October 7, 2024 • 54 mins
Join the next round of the Headliner Mindset coaching group, starting 10/15!
https://www.nikcherwink.com/headlinermindset
WESTEND is one of the hottest artists in the tech house scene right now, with his songs getting tens of millions of streams on Spotify and supported by some of the biggest DJs in the world.
In this episode we talk about the importance of being authentic on social media and building truly a engaged fan base, how to live a balanced and healthy lifestyle as a DJ, evolving your brand, setting goals and much much more.
Follow Westend here:
https://www.instagram.com/itsthewestend
https://www.tiktok.com/@itsthewestend
https://www.instagram.com/traceamountsnyc
Check out Track Stack for DJ promo:
https://www.trackstack.app
Follow Nik Cherwink here:
https://www.instagram.com/nikcherwink
And visit my site to join the mailing list or book a free coaching call:
https://www.nikcherwink.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Westend (00:00):
almost everyone who just doesn't quit gets success
in some way.
It's like the people that didn'tmake it through, they were the
ones that like life hit them andthey just decided to do
something else.
And like music wasn't for them,but the people that were just
like, I'm going to keep doingthis.
Like they got their success.
you just got to stay in it.
(00:20):
That's it.
That's the only thing.
Nik (00:35):
What's up everybody.
Welcome to the headliner mindsetpodcast.
Before we dive into today'sepisode, I want to remind you
all that we are about to launchthe next round of the headliner
mindset group coaching programand community.
I know a lot of you guys havebeen listening to every episode.
I know this because you tell meI've listened to every episode.
I'm loving what you're puttingout.
And hell yeah, first off, thankyou so much for supporting.
(00:57):
I am truly, truly grateful.
Now, also, if you want to takethat one step further and you
want to get actual coaching andsupport and basically have your
own podcast, not once, but twicea week and join a really bad ass
community of other artists thatare really getting after it, uh,
this is your chance.
So we're starting October 15th.
(01:17):
I've only got a couple spotsleft.
I only bring on 10 people at atime.
So if this is calling you, ifyou feel like you want to be a
part of this community, I wouldlove to have you join us.
Go check out nickcherwink.
com headliner mindset for moreinformation.
And if you're interested, shootme a DM on Instagram.
We can chat about it.
Now, as far as today's guests,this guy is killing it in the
(01:39):
tech house scene.
His songs are getting tens ofmillions of plays on Spotify.
He's getting supported by all ofthe biggest artists in the
scene, playing shows constantly,and just really has an
incredible headliner mindset.
He really offers so much greatinsight and wisdom in this
episode.
So without further ado, this isWest End.
(02:00):
Tyler West End, welcome to theshow, brother.
Westend (02:04):
Yo, yo, yo.
Thanks for having me, man.
Stoked to be here.
Nik (02:07):
Yeah, dude.
Thanks for thanks for hitting meup.
Uh, well, let's just start therebecause I kind of avoided tick
tock for a long time.
I was like just posting clips onon Instagram and finally I'm
like, I'm like, what the fuck amI doing?
Like I'm making these clipsputting all this time and energy
into it.
I might as well put them up ontick tock.
I finally started doing that andit's like immediately they're
(02:30):
getting like 10 times thetraction and not only that
they're, I don't know, peopleare discovering, you know,
they're seeing it on theplatform.
So, you saw a clip of some kindand reached out to me, which is,
which is rad.
So moral of the story, if youall are not posting on Tik TOK,
get out there and fucking poston Tik TOK because it's such a
great platform.
The algorithm is very, veryrewarding and yeah, you're the,
(02:51):
uh, you know, second or thirdartists that, uh, I've connected
with through Tik TOK now.
So I'm glad that you hit me up.
Happy to have you here andstoked to dive in
Westend (03:00):
Yeah, bro.
It's like, I, it's, it's kind oflike the great equalizer
because, um, and I think it'sespecially cool because I feel
like back in the day, um,artists would really, and, and
DJs would only really followlike other DJs.
So to be able to discoversomething, whether it's like
music or a different take onthings or like whatever it is
(03:21):
from like anyone, it was justkind of like unheard of, but
with like, The social mediaalgorithms, um, people that you
may not be familiar with, butthat have dope content and it's
like resonating, it's just goingto show up on your feed.
I think maybe it was something,did you do a interview with laid
back Luke?
Maybe that's what it was.
Um, that came up for me or.
Nik (03:42):
Yeah.
Westend (03:43):
Yes.
Okay.
So like, that's another thing,like lay back Luke, like, like
hero of mine.
Like when I first started DJing,like he was one of my favorite
DJs, favorite producers.
And like sometimes my videoswould show up on Tik TOK on
like, I guess his for you page.
And he would comment on it.
And like, still inside me, likethe, you know, having like a
huge fan boy moment whenever Isee a comment from him.
(04:04):
And I think that's what it was.
It was like an interview you didwith him.
And I was like, this is dope.
Like, I definitely, uh, want toget, uh, Get in the same virtual
room with you and uh, shoot theshit a little bit
Nik (04:14):
Yeah, man.
I love that.
I think there's a really lessonunderneath all of this because I
love hearing you talk about howyou know, laid back Luke,
obviously like he's, he's such alegend.
He's such an awesome figure justin the scene and in the
community.
And I really love that wordcommunity.
And we're all part of the samecommunity, whether you're a DJ
(04:35):
and an artist, whether, youknow, a podcaster or, you know,
I used to be a manager, I'veplayed all these different roles
in the community.
And There's so much resistanceto social media from artists and
there's so much hate or justdistaste.
I should say it like, oh, I haveto post like, why do I have to
do content?
(04:56):
You know, it's just something Isee all the time, but it's like,
It's such a great opportunity tobe a part of the community,
right?
Obviously there's the in personside of it of like, yeah, go, go
to shows, go meet people, gonetwork and go do that.
But there's this whole otherlandscape that's available to us
that I think requires a littlebit of a perspective shift.
(05:16):
From, oh, I got to make contentto just get fans and like, try
to, you know, get more likes andget my Spotify numbers up.
It's very different than like,yo, let me put myself out there
and connect with other peoplethat are like minded that I can
collaborate with, that I canlearn from.
So here we are getting to dothat and it's just a different,
I think a little perspectiveshift of just how you even look
(05:37):
at social media in general,right?
Of just seeing it as a, as anetworking tool and like a
community building, uh,opportunity really.
Westend (05:47):
that's something i've been very involved in with like
the last few years.
Um, especially like recentlywith social media as well I
think there was this, you know,idea before where it's like, I
just need to have a viral videoand then I'm going to gain like
a bunch of followers and that'sgoing to help my career.
I'm going to make more money.
I'm going to play better settimes at festivals, blah, blah,
(06:08):
blah.
And really at the end of theday, it's all about, you know,
how many like real fans can Ibuild that are gonna like, Come
out to my show when I visit themin whatever city they live in so
that's like a really big thingi'm working on now is like using
different tools combined withsocial media to try to build You
know big lists of data of peoplethat I know support me and my
(06:30):
music so that you know When I goplay a show I don't have to rely
on instagram to kind of Put thisinformation in front of the
right people.
I can like directly access that,give that to them.
And I think the community aspectis so important because, you
know, it's not, it's not abouthow many likes you have in your
posts or followers now, it'skind of like more about who's
sharing it, who's commenting onit, who feels like they're part
(06:53):
of something like, you know, forme, it's like a big thing I do
is like, I really feel like.
I'm able to put myself in thesame room as the people that
enjoy my music and they get tolike know the real me Like i'm
not putting on like a front andI think a lot of fans in today's
day and age like appreciate thatAnd the really big djs that have
massive success.
That's what they're really goodat It feels like you know them
(07:14):
and like they're your friend anduh, you know, they let you in on
every little thing in their lifeSo, I love that perspective that
it's it's not just this kind oflike selfish thing It's like
we're growing something thatEveryone kind of benefits from
through social media
Nik (07:29):
Yeah, I think you've done a great job of that.
Like I really enjoy since Istarted following you on TikTok.
I've really enjoyed.
Watching your tiktoks and whatyou're putting out because it is
very much like, Oh, cool.
I'm getting to know this guy andkind of like what he's into and
just the sort of day to daylifestyle.
And also you just have reallygreat thoughts and things that
you're sharing.
(07:50):
You're, you're putting yourselfout there.
You're actually sayingsomething.
I think you've done a reallygreat job with that.
I think.
It sounds like there was alittle bit of a shift though
there for you as well.
Like you've kind of shifted yourapproach, to that.
It sounds like you weren't maybealways, always necessarily doing
that.
Like, I guess the deeperquestion that I have here is,
you know, how do you actuallyreally develop real connection
(08:11):
and real community and trueengagement with your fans versus
like you said, just having maybelike a viral hit or a viral, you
know, tick tock, just, justgetting the views and the likes.
Like how do you actually takethat next step to having true.
True fans and true engagementwith them.
Westend (08:28):
Yeah, I think it definitely doesn't happen
overnight.
It's it's it's I think for anyartist.
It's a It's a big process.
So for me and I think for a lotof artists is like once you kind
of like start to have somesuccess in the music industry
and you know, maybe you're ableto do it full time and uh,
You're you're touring a lotyou're playing shows like You
(08:50):
know, there's this like pressureon you to kind of act a certain
way or like you look at likeyour dj heroes and you see How
they kind of interact on socialmedia and you're like I got to
imitate that because if I wantto Be at that level.
I need to kind of like act likethese people and for these
people It's a little bitdifferent, you know, maybe they
have so many fans.
(09:10):
They can really like have aspecific brand but for me You
know, I didn't have like a veryYou Identifiable visual brand or
anything like that.
So, you know, it took me a whileto realize that, like, the
things that did the best for meon social media was just me
being me and showing the thingsI like and, you know, talking
about things I think areimportant or educational or
(09:33):
whatever I wanted to kind ofsay.
But it definitely took a whileto kind of realize that because,
and I see this a lot with like,DJs that are kind of like first
breaking out is like, They tryto be very like protective of
their brand and, they care a lotabout like what other people
think about them or how they'reviewed.
And at the end of the day, themore you care about that, like.
You kind of just realize that noone gives a shit about what you
(09:55):
do at any point and uh, takingrisks and and you know Doing
things that make you happy andand that you think are cool are
actually going to build the mostfans and build the most
Community rather than just beinglike, oh i'm going to post the
same 10 dj videos every week andyou know, it kind of gets boring
after a while It did work for areally long time.
But in today's day and age, Idon't think I think everyone's
(10:17):
seen videos of you know DJing atbig festivals and big crowds.
And it doesn't really, do whatit used to do for fans that, uh,
it does today.
Nik (10:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think something people getcaught up in also is you're
looking at that artist.
That's three steps ahead of youor five steps ahead of you.
And you're like, well, that'swhat I should be doing.
And the truth is you probablycan't be doing that because
there are five steps ahead ofyou like there.
You know, on planes everyweekend and they're playing all
these shows and like, they'vegot it there.
They're just at a differentstage in your career.
(10:50):
So it doesn't really make senseto be like, Oh, I'm going to try
to do that because you're justnot there yet.
You know, like, where are you atin the stage of your own growth
and your own evolution?
And and also, you know, I reallylove that what you're Touching
on here is just simplyauthenticity, just being
authentic, right?
Rather than, oh, I'm going totry to portray this image or
(11:11):
this idea or whatever that Ithink I should be doing.
Honestly, that's pretty fuckingexhausting.
You know, I think same thingcomes with music when you're
like, oh, I'm going to try tomake whatever I think is cool
and whatever everybody else ismaking.
Uh, it's a very exhausting pathto take versus like, oh, let me
just be myself and Have fun, youknow, like that's a lot more
(11:33):
enjoyable.
It's honestly a lot easier.
It honestly takes a lot lessenergy.
Right.
So yeah, I, I love that.
You're, figuring that out.
That's, that's great.
Westend (11:43):
It's de, it's definitely something that it's
like, uh, I like how you said atthe end, it's like, you kind of
like figure it out.
And like, I don't think you everlike fully figure it out.
You know, that's why artistsfrom any genre of music, whether
it's like pop rap, uh, Anyonethat's, you know, um, a creative
artist and that they themselvesare the artist, you know what I
(12:04):
mean?
they are always kind of likeshifting their brand and how
they're viewed because you knowAnd people change as well.
Like the person I was five yearsago is different like than the
person I am now so, you kind ofhave to reflect that to your
fans and if You know if thatmeans like being in a totally
different world Like I see somany artists especially in the
last few years like Do thesekind of full on rebrands, so to
(12:27):
speak, like maybe they're notchanging their name, but they're
changing their sound.
They're changing, their kind ofvisual identity, the way they
act on social media, because,uh, you don't, people fake it
all the time.
They're like, they convincedthemselves they like this thing,
and then they realized theydon't actually like it.
And maybe they're not doing itfor the right reasons.
And it's, it's, it's, but it'slike a whole process.
(12:47):
It's not just like overnight.
I mean, I think Gordo, Carnagewas like the great, like huge
example of that.
Like, I think he had the bestrebrand ever.
Like he went from.
like a headliner dubstep kind oftrap dj to like now like an
underground like house dj and Ittook him a while and it's a lot
of like ups and downs, but Yeah,being authentic is like the most
important thing you can not beauthentic for a bit and it'll
(13:11):
work, you know, you can get umSome success you can kind of
like break out into like themusic industry but like it's
gonna hit you at some pointwhere you're like, uh, like this
doesn't feel right for me I haveto like You know, you can't
sustain it forever.
So that's why I think so manypeople kind of have to Yeah,
they end up making like a bigshift in their music and brand.
Nik (13:35):
Yeah.
this is bringing up somethingthat I've actually never talked
about on the podcast, but Ithink it really isn't.
piece of the conversation thateveryone should be thinking
about and we should be talkingabout more, uh, which is around
money and specifically savingyour money.
Because something that I've seenquite often is when artists go
(13:58):
full time, they become, theystart to become successful.
You start to build a career foryourself.
You build a brand that thenthere is this expectation from
the marketplace and frompromoters about what your brand
is, the style of music that youmake, carnage, for example, it
was like, yeah, trap.
He was known for that style ofmusic.
and at some point I remember hetook a big break.
(14:21):
He was like, yo, I need tofucking step out for my mental
health.
I need to take a break.
Cause what happens for a lot ofpeople is it's like you evolve
and you change and also cansometimes kind of get burnt out,
you know, brills.
I remember brills, uh, wasanother big trap DJ and now he's
LS dream.
And I remember him being like,yo, I just got fucking sick of
(14:42):
playing the same shit all thetime.
And I see people get stuck wherethey're like.
I have now created a businessfor myself.
This is my income.
I have to keep making thismusic.
I have to keep playing theseshows because this is how I pay
my fucking rent.
And so sometimes people can getstuck in like, man, like my
heart and my soul isn't reallyin this anymore, but I've built
a brand and I've built abusiness here and.
(15:04):
I Think I bring up the moneything because I'm like, well,
you know, I'm sure, you know,carnage did really, really well.
I'm sure he was probably likesitting on a little bit of
money.
So he's like, yo, I can, I cantake six months off.
I can take a fucking year off ifI want to and go find myself and
rebrand myself and come back andrelaunch a project.
You know, same thing with, with,with, with Brill's with Sammy.
It was like, all right, Hey, I'mgoing to, I'm going to just step
out.
But if you're not in a positionto do that, you have to fucking
(15:26):
keep putting out things.
And you're probably going to getgoing to just be creating music
from a place of stress andpressure because you have to
stay relevant because you haveto keep getting those bookings.
So, uh, for all of you that areout there that are starting to
get success and starting to makesome money and you're making
that transition a full time,save up that nest egg.
So if at some point you're like,Hey, I I want to take six months
(15:47):
off and sort of like just playin the studio or just take a
break and sort of see where Iwant to go from here.
would be nice to at least havethat option.
Westend (15:56):
It's kind of like, you know, everyone says to save up.
You have to have like thatemergency fund that like If you
had to, you know, got fired andyou had to keep work, you stop
working for like three months.
I think that's, that that'sreally smart.
And a lot of times you seepeople also, it's not just like
about them sustainingthemselves, but especially for
DJs on a bigger level, there'slike a whole team around them
that need to be.
(16:16):
Kind of sustained.
Like, I think, uh, that's kindof like what was in Avicii's
case.
Um, I don't know too much aboutwhat happened there, but like,
it seemed like there was a lotof pressure from like his team
around him, maybe his managementor, agents to kind of like keep
going, cause it's like all thesepeople's income is, kind of like
reliant on them and then, yeah,I think being able to take time
(16:37):
off because it really is like,uh, I've never really done it
cause I, I've kind of.
I've, I've changed the type ofmusic I've made slightly, but
that's just normal withinwhatever genre you make as the
sound changes, you kind of likeadapt to the times.
No one's really making like theexact same sub genre of music
(16:58):
for like years and years.
I don't, I don't know anyonethat's been doing that.
But, um, you really need to takelike a big chunk of time off and
like really, especially on amusical level as a producer,
play around in the studio, maybeget new instruments.
Like it's kind of like a wholelike rebirth process.
So it's, it's not something youcan just be like, Oh, this
weekend, I'm going to rebrandmyself and switch to this.
(17:19):
It's like, there's a lot ofdiscovery going on.
I think that's very smart about,uh, saving,
Nik (17:26):
Yeah.
There's also just thisperspective shift around how are
you approaching your Your year,I'd say like a lot of us are
thinking about what's our sortof our weekly schedule and our
weekly process.
And I see for a lot of artists,and I mean, even the ones that
I'm coaching, whether that's oneon one or in my program, it's
(17:48):
usually like, okay, how manyhours am I putting into the
studio every week and I'm tryingto release a song every month
and I'm just trying to, youknow, stay relevant and stay
active and all the time.
And it's like, you're prettymuch just always hitting the
gas.
And.
I just want to point out thatthat's not necessarily the way
it has to be.
Cause when I think about, youknow, bands, like I used to work
(18:11):
at Capitol Records and I workedin the major label system,
people are putting out albumsand it would be like a band
would go into the studio forlike three months and create and
they would write their album andthey record their album and then
they're not.
Writing and recording.
They're not in writing andrecording mode anymore, and now
they're in, maybe it's touringmode, and they go on a tour for
(18:32):
six months and then it's like,okay, now we're on vacation mode
and we have three months wherewe're just like chilling and
we're hanging out.
And it's like, that sort offramework doesn't really seem to
exist.
In the electronic space as much.
It's more like, yo, like makemusic every day, put out tracks
all the time, play shows everyweekend as much as possible.
And yeah, we want to talk aboutAvicii.
(18:54):
Like, well, how sustainable isthat?
You know, I, you know, and wetalked about this on the laid
back Luke podcast as well, whereit's just like, people are just
hitting the gas hard, but like,what if it was different?
What if it was like, you know,we broke things up a little bit
differently and actually builtin, maybe I could build in.
Two months out of my year.
Maybe I just don't do anythingand actually get like a summer,
actually get a vacation or I getsome time to take some of that
(19:17):
pressure off and maybe, explorenew things or just rest and
recover.
Like think it's just good tolook at, like, maybe possibly
there are other ways of doingthings and maybe some people are
doing that, you know, but Ithink it's kind of, I don't
think it's that common.
Westend (19:33):
kind of get yourself to a point where like doing some,
like more midterm to long-termplanning even makes sense
because you, you kind of needeverything set in stone.
Um, and that only really comesat a certain artist level where
you have like an agent thatlike, kind of like knows show
dates like way ahead of time.
And, uh, you know, you have areally have like a team that you
(19:54):
can plan.
Like I only really started doingthat in like the last like year
and a half or so, which is likekind of like, you know, really
planning like what we're goingto do.
And especially like timing ofmusic releases is important.
You know, I used to just belike, Oh, just put it out.
Like whenever.
And that, that does work in somecases, but, um, a lot of times
being like, okay, we're gonna,You know, plan for this release
(20:16):
to come around this show so thatall these like other activations
and like marketing kind of likehit at the same time.
That's something that I didn'treally like realize doing for a
while, but I think you can bestrategic at any level.
And, uh, when you're talkingabout kind of getting burnt out
and hitting the gas, You know, Ithink so much is expected of DJ
artists or electronic artiststhese days.
You know, you're doing socialmedia, like multiple posts every
(20:39):
week.
You're filming things, editingthings.
You have to write new music.
You have to promote the music onsocial media.
You have to go on like, Toursevery week like it's just so
easy to like not have enoughtime for everything And that's
why I'm seeing like one of thebiggest investments that people
are doing now is like hiringother people to help do these
things Whether it's like socialmedia posting like I make all my
(21:00):
content, but I have someone thathelps me Posts it this literally
like uploads it to tick tockbecause that took me too much
time and it was like toostressful to me to think about
like one upload and things likethat.
So people kind of like investingin resources that will save you
time so that you can focus onthe things that you're really
good at, whether that's likemaking music or making content.
that's something that I'm seeinga lot more people shift to in
(21:24):
the industry.
But yeah, having, having a planis just so important.
Like I think, uh, It's somethingthat every kind of like artist
figures out after a while.
Like I, I also, when you'retalking about vacationing every
year for the last five years, Ipretty much take around a month
off and go to Costa Rica fromlike January to February and
like that's my like rest andrelax time.
(21:47):
Like maybe I'll work a littlebit on music there, like, you
know, have a little vibey sunsetAbleton sessions.
But for the most part, it's likeI'm surfing every day.
I'm going fishing.
Like I'm kind of catching up onall the life things that I.
Love to do so that when thatmonth is over and like March is
right around the corner I'm likefucking I'm locked in.
(22:07):
I'm like I had my rest.
I'm ready to go.
I'm like hype for the year Andit helps so much with like
burnout and things like that.
Because I'm just, I had my good,like my fun time.
I'm ready to work really hardfor a bit.
I'll have a few vacations afterthat.
Maybe like a, you know, smallweek here and there, but I know
artists that don't take anyvacations.
I'm like, that's, you know, itreally affects your performance.
(22:29):
It's kind of counterintuitive,but it does.
Nik (22:32):
That's great that you're doing that.
You know, you're talking abouthow is such a demand.
There is so much to do.
There's making content, makingmusic, touring, you know,
dealing with teams.
Uh, I'm hearing taking avacation every now and then
really helps, uh, just to keepyour energy up and prevent
burnout, starting to build ateam and outsource some of that
(22:53):
work.
What else do you do to justmaintain your energy, while
being on this, you know, highlydemanding artist path.
Westend (23:01):
for me.
It's definitely all aboutbalance and it took a while to
to get there I'm kind of I'm thekind of person that's like I
rather live a balanced lifestylenow where like I'm kind of like
hitting everything and I feelvery Kind of like rounded off in
every area of my life That'simportant to me rather than just
like gun really hard on onething Like I know artists that
(23:24):
like all they do like theirwhole life They don't have any
hobbies.
They don't, they don't have anyrelationships like outside of
it.
It's like all they do 24 seven.
And I think That can beincredible because you know when
that's all you're thinking aboutall day every day you can really
get to some crazy success Ireally think that the people
that make it to the top a lot oftimes they just work really
(23:46):
fucking hard But i'm the kind ofperson that's like I rather have
a balanced life That will leadme to longevity than potentially
You know only doing music stuffand then just like burning out
really hard Falling down a few,you know steps on the stairs and
then having to like pick up Irather just kind of keep it
sustained.
So for me, that balanceespecially like recently it's
(24:09):
just been a lot of like gettingback to things that Make me
happy as like a person and justmake me feel Uh Just kind of
chills me out a little bit.
I've been like super into sportsand like sport hobbies recently,
like playing tons of tennis,pickleball with friends.
I've been playing basketball fora few years now.
So like having things like in myweek when I'm not touring that
(24:30):
are like kind of like anchoredthings that I do every week.
When I'm back home in New York,that's been like super helpful.
Um, I've always been like a bigfisherman.
So like having like times I cango fishing as well.
Fishing's great because it'slike, I'm not on my phone.
I'm out in the ocean or on thebeach and, uh, really get to
kind of, uh, disconnect fromsocial media and all of that.
(24:51):
Um, I think I had like a slightsocial media addiction at a
certain point because as anartist, you are constantly,
looking for validation fromsocial media, whether it's like,
how, how well am I post doing?
Or, you know, another thing waslike a lot of.
Good news would come from socialmedia.
So on Instagram or anything likethat, you know, maybe a DJ is
(25:15):
asking for music or respondingto like the promo you sent,
you're like, Oh, this isamazing.
Now they're going to play it outand it's going to be so good for
my career and stuff.
So, you know, I think a lot oftimes because so much of the
work that artists do is onsocial media, it's very easy to
like get a lot of dopamine fromthat.
And then your brain starts tokind of start a cycle there.
So, um, kind of like takinglike.
(25:37):
Not a break from social media,but like getting a healthy
relationship was reallyimportant for me.
So now it's like I use it.
I'm still, you know, likeeveryone, a little addicted to
it, but, it wasn't like what itwas.
Relationships is like anotherbig thing.
I just proposed to my fiancethat I've been with for like
almost 10 years now.
Um, so like having her in mylife and, Hey, thank you, man.
(25:58):
Appreciate it.
I did it in Ibiza, which is likethe most DJ shit ever.
Um, but, uh, Yeah.
Kind of like nourishing thatrelationship and, you know,
having that strengthen myability to be like an artist has
been like super important.
So there's just all of theselittle areas of my life that I
feel like I am feeding very wellinto right now.
(26:21):
And it kind of makes like thecraziness of the lifestyle a lot
easier to deal with because justmy stress response is a lot
better.
And, uh, yeah, feeling good.
Nik (26:34):
it sounds like you are really knocking it out of the
park and I'm really happy tohear that because I've talked
to, and seen and worked with alot of artists that, like you
said, they dedicate their entirelife to their artist project.
(26:54):
And in doing that, you losesight of also just being a
human, right?
Like there's West End andthere's Tyler.
And a lot of times we forget totake care of, you know, Tyler,
we forget to take care of the,the man and the human behind the
project.
So much time and energy.
(27:16):
Is going into the artist projectthat this can some oftentimes
really become a one of kind oflike a mental head fuck where
it's like your identity gets sotied up into the project, and
that there be just becomes adisconnect from, you know, from
being human, which is havingrelationships, which is having
(27:38):
hobbies.
Which is doing stuff thatactually really genuinely cup
and isn't just about, the musicand the project and the career
and the work.
Like that's a very, veryslippery slope.
That can cause a lot of mentalhealth problems.
You know that, we've seen timeand time again and, and the
solution usually is like, Hey,come back and get back in touch
(28:00):
with yourself.
Get back in touch with yourauthentic self by doing some of
those, just like, yeah, normal,normal things that people do
that sometimes artists forgetand completely overlook.
So, uh, I love to hear, thatyou're doing that.
That's awesome, man.,
Westend (28:16):
I feel like it makes me a better artist at the end of
the day.
And especially the kind of goingback to what we were talking
about before with beingauthentic and building a
community, it makes it a loteasier for me to do that when
I'm feeling good.
When I'm not, it's a, it's a lotmore difficult to get people to,
um, connect with you.
So I think at least in my, in myend, it's not like counter
(28:37):
productive to, West End, theartist, like the more balanced
and happy Tyler's feeling, thebetter West End is going to be
doing in all areas.
I've kind of make thatcorrelation clear.
Nik (28:49):
Yeah, I'm glad that you point that out because I think
there oftentimes is a beliefthat doing Anything outside of
working on your goals iscounterproductive, right?
Like I need to be putting in Themaximum amount of hours that I
can, but also it's like, whatare the quality of those hours?
(29:11):
Sometimes it's better to justget two hours of good of work in
coming from a place of feelingreally good and feeling really
inspired and feeling reallyfull.
Like your cup is full, you know,you've been filling that in
other areas than to sit therefor eight hours every day or
whatever, and be like, I'mgrinding, I'm grinding and
making this thing happen.
It's like the quality of thetime and the energy is, is.
(29:34):
Just as important as thequantity of it, you know, and so
yeah, like I've noticed that formyself sometimes the best thing
I can do for my business is goto The fucking river and just
like lay outside in the sun fora couple hours and take the
afternoon to just enjoy myselfAnd i'll come back and i'm way
more productive after doing thatright
Westend (29:53):
yeah, that's A big thing for me as well is that I
actually produce like sit downand with the Ableton or whatever
DAW I mean, I use Ableton, butthe amount of hours that I
actually sit down in front of mycomputer and have Ableton open
is a lot, lot less than what itused to be.
and a lot of that is like, Ireally only go to sit down when
(30:14):
I'm feeling very inspired andwhen I really like have.
An idea to work on.
I'm not like tinkering around asmuch as I used to.
And when I first started likekind of like really grinding to
make West End like a thing, likeI had Ableton open every single
night and, uh, was just makingas much as possible, which I
(30:34):
think every artist needs to dofor a while to kind of get the,
the quantity of music that theyhave done and to improve their
quality.
But, I'll go like a month or sowithout even making music if I
have a lot of other stuff that'skind of done.
And like, I find that if I'm notinspired when I go down to write
music, what happens, which isprobably not that healthy, is
(30:55):
like, I can get very frustratedand then that in turn can like
spiral into a bunch of otherthings in my life.
So I kind of like really focuson like, this is going to be my
studio day.
I know exactly what I'm going tobe doing.
And then sometimes I'll havedays where it's like, this is my
studio day.
I don't know what I'm going tobe doing.
I'm just going to be messingaround a little bit without any
expectations, but I still havelike this inspiration there
(31:18):
because all these other aspectsof my life are kind of like
filled.
I'm like, Oh, I don't, I'm notstressed.
I don't have, I don't feel likeI haven't done this or haven't
done that.
I can really like focus on thismusic production session.
And usually I'll write a lotbetter music, than if I just try
to cram it in all the time.
Nik (31:35):
I'm glad that you bring up that point about kind of in the
earlier years of making musichow It sounded like you were you
really did have a phase whereyou were going hard and putting
in as many hours as you canbecause I think that that is a
common story that I hear for alot of successful artists was
(31:56):
there was at least a phase whereit's like you really had to
dedicate yourself to putting inthose hours.
I imagine it's like at somepoint you You You know, a lot of
that is just learning.
What do all these fuckingbuttons do?
And like, how do I actually getgood at the skill set of
producing?
And everyone just kind of has togo through that phase and
through that process.
I wanted to ask like, yeah, whatdid it look like?
(32:18):
When you were, you know, morecoming up in terms of like your
actual, approach to production.
Cause that's just something thatI see a lot of people struggle
with is just Trying to fit in.
The hours, you know, but it, itsounds like you were really
putting in a lot of hours inyour earlier years.
Westend (32:35):
I think having the luxury to even think about your,
your Approach to producing musicand like your ability to plan it
is not something that you wouldeven get to Unless you're doing
it full time as like an artist Ithink most people don't even
think about that thing becauselike you said They're actually
just trying to learn how to makemusic or just create a lot of
(32:58):
art so it's only really likerecently that i'm able to like
Take a step back and look atmyself and be like Does this
work for me?
Does this not work for me?
I think in the earlier years Youknow, I was working like a job,
a corporate job in New York Cityafter college for like two and a
half to three years.
So it was a necessity that Imake music every night for as
(33:20):
long as I can because I didn'thave the luxury of like the time
that I have now where I canpretty much my whole life is
focused around this thing that Ido.
And then West End, um, I wasworking a job, so I just didn't
have like as much time.
So it was kind of like.
Yeah, it definitely came out ofnecessity and it was also this,
it was, you're a little bit morenaive then too, like you're just
(33:43):
making music because you're,it's like a video game almost,
it's like you're kind of likeaddicted to it, you love it, and
you have this dream that, youknow, you want to, you want DJs
to play your music and you wantto play these shows and so, you
know, you're really motivated bythis dream and, you know, I
still have dreams of things thatI haven't done, but I've also
(34:04):
like checked off a lot of boxes.
Like I've kind of, I'm living mydream right now.
I, I was, I'm able to do what Iwanted to do as a kid, which was
be a DJ and a music producer,like full time.
I'm like doing it.
So it's like now I kind of haveto like reshift and be a little
bit more calculated and a littlebit more intentional, with like,
what, what do I want to do next?
(34:24):
Because I've kind of, checkedoff a lot of the boxes, which
is, which is amazing.
For me, it's like an amazingfeeling, but yeah, I think
that's why like you see thatgrind a little bit more when
people are younger There's justa little bit more like hunger
and like necessity and lessthinking and just more doing
Nik (34:40):
So you had that dream of being a DJ pretty young.
When did that start for you?
Westend (34:46):
Well, I kind of discovered electronic music I
would say like in mid highschool like maybe my sophomore
or junior year so I was probablylike 16 And that's when I was
like, whoa, this is really cool.
And I was like discovering allthese like different artists
that have kind of like differentflavors of electronic and house
music.
So for me, it was like justice.
And then I was like super intolike all the blog house, people
(35:08):
like Mastercraft and Dim Makand, and all those guys.
And then I was also like intolike the Dutch house.
So I was like, I loved likeAfrojack and Chucky and Sydney
Samson.
And then there was also like theSwedes and like progressive
house, it was like, Vici, Idon't know.
It's like all these people.
So I was kind of like, whoa,this world is so cool.
Like It's all kind of related,but they're all a little
(35:31):
different.
And, so I really got into likeelectronic music and then I
started to DJ these like partiesin New York city.
These little like mini ravesthat we would throw at, uh, just
like random places.
Cause it's kind of hard to throwlike house parties in New York
cause everyone lives in liketiny apartments and there's
doorman and like it's noisecomplaints and things like that.
(35:51):
So we would rent out these likelittle, not venues, but like.
like.
one was like a jewish communitycenter But then we would like
lie to them and bring in likelike speakers and dj equipment.
So once I Once I DJed for thefirst few times and felt the
high of performing and playingmusic and seeing everyone
(36:12):
focused on you, I was like, thatis the best feeling ever.
I still think it is one of thebest feelings ever.
That's when I was like, allright, I know I want to do this.
But I also love the producingside.
So I kind of got into both ofthem at the same time, which is
really cool because I was soobsessed with like making cool
songs.
But then I was also like, I wantto play music and I kind of
(36:32):
learned both, or I startedpracticing both right around the
same time.
And that's when I was like, thisis like my dream, so to speak.
Nik (36:42):
I love that.
And so quick side note, I got toshare this with you.
I, I get a little woo woo onthis podcast.
Sometimes I love talking aboutlike manifestation and the law
of attraction.
And, uh, I, I've worked in theelectronic music industry since,
uh, I don't know, 2011, I guess.
It's been 12, 13 years.
I never DJ'd though.
(37:03):
I dabbled a little bit once ortwice.
And recently I was like, youknow what, fuck it.
I'm gonna learn how to DJ.
I bought a little controller.
I was like, I'm gonna play somehouse parties with the homies.
And um, I Just the other day, Iplayed for the first time at
like a little house party, myfriend was throwing and I put
together this cool kind of likelate night, little tech house
banger set.
And, um, when you hit me up onTik TOK, I was like West end.
(37:27):
I was like, I know that name,but I was like, why, why is
that?
I was like, I know I've heardthe name, you know, I've, I've
seen this name pop up and then Irealized I'm like, Oh, wait a
minute.
I'm like, I have one of yourtracks on my little, playlist
for the house party.
literally had just downloadedyour song.
It was the, uh, push to starttrack.
So that was in my set and I waslike, Oh yeah, of course.
There's the, there's the law ofattraction at work.
(37:48):
I literally just fuckingdownloaded this guy's track, put
it in my set.
And then it was like the nextday you sent me a message.
I was like, all right, this ismeant to be, I love that shit.
So anyways, huge fan.
I've been like totally digginginto your music since then.
but I think what you're talkingabout, man, I think, cause I see
a lot of people struggle with,you know, having either, you
(38:10):
know, the day job and thenchasing the dream at night.
Like, all right, I just workedfor eight hours and now, you
know, I got the corporate joband now I got to put in those
hours afterwards.
Right.
And like, that's a fuckinggrind, that's a grind and that's
hard.
And I see a lot of peoplestruggle with it, trying to just
like have the motivation, havethe drive, have the energy.
And.
(38:30):
I think what I, what I hear fromyour story is potentially, I
think what an important piece ofthat is that you are also DJing.
So you are getting to experiencelike the fun and the dopamine
and the high of like, you know,I'm playing shows and I'm
getting to kind of see like whatthe result of all of it is.
And I think there's a lot ofpeople that they're not doing
(38:52):
that and they're not actuallyhaving that experience.
So all you're doing is cominghome every day and just working,
working, working on the music.
And, and you know, if youcompletely love producing,
that's not going to be an issue,but I've talked to more than
enough people where like thatdoes become a kind of a draining
thing after a while, just sortof chasing, chasing that goal,
chasing that dream.
(39:13):
So it's almost like you weregetting to kind of.
Microdose some of the successalong the way, you know getting
to kind of tap into the the thethe DJing side so any of you out
there that might be feeling thatThat uphill battle of just like
producing and producing andhaving to do the nine to five It
might be that you need to go outand play some fucking shows and
(39:35):
like also be able to tap into Tothat energy to fuel you
Westend (39:41):
Yeah.
I think, I think that's a, um, agreat point.
And I don't actually think it'sonly playing shows because I
know that can be difficult for alot of people, to get shows.
And I, you know, I run like amusic production community and a
lot of people get asked me thesequestions all the time.
It's like, how do I get shows?
And, and that, and I think thatcan be a great way to kind of
like, Restart the motivation alittle bit when you have like a
(40:04):
tough time grinding.
But another thing for me, that'slike.
That I think I attributed a lotto keeping me motivated and kind
of able to be successful Is youkind of have to like break up
your goals into like smallchunks so like at the time I
wasn't thinking about likeplaying big festivals and Having
an agent and like all this kindof like stuff that like you
(40:24):
usually associate with beinglike successful in the music
industry I was really focused onlike The kind of like small
goals that were like close to methat were like attainable.
So it was like getting my firstrecord signed on this label.
And it wasn't like the biggestlabel ever.
It was like, kind of smalltastemaker labels run by artists
at the time, like box of catsand perfect driver and all these
(40:46):
kinds of like, Labels that wereinto this niche tech house genre
that was like big in America atthat time So it was like how do
I get like a music on to thislabel?
How do I get Justin Martin toplay one of my songs?
And Getting and achieving thesesmall little like wins every
once in a while Like that's kindof how I was able to keep my
career growing was that I justhad these small little wins over
(41:09):
and over Again, and was likeconstantly on a somewhat uphill
trajectory where I feel likenowadays people are so pressured
to be like I need to have thisviral moment and I need to have
John, summit signed my song tohis label and blah blah blah and
it's like no you can focus onlike building a community having
producer friends getting Smallwins like improving year after
(41:32):
year after year like playing alittle bit more shows than you
did the previous year It's notlike you have to like Quit your
job that year and become thislike successful DJ.
So I think having thoserealistic expectations helps
keep you motivated because ifyou just have this extremely
high, I'm reaching for the starsexpectations and then you don't
hit them.
You may be like, this ispointless.
(41:53):
I'm not a good producer.
This is never going to happenfor me.
And then you quit.
And then you're definitely notgoing to achieve anything.
Cause you quit at that point.
Yeah.
Nik (42:05):
And I remember specifically having a really big breakthrough
around that with one of myclients through the coaching
that I do where, you know, yeah,we're looking at the big picture
goals.
I want to play Coachella.
I want to play EDC.
It's like, okay, cool.
And, and there's also oftentimesthere's this belief that I'll be
successful when, when I'll besuccessful when I get to this
point, right?
(42:25):
And it's like, okay, well, whatare you until then?
Are you, you're a failure untilyou get, then get to that place.
How does it feel then to be afailure every fucking day,
right?
On this journey to like climbthis big mountain, it's like,
no, you got to celebrate.
You got to live in the energy ofcelebration.
And I talk about this all thetime.
And I'm going to continue tohammer at home that if you feel
(42:49):
like.
You're not there yet.
If you feel like it's so faraway, if you feel like you're
not a success until you have theagent or the manager, the
whatever, it's like, okay, well,that's a really hard energy to
try to operate from, right?
Like, I love that you like you,you got to break it down.
Like, what's that one thing thatone next small milestone step
that's right in front of me.
(43:09):
And when I get there, I get tofucking feel the excitement of
that.
I get to feel the energy.
I get to celebrate that.
Like, It takes so many small,tiny micro steps to get to those
big ones.
We are so often just like notcelebrating ourselves along the
way.
Not actually looking at like,yo, look at all these things
(43:29):
that you're, that you are doing.
Like, yo, you just got a newfollower today.
You got 10 new followers today.
Celebrate that shit.
Right?
Because you also look at, oh, Ionly got 10 new followers.
I want a thousand followers.
I was like, all right, if youdon't learn how to celebrate,
then you're going to carry thatwith you EDC someday and it
still won't be enough and youwon't be celebrating it.
So you gotta, I love that man.
(43:51):
Like, Breaking down thosemilestones and celebrating it
and enjoying the fuckingprocess.
That's going to be the thingthat keeps you going, right?
And, and a lot of people arestuck kind of not doing that,
putting their, happiness intothe future rather than enjoying
every little milestone along theway.
Yeah,
Westend (44:10):
a little bit of time now.
And i've seen and this is toanyone listening out there who
is uh, who needs a little bit ofmotivation I i've seen a lot of
djs go from nobodies to thebiggest DJs in the world.
And I've seen a lot of peoplecreate careers where they are
able to only do music full time,which I think for most people is
like the coolest thing ever.
(44:31):
So I've seen a lot of people andalmost everyone who just doesn't
quit gets success in some way.
It's actually kind of like alittle like mind blowing cause
if people are like, Oh, likewhat's the answer?
Like, what do I need to do?
Blah, blah, blah.
It's like the people that didn'tkind of like make it through,
they were the ones that likelife hit them and they just
(44:52):
decided to do something else.
And like music wasn't for them,but the people that were just
like, I'm going to keep doingthis.
Like they got their success.
Whether they're the biggest DJin the world, I know that person
and people that are, you know,just able to play music out and
play shows and, and kind of likelive their dream.
It's, it's, It's really justabout staying motivated enough
and being involved enough whereyou're, just doing it for enough
(45:15):
period of time that you giveyourself all these opportunities
to, achieve success.
Because if you, if you getfrustrated or burnt out or
you're like, I'm going to switchthis.
I'm going to focus on my career,like my career outside of music.
I'm going to go have a familyand like not do whatever.
those are the people thatusually like don't make it.
But the people that do, it'slike, you just got to stay in
(45:36):
it.
That's it.
That's the only thing.
Nik (45:40):
so true, man.
So true.
Well said, you know, at, at thisstage in your career, looking
forward, looking ahead, what areyou excited about?
Westend (45:53):
It's a good question.
I, I, I did it recently onInstagram, like one of those
that asked me anything postscause I hadn't done one in a
while.
So, and then someone kind of hadthat.
It was like, well, what, whatare some things that like you
still like want to achieve?
And for me, like a lot of it islike less about like I want to
play this festival or I want tohave this many streams on a song
or like less about like thenumbers and more just about like
(46:15):
doing Cool and interestingthings especially like combining
like interests that I have in mylife with like my music So like
one little thing I had was likeI want to have like a sick
tennis house music event whereit's like kind of like combining
these two worlds together and tome that's like that's like so
motivating cool, and it's notreally about money or anything
(46:35):
like that It's just like oh thatwould be like dope like being
able to Take something that alot of people are interested in
and combine it with my love forhouse music another thing it's
like I want to have like a Uh,you know, kind of like Anthony
Bourdain, who I think wasamazing, like do like a fishing
YouTube series where I like gotravel the world, DJ in all
these cool countries and placesand then like kind of go fishing
(46:57):
with like the locals and put iton YouTube and make like a whole
Amazingly video series.
That's like another kind of likeweird thing that I want to do,
but like, it kind of motivatesme to get to the level where I
can do something like that.
I also started a label calledtrace amounts at the end of last
year and really growing that outand being like an A and R has
been incredible because now Ikind of like, I can, I get to
(47:23):
tell people what I think is cooland hopefully shift what other
artists and DJs look to for dopemusic in the industry.
So I really want to keep growingout the label and make it like
the dopest label I possibly canand do events with that.
So those are, these are somelike kind of like more like
longterm goals that I have.
I would definitely want to writean album one day.
(47:43):
Um, probably not in theimmediate future, but it's like
on my mind as like, another biggoal.
Um, Yeah, man, there's like lotsof stuff.
We could be here all day andjust hammering them out.
Nik (47:54):
I love that, man.
Super, super cool and fun.
Exciting ideas, there's just somuch opportunity and so much
possibility, like, especiallywhen we just kind of think
outside the box a little bit.
It's like, yeah, this can bemore than just playing
nightclubs every weekend.
Like, there's other cool shitthat we can do and we can create
and the sky's the limit.
And, uh, I'd love to see you,come up with some really cool
(48:15):
ideas there.
As far as the label What kind ofstuff are you signing?
How can people reach out to you?
There might be someone listeningthat right now that's like oh
shit West End is my favoritefucking DJ and like I would love
to send them music like how canpeople submit for that and what
kind of stuff are you lookingfor?
Westend (48:32):
Yeah, so on the music that I'm actually looking for
right now, um, I wouldn't sayit's very hard to verbally
describe it because, uh, I don'tknow exactly what I'm looking
for, but when I hear somethingthat I vibe with, I'm like, Oh.
I like this.
I want to sign it.
I'm definitely not.
I'll tell you what.
I'm not looking for I'm notlooking for things that have
already been completely done orlike rinsed out Like if if you
(48:55):
send me a track and i'm likethis sounds exactly like this
person or it just kind of soundslike outdated a bit and like
it's you know You're living alittle bit in the past
especially in the tech houseworld like that doesn't excite
me so I would say the best thingto do is if you're looking for
like, I don't even know if mymusic fits this label It's
called trace amounts If you goto like any of my sets that i've
(49:16):
played in the last year and likeI have a bunch up on youtube
Maybe you can like listen to alittle bit of like the style and
energy of like the kind of musicI'm playing.
A lot of that is similar to whatI'm looking to sign.
Or you can check out the pastreleases we've done on Beatport.
In terms of actually submittingyour music, uh, I use this thing
called TrackStack.
I don't know if you're familiarwith it, but it's, it's kind of
(49:36):
like, uh, an app that's, beingused to replace like email for
like DJ inboxes.
I'm also like an investor in thecompany.
So I'm trying to promote it aswell, but it's really great.
Um, so you can submit all yourdemos to the label.
It's a T stack, S T A C K.
com.
Or wait, no, it's not that calm.
(49:57):
It's a.
t stack.
app app slash trace amounts.
So t stack.
app slash trace amounts.
And, uh, then you, you get alittle portal.
You can like upload, I thinkfive or so demos.
Uh, it takes me a little bitwhile to get through them all.
Cause I get a lot of demos perday, but give it a few weeks
(50:18):
and, uh, she get an answer back.
Nik (50:21):
Hell yeah now For anyone that is considering submitting,
please Go do your research likehe said Sometimes I know someone
out there's just like oh, yeah,I'm gonna just send stuff and
it's like no go listen to themusic Like this is important.
I think when you're pitchingpitching to labels like do your
homework study.
(50:41):
Like what are they putting out?
What is the vibe like if you'rea fucking?
Experimental dubstep producerdon't send your shit in like
it's not it's not the vibe,right?
so
Westend (50:52):
the thing is, is that I get it from the producer's
standpoint as well, because,you're looking for anything at a
certain point.
So I understand producers thatjust send anything and
everything to anyone, becauseyou're, you know, it's kind of
like, you're, you're just buyingscratch offs at that point.
You're just trying to, havesomething that will stick.
the good thing, I mean, the badthing for the producer, but the
(51:14):
good thing for the label owneris like, well, it's track stack.
Like you can like.
Restrict people that are justlike sending in like the wrong
stuff So it's like there's somecool like tools in there to kind
of like make sure you're gettingthe right demos But yeah, don't
you know doing the research isso important and also like
really just like sending yourbest work that like fits because
Let's say you send five songs,right?
(51:35):
And like maybe only one of themis like actually a good fit for
the label But like the firstthree are kind of like not
really there yet Or they're likea totally kind of different
genre a lot of times in a and rwe may listen to like only Like
the first two or three and belike, Oh, these aren't working
for me at all.
I'm going to go now, skip thewhole batch.
And then like the one that wasprobably your best option is now
(51:58):
in the, uh, in the trash can.
So, you know, really, I thinkbeing more narrow with like the
music that you submit canactually be more beneficial
rather than being like, I'mgoing to send a bunch of stuff.
Nik (52:09):
yeah, great point.
Now, is TrackStack for labels?
It's for, just like, receivingdemos?
Or are there other, like,functions to it?
Or, like, who's it mainly for?
Westend (52:19):
It's kind of for both users on that process.
So the artists that are sendingmusic out, it's a lot easier to
keep track of like all yourdemos that you're either sending
to labels or to DJs receivingpromos.
That's kind of like the mainsolution there because.
It used to be that if you wereto receive promos from your,
your community, you would haveto set up like an email address
(52:42):
and then you would get a bunchof different emails with
different soundcloud links andDropbox links and all this
stuff.
So now it's like it getsuploaded.
You can listen to all of themreally quickly.
You can like template yourresponses and comments and
stuff.
You can organize them, move themaround.
So it's really great for likelabels and DJ promos and uh,
also, you know, track sex,working on.
Other features to make it easierfor like artists to connect
(53:06):
with, like their producer fans,you know, maybe it's like
through tutorial videos or othertypes of like features that like
kind of like a Patreon wherelike, uh, they want to be
subscribed to and support asdifferent artists so that, you
know, because it's really hardfor artists these days to,
Sustain themselves unless you'relike a top tier artist.
so being able to have otheradditional sources of income,
(53:28):
whether it's like a Patrion typesubscription or giving out music
feedback or selling tutorialvideos or whatever it is, it's
like, it's super important.
I think we're going to see a bigshift in the community, to that
so that people don't have toonly be playing all these shows
and getting these high fees tomake money.
They can kind of like sustainthemselves.
Nik (53:49):
Yeah.
So rad.
Everyone go check that out.
Trackstack.
I'll make sure I put the linkfor that in the show notes.
That sounds like such anawesome, service.
Thanks for sharing that with usand thanks so much for taking
the time to hop on, man.
I'm glad that you found thecontent, uh, shout out to talk
for making it happen forconnecting us.
Thanks so much for reaching outand, uh, just coming through to
(54:09):
share, man.
Westend (54:10):
Yeah, man.
Thanks so much for having me.
it was great to kind of reflecton a few things.
And, uh, yeah.
It was just an awesome time,man.
So, thanks again.
almost everyone who just doesn't quit gets success
in some way.
It's like the people that didn'tmake it through, they were the
ones that like life hit them andthey just decided to do
something else.
And like music wasn't for them,but the people that were just
like, I'm going to keep doingthis.
Like they got their success.
you just got to stay in it.
(00:20):
That's it.
That's the only thing.
Nik (00:35):
What's up everybody.
Welcome to the headliner mindsetpodcast.
Before we dive into today'sepisode, I want to remind you
all that we are about to launchthe next round of the headliner
mindset group coaching programand community.
I know a lot of you guys havebeen listening to every episode.
I know this because you tell meI've listened to every episode.
I'm loving what you're puttingout.
And hell yeah, first off, thankyou so much for supporting.
(00:57):
I am truly, truly grateful.
Now, also, if you want to takethat one step further and you
want to get actual coaching andsupport and basically have your
own podcast, not once, but twicea week and join a really bad ass
community of other artists thatare really getting after it, uh,
this is your chance.
So we're starting October 15th.
(01:17):
I've only got a couple spotsleft.
I only bring on 10 people at atime.
So if this is calling you, ifyou feel like you want to be a
part of this community, I wouldlove to have you join us.
Go check out nickcherwink.
com headliner mindset for moreinformation.
And if you're interested, shootme a DM on Instagram.
We can chat about it.
Now, as far as today's guests,this guy is killing it in the
(01:39):
tech house scene.
His songs are getting tens ofmillions of plays on Spotify.
He's getting supported by all ofthe biggest artists in the
scene, playing shows constantly,and just really has an
incredible headliner mindset.
He really offers so much greatinsight and wisdom in this
episode.
So without further ado, this isWest End.
(02:00):
Tyler West End, welcome to theshow, brother.
Westend (02:04):
Yo, yo, yo.
Thanks for having me, man.
Stoked to be here.
Nik (02:07):
Yeah, dude.
Thanks for thanks for hitting meup.
Uh, well, let's just start therebecause I kind of avoided tick
tock for a long time.
I was like just posting clips onon Instagram and finally I'm
like, I'm like, what the fuck amI doing?
Like I'm making these clipsputting all this time and energy
into it.
I might as well put them up ontick tock.
I finally started doing that andit's like immediately they're
(02:30):
getting like 10 times thetraction and not only that
they're, I don't know, peopleare discovering, you know,
they're seeing it on theplatform.
So, you saw a clip of some kindand reached out to me, which is,
which is rad.
So moral of the story, if youall are not posting on Tik TOK,
get out there and fucking poston Tik TOK because it's such a
great platform.
The algorithm is very, veryrewarding and yeah, you're the,
(02:51):
uh, you know, second or thirdartists that, uh, I've connected
with through Tik TOK now.
So I'm glad that you hit me up.
Happy to have you here andstoked to dive in
Westend (03:00):
Yeah, bro.
It's like, I, it's, it's kind oflike the great equalizer
because, um, and I think it'sespecially cool because I feel
like back in the day, um,artists would really, and, and
DJs would only really followlike other DJs.
So to be able to discoversomething, whether it's like
music or a different take onthings or like whatever it is
(03:21):
from like anyone, it was justkind of like unheard of, but
with like, The social mediaalgorithms, um, people that you
may not be familiar with, butthat have dope content and it's
like resonating, it's just goingto show up on your feed.
I think maybe it was something,did you do a interview with laid
back Luke?
Maybe that's what it was.
Um, that came up for me or.
Nik (03:42):
Yeah.
Westend (03:43):
Yes.
Okay.
So like, that's another thing,like lay back Luke, like, like
hero of mine.
Like when I first started DJing,like he was one of my favorite
DJs, favorite producers.
And like sometimes my videoswould show up on Tik TOK on
like, I guess his for you page.
And he would comment on it.
And like, still inside me, likethe, you know, having like a
huge fan boy moment whenever Isee a comment from him.
(04:04):
And I think that's what it was.
It was like an interview you didwith him.
And I was like, this is dope.
Like, I definitely, uh, want toget, uh, Get in the same virtual
room with you and uh, shoot theshit a little bit
Nik (04:14):
Yeah, man.
I love that.
I think there's a really lessonunderneath all of this because I
love hearing you talk about howyou know, laid back Luke,
obviously like he's, he's such alegend.
He's such an awesome figure justin the scene and in the
community.
And I really love that wordcommunity.
And we're all part of the samecommunity, whether you're a DJ
(04:35):
and an artist, whether, youknow, a podcaster or, you know,
I used to be a manager, I'veplayed all these different roles
in the community.
And There's so much resistanceto social media from artists and
there's so much hate or justdistaste.
I should say it like, oh, I haveto post like, why do I have to
do content?
(04:56):
You know, it's just something Isee all the time, but it's like,
It's such a great opportunity tobe a part of the community,
right?
Obviously there's the in personside of it of like, yeah, go, go
to shows, go meet people, gonetwork and go do that.
But there's this whole otherlandscape that's available to us
that I think requires a littlebit of a perspective shift.
(05:16):
From, oh, I got to make contentto just get fans and like, try
to, you know, get more likes andget my Spotify numbers up.
It's very different than like,yo, let me put myself out there
and connect with other peoplethat are like minded that I can
collaborate with, that I canlearn from.
So here we are getting to dothat and it's just a different,
I think a little perspectiveshift of just how you even look
(05:37):
at social media in general,right?
Of just seeing it as a, as anetworking tool and like a
community building, uh,opportunity really.
Westend (05:47):
that's something i've been very involved in with like
the last few years.
Um, especially like recentlywith social media as well I
think there was this, you know,idea before where it's like, I
just need to have a viral videoand then I'm going to gain like
a bunch of followers and that'sgoing to help my career.
I'm going to make more money.
I'm going to play better settimes at festivals, blah, blah,
(06:08):
blah.
And really at the end of theday, it's all about, you know,
how many like real fans can Ibuild that are gonna like, Come
out to my show when I visit themin whatever city they live in so
that's like a really big thingi'm working on now is like using
different tools combined withsocial media to try to build You
know big lists of data of peoplethat I know support me and my
(06:30):
music so that you know When I goplay a show I don't have to rely
on instagram to kind of Put thisinformation in front of the
right people.
I can like directly access that,give that to them.
And I think the community aspectis so important because, you
know, it's not, it's not abouthow many likes you have in your
posts or followers now, it'skind of like more about who's
sharing it, who's commenting onit, who feels like they're part
(06:53):
of something like, you know, forme, it's like a big thing I do
is like, I really feel like.
I'm able to put myself in thesame room as the people that
enjoy my music and they get tolike know the real me Like i'm
not putting on like a front andI think a lot of fans in today's
day and age like appreciate thatAnd the really big djs that have
massive success.
That's what they're really goodat It feels like you know them
(07:14):
and like they're your friend anduh, you know, they let you in on
every little thing in their lifeSo, I love that perspective that
it's it's not just this kind oflike selfish thing It's like
we're growing something thatEveryone kind of benefits from
through social media
Nik (07:29):
Yeah, I think you've done a great job of that.
Like I really enjoy since Istarted following you on TikTok.
I've really enjoyed.
Watching your tiktoks and whatyou're putting out because it is
very much like, Oh, cool.
I'm getting to know this guy andkind of like what he's into and
just the sort of day to daylifestyle.
And also you just have reallygreat thoughts and things that
you're sharing.
(07:50):
You're, you're putting yourselfout there.
You're actually sayingsomething.
I think you've done a reallygreat job with that.
I think.
It sounds like there was alittle bit of a shift though
there for you as well.
Like you've kind of shifted yourapproach, to that.
It sounds like you weren't maybealways, always necessarily doing
that.
Like, I guess the deeperquestion that I have here is,
you know, how do you actuallyreally develop real connection
(08:11):
and real community and trueengagement with your fans versus
like you said, just having maybelike a viral hit or a viral, you
know, tick tock, just, justgetting the views and the likes.
Like how do you actually takethat next step to having true.
True fans and true engagementwith them.
Westend (08:28):
Yeah, I think it definitely doesn't happen
overnight.
It's it's it's I think for anyartist.
It's a It's a big process.
So for me and I think for a lotof artists is like once you kind
of like start to have somesuccess in the music industry
and you know, maybe you're ableto do it full time and uh,
You're you're touring a lotyou're playing shows like You
(08:50):
know, there's this like pressureon you to kind of act a certain
way or like you look at likeyour dj heroes and you see How
they kind of interact on socialmedia and you're like I got to
imitate that because if I wantto Be at that level.
I need to kind of like act likethese people and for these
people It's a little bitdifferent, you know, maybe they
have so many fans.
(09:10):
They can really like have aspecific brand but for me You
know, I didn't have like a veryYou Identifiable visual brand or
anything like that.
So, you know, it took me a whileto realize that, like, the
things that did the best for meon social media was just me
being me and showing the thingsI like and, you know, talking
about things I think areimportant or educational or
(09:33):
whatever I wanted to kind ofsay.
But it definitely took a whileto kind of realize that because,
and I see this a lot with like,DJs that are kind of like first
breaking out is like, They tryto be very like protective of
their brand and, they care a lotabout like what other people
think about them or how they'reviewed.
And at the end of the day, themore you care about that, like.
You kind of just realize that noone gives a shit about what you
(09:55):
do at any point and uh, takingrisks and and you know Doing
things that make you happy andand that you think are cool are
actually going to build the mostfans and build the most
Community rather than just beinglike, oh i'm going to post the
same 10 dj videos every week andyou know, it kind of gets boring
after a while It did work for areally long time.
But in today's day and age, Idon't think I think everyone's
(10:17):
seen videos of you know DJing atbig festivals and big crowds.
And it doesn't really, do whatit used to do for fans that, uh,
it does today.
Nik (10:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think something people getcaught up in also is you're
looking at that artist.
That's three steps ahead of youor five steps ahead of you.
And you're like, well, that'swhat I should be doing.
And the truth is you probablycan't be doing that because
there are five steps ahead ofyou like there.
You know, on planes everyweekend and they're playing all
these shows and like, they'vegot it there.
They're just at a differentstage in your career.
(10:50):
So it doesn't really make senseto be like, Oh, I'm going to try
to do that because you're justnot there yet.
You know, like, where are you atin the stage of your own growth
and your own evolution?
And and also, you know, I reallylove that what you're Touching
on here is just simplyauthenticity, just being
authentic, right?
Rather than, oh, I'm going totry to portray this image or
(11:11):
this idea or whatever that Ithink I should be doing.
Honestly, that's pretty fuckingexhausting.
You know, I think same thingcomes with music when you're
like, oh, I'm going to try tomake whatever I think is cool
and whatever everybody else ismaking.
Uh, it's a very exhausting pathto take versus like, oh, let me
just be myself and Have fun, youknow, like that's a lot more
(11:33):
enjoyable.
It's honestly a lot easier.
It honestly takes a lot lessenergy.
Right.
So yeah, I, I love that.
You're, figuring that out.
That's, that's great.
Westend (11:43):
It's de, it's definitely something that it's
like, uh, I like how you said atthe end, it's like, you kind of
like figure it out.
And like, I don't think you everlike fully figure it out.
You know, that's why artistsfrom any genre of music, whether
it's like pop rap, uh, Anyonethat's, you know, um, a creative
artist and that they themselvesare the artist, you know what I
(12:04):
mean?
they are always kind of likeshifting their brand and how
they're viewed because you knowAnd people change as well.
Like the person I was five yearsago is different like than the
person I am now so, you kind ofhave to reflect that to your
fans and if You know if thatmeans like being in a totally
different world Like I see somany artists especially in the
last few years like Do thesekind of full on rebrands, so to
(12:27):
speak, like maybe they're notchanging their name, but they're
changing their sound.
They're changing, their kind ofvisual identity, the way they
act on social media, because,uh, you don't, people fake it
all the time.
They're like, they convincedthemselves they like this thing,
and then they realized theydon't actually like it.
And maybe they're not doing itfor the right reasons.
And it's, it's, it's, but it'slike a whole process.
(12:47):
It's not just like overnight.
I mean, I think Gordo, Carnagewas like the great, like huge
example of that.
Like, I think he had the bestrebrand ever.
Like he went from.
like a headliner dubstep kind oftrap dj to like now like an
underground like house dj and Ittook him a while and it's a lot
of like ups and downs, but Yeah,being authentic is like the most
important thing you can not beauthentic for a bit and it'll
(13:11):
work, you know, you can get umSome success you can kind of
like break out into like themusic industry but like it's
gonna hit you at some pointwhere you're like, uh, like this
doesn't feel right for me I haveto like You know, you can't
sustain it forever.
So that's why I think so manypeople kind of have to Yeah,
they end up making like a bigshift in their music and brand.
Nik (13:35):
Yeah.
this is bringing up somethingthat I've actually never talked
about on the podcast, but Ithink it really isn't.
piece of the conversation thateveryone should be thinking
about and we should be talkingabout more, uh, which is around
money and specifically savingyour money.
Because something that I've seenquite often is when artists go
(13:58):
full time, they become, theystart to become successful.
You start to build a career foryourself.
You build a brand that thenthere is this expectation from
the marketplace and frompromoters about what your brand
is, the style of music that youmake, carnage, for example, it
was like, yeah, trap.
He was known for that style ofmusic.
and at some point I remember hetook a big break.
(14:21):
He was like, yo, I need tofucking step out for my mental
health.
I need to take a break.
Cause what happens for a lot ofpeople is it's like you evolve
and you change and also cansometimes kind of get burnt out,
you know, brills.
I remember brills, uh, wasanother big trap DJ and now he's
LS dream.
And I remember him being like,yo, I just got fucking sick of
(14:42):
playing the same shit all thetime.
And I see people get stuck wherethey're like.
I have now created a businessfor myself.
This is my income.
I have to keep making thismusic.
I have to keep playing theseshows because this is how I pay
my fucking rent.
And so sometimes people can getstuck in like, man, like my
heart and my soul isn't reallyin this anymore, but I've built
a brand and I've built abusiness here and.
(15:04):
I Think I bring up the moneything because I'm like, well,
you know, I'm sure, you know,carnage did really, really well.
I'm sure he was probably likesitting on a little bit of
money.
So he's like, yo, I can, I cantake six months off.
I can take a fucking year off ifI want to and go find myself and
rebrand myself and come back andrelaunch a project.
You know, same thing with, with,with, with Brill's with Sammy.
It was like, all right, Hey, I'mgoing to, I'm going to just step
out.
But if you're not in a positionto do that, you have to fucking
(15:26):
keep putting out things.
And you're probably going to getgoing to just be creating music
from a place of stress andpressure because you have to
stay relevant because you haveto keep getting those bookings.
So, uh, for all of you that areout there that are starting to
get success and starting to makesome money and you're making
that transition a full time,save up that nest egg.
So if at some point you're like,Hey, I I want to take six months
(15:47):
off and sort of like just playin the studio or just take a
break and sort of see where Iwant to go from here.
would be nice to at least havethat option.
Westend (15:56):
It's kind of like, you know, everyone says to save up.
You have to have like thatemergency fund that like If you
had to, you know, got fired andyou had to keep work, you stop
working for like three months.
I think that's, that that'sreally smart.
And a lot of times you seepeople also, it's not just like
about them sustainingthemselves, but especially for
DJs on a bigger level, there'slike a whole team around them
that need to be.
(16:16):
Kind of sustained.
Like, I think, uh, that's kindof like what was in Avicii's
case.
Um, I don't know too much aboutwhat happened there, but like,
it seemed like there was a lotof pressure from like his team
around him, maybe his managementor, agents to kind of like keep
going, cause it's like all thesepeople's income is, kind of like
reliant on them and then, yeah,I think being able to take time
(16:37):
off because it really is like,uh, I've never really done it
cause I, I've kind of.
I've, I've changed the type ofmusic I've made slightly, but
that's just normal withinwhatever genre you make as the
sound changes, you kind of likeadapt to the times.
No one's really making like theexact same sub genre of music
(16:58):
for like years and years.
I don't, I don't know anyonethat's been doing that.
But, um, you really need to takelike a big chunk of time off and
like really, especially on amusical level as a producer,
play around in the studio, maybeget new instruments.
Like it's kind of like a wholelike rebirth process.
So it's, it's not something youcan just be like, Oh, this
weekend, I'm going to rebrandmyself and switch to this.
(17:19):
It's like, there's a lot ofdiscovery going on.
I think that's very smart about,uh, saving,
Nik (17:26):
Yeah.
There's also just thisperspective shift around how are
you approaching your Your year,I'd say like a lot of us are
thinking about what's our sortof our weekly schedule and our
weekly process.
And I see for a lot of artists,and I mean, even the ones that
I'm coaching, whether that's oneon one or in my program, it's
(17:48):
usually like, okay, how manyhours am I putting into the
studio every week and I'm tryingto release a song every month
and I'm just trying to, youknow, stay relevant and stay
active and all the time.
And it's like, you're prettymuch just always hitting the
gas.
And.
I just want to point out thatthat's not necessarily the way
it has to be.
Cause when I think about, youknow, bands, like I used to work
(18:11):
at Capitol Records and I workedin the major label system,
people are putting out albumsand it would be like a band
would go into the studio forlike three months and create and
they would write their album andthey record their album and then
they're not.
Writing and recording.
They're not in writing andrecording mode anymore, and now
they're in, maybe it's touringmode, and they go on a tour for
(18:32):
six months and then it's like,okay, now we're on vacation mode
and we have three months wherewe're just like chilling and
we're hanging out.
And it's like, that sort offramework doesn't really seem to
exist.
In the electronic space as much.
It's more like, yo, like makemusic every day, put out tracks
all the time, play shows everyweekend as much as possible.
And yeah, we want to talk aboutAvicii.
(18:54):
Like, well, how sustainable isthat?
You know, I, you know, and wetalked about this on the laid
back Luke podcast as well, whereit's just like, people are just
hitting the gas hard, but like,what if it was different?
What if it was like, you know,we broke things up a little bit
differently and actually builtin, maybe I could build in.
Two months out of my year.
Maybe I just don't do anythingand actually get like a summer,
actually get a vacation or I getsome time to take some of that
(19:17):
pressure off and maybe, explorenew things or just rest and
recover.
Like think it's just good tolook at, like, maybe possibly
there are other ways of doingthings and maybe some people are
doing that, you know, but Ithink it's kind of, I don't
think it's that common.
Westend (19:33):
kind of get yourself to a point where like doing some,
like more midterm to long-termplanning even makes sense
because you, you kind of needeverything set in stone.
Um, and that only really comesat a certain artist level where
you have like an agent thatlike, kind of like knows show
dates like way ahead of time.
And, uh, you know, you have areally have like a team that you
(19:54):
can plan.
Like I only really started doingthat in like the last like year
and a half or so, which is likekind of like, you know, really
planning like what we're goingto do.
And especially like timing ofmusic releases is important.
You know, I used to just belike, Oh, just put it out.
Like whenever.
And that, that does work in somecases, but, um, a lot of times
being like, okay, we're gonna,You know, plan for this release
(20:16):
to come around this show so thatall these like other activations
and like marketing kind of likehit at the same time.
That's something that I didn'treally like realize doing for a
while, but I think you can bestrategic at any level.
And, uh, when you're talkingabout kind of getting burnt out
and hitting the gas, You know, Ithink so much is expected of DJ
artists or electronic artiststhese days.
You know, you're doing socialmedia, like multiple posts every
(20:39):
week.
You're filming things, editingthings.
You have to write new music.
You have to promote the music onsocial media.
You have to go on like, Toursevery week like it's just so
easy to like not have enoughtime for everything And that's
why I'm seeing like one of thebiggest investments that people
are doing now is like hiringother people to help do these
things Whether it's like socialmedia posting like I make all my
(21:00):
content, but I have someone thathelps me Posts it this literally
like uploads it to tick tockbecause that took me too much
time and it was like toostressful to me to think about
like one upload and things likethat.
So people kind of like investingin resources that will save you
time so that you can focus onthe things that you're really
good at, whether that's likemaking music or making content.
that's something that I'm seeinga lot more people shift to in
(21:24):
the industry.
But yeah, having, having a planis just so important.
Like I think, uh, It's somethingthat every kind of like artist
figures out after a while.
Like I, I also, when you'retalking about vacationing every
year for the last five years, Ipretty much take around a month
off and go to Costa Rica fromlike January to February and
like that's my like rest andrelax time.
(21:47):
Like maybe I'll work a littlebit on music there, like, you
know, have a little vibey sunsetAbleton sessions.
But for the most part, it's likeI'm surfing every day.
I'm going fishing.
Like I'm kind of catching up onall the life things that I.
Love to do so that when thatmonth is over and like March is
right around the corner I'm likefucking I'm locked in.
(22:07):
I'm like I had my rest.
I'm ready to go.
I'm like hype for the year Andit helps so much with like
burnout and things like that.
Because I'm just, I had my good,like my fun time.
I'm ready to work really hardfor a bit.
I'll have a few vacations afterthat.
Maybe like a, you know, smallweek here and there, but I know
artists that don't take anyvacations.
I'm like, that's, you know, itreally affects your performance.
(22:29):
It's kind of counterintuitive,but it does.
Nik (22:32):
That's great that you're doing that.
You know, you're talking abouthow is such a demand.
There is so much to do.
There's making content, makingmusic, touring, you know,
dealing with teams.
Uh, I'm hearing taking avacation every now and then
really helps, uh, just to keepyour energy up and prevent
burnout, starting to build ateam and outsource some of that
(22:53):
work.
What else do you do to justmaintain your energy, while
being on this, you know, highlydemanding artist path.
Westend (23:01):
for me.
It's definitely all aboutbalance and it took a while to
to get there I'm kind of I'm thekind of person that's like I
rather live a balanced lifestylenow where like I'm kind of like
hitting everything and I feelvery Kind of like rounded off in
every area of my life That'simportant to me rather than just
like gun really hard on onething Like I know artists that
(23:24):
like all they do like theirwhole life They don't have any
hobbies.
They don't, they don't have anyrelationships like outside of
it.
It's like all they do 24 seven.
And I think That can beincredible because you know when
that's all you're thinking aboutall day every day you can really
get to some crazy success Ireally think that the people
that make it to the top a lot oftimes they just work really
(23:46):
fucking hard But i'm the kind ofperson that's like I rather have
a balanced life That will leadme to longevity than potentially
You know only doing music stuffand then just like burning out
really hard Falling down a few,you know steps on the stairs and
then having to like pick up Irather just kind of keep it
sustained.
So for me, that balanceespecially like recently it's
(24:09):
just been a lot of like gettingback to things that Make me
happy as like a person and justmake me feel Uh Just kind of
chills me out a little bit.
I've been like super into sportsand like sport hobbies recently,
like playing tons of tennis,pickleball with friends.
I've been playing basketball fora few years now.
So like having things like in myweek when I'm not touring that
(24:30):
are like kind of like anchoredthings that I do every week.
When I'm back home in New York,that's been like super helpful.
Um, I've always been like a bigfisherman.
So like having like times I cango fishing as well.
Fishing's great because it'slike, I'm not on my phone.
I'm out in the ocean or on thebeach and, uh, really get to
kind of, uh, disconnect fromsocial media and all of that.
(24:51):
Um, I think I had like a slightsocial media addiction at a
certain point because as anartist, you are constantly,
looking for validation fromsocial media, whether it's like,
how, how well am I post doing?
Or, you know, another thing waslike a lot of.
Good news would come from socialmedia.
So on Instagram or anything likethat, you know, maybe a DJ is
(25:15):
asking for music or respondingto like the promo you sent,
you're like, Oh, this isamazing.
Now they're going to play it outand it's going to be so good for
my career and stuff.
So, you know, I think a lot oftimes because so much of the
work that artists do is onsocial media, it's very easy to
like get a lot of dopamine fromthat.
And then your brain starts tokind of start a cycle there.
So, um, kind of like takinglike.
(25:37):
Not a break from social media,but like getting a healthy
relationship was reallyimportant for me.
So now it's like I use it.
I'm still, you know, likeeveryone, a little addicted to
it, but, it wasn't like what itwas.
Relationships is like anotherbig thing.
I just proposed to my fiancethat I've been with for like
almost 10 years now.
Um, so like having her in mylife and, Hey, thank you, man.
(25:58):
Appreciate it.
I did it in Ibiza, which is likethe most DJ shit ever.
Um, but, uh, Yeah.
Kind of like nourishing thatrelationship and, you know,
having that strengthen myability to be like an artist has
been like super important.
So there's just all of theselittle areas of my life that I
feel like I am feeding very wellinto right now.
(26:21):
And it kind of makes like thecraziness of the lifestyle a lot
easier to deal with because justmy stress response is a lot
better.
And, uh, yeah, feeling good.
Nik (26:34):
it sounds like you are really knocking it out of the
park and I'm really happy tohear that because I've talked
to, and seen and worked with alot of artists that, like you
said, they dedicate their entirelife to their artist project.
(26:54):
And in doing that, you losesight of also just being a
human, right?
Like there's West End andthere's Tyler.
And a lot of times we forget totake care of, you know, Tyler,
we forget to take care of the,the man and the human behind the
project.
So much time and energy.
(27:16):
Is going into the artist projectthat this can some oftentimes
really become a one of kind oflike a mental head fuck where
it's like your identity gets sotied up into the project, and
that there be just becomes adisconnect from, you know, from
being human, which is havingrelationships, which is having
(27:38):
hobbies.
Which is doing stuff thatactually really genuinely cup
and isn't just about, the musicand the project and the career
and the work.
Like that's a very, veryslippery slope.
That can cause a lot of mentalhealth problems.
You know that, we've seen timeand time again and, and the
solution usually is like, Hey,come back and get back in touch
(28:00):
with yourself.
Get back in touch with yourauthentic self by doing some of
those, just like, yeah, normal,normal things that people do
that sometimes artists forgetand completely overlook.
So, uh, I love to hear, thatyou're doing that.
That's awesome, man.,
Westend (28:16):
I feel like it makes me a better artist at the end of
the day.
And especially the kind of goingback to what we were talking
about before with beingauthentic and building a
community, it makes it a loteasier for me to do that when
I'm feeling good.
When I'm not, it's a, it's a lotmore difficult to get people to,
um, connect with you.
So I think at least in my, in myend, it's not like counter
(28:37):
productive to, West End, theartist, like the more balanced
and happy Tyler's feeling, thebetter West End is going to be
doing in all areas.
I've kind of make thatcorrelation clear.
Nik (28:49):
Yeah, I'm glad that you point that out because I think
there oftentimes is a beliefthat doing Anything outside of
working on your goals iscounterproductive, right?
Like I need to be putting in Themaximum amount of hours that I
can, but also it's like, whatare the quality of those hours?
(29:11):
Sometimes it's better to justget two hours of good of work in
coming from a place of feelingreally good and feeling really
inspired and feeling reallyfull.
Like your cup is full, you know,you've been filling that in
other areas than to sit therefor eight hours every day or
whatever, and be like, I'mgrinding, I'm grinding and
making this thing happen.
It's like the quality of thetime and the energy is, is.
(29:34):
Just as important as thequantity of it, you know, and so
yeah, like I've noticed that formyself sometimes the best thing
I can do for my business is goto The fucking river and just
like lay outside in the sun fora couple hours and take the
afternoon to just enjoy myselfAnd i'll come back and i'm way
more productive after doing thatright
Westend (29:53):
yeah, that's A big thing for me as well is that I
actually produce like sit downand with the Ableton or whatever
DAW I mean, I use Ableton, butthe amount of hours that I
actually sit down in front of mycomputer and have Ableton open
is a lot, lot less than what itused to be.
and a lot of that is like, Ireally only go to sit down when
(30:14):
I'm feeling very inspired andwhen I really like have.
An idea to work on.
I'm not like tinkering around asmuch as I used to.
And when I first started likekind of like really grinding to
make West End like a thing, likeI had Ableton open every single
night and, uh, was just makingas much as possible, which I
(30:34):
think every artist needs to dofor a while to kind of get the,
the quantity of music that theyhave done and to improve their
quality.
But, I'll go like a month or sowithout even making music if I
have a lot of other stuff that'skind of done.
And like, I find that if I'm notinspired when I go down to write
music, what happens, which isprobably not that healthy, is
(30:55):
like, I can get very frustratedand then that in turn can like
spiral into a bunch of otherthings in my life.
So I kind of like really focuson like, this is going to be my
studio day.
I know exactly what I'm going tobe doing.
And then sometimes I'll havedays where it's like, this is my
studio day.
I don't know what I'm going tobe doing.
I'm just going to be messingaround a little bit without any
expectations, but I still havelike this inspiration there
(31:18):
because all these other aspectsof my life are kind of like
filled.
I'm like, Oh, I don't, I'm notstressed.
I don't have, I don't feel likeI haven't done this or haven't
done that.
I can really like focus on thismusic production session.
And usually I'll write a lotbetter music, than if I just try
to cram it in all the time.
Nik (31:35):
I'm glad that you bring up that point about kind of in the
earlier years of making musichow It sounded like you were you
really did have a phase whereyou were going hard and putting
in as many hours as you canbecause I think that that is a
common story that I hear for alot of successful artists was
(31:56):
there was at least a phase whereit's like you really had to
dedicate yourself to putting inthose hours.
I imagine it's like at somepoint you You You know, a lot of
that is just learning.
What do all these fuckingbuttons do?
And like, how do I actually getgood at the skill set of
producing?
And everyone just kind of has togo through that phase and
through that process.
I wanted to ask like, yeah, whatdid it look like?
(32:18):
When you were, you know, morecoming up in terms of like your
actual, approach to production.
Cause that's just something thatI see a lot of people struggle
with is just Trying to fit in.
The hours, you know, but it, itsounds like you were really
putting in a lot of hours inyour earlier years.
Westend (32:35):
I think having the luxury to even think about your,
your Approach to producing musicand like your ability to plan it
is not something that you wouldeven get to Unless you're doing
it full time as like an artist Ithink most people don't even
think about that thing becauselike you said They're actually
just trying to learn how to makemusic or just create a lot of
(32:58):
art so it's only really likerecently that i'm able to like
Take a step back and look atmyself and be like Does this
work for me?
Does this not work for me?
I think in the earlier years Youknow, I was working like a job,
a corporate job in New York Cityafter college for like two and a
half to three years.
So it was a necessity that Imake music every night for as
(33:20):
long as I can because I didn'thave the luxury of like the time
that I have now where I canpretty much my whole life is
focused around this thing that Ido.
And then West End, um, I wasworking a job, so I just didn't
have like as much time.
So it was kind of like.
Yeah, it definitely came out ofnecessity and it was also this,
it was, you're a little bit morenaive then too, like you're just
(33:43):
making music because you're,it's like a video game almost,
it's like you're kind of likeaddicted to it, you love it, and
you have this dream that, youknow, you want to, you want DJs
to play your music and you wantto play these shows and so, you
know, you're really motivated bythis dream and, you know, I
still have dreams of things thatI haven't done, but I've also
(34:04):
like checked off a lot of boxes.
Like I've kind of, I'm living mydream right now.
I, I was, I'm able to do what Iwanted to do as a kid, which was
be a DJ and a music producer,like full time.
I'm like doing it.
So it's like now I kind of haveto like reshift and be a little
bit more calculated and a littlebit more intentional, with like,
what, what do I want to do next?
(34:24):
Because I've kind of, checkedoff a lot of the boxes, which
is, which is amazing.
For me, it's like an amazingfeeling, but yeah, I think
that's why like you see thatgrind a little bit more when
people are younger There's justa little bit more like hunger
and like necessity and lessthinking and just more doing
Nik (34:40):
So you had that dream of being a DJ pretty young.
When did that start for you?
Westend (34:46):
Well, I kind of discovered electronic music I
would say like in mid highschool like maybe my sophomore
or junior year so I was probablylike 16 And that's when I was
like, whoa, this is really cool.
And I was like discovering allthese like different artists
that have kind of like differentflavors of electronic and house
music.
So for me, it was like justice.
And then I was like super intolike all the blog house, people
(35:08):
like Mastercraft and Dim Makand, and all those guys.
And then I was also like intolike the Dutch house.
So I was like, I loved likeAfrojack and Chucky and Sydney
Samson.
And then there was also like theSwedes and like progressive
house, it was like, Vici, Idon't know.
It's like all these people.
So I was kind of like, whoa,this world is so cool.
Like It's all kind of related,but they're all a little
(35:31):
different.
And, so I really got into likeelectronic music and then I
started to DJ these like partiesin New York city.
These little like mini ravesthat we would throw at, uh, just
like random places.
Cause it's kind of hard to throwlike house parties in New York
cause everyone lives in liketiny apartments and there's
doorman and like it's noisecomplaints and things like that.
(35:51):
So we would rent out these likelittle, not venues, but like.
like.
one was like a jewish communitycenter But then we would like
lie to them and bring in likelike speakers and dj equipment.
So once I Once I DJed for thefirst few times and felt the
high of performing and playingmusic and seeing everyone
(36:12):
focused on you, I was like, thatis the best feeling ever.
I still think it is one of thebest feelings ever.
That's when I was like, allright, I know I want to do this.
But I also love the producingside.
So I kind of got into both ofthem at the same time, which is
really cool because I was soobsessed with like making cool
songs.
But then I was also like, I wantto play music and I kind of
(36:32):
learned both, or I startedpracticing both right around the
same time.
And that's when I was like, thisis like my dream, so to speak.
Nik (36:42):
I love that.
And so quick side note, I got toshare this with you.
I, I get a little woo woo onthis podcast.
Sometimes I love talking aboutlike manifestation and the law
of attraction.
And, uh, I, I've worked in theelectronic music industry since,
uh, I don't know, 2011, I guess.
It's been 12, 13 years.
I never DJ'd though.
(37:03):
I dabbled a little bit once ortwice.
And recently I was like, youknow what, fuck it.
I'm gonna learn how to DJ.
I bought a little controller.
I was like, I'm gonna play somehouse parties with the homies.
And um, I Just the other day, Iplayed for the first time at
like a little house party, myfriend was throwing and I put
together this cool kind of likelate night, little tech house
banger set.
And, um, when you hit me up onTik TOK, I was like West end.
(37:27):
I was like, I know that name,but I was like, why, why is
that?
I was like, I know I've heardthe name, you know, I've, I've
seen this name pop up and then Irealized I'm like, Oh, wait a
minute.
I'm like, I have one of yourtracks on my little, playlist
for the house party.
literally had just downloadedyour song.
It was the, uh, push to starttrack.
So that was in my set and I waslike, Oh yeah, of course.
There's the, there's the law ofattraction at work.
(37:48):
I literally just fuckingdownloaded this guy's track, put
it in my set.
And then it was like the nextday you sent me a message.
I was like, all right, this ismeant to be, I love that shit.
So anyways, huge fan.
I've been like totally digginginto your music since then.
but I think what you're talkingabout, man, I think, cause I see
a lot of people struggle with,you know, having either, you
(38:10):
know, the day job and thenchasing the dream at night.
Like, all right, I just workedfor eight hours and now, you
know, I got the corporate joband now I got to put in those
hours afterwards.
Right.
And like, that's a fuckinggrind, that's a grind and that's
hard.
And I see a lot of peoplestruggle with it, trying to just
like have the motivation, havethe drive, have the energy.
And.
(38:30):
I think what I, what I hear fromyour story is potentially, I
think what an important piece ofthat is that you are also DJing.
So you are getting to experiencelike the fun and the dopamine
and the high of like, you know,I'm playing shows and I'm
getting to kind of see like whatthe result of all of it is.
And I think there's a lot ofpeople that they're not doing
(38:52):
that and they're not actuallyhaving that experience.
So all you're doing is cominghome every day and just working,
working, working on the music.
And, and you know, if youcompletely love producing,
that's not going to be an issue,but I've talked to more than
enough people where like thatdoes become a kind of a draining
thing after a while, just sortof chasing, chasing that goal,
chasing that dream.
(39:13):
So it's almost like you weregetting to kind of.
Microdose some of the successalong the way, you know getting
to kind of tap into the the thethe DJing side so any of you out
there that might be feeling thatThat uphill battle of just like
producing and producing andhaving to do the nine to five It
might be that you need to go outand play some fucking shows and
(39:35):
like also be able to tap into Tothat energy to fuel you
Westend (39:41):
Yeah.
I think, I think that's a, um, agreat point.
And I don't actually think it'sonly playing shows because I
know that can be difficult for alot of people, to get shows.
And I, you know, I run like amusic production community and a
lot of people get asked me thesequestions all the time.
It's like, how do I get shows?
And, and that, and I think thatcan be a great way to kind of
like, Restart the motivation alittle bit when you have like a
(40:04):
tough time grinding.
But another thing for me, that'slike.
That I think I attributed a lotto keeping me motivated and kind
of able to be successful Is youkind of have to like break up
your goals into like smallchunks so like at the time I
wasn't thinking about likeplaying big festivals and Having
an agent and like all this kindof like stuff that like you
(40:24):
usually associate with beinglike successful in the music
industry I was really focused onlike The kind of like small
goals that were like close to methat were like attainable.
So it was like getting my firstrecord signed on this label.
And it wasn't like the biggestlabel ever.
It was like, kind of smalltastemaker labels run by artists
at the time, like box of catsand perfect driver and all these
(40:46):
kinds of like, Labels that wereinto this niche tech house genre
that was like big in America atthat time So it was like how do
I get like a music on to thislabel?
How do I get Justin Martin toplay one of my songs?
And Getting and achieving thesesmall little like wins every
once in a while Like that's kindof how I was able to keep my
career growing was that I justhad these small little wins over
(41:09):
and over Again, and was likeconstantly on a somewhat uphill
trajectory where I feel likenowadays people are so pressured
to be like I need to have thisviral moment and I need to have
John, summit signed my song tohis label and blah blah blah and
it's like no you can focus onlike building a community having
producer friends getting Smallwins like improving year after
(41:32):
year after year like playing alittle bit more shows than you
did the previous year It's notlike you have to like Quit your
job that year and become thislike successful DJ.
So I think having thoserealistic expectations helps
keep you motivated because ifyou just have this extremely
high, I'm reaching for the starsexpectations and then you don't
hit them.
You may be like, this ispointless.
(41:53):
I'm not a good producer.
This is never going to happenfor me.
And then you quit.
And then you're definitely notgoing to achieve anything.
Cause you quit at that point.
Yeah.
Nik (42:05):
And I remember specifically having a really big breakthrough
around that with one of myclients through the coaching
that I do where, you know, yeah,we're looking at the big picture
goals.
I want to play Coachella.
I want to play EDC.
It's like, okay, cool.
And, and there's also oftentimesthere's this belief that I'll be
successful when, when I'll besuccessful when I get to this
point, right?
(42:25):
And it's like, okay, well, whatare you until then?
Are you, you're a failure untilyou get, then get to that place.
How does it feel then to be afailure every fucking day,
right?
On this journey to like climbthis big mountain, it's like,
no, you got to celebrate.
You got to live in the energy ofcelebration.
And I talk about this all thetime.
And I'm going to continue tohammer at home that if you feel
(42:49):
like.
You're not there yet.
If you feel like it's so faraway, if you feel like you're
not a success until you have theagent or the manager, the
whatever, it's like, okay, well,that's a really hard energy to
try to operate from, right?
Like, I love that you like you,you got to break it down.
Like, what's that one thing thatone next small milestone step
that's right in front of me.
(43:09):
And when I get there, I get tofucking feel the excitement of
that.
I get to feel the energy.
I get to celebrate that.
Like, It takes so many small,tiny micro steps to get to those
big ones.
We are so often just like notcelebrating ourselves along the
way.
Not actually looking at like,yo, look at all these things
(43:29):
that you're, that you are doing.
Like, yo, you just got a newfollower today.
You got 10 new followers today.
Celebrate that shit.
Right?
Because you also look at, oh, Ionly got 10 new followers.
I want a thousand followers.
I was like, all right, if youdon't learn how to celebrate,
then you're going to carry thatwith you EDC someday and it
still won't be enough and youwon't be celebrating it.
So you gotta, I love that man.
(43:51):
Like, Breaking down thosemilestones and celebrating it
and enjoying the fuckingprocess.
That's going to be the thingthat keeps you going, right?
And, and a lot of people arestuck kind of not doing that,
putting their, happiness intothe future rather than enjoying
every little milestone along theway.
Yeah,
Westend (44:10):
a little bit of time now.
And i've seen and this is toanyone listening out there who
is uh, who needs a little bit ofmotivation I i've seen a lot of
djs go from nobodies to thebiggest DJs in the world.
And I've seen a lot of peoplecreate careers where they are
able to only do music full time,which I think for most people is
like the coolest thing ever.
(44:31):
So I've seen a lot of people andalmost everyone who just doesn't
quit gets success in some way.
It's actually kind of like alittle like mind blowing cause
if people are like, Oh, likewhat's the answer?
Like, what do I need to do?
Blah, blah, blah.
It's like the people that didn'tkind of like make it through,
they were the ones that likelife hit them and they just
(44:52):
decided to do something else.
And like music wasn't for them,but the people that were just
like, I'm going to keep doingthis.
Like they got their success.
Whether they're the biggest DJin the world, I know that person
and people that are, you know,just able to play music out and
play shows and, and kind of likelive their dream.
It's, it's, It's really justabout staying motivated enough
and being involved enough whereyou're, just doing it for enough
(45:15):
period of time that you giveyourself all these opportunities
to, achieve success.
Because if you, if you getfrustrated or burnt out or
you're like, I'm going to switchthis.
I'm going to focus on my career,like my career outside of music.
I'm going to go have a familyand like not do whatever.
those are the people thatusually like don't make it.
But the people that do, it'slike, you just got to stay in
(45:36):
it.
That's it.
That's the only thing.
Nik (45:40):
so true, man.
So true.
Well said, you know, at, at thisstage in your career, looking
forward, looking ahead, what areyou excited about?
Westend (45:53):
It's a good question.
I, I, I did it recently onInstagram, like one of those
that asked me anything postscause I hadn't done one in a
while.
So, and then someone kind of hadthat.
It was like, well, what, whatare some things that like you
still like want to achieve?
And for me, like a lot of it islike less about like I want to
play this festival or I want tohave this many streams on a song
or like less about like thenumbers and more just about like
(46:15):
doing Cool and interestingthings especially like combining
like interests that I have in mylife with like my music So like
one little thing I had was likeI want to have like a sick
tennis house music event whereit's like kind of like combining
these two worlds together and tome that's like that's like so
motivating cool, and it's notreally about money or anything
(46:35):
like that It's just like oh thatwould be like dope like being
able to Take something that alot of people are interested in
and combine it with my love forhouse music another thing it's
like I want to have like a Uh,you know, kind of like Anthony
Bourdain, who I think wasamazing, like do like a fishing
YouTube series where I like gotravel the world, DJ in all
these cool countries and placesand then like kind of go fishing
(46:57):
with like the locals and put iton YouTube and make like a whole
Amazingly video series.
That's like another kind of likeweird thing that I want to do,
but like, it kind of motivatesme to get to the level where I
can do something like that.
I also started a label calledtrace amounts at the end of last
year and really growing that outand being like an A and R has
been incredible because now Ikind of like, I can, I get to
(47:23):
tell people what I think is cooland hopefully shift what other
artists and DJs look to for dopemusic in the industry.
So I really want to keep growingout the label and make it like
the dopest label I possibly canand do events with that.
So those are, these are somelike kind of like more like
longterm goals that I have.
I would definitely want to writean album one day.
(47:43):
Um, probably not in theimmediate future, but it's like
on my mind as like, another biggoal.
Um, Yeah, man, there's like lotsof stuff.
We could be here all day andjust hammering them out.
Nik (47:54):
I love that, man.
Super, super cool and fun.
Exciting ideas, there's just somuch opportunity and so much
possibility, like, especiallywhen we just kind of think
outside the box a little bit.
It's like, yeah, this can bemore than just playing
nightclubs every weekend.
Like, there's other cool shitthat we can do and we can create
and the sky's the limit.
And, uh, I'd love to see you,come up with some really cool
(48:15):
ideas there.
As far as the label What kind ofstuff are you signing?
How can people reach out to you?
There might be someone listeningthat right now that's like oh
shit West End is my favoritefucking DJ and like I would love
to send them music like how canpeople submit for that and what
kind of stuff are you lookingfor?
Westend (48:32):
Yeah, so on the music that I'm actually looking for
right now, um, I wouldn't sayit's very hard to verbally
describe it because, uh, I don'tknow exactly what I'm looking
for, but when I hear somethingthat I vibe with, I'm like, Oh.
I like this.
I want to sign it.
I'm definitely not.
I'll tell you what.
I'm not looking for I'm notlooking for things that have
already been completely done orlike rinsed out Like if if you
(48:55):
send me a track and i'm likethis sounds exactly like this
person or it just kind of soundslike outdated a bit and like
it's you know You're living alittle bit in the past
especially in the tech houseworld like that doesn't excite
me so I would say the best thingto do is if you're looking for
like, I don't even know if mymusic fits this label It's
called trace amounts If you goto like any of my sets that i've
(49:16):
played in the last year and likeI have a bunch up on youtube
Maybe you can like listen to alittle bit of like the style and
energy of like the kind of musicI'm playing.
A lot of that is similar to whatI'm looking to sign.
Or you can check out the pastreleases we've done on Beatport.
In terms of actually submittingyour music, uh, I use this thing
called TrackStack.
I don't know if you're familiarwith it, but it's, it's kind of
(49:36):
like, uh, an app that's, beingused to replace like email for
like DJ inboxes.
I'm also like an investor in thecompany.
So I'm trying to promote it aswell, but it's really great.
Um, so you can submit all yourdemos to the label.
It's a T stack, S T A C K.
com.
Or wait, no, it's not that calm.
(49:57):
It's a.
t stack.
app app slash trace amounts.
So t stack.
app slash trace amounts.
And, uh, then you, you get alittle portal.
You can like upload, I thinkfive or so demos.
Uh, it takes me a little bitwhile to get through them all.
Cause I get a lot of demos perday, but give it a few weeks
(50:18):
and, uh, she get an answer back.
Nik (50:21):
Hell yeah now For anyone that is considering submitting,
please Go do your research likehe said Sometimes I know someone
out there's just like oh, yeah,I'm gonna just send stuff and
it's like no go listen to themusic Like this is important.
I think when you're pitchingpitching to labels like do your
homework study.
(50:41):
Like what are they putting out?
What is the vibe like if you'rea fucking?
Experimental dubstep producerdon't send your shit in like
it's not it's not the vibe,right?
so
Westend (50:52):
the thing is, is that I get it from the producer's
standpoint as well, because,you're looking for anything at a
certain point.
So I understand producers thatjust send anything and
everything to anyone, becauseyou're, you know, it's kind of
like, you're, you're just buyingscratch offs at that point.
You're just trying to, havesomething that will stick.
the good thing, I mean, the badthing for the producer, but the
(51:14):
good thing for the label owneris like, well, it's track stack.
Like you can like.
Restrict people that are justlike sending in like the wrong
stuff So it's like there's somecool like tools in there to kind
of like make sure you're gettingthe right demos But yeah, don't
you know doing the research isso important and also like
really just like sending yourbest work that like fits because
Let's say you send five songs,right?
(51:35):
And like maybe only one of themis like actually a good fit for
the label But like the firstthree are kind of like not
really there yet Or they're likea totally kind of different
genre a lot of times in a and rwe may listen to like only Like
the first two or three and belike, Oh, these aren't working
for me at all.
I'm going to go now, skip thewhole batch.
And then like the one that wasprobably your best option is now
(51:58):
in the, uh, in the trash can.
So, you know, really, I thinkbeing more narrow with like the
music that you submit canactually be more beneficial
rather than being like, I'mgoing to send a bunch of stuff.
Nik (52:09):
yeah, great point.
Now, is TrackStack for labels?
It's for, just like, receivingdemos?
Or are there other, like,functions to it?
Or, like, who's it mainly for?
Westend (52:19):
It's kind of for both users on that process.
So the artists that are sendingmusic out, it's a lot easier to
keep track of like all yourdemos that you're either sending
to labels or to DJs receivingpromos.
That's kind of like the mainsolution there because.
It used to be that if you wereto receive promos from your,
your community, you would haveto set up like an email address
(52:42):
and then you would get a bunchof different emails with
different soundcloud links andDropbox links and all this
stuff.
So now it's like it getsuploaded.
You can listen to all of themreally quickly.
You can like template yourresponses and comments and
stuff.
You can organize them, move themaround.
So it's really great for likelabels and DJ promos and uh,
also, you know, track sex,working on.
Other features to make it easierfor like artists to connect
(53:06):
with, like their producer fans,you know, maybe it's like
through tutorial videos or othertypes of like features that like
kind of like a Patreon wherelike, uh, they want to be
subscribed to and support asdifferent artists so that, you
know, because it's really hardfor artists these days to,
Sustain themselves unless you'relike a top tier artist.
so being able to have otheradditional sources of income,
(53:28):
whether it's like a Patrion typesubscription or giving out music
feedback or selling tutorialvideos or whatever it is, it's
like, it's super important.
I think we're going to see a bigshift in the community, to that
so that people don't have toonly be playing all these shows
and getting these high fees tomake money.
They can kind of like sustainthemselves.
Nik (53:49):
Yeah.
So rad.
Everyone go check that out.
Trackstack.
I'll make sure I put the linkfor that in the show notes.
That sounds like such anawesome, service.
Thanks for sharing that with usand thanks so much for taking
the time to hop on, man.
I'm glad that you found thecontent, uh, shout out to talk
for making it happen forconnecting us.
Thanks so much for reaching outand, uh, just coming through to
(54:09):
share, man.
Westend (54:10):
Yeah, man.
Thanks so much for having me.
it was great to kind of reflecton a few things.
And, uh, yeah.
It was just an awesome time,man.
So, thanks again.
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