The Journey Ahead | Why This Isn’t Just Another Music Podcast (Compass S1-0.1)

What's up? Welcome to the Make Our Music podcast. This is episode one. Compass aligned the journey ahead. We got your host, Mark Roberge, Sean Lichtenstein, Jim Foster, and Johnny Roberge. What up, guys? Episode one. We excited. It's been a long time coming.

Very excited to get this going.

Little technical difficulties, but we're here. We got it going. So our team here is, you know, I would say we're more than veterans of the music industry. We're also veterans of entrepreneurship and ultimately creatives in general. So, you know, we. We bring a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge from many perspectives, and I think that's what our. Our talent is here at Red make our music/Reddit 13, which is the derivative of our team. Sean, you know, I know we can go in detail about everybody, but I think if we just give a little brief overview on everybody quickly. Sean, we'll start with you.

Cool. Sean, I am a producer, songwriter. I handle a lot of operations, stuff for the company. But, you know, pretty much my. My claim to fame here is I started my band Lands down with our singer John back in 2006, and we've been lucky enough to go from touring to just the bartenders in the room and the bands playing to, you know, now we're going on our second headlining tour of Europe coming up here. We've played major festivals like Grass Pop Rock for People. We've, you know, sold out rooms across the United states. We're approaching 200 million streams online. So, you know, we. We have learned how to build a fan base, the grassroots way that sticks around. And that's kind of my. My short spiel here.

It's a good spiel. All right, Jim, you're up.

Jim Foster. I have been playing in bands longer than Sean's been in his current band, which is a long time. I've made at least 300 records as a producer and engineer. I've worked on gold and platinum records. I've filmed everyone from Snoop Dogg, Johnny Depp, Godsmack. Yeah, I mean, everybody on our team's got a little story like that, but we've some. Some big stuff and we're not really talking with a lack of experience. We've got our fingers in a lot of the industry.

Awesome, awesome. And give us. I like the one little story, though. Who'd you get signed by? Back in the day with NASA, we.

Got signed by the Beastie Boys on Grand Royal and Virgin. And, you know, growing up freestyling on my bike, listening to the Beastie Boys, I don't I wonder if I manifested that, you know, 15 years earlier. But yeah, I mean, that was a cool bit. And you know, the BC Boys office being in downtown Manhattan when, when the 911 attacks happens, that just put an end to that record company. And we had chances to move on, but it was really time to just move on and start working on records and, you know, making videos, films, you know.

Awesome, awesome. Johnny. Johnny, you're up.

What's going on? John Robert. I play guitar in Prospect hill and for Red 13, I'm kind of like the Swiss army knife. I do web design, branding, marketing, bunch of stuff. And we've all been together forever doing our thing.

Johnny's a secret weapon. As, as one good friend of ours has said, Meredith Chin, Johnny likes to take on pretty much anything that we ask him to take on and can handle it and get it done, which is great.

So if it requires learning, Johnny will attack it. The rest of us are like, yeah, can Johnny learn for us?

Yeah. But it's important to note because Johnny can absorb information like a sponge and become a master at it very quickly.

Yeah, it's a great talent. It's a big, big, big asset. Big asset to the team. All right. And then last is myself. I'm Mark Roberge. I, you know, my claim is I started my band out of high school and grew it from a local to a regional to a national, signed deals, signed licensing deals, record deals, charted at Billboard and then moved on from there, you know, when. When the. The label situation got a little shaky, took the band off the road, started Red 13 with the rest of the guys. Sean and I have had success as, you know, writers and producers across many projects, Billboard charting, development, artists that have signed major label deals. And then now my band is again back active and out there, you know, with releases. We're kind of on the coattails of lands now. We'll probably be joining them, I assume in a couple of years out in Europe. So, yeah. So, you know, and we've just been at this game on so many different levels from even talent buying on the side I was doing when I was home from tour to make some extra money promoting shows and events, all the way to handling royalty collections and managing other artists, producers, engineers. So our team is pretty much. We've had our hands in every element on the creative and on the administration side of the music industry. So I think we bring a very unique perspective, more so than anyone else really out there that's in this space just because. And we're, you know, we're still Active, you know, that's the other thing too is like there's, there's teams out there that have maybe done some of the stuff or haven't done some of it or aren't active anymore. We're completely active. We're consistently doing this. It's like we wake up every day and we're attacking this and we're, we're trying to ensure that we're ahead of the curve because there's always new things to changing the music industry. And that's what's great, I think, about our team is we're, we're always positioned to be ahead of it or at least see it come in and, and deal with the trade on. So that's, that's the unique perspective we all have. And our superpower, I would say I'd.

Add one more thing. We've, we've run hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of independent artists through our recording studios over the year. It gave us another level of insight that's really important.

Yeah. And we've, you know, we've creatively dealt with, with, you know, collaborated with artists and we've also been on the other side of it as well where we've, you know, helped help them with their careers. So, you know, we have a perspective that I believe just in volume is helped big time. You know, we currently have, what do we have? Around 70 artists probably around on our, on our roster at the moment for, on the marketing creative front, maybe more on the, including the creative front. So, you know, we, there's a lot of depth of knowledge and experience with this team. And this, this is why we built this podcast and why we created this community with Make Our Music, wanted to create something that could help streamline the career of artists so that they don't have to go through, you know, take the trajectory we did. Right. There's a clear and straight path forward to success. And along the way, if you don't know and if you've got bad, I guess, advice or you just don't know, you start taking, you veer off that path. And we like to tell everybody that there's landmines out there on that path that we, we've already triggered them all. We've already blown our legs off. So, you know, with our guidance, we can help streamline someone's career straight to the path of success. And you know, success obviously is, you know, a loaded word. It's, it's based off of the perspective of what someone perceives as their success. But I think ultimately we can help any artist get to whatever goal it is, you know, whatever that is, whether it's, hey, I want to just build a streaming catalog, I want to get, you know, I want to build up my. I want to tour regionally, locally, I want to tour globally. You know, we have answers for all of that. And so this is really for indy artists who want clarity and that want help in building momentum and building real sustainable fan base. Because that's the solution. I tell everybody, for any problem, any artist that's going, hey, I need a record label or I need bigger shows, or I need a booking agent, I need festivals, I need more followers, I need more streams, I need more views at the foundation, the panacea to all of that. The solution is more fans. And that's really what we focus on as a team and how to build that and how to connect and create those fans and find them and then nurture them into super fans. So that's who, what, you know, our advice is for if you want, like a shortcut ahead and you want to, you know, just get a million streams and a million views overnight, it's. That's not real, you know, so we don't really focus on that. We focus on really building, like Sean said earlier, grassroots, foundational fan base that's going to become your army, that's going to allow you to become viral. You had a lot of these artists that you've seen viral sensation overnight were not an overnight success. Realistically. They've been in the game for anywhere from, you know, five to 10 years that have built that fan base, that actually pushed that awesome, great piece of content viral, because there was a foundation there to do it. And so this, this podcast is for the DIY musicians that are tied to the noise and artists who want control and tired of the gatekeepers. And we're not here just to give tips. We're going to give a step by step system that's based off of our book, which is the indie artist Compass. You know, so it's basically our complete system of how to take and launch your career from start to finish. Now we're going to give you real stories, we're going to give tools, strategy, no fluff. We're going to bring on guests that we, that we've worked with, people that have had success utilizing some of these strategies, utilizing their own strategies. And each episode is going to be a stage inside of the compass. And so you'll walk away with actions and not just ideas, things that you could actually utilize out in the real world and put into action. And so, yeah, the, ultimately, this is our guide to help you as an independent artist, get to whatever level it is that you want to be at.

So I'd like to add that the information is really important, but there really is no skipping the line. And a lot of the artists we talk to don't even subscribe to the idea of having, you know, one incredible fan at a time. They just seem to want it all right now, and it doesn't work that way. So one step at a time. If you're going to climb the mountain, don't look at the mountaintop, look at your feet and take one step. Every time you take one step, you get closer. There's no rush. The journey's all right, you know, and.

And if you, if you keep waiting for the elevator that only shows up for a blip and what a full moon or whatever, you know, you might still be, you might still be standing there in six months. And, and now the person that started climbing is already halfway up the mountain and you're still stuck at go because you're waiting for the, for the easy way.

But they're making fans too, that'll die for them. And if you're trying to skip the line, like your fans don't care, your numbers aren't real. They'll leave you in a second for somebody who is doing it for real. That's the truth.

And like an, like, you know, for, for Lansdowne, like, because we built that grassroots following for years, you know, we were able to take a, you know, we took a hiatus for a little while when all of us were, you know, getting married and having kids or starting businesses, where we totally stopped for a couple of years. And the, the numbers grew during that time because the fans were so rabid. They never disappeared because we built them the hard way. That lasts versus building casual, you know, fair weather fans. That wasn't our, our, our, our game. That wasn't ever our goal. We built long lasting fan relationships and fans that stuck with us. Even not doing anything with music, not putting any posts out, not doing anything. The numbers still went up on Spotify, on Social, because people were pushing that into new Discovery because we had that grassroots fan base. Building real true superfans is like the most important thing that you can do as an artist.

Yeah, ultimately it's like I tell everyone, it's like no one's coming to save you. It's, it's up to you to build it, to build these relationships, to make those connections. The road to a thousand real fans is really where you should be focused, where you want to put your head down and build these people. Because every real fan, you know, a true, you know, super fan, will spend at least $100 on you a year if you give the opportunity at the very least. And if you got a thousand of them, you're going to be grossing $100,000 as, you know, a self contained record label. And from there you're going to be able to take that money and put that back in to continue to grow and grow and build up more markets and build up more strategies, find more fans. And so ultimately that's really what it comes down to. And along that road, you're going to get all these other opportunities, right? All this other stuff starts to happen where a radio station might pick it up and test it out or, you know, a promoter might find you and throw you on a big festival. And so there'll be all these big jumps, or then you might get a relationship with a bigger artist and then do a collaboration with them and get a jump there. So it's all about steady momentum with these little moments that will come along the way that will jump you. Those are those variable moments that's like making your own luck elements. Those are the, the trick, you know, the, the, that's, you know, I think it's almost like everybody's playing that game and not realizing you need that momentum, consistent growth every day to hit those and for those to be augmented and to actually have those happen, right? If you're just waiting for a lottery ticket and you have no control of your situation and all, you know, and that's, that's what I see is the most unfortunate part where people just put out music and they're like, well, something might just happen and it's like, it's not, it's never going to just happen. That doesn't exist, you know, and so that's what, you know, what we're trying to, with our, our whole system here and our community and this podcast and the book and everything we're doing right now is to help artists and give them a pathway to success where they can be solved, sustained, and be building and growing and making these real fans and making connections. Because once you have real fans, there's, you know, real, there's no limit to what you can do. So if you could find one, you could find a billion, right? There's so many people in this world and you know, ultimately it's like there's, there's a fan for pretty much anything that you do you know, and so, like, we put together the nine step, nine step Compass Overview, which is based the foundation of the book. And, you know, kind of quickly go over it. It's, you know, one is the shipyard, it's the foundation, the mindset. Two is the shipbuilding, your sound, your craft. Three is the crew recruitment, your team build, you know, build your team. Four is checkpoint. Are you ready? You know, assess where you're currently at and what to do next. Five is raising the flag, which is your brand, your identity, making sure that's on, on par with your messaging and everything overall with your sound and your aesthetic. Six is setting sale, the release strategy. Right now. It's okay, now we gotta go to market here. Seven is cultivating the tides, which is fan growth. Like really, you know, building that connection. Eight is navigating the seas. Okay, career growth. Now you got fans. Now what are the next steps? Nine, expanding the horizons, innovation, scaling. Now to get to that next level, to get to the global level, like, lands down. Like Sean can tell you, you know, this is the roadmap we use with real artists every day. This is something we're working on every day. We've been very fortunate to have these experiences and this knowledge to help allow us to build these strategies with a platform that we've created so for proprietary tech that backs everything that we've done called Fan Flowy. So we've been able to create something that actually will help you and, you know, because every artist is busy and their biggest complaint is, you know, I got. I got to handle this part and this part. I got to have this login and that login. And we get it because we're doing it as well. So we're in it with you and we understand, okay, we need a tool that's going to actually utilize our strategy, put it into motion, and a place where everything can be in one. You know, a platform that could have everything in one place and make it easy so that you could just focus on, you know, making music, creating content, and engaging with your fans on social media. While this engine is making sure that there's new fans coming in and they're getting them down a funnel so that they're taking the actions that are needed in order to scale you. And so that's, you know, that's really what our whole Compass system is, is about. All of us are on calls daily and working with our current roster and then potential roster. And so we hear all the problems. We hear everything. We see the ups and downs. We see we've experienced them. Ourselves. But we know what the problems are just because we are listening. We're hearing it from artists that aren't at our level and artists that are even a higher level. We know because we work with them all. And we're going to do our best with our whole platform and our strategies and all of our knowledge to help give you a clear path to overcome those. And one of the things too, and I know, Jim, you're a big proponent on this, why everything starts with mindset, right? So, like, you know, the step one of our whole compass is the shipyard. And it's like music isn't alone, isn't enough. You need a foundation and you need to have a why of why you're doing it. Right. You know, you got to understand, because this is a tough industry. There's a lot of rejection, There's a lot of ups and downs. We've all been through with everything. This, this industry will test you more than any other industry in the game. Like this is, it'll. It'll say, okay, are you ready for this immediately? And there's a lot of artists that won't even make the cut on the first piece of adversity. And that's just one of probably thousands of elements of adversity you're going to hit in this game. And I could give you so many, obviously examples I personally face and seen other artists that we've worked with face. But like, your mindset has to be right. Before you even get into this, you need to know that this is a long game. This is an up and down game. You got to embrace the ups and the downs just as much. Every down is a learning opportunity. And so you got to understand what your why is. Like Edge here and Katy Perry, Kendrick Lamar, they've all faced rejection. All these superstars have all faced it. And so you need to understand, you need to think like an artist on your craft, but you need to think about it as an entrepreneur, on your growth. And so mindset is very important. And we could, you know, Jim, I'll let you kind of throw that out there because it's one of your big pieces.

Well, most, most artists don't have the proper mindset because you need. You're going to take those bullets and if they don't bounce off you, you're done. You're 100% done. The rejection rate is ridiculous. Some of my favorite artists that I've worked with personally, honestly, they have delusional thoughts about themselves and I really respect it. They don't know how to lose they don't hear it, that's fine. That doesn't mean you ignore those things. But they will not let it get them down. And if you have that kind of mindset, positive especially because a negative one won't get anywhere in this business either because people don't want to hear it. They don't want to hang out with you, they don't want to talk to you, they don't want to get any on them. But those people who can get past that with the proper mindset, you can't be stopped because it just like you said, way too much adversity. But the upside to that is those little wins you get those little pieces along the path, they're usually like so encouraging. They'll get you to the next one as long as that's you know what you're there for.

I always love to touch on too. Like the haters are almost as important as, as the people who love you. I always use as an example our, our Lands Down's video for the song. If you go through the comments, I mean they're hilarious. I read them every day. I, I just scrolled for the bad ones because they. Fucking hilarious. People are very creative. But that level of negativity to that video drives has driven it to, you know, to the tune of 35 million views where it's not all negativity, it has driven it into ex. Exposing it to people that have found it and loved it to the point that that song has, you know, incredible streaming numbers, has, you know, 30, 35 million views on a YouTube video. For a rock band is a ser. You know, a mid sized rock band for anyone. So for, for anyone, for anyone. So don't. You're not gonna please everybody. You're not. Your music is not for everyone. And just because people are leaving hurtful comments or hateful comments doesn't mean that other people don't love what you're doing too. So you know, just like Jim said, like the mindset has to be there so you don't drown yourself in the negativity when there's positive outcomes that come from it too.

Well, yeah, some of my most viral posts are ones that have created arguments in those comment section where you got half, half of them going, oh my God, I love this. And the other half going, this is trash. Right? And so like that creates that. But if you look at every major artist, like look at like Kanye, Beyonce, look at Metallica falling in reverse. Falling in reverse. Half love them, half hate them. But there's such a war happening with inside of that, that it creates engagement and, like, people actually give a fuck on both sides, right? So if you're not creating any type of conversation, if you're not creating haters and you're actually not doing enough, like is what I've always said.

Back in the day. Back in the day, there was a study about Howard Stern when he was on top of the world, and they said that, like, now, I'll misquote it a little bit, but you get the understanding that most of his fans would listen for like 20, 20 minutes a day. The people who hated him would listen for three hours. And it's a fact, because the people who hate them, they're just driven by some broken shit. But those. Those people, even with their negative comments, they're giving you press. You just don't listen to it. Let them do their work. Who cares? And you just keep moving. But that's the facts. The people who don't like you, they're giving you press, too. They're giving you opportunity to grow your fan base as well.

I think the quote was something like. Like who? You know, 80% of the people that listen to Howard Stern hate Howard Stern. And they asked him why, and they're like, well, I just have to know what he's going to say next.

Yeah, it's all the same shit. They just use negativity as their personal superpower, which is bullshit. But now you know that you could take those people and mold them in your. In the way you see fit, which I think what falling in reverse does.

And it's not that you need to be like a divisive entity. I think more the sentiment here is that there's going to be tons of hate, but in that is going to be tons of love. And if you don't have the right mindset to be able to brush off all the negative comments, you're never going to be in the right mindset to receive the positive ones.

Well, if you can't be. You can't handle being hated. You'll never be loved enough. You know, so, like, that's. And I. And I. And I've seen so many. I mean, we've all seen so many amazingly talented artists just immediately get eaten by this industry so quickly, where it's like, they had all the talent in the world. They could have scaled and they could have been potential global superstars. Right? But they just didn't have the skin to deal with what comes with this industry on every level. On, obviously, there's the, you know, the. The Negative feedback from, you know, from audience. There's the inner workings of the industry. There is the, obviously the rejection element that continues to happen inside of the industry. You know, like all of that stuff, you know, you. You put something out and it's not received the way you thought it was going to be. It doesn't get the numbers. It's like, that's all part of the game, right? And so this is like, you need to have your mindset ready before you jump into this industry so that you, if you're not there, if you're not starting from that mindset point, you're. You're setting yourself feeling right off the rip.

Yeah, yeah. Have your why ready. Know what your why is, and don't lie to yourself about it. If you just want people to love you, great, great, whatever. But if you really want to play music and your message is meaningful and maybe you want to help people or whatever, if you don't know what that is, and I'm telling you right now a lot, don't. If you don't know what that is, you're never going to get there ever, ever, ever. So figure your why out before you go do anything.

Yeah, your why is going to matter to your matter.

It's. It's the most important. It's the most important thing because you need to understand that this is. This is not a sprint. This is a marathon, and it takes, you know, years of building. Nobody, nobody is an overnight success. Like Mark said. There's, you know, it's that. That meme with the tip of the iceberg and everything else underneath it that it's, you know, it's. It's day in and day out working and working hard and getting through those things. You know, there might be a. A big thing that you thought was going to happen that ends up falling through, and you need to be able to lift that. Why is the thing that's going to lift you back up and keep you going. So your why has to be, you know, as strong as your talent. Because without the why, like Mark said, it's. You're going to get chewed up and you're in. Something's going to happen, and that's going to stop you, you know, having your mindset. Right? Like, you know, we've had a few people come in and be like, yeah, you know, if it doesn't happen in like, five, you know, five songs, then. Then, you know, the music thing is probably just not gonna work out.

And I was like, let me help you.

It's not gonna work. Out.

Yeah, yeah.

It's. It's literally what we've said. We're like, it's not gonna work out. It's just not gonna happen. You're not gonna break in five songs.

But if you wake up every morning so excited to finish that tune or show people that tune, or, you know, create your branding, if this is something you can't live without and you just, you just keep going, you'll get it.

Well, if you, if you're. Well, in that note, right? If, if you're embracing the journey, the journey is part of your life. It's not just a destination. That's where you're going to be successful, right? Like, hey, if I don't get, if I don't make it, I'm not famous. Within five songs, you created an unrealistic destination that is just not going to get there. Your journey is never going to accomplish that, right? So it's like if you just are in it and you live it day by day and it's just who you are, and that's what it is. And you continue to make those steps towards your micro goals, to your larger goals, you're going to have success. It's. It's no doubt, right? And obviously success is relative, but ultimately, you can't say, hey, I'm going to give myself a deadline. And this is like, it's good to give yourself deadlines in regards to, like, getting stuff accomplished and all that. But ultimately, if you send an unrealistic, you know, if I'm not Justin Bieber within five songs released, I'm out of here. It's like, well, you probably shouldn't even start.

You know, I bet if you talk to a lot of successful artists on the difference between them and some of their counterparts that didn't make it, their answer will be like, why did. Why did you guys make it? And these guys didn't. For a lot of them, the answer is, well, I just didn't stop and they did.

Yeah, yeah, that's the truth.

I like to use the Deftones. Deftones never change, never care. Just with the Deftones. And here we are 30 years later, and they're still just killing.

No, they're not even still. They're bigger.

Well, they're never.

Yeah, yeah, it's insane.

That's the, and that's the story for so many bands now. I, I, you know, I remember I went to the Yellow Card reunion tour and they were just supposed to come back out for one tour and they were like, oh, my God, nope, we're Gonna now start making records and start touring again because it was the biggest tour they've ever had. And they're like, guys, you guys can't. He said it on stage. He's like, yo, you guys can't take this away from us. You guys got to keep coming back because now we. Now, now we got the bug again. Now we're going to start making music again because this is the biggest we've ever been. And, you know, these are bands that have been around for. For over 30 years, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

By the way, my. For my first five songs that I ever wrote were absolutely. Even though at the time I thought they were incredible. And here I am 30 years later writing songs and if you don't feel the way I feel, which is every single new song, oh, that's even better like that. If that's not the way, quit. But the reality is your first five songs, your first hundred songs, whatever, your newest song should be your best song. And it doesn't matter how long you've been doing it. So just think in the future, like this song, I think is so great. That didn't get traction. Maybe it's not as great, but my next one will be better. It's always going to be better. Or you really should consider becoming something else.

Well, another thing in the, in the mindset is, you know, this is, you know, even though it's your music project, it is still your small business. And any small business owner will tell you, you know, they go through the same heartaches and the same struggles that, you know, it's going to take an investment of your time, of your, you know, mental fortitude and your finances to get to a place where you are, are kind of above in the black and above and above water. It's. It's a small business like anything else. So you have to look at yourself as a small business owner and that this is your investment. You know, you might have to work, but you, you can't just quit your job and. And think that music is going to pay for itself right away. You're going to have to invest your time and your resources into making that a viable situation. And it's a little. And it's going to take a little while like any small business, like a small business would. So if you're, if your mindset is immediately out to get, well, I can't be. Afford to be marketing my music. I just need. I need someone else to give me that money and I need someone else to do this. If, if that's Your mindset going into it. Like Jim said, let me, let me show you, like, a few other things that you could do because this isn't going to work out for you.

Yeah, the music industry isn't for you. And on the other note that Jim said, too, is like, if your songs aren't strong and the product is not competitive comparative to anything else in the genre that you're looking to be within, you know, as, as the CEO of your business, you've got to bring somebody else in. You've got to outsource and bring some help in to help specialize and get your product to that next level, right? Like, if you're bad at making videos, find someone to partner with. Find that somebody that's great at making videos. If you're not good at songwriting, you know, try to collaborate with some other songwriters to get to that next level and start learning from them, right? So, you know, I, you know, we all like to think we're great songwriters, and until you get in a room with some really great songwriters, right, Then you're like, oh, wow. And you'll learn from them and you take from them. Same thing with producing and engineering. You know, Sean knows, he, He's a. An amazing engineer, but it's because he's sat over the shoulder of some of the best engineer producers in the game, you know, and so that's the element of where you got it. You can't be afraid to expand it and invest into these, these things that are going to give you so much knowledge and experience that are going to help enhance everything you're doing, whether it's working with another songwriter, another producer, another engineer, bringing a videographer in, right? Like, yes, DIY is great, but if DIY is, is. Is lacking on some element, DIY yourself into collaborating with somebody that is better and maybe invest and spend the money so that you could A, bring them and have them do it or B, learn from them so that you can do it better moving forward. I think that's a big piece too. You know, you can't be scared to, to outsource, to make a. Ensure that your product is competitive and your music is your product ultimately, right? People. Oh, I hate when people say it's a product. It's like, yes, you're. It's creative, it's art. It is what it is. But then you're looking for somebody to consume it. So now it is.

Are you selling it? If the answer is yes, it's a.

Product, it's a product, you know?

Yeah.

And, you know, and to give somebody that's listening right now a guide on how to use this show and the tools that we have, like you can listen in order to this podcast or you can binge by topic. You know, we have companion worksheets from the Compass book that you could utilize that are a big help in guiding you and helping you along the way. For each one of the strategies we have, obviously Fan Flowy, you know, is great for marketing and release strategy. Distro Flowy, which we're almost done finalizing on, on the. The final pieces of it. We've already done a test release and now we're going to be rolling that out into the market, which is basically our global distribution for royalties as well and aggregator to get your music out to Spotify and app and Amazon, et cetera, and then obviously make our music, which is our support and our community. So we have all these tools and we got more that are going to be rolling out. We're going to be working on, you know, Pub Flowy, which will be our pub admin side. We're going to be using, you know, working on Follower Flowy, which is going to be another tool for marketing. And we're just going to be continuously building out new tools and educational assets to help you guys. Things that are going to, you know, I mean, selfishly, they help us as well. And so now we're bringing them out to, you know, obviously our community and our clients and all that. You know, like we like to say, you know, you don't need a label to succeed, but you do need a plan. And then you need to put that plan into the motion with proper strategy. Right? And so that's what we do. That's what our whole system does and that's what all of our tools are going to allow you to do. So if you're. I don't know. Anyone has any final notes? Sean, Jim, do you have anything? Johnny?

Yeah, I think. I think takeaways are. Keep a solid mindset. Keep your chin up. Don't let the negatives get you down. Make sure that your songs are tight and can compete with any other artists that you admire in the entire world. Get your team together. Keep only positive people willing to do things, no matter what it takes to get it done. Just get out there and do the thing. Because if you don't do that, you get nothing. That's what I think.

And make sure you know, you're utilizing our system in place and our knowledge as best as you can. Johnny, I know you've been a little quiet Today, but I'd love to look, leave the people with something. Why?

Figure out your why.

It's a long road if you don't have one.

Yeah.

Closing thoughts before I wrap it up.

No. Yeah. So, you know, continue to, to take advantage of the podcast and that the free tools we have available to you. If there's anything that you want us to cover that you're not hearing in any of the podcasts, feel free to drop a comment and let us know so we can kind of look at those topics. But, you know, you're. You're taking a good step by just making it this far if you're listening still. So kudos on you.

Yeah. And like, one thing too. When I'm hearing a podcast and hearing someone explain, like, something that happened that was successful or whatever, there's always like, certain, like, little details that are missing that I'm always like, what actually did they do? What was like that? Inner work. Is that. So if we ever do that and you guys ever want to hear, like, the actual details of something, please leave. Leave a comment. Say, you know, say, hey, can you expand on that? And we'll make sure to, you know, expand on any of those pieces later on in any of the later podcasts. So I'll try to be aware of that as well. But please, you know, subscribe to our show. Subscribe to us on YouTube, DM us your why on, you know, on our Instagram, which is make our music. And make sure to join our Compass email list for all the free downloads and access to everything. There's obviously all the information at the bottom of this video and, you know, so we're going to be, you know, ensuring that we get out as much content, as much support, as much elements and tools that we can to give to help you guys expand your reach, grow your fan bases, find more opportunities, and just ensure that you're on the path to success. So thank you guys so much. We're excited. This is episode one. Make sure you tune in, subscribe. Episode two, coming your way later.