Hey a,

99% of the artists I talk to tell me some version of this:

"I really don't like promoting my music on Instagram and TikTok."

"I'm not good at social media."

"I think the music should speak for itself."

And yet most of us still believe that posting silly dances is the only way to get heard.

It isn't.

So today I want to show you a different path, one that's worked surprisingly well for a few artists in our program.

It starts with a techno group called Fjaak.

They came up in Spandau, a small town on the outskirts of Berlin.

Nobody would have bet that a few techno-obsessed friends throwing local raves would turn into a global act.

They didn't start out playing Berghain. They didn't wait around for a label or a booking agency to sign them.

They built the infrastructure they didn't have, completely on their own. Good old DIY.

And here's the part that actually matters for you: they started with about twenty friends.

The big secret forest-raves, the 1,000+ crowds, Modeselektor catching wind and reaching out, the label, the rest-is-history stuff all came later.

But you can point it back to that moment with 20 friends, two decks, and a shitty sound system.

So let's bring this back to you.

If the word "promote" makes you cringe, the move isn't to cringe harder on a different platform. It's to build something real where you actually live.

And before you picture yourself renting a warehouse and stressing about door numbers, relax.

That is not step one. Step one is tiny on purpose.

Here's the staircase I'd actually start on:

1. Find one other producer in your city.

Just one. Swap works in progress, talk shop, be useful to each other. That's it.

One real connection beats a thousand strangers scrolling from reel to reel on socials.

2. Show up to one local night you genuinely like.

Not to “network”. To be a part of something.

Just go, enjoy it, and say hi to whoever put it on.

Promoters are starving for people who actually care about the music. This is how you get to know them.

3. Play your stuff somewhere small.

A friend's birthday. A bar with a free Tuesday slot. A 20-person basement thing.

Twenty people in a room who heard your track is worth more than 2,000 passive plays, because those twenty remember you and spread the word.

None of that requires a posting plan. None of it requires being an extrovert.

It requires showing up in real life a few times, which, for most of us, is way less terrifying than performing for a camera.

And just to be clear:

Posting on socials will feel much more satisfying if there’s something from the real world you can share.

But you don’t have to.

A couple of artists in our coaching program, Vel C and Tuulacult, built exactly this way.

Are they based in Berlin, London, LA, or New York?

Nope. Smaller cities in Serbia and the Czech Republic.

They didn't start with a scene either.

They started with a handful of people and kept showing up, and now they run profitable party series and their own labels.

One catch, and it's the important one: this only works if you've got music to share.

You can't build a local following around tracks that are still stuck at 80% on your hard drive.

So the finishing comes first, then the building. They feed each other.

Start with rung one this week. See where the twenty take you.

Your music matters. Make it count.

Philip

PS: I know what some of you are thinking: "I barely have time to finish a track, now I'm supposed to organize my local scene too?" Totally fair. The honest answer is that finishing tracks at a high quality always comes first. That's the core of what we do in the coaching program. But once that machine is up and running, we can also help you get it out there in a way that feels right to you. If you want to see whether it's a fit, book a free discovery call here.