MoroccanEDM

In yesterday’s Q&A session via Twitch, deadmau5 provided some valuable advice when asked, “Besides making music, how would your recommend promoting independently?”

“If I had to do this again, at least in today’s climate, I would focus on being very offline. I know, it sound’s fucking crazy….Take your music and go to a nightclub, meet a DJ, go to a radio station…it’s still old school as fuck but honestly connections made in people are a billion times more valuable than a fucking spammed link or an email or a demo. You need to do a lot of fucking groundwork.”

One of the key points Joel made is that face-to-face networking is vital to an independent artist’s career. Though we live in a digital age that highly de-emphasizes personal contact, deadmau5 warns aspiring producers to be proactive and to make the effort when it comes to meeting people, leaving your mark, and giving them a reason to listen to your music.

“I started out kinda at a time before the Myspace boom and there were no huge media coverage on that kinda thing,” deadmau5 explains. “I think that worked out in my favor because when you’re starting out, you have to realize that you want to make music for people, not for the internet, not for blogs or all this other shit.”

Zimmerman goes on to discuss how he and Tommy Lee were once backstage at a HARD party, where he was first introduced to Skrillex. It was the personal and lasting impression that Sonny left after hand-delivering “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” via a USB that encouraged Joel to listen to the record and bring him on tour. The rest of the story, of course, is history.

H/T dancingastronaut