It all began with a simple search on YouTube in 2016.

"How does Kanye make his beats?"

I didn't have a clue that I was about to go from a normal college kid to a shut-in make beats for 17 hours a day. 

Who loved it so much that it was the only thing he wanted to do.

Then...

I failed in every music production monetization model you can think of:

🔸 Type beats

🔸 Social media content creation

🔸 Cold DMs 

🔸 Placement chasing

🔸 Sync licensing

🔸 Building a YouTube channel with long form content

Here are the lessons I learned from this experience (that eventually allowed me to make money from each model):

1) Content is the backbone of every business.

It's the medium of communication between you/your products and your consume. 

Your music is the product. You need content to communicate its value. 

All business do this (or they die because they don't).

Grocery stores. They mail us coupons (and give out free samples).

Soda companies. They run entertaining ads and pay for product placement in the content of others (movies, shows, influencer videos).

Car salesmen. The test drive (can actually do as many set drives for as many cars as you want).

Social media influencers. They create valuable content that entertains, educates, and/or inspires the audience. 

Real estate agents. The open house (you can go to as many as you want to tangibly experience the value they're offering).

Music producers. Kanye has multiple documentaries out (and is always working on a new one). Kyle Beats has multiple series on his channel. 

Rappers and singers. Smino runs an edited vlog series on his YouTube channel. Travis Scott dropped a movie on his channel.  Logic has a best selling book.

Creatives (generally). There's a reason they do interviews and appear on podcasts. 

There's more (but hopefully you get the point).

Money, success, and attention flow towards value. 

2) 'Algorithm' is a code-word for 'people.'

The 'algorithm' is what I used to blame for my lack of progress.

"The algorithm is tanking my content" was the song I'd sing all day long.

What I didn't understand is that success is an indicator of value delivered.

Success doesn’t indicate clout or popularity. It demonstrates the perception of your value.

The algorithm is not a computer.

It’s real people.

The algorithm wasn’t “tanking my content.”

Real people were perceiving it as low value.

The algorithm is not suppressing anyones content. 

Low engagement indicates that our content is low in quantity and/or quality.

3) Music is 90% business.

It was vital for me to reshape the way I defined ‘business.’

The act of business is an act of service. Businesses serve.

The best businesses are the best at serving. Businesses that fail are the ones that cannot render adequate service. So our goal as a business-minded music producer is to render the best service possible through our art and creativity.

We stay passionate without neglecting the business aspect.

This allows us to have a better attitude about the business aspect of music (which is the only way we can make money without getting lucky).

4) Market-saturation isn't real.

What we experience as ‘saturation’ is actually just ignorance of how to become more valuable to the marketplace.

For example.

The reason I’m not a billionaire music producer like Kanye isn’t because of market saturation.

It’s not because there are a bunch of other producers competing for space.

No.

It’s because I haven’t put in the years that Kanye has.

I’m not a marketing genius like Kanye is.

I haven’t hustled to build valuable connections like Kanye has.

I haven’t built a billion dollar brand like Kanye has.

I haven’t even won my first Grammy.

Why?

Because I don’t understand how to build and position my value like Kanye has.

And I could blame it on saturation and say, “there are too many other good producers for me to ever have a chance.”

But if that was my belief system, I never would’ve dropped out of school.

I never would’ve went RiSA Platinum.

I never would have reached the place where I’m earning thousands of dollars each month doing something I love.

The reason producers complain about saturation is because they don’t know what to do to become more valuable to the marketplace.

To the consumer.

And they aren’t willing to learn.

They are too lazy.

Or they have been trapped by the mindset of lack.

A siege they don’t even know they’re in.

I don’t know how to become as valuable as Kanye.

Yet.

But I do know how anyone can become better than 80% of all producers.

Create value.

Money and success will naturally flow to value.

If we can understand that there is nothing limiting us except our own ignorance, we can do anything.

Ignorance simply means you lack some kind of knowledge.

It means there is something you don’t know.

In this case, you don’t know how to become valuable enough as a music producer to earn money.

5) 'Decent' doesn't pay the bills.

You have to get good at making beats

Simple at a quick glance.

Hell, even AI can make pretty decent beats.

But.

‘Decent’ doesn’t pay the bills.

‘Decent’ doesn’t win you awards.

And.

‘Decent’ sure as hell doesn’t beat ‘saturation.’

Everyone is ‘decent.’

That’s why they think ‘saturation’ is a real thing.

They think being ‘decent’ makes them worthy of the consumers money and attention.

Utterly pitiful.

You have to be better than ‘decent.’

You’ve got to be good.

Damn good.

You do this by developing a system that helps you master the fundamentals.

How has content creation changed my life?

If I only focused on running my YouTube Channel and email list/newsletter, I'd be done with work each morning before most people wake to go to their job.

I wake up in the morning, make my bed (most of the time), make a cup of coffee, then get to work on the most important 1-3 content creation tasks.

I'm usually done in 2 hours.

Then the rest of the day belongs to me. I can:

🔸 Go for walks (I walk about 14,000 steps per day).

🔸 Practice/play instruments.

🔸 Do yoga (I practice daily).

🔸 Watch beat making tutorials.

🔸 Lift weights & do calisthenics (I do resistance training 4 times a week).

🔸 Read (I read about 30-40 books a year).

🔸 Meditate.

🔸 Sit in nature.

🔸 Watch anime (I am 100% a weeb).

These daily practices gives my mind and body the creative energy it needs to continue making amazing beats and content.

I get to learn and spend time thinking deeply about what I've learned.

This is how I make content consistently. 

It all begins with lessons I learn while reading or watching something. 

I freestyle journal about what I learn while consuming the content (yes, even shows or anime). 

This writing becomes a newsletter I share with my mailing list (because I genuinely believe what I'm learning will be helpful to my supporters). 

Then these letters detailing my lessons become the basis of all other social media content I make. 

One lesson can become as many as 50 pieces of content.

🔸 Improved beats (on Spotify & YouTube).

🔸 Content about the improved beats (IG reels showing off beats to artists).

🔸 Lessons about what I've learned to improve the beats (YouTube tutorials and cook ups).

🔸 Lessons on what I've learned about marketing (YouTube video essay).

🔸 Tips on what I've learned about dealing with artists and other producers (newsletters/blog posts bout marketing). 

This is the Level 2 Content Creation System.

It allows me to make $5K-$10K each month by learning to get better at what I do. 

How does Level 2 Content Creation work?

By allowing me to take my real life lessons and turn the into content that provides value, gets real engagement, and sells my products (without the need for gimmicks or cold DM begging.

Here's the daily workflow: 

🔸 I spend my day reading books, watching shows, going to live art events, working out and walking in nature. I consume content and do things related to topics I'm passionate about (and write down any inspirational thoughts that come as a result).

🔸 I go over all my notes and think about how they come together to help me get 1% better at something I'm doing right now (related to my health, wealth, or relationships).

🔸 I turn the combination of ideas into a system that I test in my real life.

🔸 If the system works, I build a  lesson around it to teach the framework to my homies on the email list. 

🔸 This lesson/framework becomes the outline for at least 10 different YouTube videos (and, if the lesson is related to beat making, it becomes many new beats too).

🔸 The lesson outline and videos can then be broken down further into short form content pieces (Reels, IG Stories, #Threads, YT Shorts/Community Posts, etc.).

🔸 Whenever anyone comments or DMs me a question on short form content (or in the YouTube comments section), I send them to the original newsletter or another YouTube video that an answer it. I have my free and paid products placed where it makes sense in the long form content, so they can receive a deeper level of help form me if they're interested. 

🔸 I can also plug the longform content (newsletters, YouTube videos) instead of my products. This will get me leads, provide value, and gain me more goodwill.

🔸  Consistency with this is how I've grown 1) grow by over 7k IG followers in 2023, 2) grown my 'sith' newsletter from 0 to 1,500 subscribers in 2023, and 3) grown to over 125,000 subscribers on YouTube.

The goal of this course is to turn you into an experimenter. You experience life, test theories, and share results. 

Your real life learning becomes the content you share. The content grows your brand because helping people get better is inherently valuable. Then you leverage the growth for even more brand growth.

Start a one person record-label off the back of your prolific content creation. 

This is how I make 5-figures a year in publishing. It's not one massive placement. It's brand leverage to reach many artists that wouldn't work with me if a had a more obscure name. 

The development and leveraging of this brand is what I'll be teaching you in this course. 

Here's everything you get when you enroll in Level 2 Content Creation, by DOPE.

1) Idea Synthesis.

Good ideas are the foundation of valuable content.

Most people fail at content creation because 1) they can't think of any ideas, and/or 2) their ideas suck.

If your content isn't based on a good idea, it isn't going to attract attention. No attention means no brand growth. 

I'll show you how my life experience becomes that content that grows my brand.

🔸 Learn to find endless good content ideas from the practice of making music and living life.

🔸 Give more purpose to the things you're passionate about in life.

🔸 Steal my secret idea generation system for coming up with interesting content for music producers.

🔸 Understand how to position your content for maximum reach, growth, and sales.

By The End Of The Course

You'll want to make music everyday because every moment of practice improves your content quality and quantity.

2) Content Writing

Clear structure is vital for an engaging piece of content.

I'll show you how I take what I learn in my career and turn it into engaging content.

🔸 Learn to outline content so it's clear and concise.

🔸 Develop the skill of writing. Strong writing is the basis of all good content. No one who's good at it is 'just winging it."

🔸 Breathe life into your content, taking it from boring & skippable to engaging and valuable.

🔸 Steal the content writing system I use to turn one outline into as many as 50 pieces of content. 

By The End Of The Course

You won't want to stop creating content because your enjoying the process of creating structure in your learning and turning that into value for others.

3) Level 2 Content Creation.

This is my sauce.

This is how I've been able to build a brand. A brand that's allowed me to make a living creating art. 

My reached has allowed me to make music with some of the most prolific creators in the world. And it never feels like a 'hustle.' I genuinely love learning and creating content.

I still wake up most morning and think gratefully "I have the coolest job in the world."

🔸 Learn exactly how I edit, title, and post each content piece. It's easy to consistently create written an video content if you know what's engaging for the consumer.

🔸 Learn how my longform content is broken down into near endless shortform pieces of content.

🔸 Use my content proliferation system to build an audience that enjoys consuming your content.

🔸 Understand and implement my system for gaining 1) thousands of IG followers per month, 2) thousands of YouTube subscribers per month, and 3) hundreds of email subscribers per month.

🔸 Waste less time on gimmicks like sales funnels. Spend more time creating value through content (success flows to value).

By The End Of The Course

You'll have a simple-to-execute system of writing, filming, and editing content that you can use for the  rest of your music production career to grow and leverage your brand.