Member wins

Here is a nice win and a cool scaling type of win. I recently got my second client/booking from StudioBook. The second client/booking, I closed a $28,000 album deal using DL techniques. As many of you know, I started the company called StudioBook last year. A company like AirBnB but for studios (we also offer listing types for producers/mixers/mastering now too!). I had well over 100 clients with the previous competitor to StudioBook but I did not have the skillset to regularly turn those client... See more

Hey everyone! I just wanted to share a few wins I've had in the past few weeks or so which I'm proud to have achieved with the help of Dan and DLM! I've bagged 2x 5 track EP's with two new artists, which I'm in the process of working on now. And I now also have regular work with a celebrity personal trainer in LA creating mixes for her live workout classes! This came from the Instagram algorithm pushing one of my videos into the right place- which just goes to show the power of content! I came i... See more

Just tried for the first time to pitch the momentum model to an old client, and it worked great! We locked 1 song/2 month for $700/month for at least until the end of 2026. New strategy unlocked 🔥

Small win and there are two parts to it - \(emphasis on the second part\)

First - just had my first call with a potential client with ‘training’ from dark label resources and - she likes the sound, price is good \(full rate\) and she’s super excited about the project.

Second part - when it came to price - I never thought I would be able to ask the rate I’m asking without feeling guilty, undeserving , slimey you name it. Basically having an existential crisis when I have to ask someone for money.

But I told here the rate and felt perfectly comfortable because I understand what I am offering, I understand what working together will do for her, and I am totally confident in the value. And I didn’t actually think I could get there.

Anyways keep on keepin on everybody. Music is awesome.

Feels a bit crazy to write this out.

When I joined, my only goal was to make enough money to not go back to my old day job, which I hated so much. It was super hard to stay focused juggling work and music 16 hours a day.

In the past 2 months, I've made double than my salary at that job. I had some momentum before joining, but it was super inconsistent. I remember telling Dan that I had 0 projects in June and my alarms were ringing about what to do next..

Some takeaways: - Outreach wasn't that hard for me, but at times it was draining. Now I'm getting a lot of inbound, so I've slowed down on that a bit. -I still suck at sales calls, but I'm doing them anyway, trying to get my reps in, because the more I do them, the more confident I feel on the next one. Detaching from the sale is a must, but I did crash out in the beginning, haha -It feels weird to say this, but now that I somehow know how to get new clients in, I have 0 excuses. That might be putting some extra pressure on myself, but I'm working on it -I realized the bar is really low, based on what artists told me about how they worked with previous producers. Most of my clients are younger women, and they often tell me how safe and heard they feel, which means so much to me! What really mattered was staying consistent and joining James's outreach sessions when I had a specific problem and watching replays of all the streams as much as I can

Journaling, visualizing, and being delusional as well :\)

Thank you Dark Label!

I finally started outreach yesterday and I'll be honest, it was terrifying. I've never done anything like this before, following and commenting on posts as a random passerby, knowing very well that I'd love to work with them at some point.

Anyways, one was a private Instagram account, I shot my shot anyway, and she accepted it! Not only that, but she messaged ME first, almost right away. It was a short but sweet conversation about her music, I made sure to keep it about her with the intro/respect/reason/statement or question framework. I'm thinking of reaching back out in a few days and either dming more or pitching a casual call!

So I landed my first "deal" on producing an album. I say "deal" because how the artist will pay is up in the air. I believe it will end up being me taking a portion of the masters. i dont mind it. im still in the portfolio building stage. its christian alternative R&B/ Indie artist. the artist sent me some songs asking for feedback on his productions and after giving him advice, he sent me many more. He said, "its always been a dream for me to release an album." I said "its always been my dream to produce one." So we did a virtual handshake and will be moving forward.

This is nuts to me. I feel like an imposter. its crazy...when I started this program i didnt expect to have work fall in my lap until at least a year in. im not even marketing my portfolio yet. this genre isnt really the genre I'd produce but i found myself leaning in this direction more and more with the instrumentals I have been making. im so excited to get started on this project but need advice. I have produced my own albums but never anyone else's. what are some things i absolutely need to make sure happens? Advice on how to get a cohesive album "sound"? Im sure some my questions are covered in the material on skool, im just not there yet in the program. thanks all.

More than economic wins, what I’m most proud of at the moment is how people are reacting to what I’m doing. People I work with seem to be super happy about what we’re doing, and some of the people that follow me on social media seem to be excited abt working with me. Some of these people are incredible musicians and it blows my mind they love my stuff!!

Here are some messages I got recently. All of them are from different people!! 🥹🥹

After 2 years of only doing big projects in another studio \(and neglecting my own business as a result\), a friend of mine who’s an artist asked me and a good friend \(an awesome producer\) if we’d like to produce her next EP. We’ve worked together before, but under different circumstances. Now she’s completely independent and starting fresh. We had a follow-up call yesterday \(after an in-person meeting on Thursday and were able to secure two songs so far :\)

Alright - this one really surprised me. After months of dabbling in content and having a real hard time even crossing the 1000 view threshold, I stumbled into two formats for short form that REALLY work for me. My most viewed clip on IG is sitting at a cool 5.5M - and it did pretty well on TikTok, too. So you can call me an influencer now! hah 😎 The interesting thing is - while this has obviously brought in a massive amount of attention and a couple thousand new followers - it did not generate a ... See more

Today, I received my very first deposit and locked in my very first client. As some of you may know, becoming a professional producer is a new project for me. I’ve joined Dark Label as a fresh, amateur producer looking to build something new. I still can’t believe this is happening and that I am now in a position where I feel confident my ability to help artists. It may sound cliché but I would have never been able to do that without the help of this community. Every call, interaction, message, fe... See more

Started Dark Label in Jan - started seriously tracking my projects for data in February and as of today, I've done 63 paid projects (16 productions and the rest are smaller scopes like mixes - song finishers etc). From my financials I've netted 72% of my corporate day job earnings so far this year (8 months salary vs production work income). This will probably end up around 60% at the end of the year due to bonuses etc that are paid out in Q4, unless I get a few EP or album projects. The projects ... See more

Wins: I have a sales call in less than 24 hours and a third sales call in the 30th. I know it is not break neck speed but I am good with it! That's the win....... now to the awareness part...... things that are plain to some don't sink in quickly to everyone, my example ...... I added a column to my out reach metrics "Asked for the CC". As in "actually do ask for a call" ........ eye opening just how low the % was on the very GOAL! SMH.... UGH!

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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!

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