Drasen: Music, Business, and Building Community on the Virtual Sessions 8/2/23

Drasen: Music, Business, and Building Community

In this insightful Virtual Session, The DJ Sessions host Darran Bruce reconnects with Miami-based DJ and producer Drasen exactly one year after his first appearance on the series. Over the past year, Drasen has been hard at work on new projects, collaborations, and expanding his influence in Miami’s house scene. One of his most exciting ventures is the IM3 Lab, a platform designed to highlight local DJs, provide livestreams, and launch interviews while ensuring artists are compensated and supported with valuable content.

Drasen shares his motivation for creating opportunities within the community, inspired by his own experiences as an independent artist. He also teases his upcoming podcast, Drink of an Artist, where he will host conversations with fellow musicians, exploring creative processes, business lessons, and deeper philosophical discussions.

The conversation expands into challenges artists face with copyright restrictions, streaming platforms, and balancing authenticity with presentation. Drasen emphasizes the importance of DJs being both entertainers and craftspeople, while also learning the business side of music to sustain their careers. He highlights how defining success isn’t about fame or wealth but simply being able to live off your art without compromise.

With new collaborations, releases, and a drive to mentor other artists, Drasen underscores his vision for blending music, art, and technology. From reflections on AI’s role in music to his upcoming track Small Talk, this episode captures the mindset of an artist determined to grow while lifting others with him.

Show Notes

Host: Darran Bruce
Guest: Drasen
Location: Virtual Studios, Seattle WA & Miami, FL

Overview:
Darran Bruce reconnects with Drasen to discuss his projects, the IM3 Lab, his upcoming podcast Drink of an Artist, and how he defines success as a DJ and producer.

Topics Covered:

• Launch of the IM3 Lab to support local DJs and livestream events
• Plans for his podcast Drink of an Artist focused on creative and business insights
• Reflections on music business: balancing art and sustainability
• Challenges with copyright and streaming platforms on YouTube
• Defining success as making a living solely from music
• Views on DJ performance: authenticity vs. showmanship
• Biggest performances including Club Space Miami and Treehouse
• Industry challenges: influencers becoming DJs without craftsmanship
• Advice for new producers: learn music and business simultaneously
• AI as a future tool for music creation and live performance
• Thoughts on VR and the future of virtual nightclubs
• Upcoming track Small Talk and other collaborations in the vault
• Social media use: Instagram and Twitter for connecting and sharing philosophy
• Merchandise ideas and experimenting with AI-designed visuals

Call to Action:
Follow Drasen on Instagram @drasenmusic and stay tuned for his upcoming releases and podcast.
Discover more exclusive interviews and live sessions at thedjsessions.com.

[Darran]
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the DJ Sessions presents the virtual sessions. I’m your host Darran right now I’m in the virtual studios in Seattle, Washington and coming in all the way from around the nation in Miami, Florida And we just found out that exactly one year ago today. We did our first interview with Drasen Drasen, how you doing today?

[Drasen]
Doing fantastic brother. Go ahead. Glad to be back man.

And yeah, what a coincidence I swear, I didn’t plan it forward. It’s exactly one year anniversary But yeah, man, a lot of things have happened. It’s very very very exciting to talk about.

[Darran]
Yeah, totally totally totally. So What have you been up to? What have been some of the projects you’ve been working on?

[Drasen]
Yeah, man So obviously a lot of cool music in the works a lot of cool collaborations with friends in Miami But one of my most exciting projects is something called the IM3 lab where I’m kind of bringing together the house local scenes the house DJs in Miami and Having a live stream. We’re about to launch an interview podcast where we can also, you know, talk about them and Just provide a lot of value to artists and also make sure like everyone gets paid everyone gets content because you know as an artist myself, I know how it is to be in that struggle and Anything I can do to help out back the community It’s my pleasure, of course Yeah, you know, that’s it’s funny.

[Darran]
I started doing video production well when I was six years old, so 43 years ago and I got in a high school in my first It was the first video production class ever offered in the state of Washington And I took that class because I’ve been playing with video cameras since I was like six Walked out of that and worked started working on a public access hip-hop television series R&B series And then as technology progressed got into podcast I actually got into broadcast television and executive produced some shows to the local Fox at NBC stations here And then, you know when podcasting came out in the video iPod player I kind of shift my whole platform over to digital and then obviously YouTube came out right around the same time and then live-streaming in 2009 and it’s been a process and I used to do this variety show called ITV And we did like a bunch of different shows like live music nightlife fashion art short films video games sports comedy and They were all their own independent television series. And then the one I liked the most was the nightlife one You know because I was always going out of the clubs. I had tons of DJ friends.

I you know, they’ve been partying since I was a kid and basically You know, I always wondered why nobody ever had a video camera in the club filming what was going on even though there wasn’t much distribution for it, but once podcasting video podcasting came out and YouTube came out and we 2007 y’all we all had iPhones now the cameras were that great. But anyways, the long story short I’m getting that is I understand the morphing process of what you’re gonna be going through Have you’re doing this room was 30 years of my life and it is an exciting project and something good for the community You know and it helps everyone out. So congratulations on that Thank you.

[Drasen]
Thank you. And you’re a legend yourself, man I was going through a YouTube channel all the way back to 13 years and you have like Some cultural videos in there man Like some historic videos of like Steve Aoki like some DJs that I almost didn’t recognize But I know they’re also legends in their own ranks. Like you have some amazing things there brother.

[Darran]
Thank you Yeah, it’s it’s it’s been a ride and we’re just getting ready to ramp back up here over at the DJ sessions super excited We’re going to ADE again this year It’s always that’s a fun one You know, but you know it it it’s it’s been an interesting process You know just for our fans people watching if you don’t know if you go to our website the DJ sessions calm on that front Page, there’s all the clickable links of all the past top DJ interviews and sets and guest mixes that we’ve done It’s pretty awesome. I’m pretty proud of that site.

But um, here’s a question I have for you How have you been able to get around the copyright issues using YouTube? Are you getting flagged for that at all with a music show?

[Drasen]
Yeah, we are getting flagged, but we’re not getting punished. You only get punished if you get a strike So we’ve been doing the mixes and most of the time when we get flagged The consequence just tends to be we’re banned in Russia and Belarus Which is for me not that big of a loss considering, you know, the United States is the primary market in Europe So we’re okay with that and we’ve just been growing and like today I was updating the SEO and things like that So so far like no major problems the only time that a video was taking down is like When we had a five-hour long live stream and then YouTube said hey this might be like spammy or something which they make sense But that was the only time it got taken down after five hours

[Darran]
yeah, you know when when pandy hit my phone was blown off the hook because Phone email messaging because everyone’s like you’re the guy that’s been doing this for ten years Yeah, I get around this and I’m like you don’t you kind of pay for the licensing, you know Otherwise you can lose your whole channel one day and not get it back You know and people didn’t understand that and then they’d say well shouldn’t Facebook be paying for it or shouldn’t Amazon because they own twitch And they got billions and billions of dollars.

It’s like no, it’s not the responsibility It says specifically under the terms and conditions do not use copyrighted music Yes, I think they become a little bit Softer in the tone because about five years ago.

[Drasen]
I uploaded a mix and my god It was a badass mix not only the audio but the video I spent hours on it upload it to YouTube Taken down bail across the world. I was like man all that hard work But there’s a bright side to the story About a couple months ago. I looked at that video and it was no longer banned and I was like, this is interesting So yeah YouTube somehow changed the rules and so now that video is public actually and I was like man I wish I wish they had done that a couple years ago when I spent all that work, but whatever I guess better late than never so it looks like YouTube has Softened the rules a little bit to allow creators to like upload mixes and stuff for that because you know There’s millions and I think maybe billions views now on some of these DJ live mixes that are happening with circle and all these other Stuff so they probably realize yeah, we need to soften the rules or this amazing content can’t come out Totally.

[Darran]
Um, you mentioned you’re gonna be doing a podcast as well, correct? Correct. Yeah in the back.

Who are you gonna be using to host your podcast series?

[Drasen]
Yeah, I’m probably gonna be the host actually Because I want to use this podcast to keep myself my own content, right? And these are also my friends and sometimes my friends are more comfortable Opening up and having these like deep conversations with me not necessarily like a stranger. So yeah, I’m really excited about that It’s gonna be under the same brand I am three lab But the podcast will be called the drink of an artist the drink doesn’t necessarily have to be alcoholic could be any drink of choice But yeah, it’s just you kind of freelance I want to talk to my friends about how they see music how we create music They’re experiencing the music industry the business and kind of just freelance from there and see like, you know What wonderful stuff we talked about I’ve got into some very deep like philosophical spiritual conversations technical conversations and private conversations with my friends But uh, I always tell myself I wish I could put this on a podcast in the wolf to hear it And so now I’m finally doing that and I’m excited for I think within two three months. We should be launching right now We’re just like buying all the equipment making sure everything’s in order, but that’s a great project.

[Darran]
I’m excited for what what was what is Your strongest motivation to pursue a career in music or was your strongest motivation?

[Drasen]
Yeah, so that started back in high school I was like, I want to be a DJ simply because I just saw the path I was going I was okay college corporate job Escape the ladder. I was like not a bad life, but I want life to be a little bit more exciting I want to go straight away from the norm That was ultimately my biggest motivation at the time and then from there just kept getting inspired inspired by things I saw in the music industry Like, you know, oh I can reach new heights So I can start a group or I can learn to be an engineer like the doors just started opening until I am where I am today

[Darran]
And how do you define success as a DJ or producer? Is it a beatport top 10 hit sold-out tour? What what are your thoughts on this?

[Drasen]
Yeah, that’s a great question for me, honestly And it’s something I’ve always said to my friends if you’re making a living off your music Then for me, you’ve made it like if you don’t need anything else to support you, but your own craft You’ve made it You don’t need to be ultra famous or ultra rich because then you have just Comfortability to continue creating at your own pace and I don’t really think there’s a bigger blessing in that because we all know how many You know starving artists are so as long as you’re not starving artists in my opinion you have made it

[Darran]
And you know ten years in the game Success for everyone doesn’t always last for every forever, especially for an artist What do you do to save up for the future?

What do you what do you invest your earnings in are you looking at Bitcoin and doing NFTs anything like that?

[Drasen]
That’s another great question to be honest. I My approach is unconventional So like I’ve started other businesses completely unrelated to music Because I was like I want to succeed in business so I can then reinvest this back into music because this is where I actually Want to do and it kind of goes back to like how far outside the box? Are you willing to go for your dreams?

And so I went so far the outside the box is not even related to music. So those businesses can then fund back the music Some of them did involve crypto I was was working for some crypto companies, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be crypto or some crazy innovation it just has to be something that’s stable and that can continue paying the bills as you grow like I said anytime you trade off money for music Then you might be accidentally making music for a different reason than you originally were like don’t make music because you have to for money You should have something that’s funding you so you can create to your own desire

[Darran]
I’ve heard that is You pretty much hit the nail on the head for people that have gotten successful in the industry It’s like if you’re making this for the money or should you’re in there for the wrong reasons almost You’re probably not gonna last too long With is there something you’d like to say to a new and upcoming producers to watch out for When it comes to making their career successful

[Drasen]
Yeah Learn the business Simultaneously as you learn music, I think I don’t want to say it’s the biggest mistake But something I could go back and change not that I want to change But if I could tell myself something is Learn business at the same time because I think a lot of people go into the studio go into the studio go into the studio They do that so many years thousands of hours in creativity and art but then zero hours in business and so you’re extremely talented insane potential But you’re unable to convert that potential to results because your business experience is low, right? Your stats are low in business.

So make sure you grow both those stats simultaneously because The art that you make the music that you make what matters is yes making it but also matters what happens after you make it How do you market it? How do you get it out to distribution? You know, how do you get it out to the world?

[Darran]
And that’s the art of the business Mm-hmm, and when it comes to performance, you know getting up on stage Do you become a different person when you get on stage? Are you a different person offstage and you’re on stage?

[Drasen]
They’re a character that Drasen has it Like maybe you’re totally chill guy at home, but you’re It’s insert that’s an interesting question I mean, I know I’ve heard alter egos, right? I think Beyonce had Sasha Fierce and stuff like that Like they will become an alter ego so they can like pretend to be who they have to be on stage for the show I don’t think I necessarily do that. Although I used to be very hyper focused on mixing in the past Now that I’m kind of starting to get more data and out of it analytics for my youtube channel I’m noticing that the more animated DJs just naturally get more views And I’m like, okay, so I need to be more animated by also the one I like so my soul just reviews I want to be animated in my own regard.

So I have been tweaking my Authenticity of how much I’m willing to be animated versus like who I am as a core as a person

[Darran]
That’s what that’s why I recommend everyone to do if you ever want to see something kind of funny Go back to our go to our website the DJ sessions calm Go to all go to our archives some of the first episodes of the DJ sessions and The DJs that were playing they didn’t know what to do because they had never been on a live streaming show or a podcast series Before let alone have video taken about tons of pictures that we go to my space and all that stuff But no video And even if the video was recorded like the photographer came in and recorded the video the audio would sound like crap because they’re not Packed into the board, you know, so you really wanted to share it but long story short You watch what I would do for my shows and for four hours I’d be bouncing up and down like people would tune in just to watch and go is this guy on drugs? What is going on here? The DJ is doing a badass mix, but the DJ I don’t want to say they were boring they just didn’t know and As they write as they started doing more shows and they felt the groove and people were coming over and we were we were partying And hanging out, you know in that sense.

It was a great time. They started Gazing up and started getting into it, you know and certain and people would stay and watch because it wasn’t just Watching somebody being a knob-turner, you know It was very very a key thing that I think when I spoke with a lot of people when they started screaming During panty was be animated Be be energetic smile. Make sure you’re smiling.

Who wants to watch a person on? Right, exactly.

[Drasen]
Not too serious. Yeah, it’s like but also authentic because I didn’t really see myself as a Jumpy up-and-down DJ, but I was like at the same time I want to be a conductor and controlling the energy of my hands and so I found the way kind of do that without being like too cheesy my opinion like I want to be like a Like someone was easier just bouncing up and down all the time that clutcher like that’s not me That’s not my style, but at the same time, you know, I want to be able to kind of crowd control So I found that’s the way I found my balance

[Darran]
Yeah, was the biggest crowd you ever played for also your best crowd?

[Drasen]
I would say one of the best crowds the biggest crowd I played for was club space the terrorists completely slammed I was like back in a 2017 2018 and I mean like the other day two weeks ago I played treehouse back-to-back my friend Vito and that crowd was also ridiculous. So I Can’t really say it was the best but like I think as long as you’re carrying the energy every cow is gonna have this movement So Yeah, that’s what I’ll say about that. Mm-hmm.

[Darran]
Yeah I’ve heard some some people like the more intimate crowds where they can really connect, you know, 150 to 300 people and some I’m like, oh no, I play in front a hundred thousand people and

[Drasen]
I’m disconnected but I’m connected, you know, so it’s always I want to have that experience Yeah, I’m definitely used to the intimate vibe of clubs and stuff like that I haven’t done a festival for like 50,000 people in front of me yet I would assume it’s gonna be different So, yeah, so

[Darran]
Going to a more of a little bit of a serious topic here. Is there something that’s really messed up in the DJ scene? And if there is how would we go out?

[Drasen]
Changing that yeah really messed up I Feel like the culture is gone in a little bit better from like when I used to see I used to see like some just Prick DJs back in the day and they still are I Think a lot of DJs from what I’m seeing have become more marketers than they are in craftsmanship This is what I’ve personally been seeing So like we’re seeing, you know Sometimes Instagram models or Instagram influencers becoming DJs that have no really craftsmanship or history in it But it’s a nice model to to you know, get revenue like come to my show I’ll DJ a little bit right, but there’s no really deep craftsmanship because they’re new I don’t like necessarily seeing that as just a money grab.

I understand that as a business model I think that should be fixed and the only way to really fix that is that to actually teach the talented individuals that There are in it for like the craft craft craftsmanship how to do business how to grow their organics you know how to do marketing and that’s something I want to do with the IM3 platform on This other thing called the mastermind where we teach music business Like there’s a lot of music business channels for hip-hop like for example brand man Sean learned tremendous amount from him, but there’s nothing for the EDM side of things There’s no like podcast that I see Teaching music business for DJs or like EDM managers coming out and dropping some diamonds Like there’s some nuggets here and there but not like a go-to channel.

[Darran]
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I Have be an awesome project to start up And it sounds like you’re on that pathway of doing that and you know after being 10 years in the game Have you made a lot of friends in the electronic music world or would you say most are just business contacts?

[Drasen]
Both to be honest a lot of friends indeed a lot of DJ producer friends Cherished by my heart all over the country some around the world But also a lot of business contacts and I’ve been very open-minded on this Sometimes I’ll meet someone that for some reason didn’t really make sense to meet him Like I would mean like a doctor or I’ll be like a VC or something Maybe at the time it I didn’t see how it makes sense But I kept those relations open and as the years go by you kind of see how they made sense They introduce you to this person that person or you have leverages in certain ways that Other DJs don’t because they didn’t go explore in those directions

[Darran]
Yeah, yeah, it’s it’s I I was talking with my mom actually today and she was talking about you know Making friends and meeting people and you know, and I use the word Well, we all know a lot of people but how many are our real friends and especially in the nightlife world I always found I had a lot of acquaintances People that I knew people that I could see in the club give a hug to or a handshake to or invite them over to the Show, but were they really my friends?

Yeah, you know and that could be a stigma that People you climb the ladder you get popular and people want to be your friend But they’re really just trying to ride your coattails or you know, absolutely use you in some way shape or form There’s no it’s that genuine and then you’re like what the hell so, you know that happens I mean, I’ve been blessed to have Good relationships with everyone that I’ve ever worked with on the show That is pretty well, I’d say 99% of the people that have come on the show Yeah, you know, but things happen people have differences opinions, but it’s all good Shifting over to the technology side of things What are your thoughts on virtual reality and what it will do for the music industry?

[Drasen]
So when I went to CES about four years ago I put on some virtual reality goggles and went on one of the first ever music videos for virtual reality and It really changed my perspective because I was like damn like it is a whole new world to explore like if music videos are Moving through you like moving through a place through a dimension and making you feel like you’re flipping up in the air Like I was like, this is definitely the future of music.

However, it’s a very big Barrier of entry not only for the person making that video but for the person that has to buy the goggles and headset So, I think you still might be a couple years away, but the experience and dynamics of it It’s definitely the next level experience from an artist to a fan Yeah, we were super excited Over the last few years.

[Darran]
We launched our first well, we launched our virtual reality nightclub And we first launched an alt space, but then Microsoft shut alt space down Man, dude, it was we were getting ready to live that took a lot of wind out of my sails earlier this year, too And like much it’s like we go we’re launching in February and then they announced we’re closing this down in March Oh my god, why and I’d spent like almost a year almost two years. I think I got my build in 2021 late 2021 when I got my headsets and Spent time and time putting everything together.

We were super excited Which we are accepting Additional shows in there by the way, so if you do go live Anywhere I don’t know what you’re using to go live Love to have your content also Well, yeah, I think VR is gonna be a very interesting thing did people jump on it did it become big during pandy And you know because we were all at home Just like we saw twitch. I mean they Just went exponentially YouTube content podcast content everything going online content And I had predicted back in 2020 that when this ends that 60 to 80 percent increase that we saw It’s gonna go and that con does content creators gonna be like, oh no, we’re out doing something else new now You know, so it’s been interesting to see but yeah VR has a definite ability to put you into a space and I’ve seen some phenomenal spaces I was actually talking to some guys who won the Cannes Film Festival for VR and their nightclubs that they build there You’re like this is what this is what it should be like and it’s only gonna get better You know, so we’re super excited about that but you know technology moves very fast in the electronic music Land if you could think of something that’s not on the market today, but in your vision would be really amazing. What would that be?

[Drasen]
Something that’s not on the market today, but I see developing is the use of AI to generate music in real time I think and I think a lot of musicians and producers DJs have to prepare for this The the rise of AI is going to make every single person a curator at an incredible speeds So you’re no longer just gonna be competing against producer vs. Producer DJ vs. DJ singer vs.

Singer You’re gonna be competing literally against anyone that wants to create And that’s an AI is gonna facilitate that creation and it’s over time is gonna be at a very high quality level So I’m curious to see how that’s gonna, you know change the landscape I’m glad you brought up AI because that is a hot topic right now.

[Darran]
It is Exponentially getting bigger and bigger, but I’ve talked with a lot of people about this and they say here’s the one thing about AI music Creation, it won’t have a soul. It won’t have a heart, you know And is that just a counterpoint to if I go? Okay, I want to deep house 124 Four and a half minute track focus heavy on a bassline or a guitar but solo in there and AI goes out there and makes it for me.

Did I really make that song? Right, or was I plugging debt? Was I just giving it parameters to use to make that song and that song that song come out?

But you know you can equate it It I see at least goes producing your Having somebody make a song for you. Hopefully you’re collaborating on that goes produce song with that person, but they’re laying the foundations for it but AI there’s no human on the other end doing that, you know, so What do you do? But I think you’re right with the live performance.

What could happen, you know? Yeah, there’s a lot of factors into last year last year I was at a winter music conference and Carl Cox was doing a demonstration And he was up there and he had one CDJ. I think he had a 3,000 and he had his laptop on his laptop he had Programming.

It was basically live producing on the fly while mixing in tracks as well. Oh, that’s sick And he was like, this is my new project. This is my new thing I want to go forward towards because he goes I can every he goes every set I make It’s never the same Mmm, like a lot of I know a lot of DJs will go.

Oh, this is my set. This is what I got planned This is what I’ve made to do or this is my library, but he’ll make live music on the fly now But also be able to get those those tracks in there this, you know hot tracks that he wants to really promote, right? Right, and I’m like that’s been able to be done for a long time I mean that was Ableton live and logic made back in logic 7 I think it was they made the ability to tie in a live performance So if you made your songs you could actually manipulate them live Within logic if you knew what you were doing Yes, but uh, yeah, where is that gonna go?

Just does it get back to the basics, you know? I Don’t know. I think a lot of new artists wouldn’t take on that endeavor Carl being around for 30 plus years I think it could do something like that, you know and have the budget to before it all the cool toys and everything stuff So, yeah, I think you’re right AI is gonna be very interesting To see where that goes.

[Drasen]
Yeah to touch on those on the soul aspect I mean, I think this kind of happened also when there were classical instrumentalists and then the computer came out and I bet you they’re probably Saying oh you guys making me so the computer that has no soul But nowadays we know that all these producers are like putting their soul into the computer, aren’t they? So the computer is just a tool And I think the ai is just another tool if you just let it do everything then yeah, it probably has no soul But if you work with it, you put your detail into it, you know, you put your heart into it I think that’s where the soul comes in. Um the human soul, right if you just let an ai do everything and all it’s done Yeah, that that is no soul But if you actually work with it get it to the way you like it, then you’re putting your soul into it

[Darran]
I uh will never forget my seventh grade choir teacher saying this he goes A drum machine is not a real live drum performance and I can tell the difference between the two Yeah, this is 1987, of course so um Yeah, you can definitely tell a synthesized drum beat over non-synthesized but now with the technology getting so better I mean we take pretty much a real trained musician to go. Uh That’s not a real drum kit You know or something like that, but I think there’s so much electronic music made here’s here’s the crazy one about ai Is who’s gonna be the real?

First somebody’s already playing with it. I bet first popular Ai written song ai produced track artist that goes up and wins a grammy, you know, I mean It’s like it’s gonna happen. Yeah, it’s gonna happen or

[Drasen]
Yeah, it’s inevitable so like I try not to go against the macro winds of inevitability I think a lot of people try to do that because I don’t know it strains them or like they want things done a certain Way, but there’s just sometimes these shifts in society when a technology comes in that it’s a macro wind That you do not want to fight against because it’s just going that direction no matter what

[Darran]
Exactly and do you what upcoming music you have that you’re going to be releasing anything coming up on the radar here?

[Drasen]
Yeah, so I have a collaboration with my friend zonko which is like also my childhood best friend we go back almost like 15 years He has more of like an s an anime aesthetic touch to his music, but he’s been recently getting into house again And so we made a song called small talk Beautiful powerful chords piano chords. It’s all sample. We also got like vocals and it sounds I mean, I can’t wait for the world here It’s crazy next level in terms of production Um, then I have a couple collabs my friend veto he was recording yesterday to this I remember beat Um, and I have a lot in the vaults to be honest.

I was just considering. Hey next month Uh screw the labels just drop it all because my new philosophy is it’s better for the music to be out there Even if it gets like minimal plays Because that way in the future It can be found and in the future. It can also just be blown up again, right?

TikTok has kind of shown us that old songs can be blown up again, right even from like the 80s So it’s just better to have your music out there than sitting on a hard drive So a lot of cool tracks coming up. I will say around 10 tracks coming out for me next month And we’ll see what happens from there.

[Darran]
Nice. You mentioned tiktok and bringing up that music from the 80s I remember do you remember the viral video with the guy that was drinking the cranberry juice while on a skateboard playing fleetwood And fluid max started churning again Exactly in the stores like and then uh, what was her name? He was in the stranger things soundtrack uh in the fourth season I don’t know if you watch stranger things or not.

Is it a never-ending story one or no not never any story It’s the one song that the girl has to listen to so she doesn’t go into the trance the redhead. Oh Okay, i’m not a singer like that I don’t recognize it blew up and got really popular like it started charting again. It was just it was just crazy Um speaking about hollywood I’m making movies and I if hollywood were to make a movie about your life.

Who would you pick as the main actor?

[Drasen]
Oh, man, that’s a tough question Um I I feel like maybe some asian looking dude, but I don’t really know who who I would pick. That’s a tough question Fair enough.

[Darran]
Yeah That was No, that’s all good. It’s all good. I’m just i’m just my mouse quit working on me So i’m just trying to back up because I can’t get to my questions.

Um, but Let’s see. Where’s the best place that somebody could go find out information about you and what you got going on?

[Drasen]
Yeah, so honestly just my instagram, uh instagram I usually pretty consistent with story postings just to see what’s going on day to day And that my feed is kind of like a summary of what i’ve been achieving throughout the years And then twitter is a nice place for you to like kind of get my philosophy of thoughts of how I see business and music And yeah, those are those are the two primary ones youtube has always seen my music as well But if you really want to connect either instagram or twitter

[Darran]
What’s your thoughts on instagram? I’m, sorry twitter now being called x

[Drasen]
x It’s it’s interesting I guess I mean none must says that he wants to make x Uh have half of the world’s money supply going through it, which is a crazy endeavor But honestly the way he describes it a lot of people don’t know that that was actually his original vision for paypal Was to have like this one company that all the financial services connect and kind of distribute from and use So he’s basically trying to make x the new modern day Paypal I guess in a way but with aggregated with social media, which is pretty smart And I actually saw a tweet recently that says that they’re adding coins to twitter So there’s there there’s a developer program that has coins already enabled as a feature so that That money aspect is coming in pretty quick

[Darran]
Did you uh jump on and get a threads account?

[Drasen]
I did I did I was too curious, but honestly, I deleted it. I don’t use it anymore What made me delete it actually was not even the use I started seeing how much Data it takes from you like financial transactions health data location data I was like, I mean instagram kind of does the same too to be honest I try to block all that stuff, but some of it will still leak through the cracks And I was like, I don’t need another app tracking all that.

[Darran]
So I just deleted it Yeah, we were talking about you talked about commerce and and money traveling through these platforms. Um, do you have your own merchandise available?

[Drasen]
Um, I don’t have a store but I am making my own merchandise like this my drayson shirt on the back I actually have like some ai designs of like my face with Different multiverses like a doctor strange multiverse a mario multiverse. So that’s pretty cool Um, I will start eventually selling more merchandise on shopify. But at the moment, it’s just kind of for myself

[Darran]
You know at one point I thought spotify was talking about including a way to get concert tickets in merch And spot can you get merch on spotify and put merch up and sell it I think they’re about to launch that feature Yeah, they’re about to launch that was something they were going to start doing so artists Put their put their tour dates on there And and tickets could go through spotify or something like that And then their merch so it’d be one place to go to for the fans to get their stuff Um, you know what? It’s been a great time talking with you drayson Is there anything else you want to let our dj sessions fans know about?

[Drasen]
Um, yeah, just don’t give up on your dreams learn music and business and keep the ball rolling forward never give up And what’s that youtube channel again? So the youtube channel i’m building is called I am three So I am the number three and actually let me break that down a little bit. I am three stands for music art and technology So we’re looking for music art and technology lovers and obviously a good portion of that tends to be djs and electronic artists and Originally, this is I guess some lore It was my partner’s company that I joined in and it used to stand for inside andy’s mind because his dj name is andy m But we rebranded it to mean music art technology

[Darran]
That’s awesome. My uh, my advertising company is actually called I am but it stands for independent alternative media Okay, cool There’s a monster between you know, I am you know behind I am Well, you know you think about it it’s like we would brand it and go like I am marketing. I am advertising.

I am mobile billboard trucks. I am street teams, you know, who are you we are I am I am I whatever you put after I am is basically like your manifestation, right? And actually actually axel had a song called I am as well Where he did a similar technique where all the fans would say I am this I am that Yeah, awesome again Drasen pleasure for coming having you back on the show can’t believe it just happens to be on the one year exact Anniversary last year.

[Drasen]
We should just set it up every one year right here.

[Darran]
I know right? Just put it in and just set it set it up But um, you know, we’ll definitely be following up with you looking forward to seeing everything you have coming out Congratulations on your success and good luck on your endeavors coming up Thank you. Darran.

Wish the same back for you. You’re welcome. Talk to you soon.

Peace On that note don’t forget to go to our website the dj sessions.com find us on twitter instagram tiktok We’re out there basically go to our website the dj sessions.com For test interviews exclusive mixes contests and more that is the dj sessions.com. I’m Darran That’s Drasen coming in from miami and i’m coming in from seattle for the dj sessions Virtual sessions and remember on the dj sessions the music never stops