On the second episode of this podcast I’m starting the DIY series with my good friend PME. We discuss what it’s like being an independent artist and give our thoughts on everything from what it means to ‘make it’ to the importance of support.
Get Psyched intro music was created by PME, used by permission. Find PME on Spotify.
Get Psyched Podcast Episode Highlight: DIY Series ft. PME
PME, photo contributed by the artist
PME is an independent creator from Fayetteville, NC. He’s self-taught and specializes in music production and beat making. He released his first official Single on Spotify in mid-2019 titled ‘Peanut Butter’ and, at the start of this year, he released his first Album titled ‘20/20/20’.
We’ve known each other since high school and in this episode we talked about everything from what it means to ‘make it’, how he got started, advice for others, his goals and plans for the future, and how crucial support is for any independent creator.
His biggest goal at the moment is to focus on the business aspects of being an independent producer. He talks about how beat making comes naturally to him and that the hard part comes from getting your work out and being heard. He runs an Instagram, Twitter, Spotify and other accounts to share his music and beats. One of his big plans for the year is to drop more singles (which he has been recently) and get them on more platforms.
We also discuss how investing in yourself is crucial when you’re doing things on your own, and he gives advice as to where he puts his money and energy in building his brand. ‘The only thing I’ve really bought for my music has been my launch key and macbook … if you want to get into music and you have a laptop, and you can find some free program that you can use to make music, that’s honestly all you need. If you want to get started, invest your money and just save for a minute’.
We also talk about how he believes school is not a must for up-and-coming creators and he gives his view on other ways creators can learn. His take on learning is that you don’t need to spend a lot of money on it these days. If you have access to a device with youtube, you’re good to go. ‘Youtube is your best friend’.
Most importantly, what PME thinks is critical for any independent creator, is support. We discuss how important it is to support small creators and how simple that can be. Even something like sharing a friend’s post can be incredibly instrumental to getting their work out there, and this kind of support is what gets small artists off the ground. It always starts locally, so we encourage everyone to support their creative friends and community. ‘Support means more to us than you think it does, we need that to make a living, without support we’d just be weirdos in our rooms or studios making music for no reason. Without y’alls support, we would have nothing’.
Thank you PME for being on the podcast! You can check out our episode and check out the artist himself as well!
PME is also the creator of the beat I use for my podcast. The track used is ‘300k’ off of his first album.
– DJ Psyched from the Get Psyched Podcast