12 Key People a D.I.Y. Rock Star Needs in Their Network 🕸️

This post loosely accompanies Gab & Jam, 309. 8 Key People a D.I.Y. Rock Star Needs in Their Network

(video: https://bit.ly/309peoplevidand podcast:https://bit.ly/309peoplepod )

Relationships are key to a successful music career. As D.I.Y. Rock Star, a diverse network of supporters will help you redefine your musical journey, so be sure to look for folks who can help you in these key roles.

#friends #network @cdbaby #cdbaby #diyrockstar #prejippie #bloomingprejippie

This post was inspired by CD Baby’s D.I.Y. Musician’s podcast, ep. 346: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/diy-musician-podcast/id253809240?i=1000629565078

Check out the episode for the full discussion.

“No man is an island”

When we say “D.I.Y. Rock Star,” we—by NO means—mean that we do it all by ourselves. We KNOW that it takes others to buy into our vision and to help us along with achieving the results that we want. This episode is about acknowledging some of these individuals that help us along in this journey. –Sometimes, they are friends, but if not, it’s nice to bring new people into your network to help us get to a place BEYOND where we can get to ourselves. –The reason that I don’t call them “friends,” specifically, is because, if we are bringing them into our network, we want to pay them what they are worth to contribute their talents.

Here's our newest "Clouds" Obtanium Flow t-shirt design: https://bit.ly/obtflwtshirt623

As we looked at this list, we felt as if it’s REALLY more like 11 folks, but there is a chance that some of these roles can be collapsed. Some of these are obvious and some were surprising. As we go through the list, see how many you recognize in your own network.

How to tell if your song’s a hit? https://bit.ly/233isasongahitblog

Here are the 12 Key People

a D.I.Y. Rock Star Needs in Their Network:

1. Producer

As a D.I.Y. Rock Star, we often write our own music, but we MAY need someone to come in and help us produce the music as it is recorded. –This is taking into account that you might have co-writers or that you MIGHT be doing covers. If so, you will need collaborators, in one form or another to realize your vision. –The producer helps you structure your project and gets the best out of you as the artist, and helps craft the sound of your record.

Songs that don’t age well: https://bit.ly/301agewellblog

2. Mixer

Sometimes, the mixer might be different from who is your engineer and producer. The mixer helps make your song fulfill on its audio promise and makes it sound the way you need it to sound on MOST platforms—taking into account the many different situations where your song might be heard.

3. Designer

So, we know that it’s RARE that D.I.Y. Rock Stars have ALL of the skills, so after the production part of the process, you need someone to fulfill the graphic designer—which can encompass graphic designer, t-shirt designer, designers of stickers and water bottles, CD covers, live posters, etc. Whomever it is that can bring your concept of your brand to the visual. –While you MIGHT be wearing ALL of the hats, it’s nice when you can find someone who can fulfill this role for you. It’s nice when they see you for YOU and can represent that back to you in a way that’s slightly different than you. It’s a joy to add this new perspective and excitement to our brand, so we celebrate it when we see it.

4. Photographer

The next VERY important person is the photographer—which MAY be collapsed with our videographer. In the inspiration podcast, they discussed how they had different people for the photos and for the music videos, but it MAY be collapsed for you.

5. Videographer

In our case, we’ve found that our daughter and our son are our PRIME source for our music video content. It has helped to see ourselves as they see us. It has added this extra layer of perception AND has offered a way to off-load this duty in a way that we trust the results. –They are COMPLETELY unbiased and are just concerned with capturing the moment, which has been a gift when we are able to manipulate the final results—by adding filters and editing, as we please—to achieve our desired results. –Our children capture us better than we can represent ourselves, so we’re blessed to avail ourselves to this resource.

Here’s how to collaborate better: https://bit.ly/Ep163collaborateblog

3. Marketing

This person might be knowledgeable in the ways of messaging, email marketing, or how to run an ad funnel. This person may not be a person who has a marketing degree, but instead might be someone who is very good at connecting with your core audience.

4. Social Media Specialist

There’s every indication that, as a D.I.Y. Rock Star, this might be you. But in our case, our son (add link) has been able to help us with our TikTok and YouTube shorts and Instagram reels presence. –He had a passion for it and we needed the service, so it was natural to pay him a monthly fee to help him help us to expand our reach on platforms that we were NOT passionate about. –We think it’s been PARY of the reasons that we’ve grown to 53k subscribers on YouTube, so it’s NOT a small contribution.

Here are some basic legal documents that D.I.Y. Rock Stars need: https://bit.ly/226legalblog

5. Accounting

We SWEAR by our accounting partners. When we first got started in the 90s, we were faced with an audit and the SAME firm that we use today defended us in our audit. We won and THAT’S why we won’t even THINK about anyone else. They do our personal and business taxes every year and also advise us on how to handle money-based business issues.

Here's a little about basic recording studio set-up: https://bit.ly/246basicstudiopost

6. Business

This partner makes sure that we are set up according to state laws and has all the paperwork to prove it. Be sure that you have registered your business properly.

7. Legal

As far as the legal part is concerned, you want to make sure that, if contested, you have the paperwork dialed in so that you can defend yourself well. Make sure samples are cleared, etc.

Here is our experience hiring artist mentors: https://bit.ly/217artistmentorrevealblog

8. “No” person

This person is to keep you grounded and give you honest feedback, but has your best interest at heart. As you ascend to higher stratospheres of success, you may find less and less of these folks, so it’s good to acknowledge when you have these in your life. Even if you disagree with them, you know that they want the best for you and are giving you genuine feedback. It may not be easy to hear, but it is worth having this person in your corner.

9. Peer Artists

This is a key group of folks to have in your corner, because this journey is unique and it is important to have someone to share this experience with. Even when you think your is COMPLETELY crazy, a peer D.I.Y. Rock Star will help keep your ideas in perspective and will help you remember why you are takin this journey. In the inspiration episode, it was hard to explain why you are spending SO much money promoting a product that seems to make NO sense. A peer artist will help you understand why it is important to stick to the script, so that it’s possible to realize your creative vision. Perhaps they can’t realize why you are spending 5K in CDs—when they think that no one is buying CDs—but a fellow artist can understand this. Or why all your take and money goes toward this particular enterprise, but your fellow artists understand.

Join our independent artist community Facebook group: http://bit.ly/diyrockstarjoin

Why creating a vision board matters: https://bit.ly/rockstarvision

What about you?

What person helps make YOUR creative journey come to life?

We’d love to know.

Leave them in the comments below.

Want to know how to take better band photos? https://bit.ly/betterbandphotos

Which is better; releasing singles or an album? https://bit.ly/294waterfallblog

Self-Care for the D.I.Y. Rock Star: https://bit.ly/7self-care

MPC One+ Unboxing: https://bit.ly/mpconeplusunboxingpost

File Management for the D.I.Y. Rock Star: https://bit.ly/229filemgmtblog

So, will we do it again? HELL, YEAH! 🙌🏾 In fact, our NEXT livestream is scheduled for Friday, December 1, where we will debut for Bourgeoisie Paper Jam’s full album “Obtanium Flow” We will also premiere the music video live and on-air—unless you are a member of our Patreon community. (If you’re in our Patreon, you will see the video one week earlier. Join here.)

Limited edition “Obtanium Flow” designs:

· “Clouds” T-shirt design: https://bit.ly/obtflwtshirt623

· “Retro Flow” T-shirt design: https://bit.ly/flowretroshirtaug23