from that post! Earlier in the year I started doing livestreams on YouTube where none of my family or friends followed me and that helped me to get used to showing things to people and they like it! Then just forced myself to do instagram!
May '24Yo congrats Luke! So awesome to see!Also - when I watched it - it's at 1.3 million views!Just saw your post from 5 days ago saying you only have a couple hundred followers - you've now got over 6000. Is this all from that last Dua Lipa post?What was your biggest shift in mindset from "imposter syndrome" to getting more comfortable posting on instagram?
May '24Amazing Luke!
May '24@Joes Thank you!
May '24@Luke of course dude!!! Do what works. Killer work man
May '24@Chris Thanks! Hope it was ok that I copied you😅
May '24Killer @Luke so stoked for you! So excited to see where your content journey takes you 💪
May '24That's phenomenal bro!! Congrats!!
May '24@Christian Right now 1435! And please do! I used Lalals for the vocals, but don’t think I didn’t steal it myself! Got it from Chris😂
May '24Nice! I might have to steal your idea haha. Out of curiosity, how many new followers have you gotten from that reel? (You can check by clicking "View Insights" when you open the reel and scrolling down.)
May '24@Matt Thank you!
May '24Big win! Awesome, man!
May '24@Luke haha no worries! That reel was straight🔥🔥🔥
May '24@Jason And thank you for the tips! And the quick comment😂 my man helping the algorithm!
May '24Congrats Luke!!
May '24Hell ya man!!!! Way to stay consistent!!! Love it
May '24@Adam Thank you!
May '24Nice work Luke! 🙌
May '24Awesome Luke!!
Although I’ve been in music production full-time for a while now I’ve been trying to just keep my head above water. After realizing I do not charge enough, I decided to double my production fee. Today is the first time I collected double! Thanks @Daniel
May '24Awesome, that's probably a big mindset win as much as a money win!
May '24@Christian yep!
May '24Congrats Matt! That's a huge win!
May '24Nice one Matt! That’ll make things much easier from here on out.