EVERYONE IS A DJ

EP. 26: JOHN SUMMIT VS PETE TONG 'MISSING REMIX' DRAMA, MUSIC TIKTOK STRATEGY

• KLUB RECORD • Episode 26

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SPEAKER_02

How does it go? Listen, that guy every four years he must be raking it in. Not every four years, actually, because with the with the Euros, it's every two years. He's just you know those streams and and that those numbers are probably blowing up for him. But uh yeah, I think I think we should definitely strategize and think about what what world events can we create music around that every so all so often we can cash in. That's that's actually good good business strategy.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's true, man. Because like every year there's a major sporting event. I mean, you know, you could do it for Premier League or NBA or whatever. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and there's there's I mean, all the all the biggest artists in the world, Ed Sheeran, you've got uh um oh what's the other one? FEMA British, amazing singer. She's dating LeBron James's agent. What's her name? She used to be a bit rounder, now she's a bit slimmer. Adele? Adele. Yeah, there you go. Okay. All their biggest songs are about like huge life events. So like Ed Sheeran makes a lot of songs about love and weddings and funerals, right? So you can bet that his music is being played at all these different events, and you know, it's not just oh, I want to make a song because I feel this way. It's also quite strategic with life and and different events, which you know, it's business.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, it's a virality, right? Like the the hot topic where we're at right now in Toronto is Kawhi Leonard was supposed to come back. And for context, for the non-NBA fans, this is a player that came to Toronto, won us a won us a ring, and then he dipped. So he was supposed to come back. But if you made a song about Kawhi Leonard coming back to the Raptors, you know, that's like viral TikTok, and that's just money right there, right?

SPEAKER_02

I'm surprised that your your dad tapped in and and tuned into NBA, bro. I'm I've I'm speechless right now. I don't know, you know, you you obviously it's the Raptors.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

You've got you've got affinity with the Raptors, but I mean, I'm not really, bro.

SPEAKER_03

It's just pop culture here, you know. People are talking, you know, office talk, cooler talk. Be like, oh, did you see this or you see that? So, you know, you need it, you need a base level of attention to these kinds of things, otherwise, like you're like that weird guy who doesn't know what's going on, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, out of the conversation. But I mean, that trade now is is is has been pulled, right?

SPEAKER_03

I think so, yeah. There's some controversy. I don't uh that's where my my knowledge runs out. Something's like, okay.

SPEAKER_02

So before before we move on to the music, so what's happened is uh Kawhi Leonard is under investigation because the NBA has this salary cap rule, right? So at the time when he was playing with the Clippers, they were only paying him a certain amount, but then they allegedly the team, the LA Clippers, was also paying him through a charity, right? To avoid, yeah, to avoid kind of these this salary cap rule that the NBA imposed, right? So now that the investigation is undergoing, the NBA is telling the Raptors that if you make this trade, whatever the outcome of the investigation is, you're also gonna be impacted by this. So this is why the Raptors are like, ooh. Nah. Hold on now, hold on now. You know, you guys conduct the investigation and then you know, we can we can make it work. So that's that's that's the backstory.

SPEAKER_03

I see, I see. Okay, okay. I mean, listen, I we we want him back because you know, I don't like Raptors really haven't done too much since they won. So if he comes back and does it again, then I I don't care.

SPEAKER_02

Listen, Kawhi Leonard, Kawhi Leonard, top, top 25 players ever. Amazing athlete, offense, defense, he does it all. He does it all. Okay, enough, enough sport. Actually, probably not enough sport because the World Cup, we've got a few more days of it. Today, we're recording this podcast on Tuesday, today, France, Spain, tomorrow, England, Argentina. Wesley, who do you have quickly?

SPEAKER_03

Today I have I have France to win, and tomorrow I have England to win, man. I'm I'm backing England all the way. I think they're gonna do it, bro.

SPEAKER_02

You think England all the way? I think so too. I think so too. France, yeah, same, same picks as you. France today, England tomorrow. I I think this is the year that England does it. I think, yeah, yeah. I think, yeah. They can do it. They can do it, they can do it.

SPEAKER_03

I think I just I just want them to do it for the culture, you know. It's like I think the British people need a win. I was talking to somebody about it at work. They're like, oh he's so pessimistic. Yeah, he's been so he's so pessimistic about the three lions. He's like, oh, but it's it's only because they've let us down so many times. So I think they I think the UK just needs a boost, bro. Let's see.

SPEAKER_02

60 years, 60 years. I love the team. I'm a big, big uh, obviously Jude Bellingham, everyone's a fan. Hey, dude. There you go. Harry Kane, great, great player. Like, this thing, I think this is the year. But of course, France is favorites, you know, they're the favorite. They're probably gonna they should do pretty well to today against Spain. It's not gonna be an easy game, but you know, before the tournament started, France was always number one, right?

SPEAKER_03

There you go. There you go. All right, guys. I mean, this is uh not a sports podcast, although maybe we should think about starting one. But Manu, bro, you were in Angola over the weekend, man. Tell us how was that? Angola, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So I flew to Angola Friday morning, early Friday, woke up around 4 a.m. here. My flight was around 7, 8, reached Angola. When did I reach Angola? I reached Angola about 8 p.m. local time.

SPEAKER_00

Wow.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, full day of traveling, and then I just crashed, obviously, and then the next day had my set played in this uh kind of underground warehouse type venue packed. The only thing I had some feedback to them about was just the the raised stage, which I'm not a fan of. I know it's it's quite popular in in Africa and different different areas and territories, but yeah, I'm just not a fan of like a raised stage, and you're the only one up there, and you've kind of you know. I was it was just you. It was just me up there. It was cool. Listen, it was cool. Great, great crowd. Again, I love playing in Africa. Anywhere in Africa, you you're able to express yourself, play different music, test music. You know, there's some tracks that that I've got coming out that I got to test. And people responded, you know, people responded, people were vibing to the club record tracks. And um funny thing, I was at a restaurant, and then this this this random couple, you know, they were just chilling. And then the the boyfriend comes up to me and he's like, Oh, are you Manu from YouTube? Really? He's like, but obviously he was speaking to the promoter, the guy that booked me.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh shout out to Dario. He was like, Oh, is this uh in Portuguese? Is this Manu from YouTube and TikTok? He's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's like, Oh man, please, I love I love your videos, man. Great job on your YouTube. I was just like, and then he was telling me that a couple years ago, I did a reaction video of a local um Luandan artist remix of a Salif Kato track. And that one, that video blew up, like it did crazy, crazy numbers. And he was telling me from that video, a lot of people, you know, got to know my page, etc. etc. Because it yeah, it's it had like he had so many views, and then from there, different artists um were able to kind of elevate their profile a little bit. Yeah. He was telling me, oh bro, trust me, like in Angola, your videos are crazy. And that just got me thinking, I was just like, okay, you know, online is not just numbers on a screen, right? It's actual real people behind there. But sometimes, sometimes I think as as I guess influences or people online, you you forget that, right? You see numbers and you're just like, okay, that's cool, that video did well. But every single number is a person that that you've uh you've connected with in some form. So that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03

I totally get that, bro. It's like, I mean, like just for those listening at home, guys, it's the same when you leave us a comment, like, you know, letting us know your thoughts or participating in the conversation as well, man. It goes a long way for us. Because remember, I'm in Toronto, Manu's in London. We're doing this all remotely and we're looking at our phone, you know, the whole week. So appreciate the love. And if and if you see us out and about, come say hi, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely. And before we kind of keep going, we we should always do this at the beginning of the podcast. But leave a like, subscribe, leave a comment, that really, really helps us. And we are starting to see the podcast grow, especially on YouTube. So I appreciate the support. But Angola, Luanda, in terms of just landscapes, infrastructure, it's definitely one of the most developed cities in Africa. Easy, easy, easy, easy. I would put it up there with Cape Town, honestly. Really? Yeah, yeah, I'd put it up there with Cape Town. Lots of Portuguese investment, yeah. As you can imagine. Big Portuguese population, Brazil, but the Angolan people themselves, I think they're working really hard to develop the country. Yeah. And yeah, I would definitely go back, man. Some of the best beach clubs, some of the best kind of food and beaches. Yeah, it's uh it was a vibe. Yeah, I was just I was there for what? I spent three nights, so yeah, just just the right amount. It's good.

SPEAKER_03

That's sick. Now, man, it's actually been on my list for a long time. Like, because it's one of those places where I feel like everybody has something good to say about it. I mean, especially the the Portuguese community, they love Angola, you know, they they back it. So I'm glad I'm glad to hear, bro. I'm glad you had a good time.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah. And the people as well. I think uh, you know, I've I've traveled a lot in Africa, but I would say Angola's got some of the warmest, just welcoming people from the artists, just people you meet on the street, anyone, you know. They're they're very friendly and uh they want to get to know you and and they seem very genuine. Yeah. So it's not just Cape Town, it's not just Casablanca and these types of kind of Nairobi uh obvious cities that people go to. Luanda, man, Luanda, do it, do it.

SPEAKER_03

Sick, man. Sick. Yeah, we'll we'll be there. I mean, from my from my side, bro, I had uh it's been actually such a music week, which is which has been great. It's always like super motivational. So since the last time we spoke, I had three three shows that I went to. The first being kind of music, well, Adam Porton and Anme. Then on the Sunday, I had Bun Shapa, and then on the Monday I had Black Coffee and Jimmy Jules, and I was destroyed on Tuesday. But it's good, man. It's good. Like, you know, like sometimes again, it's the same conversation. Like you spend your whole experience working on the label and and the social media stuff. You're on your phone, you're on your laptop, you're at home. Um, but then when you have that opportunity to go out and and do something, you know, it's really motivational. And for me, I've spoken about it before. All three of these parties were during the day or early evening. And for me, that was such a win because the whole late night thing, you know, you get tired, you know, it's a different kind of crowd when it's late night, super drunk, super this, super that. So I think that that was a huge contributor to having like such a good time, bro.

SPEAKER_02

So what what were the set times for like the main main acts?

SPEAKER_03

So for Anmi, I mean, all of them played like around six or eight, and then they played for like you know, two, three hours, right? Okay. Anme and Adam Port played for four hours, six to ten. Black Coffee played eight to ten thirty, Ban Shappa played like seven thirty to nine thirty. So it was like all that, like, and you know it's summertime now, so that's like sunset, right? Yeah, just as the sun is going down, and that that's my perfect time, 100%.

SPEAKER_02

And your favorite set was Black Coffee.

SPEAKER_03

Black Coffee hands down. I mean, the thing is, like, it was such a masterclass in tension building. Like, I forget what a maestro he actually is. You know, it's it was so well executed, tension building. Yeah, a big win for me was he played our upcoming remix of Like That. We got one more on the way, guys, from Ape Drums that's releasing in September. That was huge, big moment, and just the overall setting, man. It was like in this new area in Toronto that they're kind of developing. So they built like a temporary stage. There's a view of the Toronto skyline in the background, Black Coffee's disco ball with the sunglasses. It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

SPEAKER_02

But that yeah, you you uh sent me a photo of that sign, the disco ball with the sunglasses. Was that your first time seeing that? Because I've never seen that before.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, first and like, yeah, I'm gonna this is gonna sound really bad, but I actually didn't know that was Black Coffee's thing until that day, bro.

SPEAKER_02

I I I actually think I don't think many people know that that is Black Coffee's sign. I've never seen that. Yeah, I mean it's relatively new, right? Yeah, like what video big video black coffee has that? I I don't think I've ever seen uh that sign. So it's pretty cool though, I like it.

SPEAKER_03

I think it's I think the first one might have been Universe Ibiza. I you could definitely fact check me on that, but I feel like I remember seeing it at the beginning of the season in Ibiza, he put it up at Universe, but then I haven't seen it too much since then.

SPEAKER_02

I like it, I think he should run with it. Like it's it's the glasses, kind of nerdy thing, just like just just just run with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

No, it works.

SPEAKER_02

It's it works. It's good. It's good. What about what about his set did you enjoy the most? Because I mean, I know why he's so good, but was there a specific moment where you were like, oh, this is this is next, next level? And don't say, don't say when Drake showed up, because that's you know what?

SPEAKER_03

I actually left before Drake showed up, so I don't really care about that. Uh for me it was just like again, it's just all about the track selection. So we opened up with Superman, the mirror remix. But you had backstage, right? Yeah, I was backstage, but you know, I all my friends were in the crowd. So you know how backstage, there was so much politics, right? So it was all about, you know, there's a backstage, but then there's areas of backstage where, you know, you can be and you can't be, because it's a big stage, right? So in the DJ booth itself, like I was supposed to be there, but to get in was all this politics game, and the security guards are I mean, they're doing their job. It's because everybody's crowding into this little, you know, section where you can walk in there, right? So there's like a hundred people trying to push to get in just to get into like the DJ booth area. And I was like, you know what, I'm not gonna do this. And then I asked the promoter, uh, you know, if you could help getting me in, and he's like, bro, you know what? Like, I'm having such a hectic day, like I can't help you right now, which is fine. I understand. You know, he's working, you know, there's a lot going on at an event. Um, they did a great job. Shout out to the production team and all those guys. But I just decided at a point, you know what? Like, I'm here for the music, forget the politics, forget the access. I went down into the crowd, joined my friends, and just vibed for like a couple hours, man. It was great, brilliant.

SPEAKER_02

Good, good, good for you, good for you. Yeah, listen, I know how it gets sometimes. Like, and also like you can build it up in your head, you know, you're gonna be in the booth, you're gonna get some videos, you know, catch the vibes, you know, get get some clout, but then it doesn't happen, but then you've got two decisions. You can either let it ruin your night and you just stay pissed, or you have a good time.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, exactly, man. And like it's all about, you know, I'm trying to make a point now to be like, you know, when you're at these shows, you know, oftentimes I go there with the approach, I go, I need to get some content, I need to film, I need to be in a position because it's all Afro House feed, you know, whatever. But you know, I kind of realized recently that it takes away from you know just being a fan of of the music and paying attention to the set and the sound and the technique and the tension. And you know, when you're on your phone, we've talked about being on the phone a lot, you know, you definitely disconnect from from what's going on. So I went down in the crowd, I took a couple videos short, but I put my phone away. I was like, I'm just I'm just here for the vibe, which was nice. I haven't done that.

SPEAKER_02

She's just vibe, she's just vibe. Sorry, I uh I interrupted when you were talking about the set, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So I mean the like the set was great. Superman opening was kind of like a commanding moment. It's a very emotional track, and a lot of people knew the lyrics, right? So he went into that, he played some unreleased Ajna, You Make Me Fall in Love, which then went into Like That, which then went into you know his whole the rest of his set, bro, it was just great. One thing I didn't like is Black Coffee does do this, you know, halfway through his set, he starts to play a little bit more like I don't know, like mainstream crowd pleaders, like a little bit of Michael Jackson and Drake and whatever, which is fine, but it was really the first hour of his set that I enjoyed the most, and then toward the end it got a bit better, and then yeah, before Drake came on, I left because I was just like tired, you know.

SPEAKER_02

And what was the what was this? Oh Bun Shopper. How was Bun Shopper?

SPEAKER_03

Oh, but man, I think for me, I tell people this all the time. I think Bun is a top five DJ, man. I really do. Like as a DJ DJ, he has he is a very distinctive kind of selector where his songs just really like he just throws it down, man, and it's energetic, and there's a lot of drums and there's a lot of bass, and he had that crowd rocking, bro.

SPEAKER_02

So you like how you like is it more performance, stage presence, track selection, everything?

SPEAKER_03

But what's I think definitely track selection, bro. Like he's just like he just hooks you, man. And the great thing as well about Bun is there's this one venue I I'll I won't say who it is, but this venue is quite like commercial in terms of its crowd and usually the DJs that they bring, right? So for Bun to come in and play like real Afrotech music and have that crowd rocking with him is like it's an impressive achievement in my books because not a lot of DJs have come here and have been able to do it, right? So that's that's why I think Bun is the music. Bun is the man. He knows what he's doing.

SPEAKER_02

He's a talented, talented youth. He's a talented youth, man. Um I wanna I want to switch gears a bit, bro. I want to talk about business. Yeah. You know, we had a a meeting with an artist recently, and and they were talking about their careers and and what they should do differently moving forward, strategy, etc. etc.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, let's let's break down that meeting a little bit. Tell us a bit more about that, and then uh, you know, we can give our thoughts on, I guess, career progression and and other other areas.

SPEAKER_03

You know what, man, I think I think there's uh there's an interesting dynamic between a lot of these artists where you know they have a manager, they have an agent, or one that does kind of both, and then kind of the rest of their responsibilities are kind of left to them to kind of figure out, right? And I think a lot of that has to do with you know, social media, promoting releases, relying on the labels to do that work on your behalf, and also not really understanding what a label should be capable of doing. You know, you can flash you know a big budget and say, hey guys, we have this much marketing, but what does that actually mean, right? And what kind of strategies does do you employ to utilize that capital to the best of your ability to promote me as an artist, right? Because I think a lot of the artists, as well, there's I think depending on who you are, is like if you're not a touring DJ, you want to make money off the tracks, and hopefully that promotes you into becoming a touring DJ. But I think on the opposite side, the DJs who are ready on tour, they want to stay on tour and play bigger shows. So they care less about their streams generating revenue. They want their streams to generate presence. Right. So there's there's a conversation that needs to be had that says, guys, okay, what's the goal here? Do we want to make it this track is about all right, let's spend all the money and Let's break even and that's fine because everybody wins, it's publicity. Or no, guys, let's be conservative. This is a revenue generating, you know, activity. And then for the label, obviously, our business is intellectual property. We need to make money off streams and downloads. How do you balance between all of that to achieve everybody's goals? Right. So I I had an interesting conversation with the DJ, you know, this week. We had dinner, and that's really what it was centered around. It was like how, why, what are the goals? You know, how does everybody win? And I think I think a lot of artists kind of miss that that context about what are we trying to do here? You know.

SPEAKER_02

But then what what were his frustrations?

SPEAKER_03

His frustrations kind of boiled down to the lack of streams on projects that he's signed, right? And you know, he's worked with very reputable labels. Um, he releases music, let's say, once every two months on average, you know, and it's he was getting to a point where he's like, yo, I'm ready to throw down my own money. But then I had a question for him, I was like, what are you gonna do with that money? Right. And the answer is he doesn't really know. It's like, oh, do I do social media ads? Do I do this? Do I do that? And you know, my conversation with him was like, okay, here's what you should be looking at. Number one, line two, line three, line four. If you have like, you know, let's say a 5k budget to spend on a single release, what do you do with it? So yeah, this DJ ready to throw down his own cash, but it was about how do you how do you actually use that budget to maximize your goals specifically, right? Like if you want to do, if you want to be on tour, you want to play bigger stages, you need big tracks that stream a lot, that a lot of people know. Yeah. You know, so it was a big conversation kind of surrounding that. But what I was ending on there was a question for you, man. In addition to budget, right? Like budget is one thing, right? If you know how to manage it, you can do your thing. But how do artists or how should artists approach like the social media game from your perspective?

SPEAKER_02

I mean, it's nothing that you haven't heard before. I just saw a post this week about Huguel, and he's talking about every artist should be posting one video a day. You know, right. Whether that that video is a piece of content of you playing, or a story that you're doing, or more lifestyle content. Yeah. Or perhaps a DJ support video, right? There's different types of content and videos that you can post on your page, but having that presence and and that consistency and that output is very important. And it's a lot better than not doing anything and acting cool and and not taking risks when it comes to to building hype in your release. I also think a lot of artists are just they think they're too cool to create hype or make these videos. And it doesn't have to look perfect. I always tell people like some of the best videos that I've put out are the ones that look the shittest. You know, those are the ones that have created the most engagement, those are the ones that people have connected to the most because they a lot of the times like you don't even like see through the bullshit, but it's almost almost like your subconscious recognizes that you tried too hard to make this look too good, so then that takes away from the realness of it. You know, but if you just post something and you don't kind of think too much about it and you just go for it, there's so much power in that, energy-wise, because you know, in this industry too, people just think too much of about what other people think of of themselves.

SPEAKER_03

Which I get and how does it look like to others, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, and how does it look exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_03

It's like if, for example, like if you you know you played us a small gig, right? Then okay, it was not that it's not a lot of people there, but you know, it was a small venue, great vibes, very intimate, but on camera doesn't necessarily look good, then it's like mentally are you like, do I post this because then it looks this way or that way? But even though you had a great set, the crowd had a great time and you know it, but you know, it's all about how does it look like on social media, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and and that's that's definitely a great example. And it's not a piece of content that is easy to share, especially when no one is in the crowd and it looks like nobody was there. It doesn't listen, it doesn't uh what's the word for people, right? It doesn't make you look good, right? That's not a piece of content that a manager or an artist manager would be like, yeah, post that. Yeah, it doesn't if you're trying to sell yourself and promote yourself for gigs, etc. etc., a promoter's gonna look at that and you'll be like, but you don't bring a crowd, so why should I book you? But there's another side to that that is just like this person doesn't give a fuck, right? And there's a story that you can tell here, right? In your caption, in the energy that you bring in your set, there's things that you can do still to use that content, and it's not just about the crowd. It's not just about the crowd, it's also about how you're performing, the caption that you're uh you're including in the post, right? Again, it's not the easiest thing to do, especially when uh when you're on the come up. Yeah. Main thing is to be present and and post, man. I think who he posts like twice a day, man. That guy, he's made it, he's finished the game, his album is out, number one, and he's still posting like crazy. You know, if he can do it, if another guy like Jason DeRulo on TikTok that he goes insane, if they can do it, then so should you.

SPEAKER_03

I think I think what's interesting about I guess both Huguel and Jason DeRulo is that they have made posting on social media part of their job. You know, it's like this is this is part of it. I should, and it's just become routine for them where okay, part of my day every day is recording something for for social media, whatever it is, right? And I think a lot of artists think after the fact where it's like, I've got a release coming up, I should start posting, but really you should have been posting this whole time, regardless of whether you had a release or not. Right. So the conversation I was having with him is like, okay, well, if you're what kind of content should you be posting, is like, okay, it's not just oh, when you do a gig, or it's like, you know, you know, give us your thoughts while you're at the airport, man. Film something personal, be like, yo, I'm here in Athens, what's going on, guys? I'm on my way to this and that. I'm delayed, like, yo, blah, blah, blah. Whatever, man. Like, you know, people like a little bit of um person ability. You know, these guys are just humans as well. They have facts.

SPEAKER_02

Because everybody posts the carousel, right? Everyone does the same 10 slides, carousel, what's the track ID? You can see that everywhere. People always mostly play the same tracks anyway. Yeah. You know, and it's the same venues as well, right? So there's like it just decreases the newness of what you see as well. But, you know, if you're stuck in an airport or something cool happens, something natural happens, like if you're on your way to a gig and I don't know, you have a nice connection with the with the driver. You know, I'm just giving crazy examples here, right? Or there's different moments, there's cool moments that you can capture. Not to say that everything is is meant for social media, but the more you create content, the more you're gonna build a sixth sense for like knowing when to capture content and when it works and when it doesn't work, right? Um that's a great point. No, it's true, mate. You you literally build like a you know, a knack for it. You know. Sometimes, I mean, you you you mentioned it earlier when you went to black coffee, you decided not to be on your phone. But when you're posting all the time, if if I'm at a black coffee gig for two hours, I know that I'm gonna have two, three, four moments that I can use for my TikTok, and then that's it, you know? And you can find a way to kind of weave them in without taking away from the moment, but again, it's all about building that that habit as a as a content creator, I guess. But DJs these days, you kind of can't go can't get away from it as a content creator. You have to create that content, you have to be involved, man. And TikTok is so powerful, like using your sound on TikTok. Yeah, I feel like I mean, I was quite bad at this with my releases, but moving forward, your own track, you should have at least 20 TikToks of yourself using that sound. Yeah. Because like who else is gonna do it? If you're not gonna do it, your sound is just gonna have zero TikToks. Like, you should have a yeah, I would I would even go for 50, mate, of you using that sound if you're fucking, I don't know, cooking some food at home, just put it up and put some making a coffee, like you know, anything. You're in the gym, use the sound, you're driving, use the sound, just use that fucking sound, man. Because that's that's literally your biggest superpower. And uh, one thing that Juga was saying was a piece of content on TikTok, Instagram is like a lottery ticket, right? You post it, if it goes viral, you've won the lottery. Yeah. If it doesn't, you try again. Yeah, that's a great way of thinking about it.

SPEAKER_03

No, I totally agree, man. I mean, you and I know this because we've been doing it for ages, bro. It's like you never know which post is gonna fly, and the ones that do have been, you know, you like if we we broke it down, like I probably, especially on my TikTok, like on Afro's feed, I could probably boil it down to like let's say 10 posts over like 1,500 or more. I don't know how much I posted there, that that really are the ones that contributed to the success of that page specifically. That's how it works. But I think the hardest, the hardest part is starting. It's like, you know, I think about doing personal content all the time. I've tried some skits, I've tried this, I've tried that, and then you know, it's easy to get discouraged because your first one idea kind of works, and then you don't really know how to replicate it, then you have another idea and like it kind of tanks, and then it's discouraging, and then it's like, but I think consistency is just the key, man. That's really it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's at the beginning, you just have to remove that uh self-conscious feeling. You just have to remove it, you just have to remove it. I hate uh referencing myself, but yeah. When I first started making videos, I didn't even give a fuck, and it was the cringiest fucking content. Like when I watch it now, I'm just like, damn. And you can see like my reactions now, bro, they're so much more chilled, bro. Yeah. Because I'm a lot more just like, oh, I don't need to try as hard now. But you know, there's so much more chill than than a few years ago. And even reacting now, I'm like, I don't want to react anymore, but it's cool. Like, you know, if I see a track or a video, I'm just gonna do it.

SPEAKER_03

But I get it, man. Hey, listen.

SPEAKER_02

You just gotta you just gotta yeah, you can't be self-conscious at the beginning. It's like there should be a rule. If you make a decision of creating content, post for a hundred days, back to back to back to back, straight.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And see where you are. I like that. It should be like post for a hundred days. Forget if you're happy, sad, discouraged. Just post and then from there, after that 100 days, you're gonna see, you're gonna learn so much that there's gonna be five videos in there that are gonna do really well or somewhat well, and you're gonna be like, okay, I'm gonna keep doing these videos, and then from there you kind of continue to grow. That's the strategy. I feel like as an artist, that's what you can control these days. I was having a meeting this morning with some artists that I'm thinking of jumping on a track and uh signing on Club Record. Okay, and then he was telling me, Oh, I love what you guys are doing, Club Record. And he's like, What's the strategy? I'm like, What content do you have, bro? Yeah, that's the first thing I said. I was like, guys, like record labels these days, what they provide is maybe funding and and a bit of structure because we have to catalogue and people know us. But honestly, overall, what we do, you can do. Like, if I tell you, if I give you our playlists, yeah, if I give you our contacts, if I introduce you to this person, you can do it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, you you don't need us, exactly. Bro, exactly.

SPEAKER_02

You don't need us. So I was like, what content do you have? Once I have the content, then sure, I can use that content and use my networks and different things. And you know, once I have the track, I can send it to this DJ, that DJ, sure. But I need the content, especially like when it comes to DJ support, create the hype, tag the artists, and then bro, once you get the one big DJ to play a track, again, I hate this is how success is accelerated these days, but it's the truth. Like, if kind of music plays it, if Black Coffee plays it, even if I don't know, a lesser-known DJ didn't like the track previously, after they see Black Coffee and Shimza play it, they're gonna like the track. Doesn't matter if they liked it or not, they're gonna like it anyway. And they'll play it.

SPEAKER_03

Bro, speaking facts, man, that's exactly it.

SPEAKER_02

That's the truest, bro. That's the that's like the truest truth in our in our industry. It's like you send the track to someone, they ghost you, they're like, oh cool, whatever. Black Coffee plays it, Shimza plays it, then they're like, Oh, can I have this track? And you're like, bro, I sent it to you two months ago.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Bro, that happens all the time, man. All the time. All the time. And it's listen, it's just how it is. It's just how it is. You know, we want the shinier thing, and and we look up to these big DJs, and and they they set the market, they set the price, which is why they're where they are. But this is how things work, man. This is how things work. You gotta post, post, post, use TikTok as as as your fucking testing ground. I'm gonna pass it to you, but I've got a big, I've got a big uh big point to make as well.

SPEAKER_03

No, no, I mean, look, like it's you know, I think what you said there about give yourself a hundred days post every day. I think that's that's really it, man. It's the same, like, you know, when we started this podcast thing, it's like, oh, you can try one or two, and you know, if you're basing, you know, what people think of one or two podcasts and a few reels here and there, it's like it's not how the game works. Social media is all about momentum and also time, right? Like you keep posting, you reach a wider audience. I think recognizability is a big thing as well. Like non-music related pages, all these creators who do motivational stuff or gym stuff or cooking, whatever, there you know, you start to see it, you recognize it. Okay, this real, that real, that real, and you'd be like, Oh, I recognize that guy because he does, you know, I like his videos, he talks about you know, whatever, right? So there's that familiarity, skin in the game, you gotta just do it, man. But yeah, honestly, I think getting over the cringe is the hardest part, but just start, just start.

SPEAKER_02

But I was gonna say again, something a bit more strategy related to music and how music now is being selected and pushed by labels. The biggest labels now, they look at TikTok first. So when an artist is making a track or thinking about making a track, you know, a label will look at your TikTok, they'll look at the sound that you're producing. But also what they do, they run your production through like a I guess like a TikTok analyzer, which is like a 15-second snippet of the most viral-friendly section of your track. They test it on TikTok, they see how it picks up, and then based on those stats and that engagement, then they decide, okay, can we invest in this sound? Can we invest in this track? Is this track gonna stream and bring in a bring a return on the investment, right? So TikTok and three to 10, 15 second snippets of a song. This is how people are are measuring tracks and and I guess the probability of of success on a on a piece of music. But also artists are doing this now, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So who's really good at this is actually Fiona Kraft. So Fiona Kraft, what she's doing now a lot, she'll make a 30-second reel or TikTok of an idea that she's got. She'll post it, all the comments come in, and then she'll finish the track and release it, right? So she'll build that hype first.

SPEAKER_03

I've seen that. I've seen that. That's smart.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so she'll build the hype first. People on the comments are like, oh, release it, release it, release it. When is it coming out? The track is not even fucking finished. I don't even have a minute of this track. But because I know that people liked it, then you finish it.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, I see. That's brilliant, man. That's brilliant. One question I have for you. This is like kind of the the last thing, you know, me and this DJ were talking about is do you do artists, those who are touring their busy music gigs, do they need a social media manager? Like would they benefit from one?

SPEAKER_02

Listen, life is a lot easier if you do if you don't, if you don't, then I think hire one to at the beginning to set some structure and your brand and your look and feel.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And then I think every now and then have some check-ins. But I think if you're if you're really going for it, man, you definitely need one. You definitely need one. I mean, I definitely have some artists that I can that I'm thinking about now that are big. I I'm thinking if you had a social media manager, I'm not gonna name names, but man, there's a lot that you know, or even some of my favorite artists, but I just know if you had a social media manager, if you had like someone to just like refine a few things, next level, next level. Even for myself, like you know, I captured a lot of content in Angola that I want to put out last week. I was like, okay, let me change a few things on TikTok. So I started posting different things on there. Yeah, but proper social media branding, that's that's that takes like some sitting down, some planning, and everything has to be aligned, man. Everything has to just be connected. You can't just post and yeah, fine, no, it's gotta like have a wider, wider video.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I mean that's like again, like you benefit from posting a lot, but I think you know, something I think about often is like a storytelling, right? And and aesthetic as well, right? It's like what is what does my feed look like, what does my content look like, what does my schedule look like in terms of content rollouts and consistency across it. Like you don't you're not hurting yourself by posting a lot, but there's a lot of benefits in being consistent with the imaging and the storytelling and look-feel, and you know, I think you know, you benefit a lot of times from a professional who knows what they're doing, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think like it's a bit more difficult for I think artists at our level when we're trying to come up and you don't have as much access to the lifestyle, you know. Someone, if you look at, for example, like a Peggy Goo, man, she just does everything, all the events, the fashion, the hotels, like it's easy, right? You just put your phone out and it looks cool, you got the shows, like that's easy, right? But when you're on the come up, that's a bit more difficult. You know, what are you doing? What makes you interesting? And listen, we still have life, we still have family, we still have things that we do, interest, etc. So there's things in there that you can capture. It's all about making the time and then figuring out okay, how do I make it work for me? But it's difficult again. If it was easy, everyone would do it.

SPEAKER_03

That's true. That's true. There's a message there, guys. So I mean, you gotta give it a go. I think there's a lot of experimentation that comes with it. I've experienced it, man has experienced it. But something I wanna I wanna move on to our last kind of topic of the day is I mean, talking about social media, man, this shit was all over my page, you know, over the last week or so. The John Summit and P Tong thing, bro. What's going on there, man?

SPEAKER_02

John Summit Pitong, John Summit Pitong.

SPEAKER_03

Everywhere.

SPEAKER_02

Everyone was talking about it. The next day, Petong had to. Clear the air, but if yeah, you've been living under a rock, you don't know what's going on. Of course, John Summit came for Pete Tong's head and and accused him of I guess not holding true to his word about releasing the the missing Everything But the Girl remix together, which they had allegedly agreed on doing. And there was another remix by Frankie Rizzo, which is the one that I actually was listening to and saw over social media that Pete Tong announced that he was gonna release last week. And then of course, after this came out in John Summit aired out the Dairy Laundry in front of everyone. Then Frankie Rizzardo was like, okay, I'm gonna actually cancel this release. This is not coming out anymore because it doesn't feel right. And yeah, so now no remix is coming out and people are the conversation, I guess now it's about, yeah, but it's a remix, like you guys are acting like it's your own original track, it's everything about the girl, Todd Terry made a remix 20 years ago. Why are you guys why why do you have bringing this energy to something that really isn't yours? But of course, if if there's any wrongdoing, it sounds like it's with the Pete Tong John Summit situation, which seems unclear. But I was also watching uh an interview from Pete Tong on Instagram. We did an interview where he was saying that his plan actually was to release both versions, but as different kind of versions, like in terms of like vibe and and production, yeah, you know, so one is I guess a bit more clubby or whatever, and one is another version, right? So that was his explanation for it, but you know, still the whole situation's messy. I think honestly, my point of view is that the Frank Rizzardo remix got so much more publicity and so much more hype than John Summit's one did, and I think that Pete Tong didn't tell John Summit that this was gonna come out, right? So in all this kind of hype with the Frankie Rizzardo one and and and Pete Tong jumping on it, and the fact that the remix was announced by Frankie Rizzado to come out so soon, it wasn't like oh it's gonna come out in a few months, it was like next week, you know, and no one knew. So I think in all of this, John Summit was like, Whoa, what's going on? And then this happened.

SPEAKER_03

You know, look, my my whole thing is that look, I get it. I get the whole I get the whole drama, and you know, things were promised and not delivered and whatever, but you know, like John Summit, I have to call him out a little bit. I mean, I think that you know, if you're an artist of that caliber, you already have a super successful career. Taking to X or whatever social media platform he used to call out Pitong, I just think was a bit surprising. It's like surely you would have, you know, tried to resolve this in private. Maybe they did. I don't know what happened, you know. I don't know. We will never know. But I think to do that publicly in front of everybody, you know, it just it's the reason that nobody's gonna get the remix now, right? Like us as fans and listeners, you know, we're not getting the remix because you know, you put a bad, a bad stink in the air for lack of a better term. And I just I don't know, man. Like, is it an artist being an artist? Like, should it have been handled the other way? Was it? I agree. I don't know, man. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know. Part of me is like, yes, people should be called out more in this industry because there's so much shit that I hear about, and people always talk about each other's backs, and yeah, there's a lot of drama, so it's a bit refreshing that at least for one time it happens. I mean, to this magnitude, to this magnitude is crazy, yeah. But yeah, part of me disagrees with you, but at the same time, I see like it is messy. Pete Tong, of course, he's a house music royalty, he's done a lot for the culture, yeah. But Frankie Rizzardo's remix was the one that people wanted. Yeah, exactly. That's the remix that people wanted. Like, I don't care what what you say, people wanted this remix. John Summit felt some type of way. Also, I'm gonna say this John Summit, he's in the news a lot.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, he is, he is.

SPEAKER_02

But you know, it helps Yeah, I'm not sure if it's like publicity, but my guy is outside a bit too much. Like I know you're hot right now, you're crazy, you love, but we're talking about you a lot.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, we are. We actually are first bro. I'm not even like a John Sonic jump sorry, John Summit fan like that, but bro, he's he's just active. But you know what as well, man? Like I I I talk about this a lot, actually. It's like there's so much there's so much strategy in being controversial, right? You know, we've talked about it. Sometimes I wonder, like, you know, would it actually be a good thing to drop the tracks now? Because there's so much publicity around it. And if you drop both at the same time, then you create a conversation of oh, whose is better than the other? And then John Summit army versus Frankie Rizzardo army, they're gonna be all over each other on social media. Like, I would I would just drop the tracks, bro.

SPEAKER_02

You would just drop them.

SPEAKER_03

I would just drop them.

SPEAKER_02

Listen, I wouldn't get anything past the PR teams on these artists, but Frankie Rizzardo, from what I see on social media and just how he handles himself and carries himself, I don't see him doing this, man. I just don't see I really don't see Frankie Rizzardo being this calculated and and uh opportunist with this remix.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I just don't see it. I just don't see it. Also, like he was the first one to be like, yeah, it's not coming out, this doesn't feel right, it's not the energy that I put into this track, so it's not gonna happen. But guys, his remix was the one that we were waiting for. It wasn't John Summits. From my point of view, I think that's on TikTok that's that's what everyone was playing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, no, I'm with I'm with you on that. I'm 100%.

SPEAKER_02

That's the one. Do we have anything else to say? There was something that I wanted to mention. What was it?

SPEAKER_01

Remixes.

SPEAKER_02

I know, I know, yeah. I thought uh you you mentioned, of course, on the topic of remixes. Frankie Rosato, great remixer. Give us some of your favorite remixes at the moment.

SPEAKER_03

You know, there there's a lot that that come to mind. I think the I think the champion of remixes, and I think a lot of it has to do, number one, with talent, but also with clearance, have to give the number one spot to Anne friends. And that guy is the remix king. He's done a lot of great remixes, he's got more on the way, and they're all official. For the unofficial remixer, I gotta give it to Draga, bro. That guy for me is like an unbelievable artist, you know. Strategy-wise, he puts out a lot of remixes on SoundClouds. He just did a bru just did a Bruno Mars one uh last week or the week before, which was really good. I'm not a big Bruno Mars guy, but that remix was really well, uh, really good. And then probably for me, the last one I want to say Chalet, Chali, Chalet, uh, because he's also like but he remixes without permission sometimes, but I'm here for it, bro. I'm here for it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but you gotta that's that's how you do it, right? You remix without permission, yeah. That that's that's how it should be. Okay, my names. I'm gonna say Vanko. His water remix, insane, yeah, CM Flip Bro Flipping uh I adore you remix. Yeah. Vanco's gone. Okay and Oliver Loin. Tough, tough tough remixes, and yeah, when they were like first pushing before they started touring, bro, the amount of remixes those guys were putting out mad. Yeah, you know, go under SoundCloud, like that remix catalogue is crazy, crazy long. So gotta shout those, shout, shout those guys out. Sam is a good remixer. I like Sam, and he's also kind of I like the consistency of his remixes on a on a monthly basis. There's always something coming out. Maybe not monthly, but he's consistent with it every couple months. He's putting something out. If course.

SPEAKER_03

Hey, the OG to an extent, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Gotta put Night Freak in there, and I'm gonna mention a young cat, Masala. Where's Masala from?

SPEAKER_03

Oh, good question, bro. Is it Algeria? I want to say Algeria, bro. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, maybe maybe Egypt. But yeah, Masala. Masala, Masala in there as well. So, yeah, guys, episode 26. Everyone is a DJ. Hope you enjoyed this uh sports slash music podcast today. Yeah, leave a like, leave a comment, subscribe, listen to all of our tracks, our playlists. Hopefully, our link to in the description if you want to listen to any club records. And we'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_00

Peace.