WESTEND - How To Create A Sustainable Artist Brand And Lifestyle

Join the next round of the Headliner Mindset coaching group, starting 10/15!
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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

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https://www.instagram.com/nikcherwink

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Transcript

Westend: 0:00

almost everyone who just doesn't quit gets success in some way. It's like the people that didn't make it through, they were the ones that like life hit them and they 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 doing this. Like they got their success. you just got to stay in it. That's it. That's the only thing.

Nik: 0:35

What's up everybody. Welcome to the headliner mindset podcast. Before we dive into today's episode, I want to remind you all that we are about to launch the next round of the headliner mindset group coaching program and community. I know a lot of you guys have been listening to every episode. I know this because you tell me I've listened to every episode. I'm loving what you're putting out. And hell yeah, first off, thank you so much for supporting. I am truly, truly grateful. Now, also, if you want to take that one step further and you want to get actual coaching and support and basically have your own podcast, not once, but twice a week and join a really bad ass community of other artists that are really getting after it, uh, this is your chance. So we're starting October 15th. I've only got a couple spots left. I only bring on 10 people at a time. So if this is calling you, if you feel like you want to be a part of this community, I would love to have you join us. Go check out nickcherwink. com headliner mindset for more information. And if you're interested, shoot me a DM on Instagram. We can chat about it. Now, as far as today's guests, this guy is killing it in the tech house scene. His songs are getting tens of millions of plays on Spotify. He's getting supported by all of the biggest artists in the scene, playing shows constantly, and just really has an incredible headliner mindset. He really offers so much great insight and wisdom in this episode. So without further ado, this is West End. Tyler West End, welcome to the show, brother.

Westend: 2:04

Yo, yo, yo. Thanks for having me, man. Stoked to be here.

Nik: 2:07

Yeah, dude. Thanks for thanks for hitting me up. Uh, well, let's just start there because I kind of avoided tick tock for a long time. I was like just posting clips on on Instagram and finally I'm like, I'm like, what the fuck am I doing? Like I'm making these clips putting all this time and energy into it. I might as well put them up on tick tock. I finally started doing that and it's like immediately they're getting like 10 times the traction and not only that they're, I don't know, people are discovering, you know, they're seeing it on the platform. So, you saw a clip of some kind and reached out to me, which is, which is rad. So moral of the story, if you all are not posting on Tik TOK, get out there and fucking post on Tik TOK because it's such a great platform. The algorithm is very, very rewarding and yeah, you're the, uh, you know, second or third artists that, uh, I've connected with through Tik TOK now. So I'm glad that you hit me up. Happy to have you here and stoked to dive in

Westend: 3:00

Yeah, bro. It's like, I, it's, it's kind of like the great equalizer because, um, and I think it's especially cool because I feel like back in the day, um, artists would really, and, and DJs would only really follow like other DJs. So to be able to discover something, whether it's like music or a different take on things or like whatever it is from like anyone, it was just kind of like unheard of, but with like, The social media algorithms, um, people that you may not be familiar with, but that have dope content and it's like resonating, it's just going to 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: 3:42

Yeah.

Westend: 3:43

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 videos would show up on Tik TOK on like, I guess his for you page. And he would comment on it. And like, still inside me, like the, you know, having like a huge fan boy moment whenever I see a comment from him. And I think that's what it was. It was like an interview you did with him. And I was like, this is dope. Like, I definitely, uh, want to get, uh, Get in the same virtual room with you and uh, shoot the shit a little bit

Nik: 4:14

Yeah, man. I love that. I think there's a really lesson underneath all of this because I love hearing you talk about how you know, laid back Luke, obviously like he's, he's such a legend. He's such an awesome figure just in the scene and in the community. And I really love that word community. And we're all part of the same community, whether you're a DJ and an artist, whether, you know, a podcaster or, you know, I used to be a manager, I've played all these different roles in the community. And There's so much resistance to social media from artists and there's so much hate or just distaste. I should say it like, oh, I have to post like, why do I have to do content? You know, it's just something I see all the time, but it's like, It's such a great opportunity to be a part of the community, right? Obviously there's the in person side of it of like, yeah, go, go to shows, go meet people, go network and go do that. But there's this whole other landscape that's available to us that I think requires a little bit of a perspective shift. From, oh, I got to make content to just get fans and like, try to, you know, get more likes and get my Spotify numbers up. It's very different than like, yo, let me put myself out there and connect with other people that are like minded that I can collaborate with, that I can learn from. So here we are getting to do that and it's just a different, I think a little perspective shift of just how you even look at social media in general, right? Of just seeing it as a, as a networking tool and like a community building, uh, opportunity really.

Westend: 5:47

that's something i've been very involved in with like the last few years. Um, especially like recently with social media as well I think there was this, you know, idea before where it's like, I just need to have a viral video and then I'm going to gain like a bunch of followers and that's going to help my career. I'm going to make more money. I'm going to play better set times at festivals, blah, blah, blah. And really at the end of the day, it's all about, you know, how many like real fans can I build that are gonna like, Come out to my show when I visit them in whatever city they live in so that's like a really big thing i'm working on now is like using different tools combined with social media to try to build You know big lists of data of people that I know support me and my music so that you know When I go play a show I don't have to rely on instagram to kind of Put this information in front of the right people. I can like directly access that, give that to them. And I think the community aspect is so important because, you know, it's not, it's not about how many likes you have in your posts or followers now, it's kind of like more about who's sharing it, who's commenting on it, who feels like they're part of something like, you know, for me, it's like a big thing I do is like, I really feel like. I'm able to put myself in the same room as the people that enjoy my music and they get to like know the real me Like i'm not putting on like a front and I think a lot of fans in today's day and age like appreciate that And the really big djs that have massive success. That's what they're really good at It feels like you know them and like they're your friend and uh, you know, they let you in on every little thing in their life So, I love that perspective that it's it's not just this kind of like selfish thing It's like we're growing something that Everyone kind of benefits from through social media

Nik: 7:29

Yeah, I think you've done a great job of that. Like I really enjoy since I started following you on TikTok. I've really enjoyed. Watching your tiktoks and what you're putting out because it is very much like, Oh, cool. I'm getting to know this guy and kind of like what he's into and just the sort of day to day lifestyle. And also you just have really great thoughts and things that you're sharing. You're, you're putting yourself out there. You're actually saying something. I think you've done a really great job with that. I think. It sounds like there was a little bit of a shift though there for you as well. Like you've kind of shifted your approach, to that. It sounds like you weren't maybe always, always necessarily doing that. Like, I guess the deeper question that I have here is, you know, how do you actually really develop real connection and real community and true engagement with your fans versus like you said, just having maybe like a viral hit or a viral, you know, tick tock, just, just getting the views and the likes. Like how do you actually take that next step to having true. True fans and true engagement with them.

Westend: 8:28

Yeah, I think it definitely doesn't happen overnight. It's it's it's I think for any artist. It's a It's a big process. So for me and I think for a lot of artists is like once you kind of like start to have some success in the music industry and you know, maybe you're able to do it full time and uh, You're you're touring a lot you're playing shows like You know, there's this like pressure on you to kind of act a certain way or like you look at like your dj heroes and you see How they kind of interact on social media and you're like I got to imitate that because if I want to Be at that level. I need to kind of like act like these people and for these people It's a little bit different, you know, maybe they have so many fans. They can really like have a specific brand but for me You know, I didn't have like a very You Identifiable visual brand or anything like that. So, you know, it took me a while to realize that, like, the things that did the best for me on social media was just me being me and showing the things I like and, you know, talking about things I think are important or educational or whatever I wanted to kind of say. But it definitely took a while to 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 try to be very like protective of their brand and, they care a lot about like what other people think about them or how they're viewed. And at the end of the day, the more you care about that, like. You kind of just realize that no one gives a shit about what you do at any point and uh, taking risks and and you know Doing things that make you happy and and that you think are cool are actually going to build the most fans and build the most Community rather than just being like, oh i'm going to post the same 10 dj videos every week and you know, it kind of gets boring after a while It did work for a really long time. But in today's day and age, I don't think I think everyone's seen videos of you know DJing at big festivals and big crowds. And it doesn't really, do what it used to do for fans that, uh, it does today.

Nik: 10:29

Yeah. Yeah. I think something people get caught up in also is you're looking at that artist. That's three steps ahead of you or five steps ahead of you. And you're like, well, that's what I should be doing. And the truth is you probably can't be doing that because there are five steps ahead of you like there. You know, on planes every weekend and they're playing all these shows and like, they've got it there. They're just at a different stage in your career. So it doesn't really make sense to be like, Oh, I'm going to try to do that because you're just not there yet. You know, like, where are you at in the stage of your own growth and your own evolution? And and also, you know, I really love that what you're Touching on here is just simply authenticity, just being authentic, right? Rather than, oh, I'm going to try to portray this image or this idea or whatever that I think I should be doing. Honestly, that's pretty fucking exhausting. You know, I think same thing comes with music when you're like, oh, I'm going to try to make whatever I think is cool and whatever everybody else is making. Uh, it's a very exhausting path to take versus like, oh, let me just be myself and Have fun, you know, like that's a lot more enjoyable. It's honestly a lot easier. It honestly takes a lot less energy. 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 at the end, it's like, you kind of like figure it out. And like, I don't think you ever like fully figure it out. You know, that's why artists from any genre of music, whether it's like pop rap, uh, Anyone that's, you know, um, a creative artist and that they themselves are the artist, you know what I mean? they are always kind of like shifting their brand and how they're viewed because you know And people change as well. Like the person I was five years ago is different like than the person I am now so, you kind of have to reflect that to your fans and if You know if that means like being in a totally different world Like I see so many artists especially in the last few years like Do these kind of full on rebrands, so to speak, like maybe they're not changing their name, but they're changing their sound. They're changing, their kind of visual identity, the way they act on social media, because, uh, you don't, people fake it all the time. They're like, they convinced themselves they like this thing, and then they realized they don't actually like it. And maybe they're not doing it for the right reasons. And it's, it's, it's, but it's like a whole process. It's not just like overnight. I mean, I think Gordo, Carnage was like the great, like huge example of that. Like, I think he had the best rebrand ever. Like he went from. like a headliner dubstep kind of trap dj to like now like an underground like house dj and It took 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 be authentic for a bit and it'll work, you know, you can get um Some success you can kind of like break out into like the music industry but like it's gonna hit you at some point where you're like, uh, like this doesn't feel right for me I have to like You know, you can't sustain it forever. So that's why I think so many people kind of have to Yeah, they end up making like a big shift in their music and brand.

Nik: 13:35

Yeah. this is bringing up something that I've actually never talked about on the podcast, but I think it really isn't. piece of the conversation that everyone should be thinking about and we should be talking about more, uh, which is around money and specifically saving your money. Because something that I've seen quite often is when artists go full time, they become, they start to become successful. You start to build a career for yourself. You build a brand that then there is this expectation from the marketplace and from promoters about what your brand is, the style of music that you make, carnage, for example, it was like, yeah, trap. He was known for that style of music. and at some point I remember he took a big break. He was like, yo, I need to fucking step out for my mental health. I need to take a break. Cause what happens for a lot of people is it's like you evolve and you change and also can sometimes kind of get burnt out, you know, brills. I remember brills, uh, was another big trap DJ and now he's LS dream. And I remember him being like, yo, I just got fucking sick of playing the same shit all the time. And I see people get stuck where they're like. I have now created a business for myself. This is my income. I have to keep making this music. I have to keep playing these shows because this is how I pay my fucking rent. And so sometimes people can get stuck in like, man, like my heart and my soul isn't really in this anymore, but I've built a brand and I've built a business here and. I Think I bring up the money thing because I'm like, well, you know, I'm sure, you know, carnage did really, really well. I'm sure he was probably like sitting on a little bit of money. So he's like, yo, I can, I can take six months off. I can take a fucking year off if I want to and go find myself and rebrand myself and come back and relaunch a project. You know, same thing with, with, with, with Brill's with Sammy. It was like, all right, Hey, I'm going to, I'm going to just step out. But if you're not in a position to do that, you have to fucking keep putting out things. And you're probably going to get going to just be creating music from a place of stress and pressure because you have to stay relevant because you have to keep getting those bookings. So, uh, for all of you that are out there that are starting to get success and starting to make some 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 off and sort of like just play in the studio or just take a break and sort of see where I want to go from here. would be nice to at least have that option.

Westend: 15:56

It's kind of like, you know, everyone says to save up. You have to have like that emergency fund that like If you had to, you know, got fired and you had to keep work, you stop working for like three months. I think that's, that that's really smart. And a lot of times you see people also, it's not just like about them sustaining themselves, but especially for DJs on a bigger level, there's like a whole team around them that need to be. Kind of sustained. Like, I think, uh, that's kind of like what was in Avicii's case. Um, I don't know too much about what happened there, but like, it seemed like there was a lot of pressure from like his team around him, maybe his management or, agents to kind of like keep going, cause it's like all these people's income is, kind of like reliant on them and then, yeah, I think being able to take time 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 of music I've made slightly, but that's just normal within whatever genre you make as the sound changes, you kind of like adapt to the times. No one's really making like the exact same sub genre of music for like years and years. I don't, I don't know anyone that's been doing that. But, um, you really need to take like a big chunk of time off and like really, especially on a musical level as a producer, play around in the studio, maybe get new instruments. Like it's kind of like a whole like rebirth process. So it's, it's not something you can just be like, Oh, this weekend, I'm going to rebrand myself and switch to this. It's like, there's a lot of discovery going on. I think that's very smart about, uh, saving,

Nik: 17:26

Yeah. There's also just this perspective shift around how are you approaching your Your year, I'd say like a lot of us are thinking about what's our sort of 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 one on one or in my program, it's usually like, okay, how many hours am I putting into the studio every week and I'm trying to release a song every month and I'm just trying to, you know, stay relevant and stay active and all the time. And it's like, you're pretty much just always hitting the gas. And. I just want to point out that that's not necessarily the way it has to be. Cause when I think about, you know, bands, like I used to work at Capitol Records and I worked in the major label system, people are putting out albums and it would be like a band would go into the studio for like three months and create and they would write their album and they record their album and then they're not. Writing and recording. They're not in writing and recording mode anymore, and now they're in, maybe it's touring mode, and they go on a tour for six months and then it's like, okay, now we're on vacation mode and we have three months where we're just like chilling and we're hanging out. And it's like, that sort of framework doesn't really seem to exist. In the electronic space as much. It's more like, yo, like make music every day, put out tracks all the time, play shows every weekend as much as possible. And yeah, we want to talk about Avicii. Like, well, how sustainable is that? You know, I, you know, and we talked about this on the laid back Luke podcast as well, where it'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 built in, maybe I could build in. Two months out of my year. Maybe I just don't do anything and actually get like a summer, actually get a vacation or I get some time to take some of that pressure off and maybe, explore new things or just rest and recover. Like think it's just good to look at, like, maybe possibly there are other ways of doing things and maybe some people are doing that, you know, but I think 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-term planning even makes sense because you, you kind of need everything set in stone. Um, and that only really comes at a certain artist level where you have like an agent that like, kind of like knows show dates like way ahead of time. And, uh, you know, you have a really have like a team that you can plan. Like I only really started doing that in like the last like year and a half or so, which is like kind of like, you know, really planning like what we're going to do. And especially like timing of music releases is important. You know, I used to just be like, Oh, just put it out. Like whenever. And that, that does work in some cases, but, um, a lot of times being like, okay, we're gonna, You know, plan for this release to come around this show so that all these like other activations and like marketing kind of like hit at the same time. That's something that I didn't really like realize doing for a while, but I think you can be strategic at any level. And, uh, when you're talking about kind of getting burnt out and hitting the gas, You know, I think so much is expected of DJ artists or electronic artists these days. You know, you're doing social media, like multiple posts every week. You're filming things, editing things. You have to write new music. You have to promote the music on social media. You have to go on like, Tours every week like it's just so easy to like not have enough time for everything And that's why I'm seeing like one of the biggest investments that people are doing now is like hiring other people to help do these things Whether it's like social media posting like I make all my content, but I have someone that helps me Posts it this literally like uploads it to tick tock because that took me too much time and it was like too stressful to me to think about like one upload and things like that. So people kind of like investing in resources that will save you time so that you can focus on the things that you're really good at, whether that's like making music or making content. that's something that I'm seeing a lot more people shift to in the industry. But yeah, having, having a plan is just so important. Like I think, uh, It's something that every kind of like artist figures out after a while. Like I, I also, when you're talking about vacationing every year for the last five years, I pretty much take around a month off and go to Costa Rica from like January to February and like that's my like rest and relax time. Like maybe I'll work a little bit on music there, like, you know, have a little vibey sunset Ableton sessions. But for the most part, it's like I'm surfing every day. I'm going fishing. Like I'm kind of catching up on all the life things that I. Love to do so that when that month is over and like March is right around the corner I'm like fucking I'm locked in. I'm like I had my rest. I'm ready to go. I'm like hype for the year And it 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 hard for a bit. I'll have a few vacations after that. Maybe like a, you know, small week here and there, but I know artists that don't take any vacations. I'm like, that's, you know, it really affects your performance. It's kind of counterintuitive, but it does.

Nik: 22:32

That's great that you're doing that. You know, you're talking about how is such a demand. There is so much to do. There's making content, making music, touring, you know, dealing with teams. Uh, I'm hearing taking a vacation every now and then really helps, uh, just to keep your energy up and prevent burnout, starting to build a team and outsource some of that work. What else do you do to just maintain your energy, while being on this, you know, highly demanding artist path.

Westend: 23:01

for me. It's definitely all about balance and it took a while to to get there I'm kind of I'm the kind of person that's like I rather live a balanced lifestyle now where like I'm kind of like hitting everything and I feel very Kind of like rounded off in every area of my life That's important to me rather than just like gun really hard on one thing Like I know artists that like all they do like their whole life They don't have any hobbies. They don't, they don't have any relationships like outside of it. It's like all they do 24 seven. And I think That can be incredible because you know when that's all you're thinking about all day every day you can really get to some crazy success I really think that the people that make it to the top a lot of times they just work really fucking hard But i'm the kind of person that's like I rather have a balanced life That will lead me to longevity than potentially You know only doing music stuff and then just like burning out really hard Falling down a few, you know steps on the stairs and then having to like pick up I rather just kind of keep it sustained. So for me, that balance especially like recently it's just been a lot of like getting back to things that Make me happy as like a person and just make me feel Uh Just kind of chills me out a little bit. I've been like super into sports and like sport hobbies recently, like playing tons of tennis, pickleball with friends. I've been playing basketball for a few years now. So like having things like in my week when I'm not touring that are like kind of like anchored things 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 big fisherman. So like having like times I can go fishing as well. Fishing's great because it's like, I'm not on my phone. I'm out in the ocean or on the beach and, uh, really get to kind of, uh, disconnect from social media and all of that. Um, I think I had like a slight social media addiction at a certain point because as an artist, you are constantly, looking for validation from social media, whether it's like, how, how well am I post doing? Or, you know, another thing was like a lot of. Good news would come from social media. So on Instagram or anything like that, you know, maybe a DJ is asking for music or responding to like the promo you sent, you're like, Oh, this is amazing. Now they're going to play it out and it's going to be so good for my career and stuff. So, you know, I think a lot of times because so much of the work that artists do is on social media, it's very easy to like get a lot of dopamine from that. And then your brain starts to kind of start a cycle there. So, um, kind of like taking like. Not a break from social media, but like getting a healthy relationship was really important for me. So now it's like I use it. I'm still, you know, like everyone, a little addicted to it, but, it wasn't like what it was. Relationships is like another big thing. I just proposed to my fiance that I've been with for like almost 10 years now. Um, so like having her in my life and, Hey, thank you, man. Appreciate it. I did it in Ibiza, which is like the most DJ shit ever. Um, but, uh, Yeah. Kind of like nourishing that relationship and, you know, having that strengthen my ability to be like an artist has been like super important. So there's just all of these little areas of my life that I feel like I am feeding very well into right now. And it kind of makes like the craziness of the lifestyle a lot easier to deal with because just my 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 to hear that because I've talked to, and seen and worked with a lot of artists that, like you said, they dedicate their entire life to their artist project. And in doing that, you lose sight of also just being a human, right? Like there's West End and there's Tyler. And a lot of times we forget to take 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. Is going into the artist project that this can some oftentimes really become a one of kind of like a mental head fuck where it's like your identity gets so tied up into the project, and that there be just becomes a disconnect from, you know, from being human, which is having relationships, which is having hobbies. Which is doing stuff that actually really genuinely cup and isn't just about, the music and the project and the career and the work. Like that's a very, very slippery slope. That can cause a lot of mental health problems. You know that, we've seen time and time again and, and the solution usually is like, Hey, come back and get back in touch with yourself. Get back in touch with your authentic self by doing some of those, just like, yeah, normal, normal things that people do that sometimes artists forget and completely overlook. So, uh, I love to hear, that you'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 going back to what we were talking about before with being authentic and building a community, it makes it a lot easier for me to do that when I'm feeling good. When I'm not, it's a, it's a lot more difficult to get people to, um, connect with you. So I think at least in my, in my end, it's not like counter productive to, West End, the artist, like the more balanced and happy Tyler's feeling, the better West End is going to be doing in all areas. I've kind of make that correlation clear.

Nik: 28:49

Yeah, I'm glad that you point that out because I think there oftentimes is a belief that doing Anything outside of working on your goals is counterproductive, right? Like I need to be putting in The maximum amount of hours that I can, but also it's like, what are the quality of those hours? Sometimes it's better to just get two hours of good of work in coming from a place of feeling really good and feeling really inspired and feeling really full. Like your cup is full, you know, you've been filling that in other areas than to sit there for eight hours every day or whatever, and be like, I'm grinding, I'm grinding and making this thing happen. It's like the quality of the time and the energy is, is. Just as important as the quantity of it, you know, and so yeah, like I've noticed that for myself sometimes the best thing I can do for my business is go to The fucking river and just like lay outside in the sun for a couple hours and take the afternoon to just enjoy myself And i'll come back and i'm way more productive after doing that right

Westend: 29:53

yeah, that's A big thing for me as well is that I actually produce like sit down and with the Ableton or whatever DAW I mean, I use Ableton, but the amount of hours that I actually sit down in front of my computer and have Ableton open is a lot, lot less than what it used to be. and a lot of that is like, I really only go to sit down when I'm feeling very inspired and when I really like have. An idea to work on. I'm not like tinkering around as much as I used to. And when I first started like kind of like really grinding to make West End like a thing, like I had Ableton open every single night and, uh, was just making as much as possible, which I think every artist needs to do for a while to kind of get the, the quantity of music that they have done and to improve their quality. But, I'll go like a month or so without even making music if I have a lot of other stuff that's kind of done. And like, I find that if I'm not inspired when I go down to write music, what happens, which is probably not that healthy, is like, I can get very frustrated and then that in turn can like spiral into a bunch of other things in my life. So I kind of like really focus on like, this is going to be my studio day. I know exactly what I'm going to be doing. And then sometimes I'll have days where it's like, this is my studio day. I don't know what I'm going to be doing. I'm just going to be messing around a little bit without any expectations, but I still have like this inspiration there because all these other aspects of my life are kind of like filled. I'm like, Oh, I don't, I'm not stressed. I don't have, I don't feel like I haven't done this or haven't done that. I can really like focus on this music production session. And usually I'll write a lot better 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 music how It sounded like you were you really did have a phase where you were going hard and putting in as many hours as you can because I think that that is a common story that I hear for a lot of successful artists was there was at least a phase where it's like you really had to dedicate yourself to putting in those hours. I imagine it's like at some point you You You know, a lot of that is just learning. What do all these fucking buttons do? And like, how do I actually get good at the skill set of producing? And everyone just kind of has to go through that phase and through that process. I wanted to ask like, yeah, what did it look like? When you were, you know, more coming up in terms of like your actual, approach to production. Cause that's just something that I see a lot of people struggle with is just Trying to fit in. The hours, you know, but it, it sounds like you were really putting in a lot of hours in your earlier years.

Westend: 32:35

I think having the luxury to even think about your, your Approach to producing music and like your ability to plan it is not something that you would even get to Unless you're doing it full time as like an artist I think most people don't even think about that thing because like you said They're actually just trying to learn how to make music or just create a lot of art so it's only really like recently that i'm able to like Take a step back and look at myself and be like Does this work for me? Does this not work for me? I think in the earlier years You know, I was working like a job, a corporate job in New York City after college for like two and a half to three years. So it was a necessity that I make music every night for as long as I can because I didn't have the luxury of like the time that I have now where I can pretty much my whole life is focused around this thing that I do. And then West End, um, I was working a job, so I just didn't have like as much time. So it was kind of like. Yeah, it definitely came out of necessity and it was also this, it was, you're a little bit more naive then too, like you're just making music because you're, it's like a video game almost, it's like you're kind of like addicted to it, you love it, and you have this dream that, you know, you want to, you want DJs to play your music and you want to play these shows and so, you know, you're really motivated by this dream and, you know, I still have dreams of things that I haven't done, but I've also like checked off a lot of boxes. Like I've kind of, I'm living my dream right now. I, I was, I'm able to do what I wanted 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 have to like reshift and be a little bit more calculated and a little bit more intentional, with like, what, what do I want to do next? Because I've kind of, checked off a lot of the boxes, which is, which is amazing. For me, it's like an amazing feeling, but yeah, I think that's why like you see that grind a little bit more when people are younger There's just a little bit more like hunger and like necessity and less thinking 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 high school like maybe my sophomore or junior year so I was probably like 16 And that's when I was like, whoa, this is really cool. And I was like discovering all these like different artists that have kind of like different flavors of electronic and house music. So for me, it was like justice. And then I was like super into like all the blog house, people like Mastercraft and Dim Mak and, and all those guys. And then I was also like into like the Dutch house. So I was like, I loved like Afrojack and Chucky and Sydney Samson. And then there was also like the Swedes and like progressive house, it was like, Vici, I don'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 different. And, so I really got into like electronic music and then I started to DJ these like parties in New York city. These little like mini raves that we would throw at, uh, just like random places. Cause it's kind of hard to throw like house parties in New York cause everyone lives in like tiny apartments and there's doorman and like it's noise complaints and things like that. So we would rent out these like little, not venues, but like. like. one was like a jewish community center But then we would like lie to them and bring in like like speakers and dj equipment. So once I Once I DJed for the first few times and felt the high of performing and playing music and seeing everyone focused on you, I was like, that is the best feeling ever. I still think it is one of the best feelings ever. That's when I was like, all right, I know I want to do this. But I also love the producing side. So I kind of got into both of them at the same time, which is really cool because I was so obsessed with like making cool songs. But then I was also like, I want to play music and I kind of learned both, or I started practicing both right around the same time. And that's when I was like, this is like my dream, so to speak.

Nik: 36:42

I love that. And so quick side note, I got to share this with you. I, I get a little woo woo on this podcast. Sometimes I love talking about like manifestation and the law of attraction. And, uh, I, I've worked in the electronic music industry since, uh, I don't know, 2011, I guess. It's been 12, 13 years. I never DJ'd though. I dabbled a little bit once or twice. And recently I was like, you know what, fuck it. I'm gonna learn how to DJ. I bought a little controller. I was like, I'm gonna play some house parties with the homies. And um, I Just the other day, I played for the first time at like a little house party, my friend was throwing and I put together this cool kind of like late night, little tech house banger set. And, um, when you hit me up on Tik TOK, I was like West end. I was like, I know that name, but I was like, why, why is that? I was like, I know I've heard the name, you know, I've, I've seen this name pop up and then I realized I'm like, Oh, wait a minute. I'm like, I have one of your tracks on my little, playlist for the house party. literally had just downloaded your song. It was the, uh, push to start track. So that was in my set and I was like, Oh yeah, of course. There's the, there's the law of attraction at work. I literally just fucking downloaded this guy's track, put it in my set. And then it was like the next day you sent me a message. I was like, all right, this is meant to be, I love that shit. So anyways, huge fan. I've been like totally digging into your music since then. but I think what you're talking about, man, I think, cause I see a lot of people struggle with, you know, having either, you know, the day job and then chasing the dream at night. Like, all right, I just worked for eight hours and now, you know, I got the corporate job and now I got to put in those hours afterwards. Right. And like, that's a fucking grind, that's a grind and that's hard. And I see a lot of people struggle with it, trying to just like have the motivation, have the drive, have the energy. And. I think what I, what I hear from your story is potentially, I think what an important piece of that is that you are also DJing. So you are getting to experience like 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 what the result of all of it is. And I think there's a lot of people that they're not doing that and they're not actually having that experience. So all you're doing is coming home every day and just working, working, working on the music. And, and you know, if you completely love producing, that's not going to be an issue, but I've talked to more than enough people where like that does become a kind of a draining thing after a while, just sort of chasing, chasing that goal, chasing that dream. So it's almost like you were getting to kind of. Microdose some of the success along the way, you know getting to kind of tap into the the the the DJing side so any of you out there that might be feeling that That uphill battle of just like producing and producing and having to do the nine to five It might be that you need to go out and play some fucking shows and like also be able to tap into To that energy to fuel you

Westend: 39:41

Yeah. I think, I think that's a, um, a great point. And I don't actually think it's only playing shows because I know that can be difficult for a lot of people, to get shows. And I, you know, I run like a music production community and a lot of people get asked me these questions all the time. It's like, how do I get shows? And, and that, and I think that can be a great way to kind of like, Restart the motivation a little bit when you have like a tough time grinding. But another thing for me, that's like. That I think I attributed a lot to keeping me motivated and kind of able to be successful Is you kind of have to like break up your goals into like small chunks so like at the time I wasn't thinking about like playing big festivals and Having an agent and like all this kind of like stuff that like you usually associate with being like successful in the music industry I was really focused on like The kind of like small goals that were like close to me that were like attainable. So it was like getting my first record signed on this label. And it wasn't like the biggest label ever. It was like, kind of small tastemaker labels run by artists at the time, like box of cats and perfect driver and all these kinds of like, Labels that were into this niche tech house genre that was like big in America at that time So it was like how do I get like a music on to this label? How do I get Justin Martin to play one of my songs? And Getting and achieving these small little like wins every once in a while Like that's kind of how I was able to keep my career growing was that I just had these small little wins over and over Again, and was like constantly on a somewhat uphill trajectory where I feel like nowadays people are so pressured to be like I need to have this viral moment and I need to have John, summit signed my song to his label and blah blah blah and it's like no you can focus on like building a community having producer friends getting Small wins like improving year after year after year like playing a little bit more shows than you did the previous year It's not like you have to like Quit your job that year and become this like successful DJ. So I think having those realistic expectations helps keep you motivated because if you just have this extremely high, I'm reaching for the stars expectations and then you don't hit them. You may be like, this is pointless. I'm not a good producer. This is never going to happen for me. And then you quit. And then you're definitely not going 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 my clients 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 oftentimes there's this belief that I'll be successful when, when I'll be successful when I get to this point, right? And it's like, okay, well, what are you until then? Are you, you're a failure until you get, then get to that place. How does it feel then to be a failure every fucking day, right? On this journey to like climb this big mountain, it's like, no, you got to celebrate. You got to live in the energy of celebration. And I talk about this all the time. And I'm going to continue to hammer at home that if you feel like. You're not there yet. If you feel like it's so far away, if you feel like you're not a success until you have the agent 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 that one next small milestone step that's right in front of me. And when I get there, I get to fucking 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 not celebrating ourselves along the way. Not actually looking at like, yo, look at all these things that you're, that you are doing. Like, yo, you just got a new follower today. You got 10 new followers today. Celebrate that shit. Right? Because you also look at, oh, I only got 10 new followers. I want a thousand followers. I was like, all right, if you don't learn how to celebrate, then you're going to carry that with you EDC someday and it still won't be enough and you won't be celebrating it. So you gotta, I love that man. Like, Breaking down those milestones and celebrating it and enjoying the fucking process. That's going to be the thing that keeps you going, right? And, and a lot of people are stuck kind of not doing that, putting their, happiness into the future rather than enjoying every little milestone along the way. Yeah,

Westend: 44:10

a little bit of time now. And i've seen and this is to anyone listening out there who is uh, who needs a little bit of motivation I i've seen a lot of djs go from nobodies to the biggest DJs in the world. And I've seen a lot of people create careers where they are able to only do music full time, which I think for most people is like the coolest thing ever. So I've seen a lot of people and almost everyone who just doesn't quit gets success in some way. It's actually kind of like a little like mind blowing cause if people are like, Oh, like what's the answer? Like, what do I need to do? Blah, blah, blah. It's like the people that didn't kind of like make it through, they were the ones that like life hit them and they 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 doing this. Like they got their success. Whether they're the biggest DJ in 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 like live their dream. It's, it's, It's really just about staying motivated enough and being involved enough where you're, just doing it for enough period of time that you give yourself all these opportunities to, achieve success. Because if you, if you get frustrated or burnt out or you're like, I'm going to switch this. I'm going to focus on my career, like my career outside of music. I'm going to go have a family and like not do whatever. those are the people that usually like don't make it. But the people that do, it's like, you just got to stay in it. That's it. That's the only thing.

Nik: 45:40

so true, man. So true. Well said, you know, at, at this stage in your career, looking forward, looking ahead, what are you excited about?

Westend: 45:53

It's a good question. I, I, I did it recently on Instagram, like one of those that asked me anything posts cause I hadn't done one in a while. So, and then someone kind of had that. It was like, well, what, what are some things that like you still like want to achieve? And for me, like a lot of it is like less about like I want to play this festival or I want to have this many streams on a song or like less about like the numbers and more just about like doing Cool and interesting things especially like combining like interests that I have in my life with like my music So like one little thing I had was like I want to have like a sick tennis house music event where it's like kind of like combining these two worlds together and to me that's like that's like so motivating cool, and it's not really about money or anything like that It's just like oh that would be like dope like being able to Take something that a lot of people are interested in and combine it with my love for house music another thing it's like I want to have like a Uh, you know, kind of like Anthony Bourdain, who I think was amazing, like do like a fishing YouTube series where I like go travel the world, DJ in all these cool countries and places and then like kind of go fishing with like the locals and put it on YouTube and make like a whole Amazingly video series. That's like another kind of like weird thing that I want to do, but like, it kind of motivates me to get to the level where I can do something like that. I also started a label called trace amounts at the end of last year and really growing that out and being like an A and R has been incredible because now I kind of like, I can, I get to tell people what I think is cool and hopefully shift what other artists and DJs look to for dope music in the industry. So I really want to keep growing out the label and make it like the dopest label I possibly can and do events with that. So those are, these are some like kind of like more like longterm goals that I have. I would definitely want to write an album one day. Um, probably not in the immediate future, but it's like on my mind as like, another big goal. Um, Yeah, man, there's like lots of stuff. We could be here all day and just hammering them out.

Nik: 47:54

I love that, man. Super, super cool and fun. Exciting ideas, there's just so much opportunity and so much possibility, like, especially when we just kind of think outside the box a little bit. It's like, yeah, this can be more than just playing nightclubs every weekend. Like, there's other cool shit that 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 ideas there. As far as the label What kind of stuff are you signing? How can people reach out to you? There might be someone listening that right now that's like oh shit West End is my favorite fucking DJ and like I would love to send them music like how can people submit for that and what kind of stuff are you looking for?

Westend: 48:32

Yeah, so on the music that I'm actually looking for right now, um, I wouldn't say it's very hard to verbally describe it because, uh, I don't know exactly what I'm looking for, but when I hear something that 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 not looking for things that have already been completely done or like rinsed out Like if if you send me a track and i'm like this sounds exactly like this person or it just kind of sounds like outdated a bit and like it's you know You're living a little bit in the past especially in the tech house world like that doesn't excite me so I would say the best thing to do is if you're looking for like, I don't even know if my music fits this label It's called trace amounts If you go to like any of my sets that i've played in the last year and like I have a bunch up on youtube Maybe you can like listen to a little bit of like the style and energy of like the kind of music I'm playing. A lot of that is similar to what I'm looking to sign. Or you can check out the past releases we've done on Beatport. In terms of actually submitting your music, uh, I use this thing called TrackStack. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but it's, it's kind of like, uh, an app that's, being used to replace like email for like DJ inboxes. I'm also like an investor in the company. So I'm trying to promote it as well, but it's really great. Um, so you can submit all your demos to the label. It's a T stack, S T A C K. com. Or wait, no, it's not that calm. It's a. t stack. app app slash trace amounts. So t stack. app slash trace amounts. And, uh, then you, you get a little portal. You can like upload, I think five or so demos. Uh, it takes me a little bit while to get through them all. Cause I get a lot of demos per day, but give it a few weeks and, uh, she get an answer back.

Nik: 50:21

Hell yeah now For anyone that is considering submitting, please Go do your research like he 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 the music Like this is important. I think when you're pitching pitching to labels like do your homework study. Like what are they putting out? What is the vibe like if you're a fucking? Experimental dubstep producer don'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 that just send anything and everything to anyone, because you're, you know, it's kind of like, you're, you're just buying scratch offs at that point. You're just trying to, have something that will stick. the good thing, I mean, the bad thing for the producer, but the good thing for the label owner is like, well, it's track stack. Like you can like. Restrict people that are just like sending in like the wrong stuff So it's like there's some cool like tools in there to kind of like make sure you're getting the right demos But yeah, don't you know doing the research is so important and also like really just like sending your best work that like fits because Let's say you send five songs, right? And like maybe only one of them is like actually a good fit for the label But like the first three are kind of like not really there yet Or they're like a totally kind of different genre a lot of times in a and r we may listen to like only Like the first two or three and be like, Oh, these aren't working for me at all. I'm going to go now, skip the whole batch. And then like the one that was probably your best option is now in the, uh, in the trash can. So, you know, really, I think being more narrow with like the music that you submit can actually be more beneficial rather than being like, I'm going to send a bunch of stuff.

Nik: 52:09

yeah, great point. Now, is TrackStack for labels? It's for, just like, receiving demos? 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 sending music out, it's a lot easier to keep track of like all your demos that you're either sending to labels or to DJs receiving promos. That's kind of like the main solution there because. It used to be that if you were to receive promos from your, your community, you would have to set up like an email address and then you would get a bunch of different emails with different soundcloud links and Dropbox links and all this stuff. So now it's like it gets uploaded. You can listen to all of them really quickly. You can like template your responses and comments and stuff. You can organize them, move them around. So it's really great for like labels and DJ promos and uh, also, you know, track sex, working on. Other features to make it easier for like artists to connect with, like their producer fans, you know, maybe it's like through tutorial videos or other types of like features that like kind of like a Patreon where like, uh, they want to be subscribed to and support as different artists so that, you know, because it's really hard for artists these days to, Sustain themselves unless you're like a top tier artist. so being able to have other additional sources of income, whether it's like a Patrion type subscription or giving out music feedback or selling tutorial videos or whatever it is, it's like, it's super important. I think we're going to see a big shift in the community, to that so that people don't have to only be playing all these shows and getting these high fees to make money. They can kind of like sustain themselves.

Nik: 53:49

Yeah. So rad. Everyone go check that out. Trackstack. I'll make sure I put the link for that in the show notes. That sounds like such an awesome, service. Thanks for sharing that with us and thanks so much for taking the time to hop on, man. I'm glad that you found the content, uh, shout out to talk for making it happen for connecting us. Thanks so much for reaching out and, uh, just coming through to share, man.

Westend: 54:10

Yeah, man. Thanks so much for having me. it was great to kind of reflect on a few things. And, uh, yeah. It was just an awesome time, man. So, thanks again.