From 0 to Millions: Nic D’s Blueprint for Indie Artists

TikTok is corny, bro. All right. I mean, it's like there's never been more opportunity than now. The gateway between an independent artist blowing up and their music is just content. I didn't sign up to be an influencer, man. I signed up to make music. No one signed up to be an influencer. Do you think I want to have to make videos all the time? No, I want to just drop a song and have it get a million streams. Everyone wants that. Let's see if I can get my streams up. You know, that was my one goal. And boy, did he? He certainly did. Spin a rock, spin the wrong time. On this episode of the One More Time podcast, we are joined by artist Nic D, who proved that talent doesn't mean a whole lot without execution. He's earned 1.5 billion with a B streams with no label and no industry connections. Just great music, smart content, relentless consistency, and a deep, deep understanding of what it takes to move the needle in today's music game.

If you're an independent artist looking to make a living with your music, this episode will inspire you or possibly expose some of the excuses that you've been hiding behind. And if the goal is fans, freedom, and a full-time career, this is the blueprint. Let's start it all right now. So I feel like a ton of independent artists come to me and Henry, and we hear like the same things over and over and over again, right? So we thought there would be no better person to respond candidly, honestly, unfiltered than Mr. Nic D. D. Okay. Nic D. So I'm gonna run through some of the like just classic things that we hear from our independent artist friends, right? Number one, TikTok is corny, bro. Alright, I mean, it's like, it's like, you know what I mean. Here's the thing. I mean, what did they like? Did they see people on TikTok and that are making content that are artists and think that that's what they love doing? Like that, like if that dude's blown up on TikTok, he must love it.

You know, it's like it just becomes this thing. It's like, all right, so everyone has access to make music, right? It's very accessible. And by everyone, it's like most people. Um you can record at home, you can do whatever. And it it's it's never been more accessible to be a music artist. There's never been more opportunity because of the accessibility than now. And it's also the most saturated it's ever been, right? So the gateway between an independent artist blowing up and their music is just content. That's the gateway. It used to be the gateway was you had to be signed to even get into a studio, you know, like back years ago in the 90s and whatever. So now the only gateway is content. If you can make content and blow up on content. So I'm not like, even when I'm doing content, I used to enjoy it more because I was loving learning the science behind what makes a good video and and and can I replicate this in another song and another video? And and I was like kind of obsessing over uh the ability to make a viral video. Like, quote unquote.

I was obsessing over that. I wanted to learn it. I was interested in that. And maybe that's the difference. Like, yes, in in the grand scheme of things, artists who want to make good art think TikTok is corny. But no one's gonna hear their good art unless they do the thing they don't want to do. It's a bar so good. So good. What what did the obsession, and I want to get into a few more of these, but what did the obsession around like figuring out the science of a viral video look like? Like what were you doing? You know what I mean? Well, what was that process like? It's a classic stuff. A lot of trial and error, see what works. I think a lot of people they'll post five videos. Everyone, everyone's got five videos in them. Some people got 10 videos in them, right? But if they don't work, everyone's got five songs in them, 10 songs in them. But if those don't work, do they have in them what it takes to just keep going? Like to keep losing, you know, like a if I told you that you you were gonna have a viral video 25 videos from now, how excited would you be to get each video out of the way?

You know what I mean? You'd be pumped, right? You'd be like, all right, let me get this one, get this one, get this one. I'm almost at 20, I'm at 23, 24. You're like, next one's it. Like if you knew, it would be fun. But because you don't know, it sucks. And you have to keep, you know, what I mean, you have to keep going. This is so funny, bro. I just had uh lunch with an artist friend, right? He's, he was signed to a major label, like has gone on tour with major artists doing like huge arenas, etcetera, Right. And I asked him the exact same question that you're kind of posing, right? If I could guarantee, because he's kind of anti-content, right? If I could guarantee you that you posting the content that like I'm recommending that you post, if I could guarantee you that it would work and you would go from here to here, would you do it? He said yes. You would sell X more tickets, you would sell X more merch. He said yeah, would stream X more monthly. He said, Yeah, so then I had to understand the psychology around the hesitation, and and it really does have to do with that kind of fear of failure, right? So, have you just been a dude that like isn't scared of failure just by nature, or did you have to overcome that, right?

Because I feel like that's probably a lot of the reason why artists don't. It's like, yeah, the you know, the comment was about TikTok being corny, but it's more like I don't want to look like a failure almost, right? I don't want it to not work. Yeah. That's TikTok is corny is just what they say because, you know, they don't want to post videos that flop and and to be seen like no one cares about their stuff, and to be seen like a failure, and to be seen like no one's interested in what they're doing. Like that's harder than just saying, you know, TikTok's not corny. Yeah, TikTok is empty, by the way, without people post it. Like maybe you're seeing people that post things that you think are corny, but like TikTok is an empty vessel. Like you can put whatever you want up there. You can put good stuff on a corny. You know what I mean? Absolutely. Uh I don't know that feel of fear of failure has ever crept into my mind because I've always been so excited to try. And I and I think that be the excitedness to give it a shot has always overshadowed any like fear that it might not work. Sure.

And that could just be something that's wired into me. Like I, or it also could be that, you know, that I I spent my late teens and early 20s uh just reading a lot of personal development books and and and really just and and also like my fundamental belief as a Christian is like I'm already worthy. So like without getting too deep into that side of it, it's like I already like my cup is always full. So I don't need this, the outside approval of like a viral video to feel good about myself, or like people to show up at my shows to feel good about myself, or you know, or people to stream my music to feel good about myself. Like I already feel good about myself because I know that I'm worthy. And that's just like that's a tangent. But I think that probably fuels a little bit of my confidence in, or not my confidence, but my my I'm not afraid to like mess up or or try. And then the other side of it is is like I do truly believe that, and this just like Russ says it, it's like a delusional self-belief. Like I do truly believe that I can pretty much do if I go like if I put my blinders on, and a lot of people have trouble putting their blinders on.

Music musicians in particular, they're very um, they're very creative, right? They want to try everything, and they want to do a little bit of a lot. And it's often when you do a lot of a little bit that it you're able to actually, you know, what you focus on is what will grow. And I think I've spoke about it in the past. It's it's a pick your one thing. There's a book on it, find your one thing, another book that I read. So when I read that, I was like, all right, let me just hone in on making short form content and releasing frequently. And then I did, I only did that. I didn't do shows, I didn't really drop a lot of merch. I didn't really do a lot. I was just let's see if I can get my streams up. You know, that was my one goal. Um boy did he, he certainly did. Five million plus monthly listeners consistently. He got his damn streams up, man. Way up. Um, all right, all right, moving on, moving on. Uh I only post about my new music, bro. I'm not posting about the old stuff. Yeah, yeah. That's I mean, you you probably heard me say it, but like you probably heard me say it, but your old music is brand new to people who haven't heard it. Yes, let's say most people haven't heard it.

Like, even if a million people have heard it, most people haven't heard it. Still most, exactly. Even if 10 million people have heard it, most people have heard it. If four billion people have heard your song. Most people haven't heard it. You know, so it's you know, I I get I get the I get it though, but it but often the problem is not uh the problem is often not the problem. It's like, all right, you need to look at yourself and just decide why am I doing it? Do I even care about it? Be uh you know what the my biggest hurdle is with artists that a lot of them comment on posts and stuff, and um they'll like let's say I put up a video trying to just give free game on the business side of music. I'll get comments like, you know, you know, bro treats it only as a you don't even care about the art. Like I love music. I love music so much. I make three, five, ten songs a week and I release frequently. That's how much I love to create music.

Like, but the other side of it is they're watching a video titled How to Make a Living Making Music. And it's like, and then they'll say, Oh, I I can't, I like the art too much. Well, it's obvious that you want to make a living making music. You clicked on a video titled, How do I make a living making music? You know, and then got mad, proceeded to get mad about so I don't I just feel like if they hear something they don't like or that isn't easy, or that they're gonna have to compromise, or that they're gonna have to give somebody else what they want instead of making only what they want, that they just get upset with it and they you know they don't want to do it. And and that's okay too. Like as long as but but it as long as they acknowledge that, like yeah, it's the acknowledgement. That's why that's why we recently added to our bio, not for hobbyists. We love our hobbyists, yeah, but it is so important for every music creator out there to s dig really deep and decide. Like, do you love the art and just want to make it?

Yeah, but then you're gonna find your you know, rent money elsewhere, yeah. Or do you want to do this as the only thing that you do because there's some kind of changes that you're gonna have to implement. And both are okay. A hundred percent. Both are totally fine. Yes. So do you post about your like old hits? Like, do you make content like about some of your older, more popular songs that are earlier on? I brought I brought a few posts back maybe even a year ago. I did like two Fine Apple posts and a couple icy pops. I'll bring up Sundown more more, Love that one. Love that one, man. And if I bring it up, it's usually because I really like the song. Um like Sundown, I really like the song. That's great. How could you not? I'll keep posting atmosphere, I'll post that one. That would be like an artist going on tour who's you know got a really big discography, only plays the new shit and not playing the hits, sure. Like, bro, yeah, then the people who discovered you from the newer stuff might fall in love with the old shit, and they might go stream that they might go buy the old vinyl, you know, whatever, right? I just I don't know.

I feel like catalog is so powerful. I mean, you look at just the catalog sales that are happening within the industry. There's a reason why these finance companies are investing millions and millions, billions of dollars in these people's catalogs, it's because they're valuable, right? Old songs are valuable, they can be synced in music, film, and television, right? Or or uh video games, television, and film. They can be freaking, you know, sell or no, they can be played, at, you know, concerts forever and ever and ever. They can be played on the radio for I mean, how many times have you turned the radio on? And there's a they play more old shit almost than they do new shit on like pop radio, even it's it's crazy, man. Um all right, cool. So let's move to the next one. Bro, I didn't sign up to be an influencer, man. I signed up to make music, Nick. Yeah, it's i a lot of this overlaps. It's like, yeah, no one signed up to be an influencer. You know, like no one like you think I want to have to make videos all the time to, and I technically don't really now, but before. Um I want like every I was like, all right, let me make this song, and then I am pumped to just go make videos on it.

No, I want to just drop a song and have it get a million streams, and and everyone wants that. And no one signed up to be an influencer. But here's the thing: if you're independent, that's a key word, independent. You have to do all of the jobs independently yourself. Like there's dudes like you know, Kendrick or uh who just pick pick an A lister. They have a full team of people doing the stuff they don't want to do. So some people maybe are just built to be on uh on a late in the label system. But I don't think that that is the most practical way for you to ensure that you can make a living making music. It's very easy, and you gotta do unfortunately the work to even be have the leverage to even get signed. Right, you can't get on a label without proving you can do it without a label. And then when do you why do you need the label anymore? So what kind of label offers did you have or have you had? Like it's just if you can say, if you can just spit it real with us, right? Because you've obviously done this independently, DIY, for I mean, I guess you really started seeing traction in 2020, right? That was kind of when Yeah, 2021 was Fine Apple.

Okay, so okay, so 2021, let's say. So it's been four years, right, since like you've been, you know, going crazy. Uh I assume labels have been calling, they've been knocking on your door. What what have been the offers and why has Nic D made the decision to not go down the label system route? The offers were more early than now because I turned everyone down. But and and I turned them down in a way that the conversation didn't need to continue, basically. So I would take a lot of the calls, you know, and I would have them, and most of it was just to learn. Okay, what are what do they say? We don't blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? And so in my head, I'm like, okay, if I do a million streams a day right now, and these people want to do uh 50-50 split with me or something like that, then I have to theoretically do two million streams a day to break even on what I'm already doing right now. And do I think that they can get me to two million streams a day, you know, without me doing the same work I'm already doing?

You know what I mean? And so what what made you think that they couldn't? Like well, how how did you like what were your You know what I mean? Like, how did you view this this thought process? So what I did, so I test everything. So I've tested a song in a label. I sold Fine Apple. So I got Fine Apple, it it was doing, it was crushing, it was doing great. I I don't know how many million streams it had. I got it up to 300 something uh thousand streams a day independently, um, like fully independent. I was having the calls, and and then it came across the table, somebody offered me money to buy the song with an option. So an option means they take this song, I sell the master, and then they have the option to ask me for another single when when this deal is up. And so I sent back a uh a revised offer of like, that's not enough money, and no, you can't have an option. And then they they bumped my sale of the song up 50%. So I got 50% more money than they offered the first time, and they took the option off.

The only thing I agreed to was to not release new music for three months. So that they could put they could push fine Apple without competition from a new single from me. And that's the only thing I agreed to. So it was 90 days I had to wait. And during that 90 days, I pretty much started the Freddie show because I didn't have any anything to like post as far as I was still posting old stuff. I post a few more Fine Apple things, but I couldn't release new music. So Cakes and I just kind of started the Freddie show, and that happened to pop off. And then they kind of just worked hand in hand. So that's a little like outlier that because I took that break from releasing music, I started the Freddie show. Yeah. Um was doing 300,000 streams ish a day, 350 or something. Okay. You sell it to the label system. Yes, I said. What happens? I sold it, and I the only thing I asked for was that they guarantee me radio play. I don't want to uh forget that. So they they guaranteed me radio play, they took it to radio, it got to like number 38 pop radio or something, and then the streams just went down. There it is.

Hovered in like the 200,000 a day for a long time. They put it in some like fun um editorials on Spotify, like work from home and some other ones, and you know, it's on a rotation of a playlist, played at like home goods, you know. But like, you know what I mean? But the overall, after I gave it to them, the streams went down. So I was like, okay. And I did happen to get, I met my uh a lawyer that I used at the time, great guy, actually, um, and he ended up negotiating a brand deal for me. That and I got since I asked him to take me to radio, I got my publishing checks from the radio, so it all kind of equaled out to what I would have made anyway if I had just kept it based off of those things. Um but overall, you know, like Pineapple is officially gold, and the only yeah, it's it's like RIA or whatever, which is cool.

It's my first one that to be like full fully certified. I like I I feel uh almost like I know that most of that was me, but I don't get to like fully like claim it because you know it's technically I sold it to Casablanca, which is under Republic Records, you know. So how long did you post consistently before Fine Apple started to take off? So I released Fine Apple in January of 2021. It didn't pop off until May of 2021. And that's so that's another thing of like I don't want to post the old stuff. Like nowadays, six months old is old. Like, oh yeah. So I I had posted it a few times in in January, and it was my best streaming song at the time. I was doing like 30,000 streams a day. And for me, that was like, holy crap, dude, I think we got one. You know what I mean? Yeah. And then I was like, all right, but it feels like summer, and I really see it in winter. So I I stopped I stopped posting it.

Um, on a side note about Fine Apple, that song was made on a day Cakes came to the studio and he was like, What do you want to do? I was like, I want to pick a beat, write a song, record a song, get it mixed and master, film music video all on the same day, and let's document it. And we did so that, but that's how Fine Apple came out. That's that's like I I did fit did all of it except the music video. We filmed a music video, but when we were looking back at the footage, it was like this isn't good enough for this song. So we didn't post the original music video. We I still have it somewhere. Um but everything else, I submitted it that night. So and all of it's actually documented on my early TikTok. We're gonna write a song from scratch, record it, film music video for it, and drop it tonight. Gonna update my TikTok all day with the process of what we're doing, when we're doing it, and how we're doing it, and then we're gonna post it, and I hope you like it. There's something about the putting the pressure or the like limiting, you know, a creative to like a confined, like either a time or a tool set that forces you to get even more creative and do some of your best work. Sometimes it's like we have all these instruments and all these beats and all these plugins and all this, and you get overloaded.

It's like no, let's let's say we gotta do this in this time. Right? It's just your ability to go like this. You know, have you ever tried that again? Uh, all in the same day. Yeah. No. That's insane. That's insane. No, you gotta do it again. That is so dumb, Nick. It's one for one. As smart as you are. No, you're right. You literally batted percent successful. You batted a thousand, and you just decided to never step up to the plate again, bro. Yeah, you're absolutely right. This is insane. bro. I will say, I will say I'm pissed. I will say Icy Pot, I released in September, and that one didn't blow up until January. So it's like cool. That doesn't that doesn't do the same thing. Nick. Well, I went and posted it later on and it blew up. Okay, fine. I mean, I guess that's good for the original point. Yeah, I was like, shout out to you and all, but like, fuck that. I hope you guys are enjoying the conversation. I want to take a quick moment to tell you about our pals at DistroKid.

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As a as a person, right? Just an individual, and then also as a you know, as an artist. How's your music changed since then? And how has your content strategy changed since those early days? I think it all just kind of evolved with me as a person and less of uh like a strategy per se. I I I'm not operating off of strategy currently. I'm oper operating off of like how do I feel and what do I what makes me happy? Um, which is a fun place to be, and not everyone gets to operate from that place in in grind season, right? Um independent artists listening to this. Yeah, that might not be the move for you. I wanted to let you know that's not advice. Well, and no, and and so that's why I think it is important to differentiate the two seasons that that you've been in, right? So, yeah, like, you know, highlight some of the things that you were doing differently early on when you were in like way, I mean, trust me, you still work harder than anyone I know, probably, but like when you were in like quote unquote grind mode early on, versus now that you've like established yourself, you've gotten into it, you know, into a rhythm, you've built a a uh core fan base that's gonna listen to all of your releases, right? It kind of you know the machines kind of like moving along, differentiate those two for us a little bit more.

Yeah, early is create as much music as I can, release every week, which hasn't really changed up to now the release part. And then it was almost when I was writing the music, it was like as I was writing it, it was thinking about how will the content pair, or like do I have a good idea for content? Let me make a song in this. So like I I spun a wheel back in the day, and it was like a genre picker. And it was like, all right, that's a good piece of content. Now let me make a song someone wouldn't expect me to make. So that's when I made the pop punk one and I collabed with Loveless. And it was like, you know, and in the content I spun the wheel and I had already made the song, but the idea for spinning a wheel, picking a random genre inspired me to just make a different genre that I hadn't really been making. And then I would go and I spun the wheel until it landed on pop punk, and then I FaceTime Loveless. The song's already made, right? But it's just the content. Yeah, so bro, he's spoiling everything for me right now.

This is what we need now. It's ruining the illusion. No, I'm just like, no, this is exactly what we need. Jesus. Yeah, it's it's like, and it sucks to hear. Like, no one wants to hear that I have to make a song, something that I like songs. Like people love like people who make songs, they love their songs, that they're babies. So it's hard to hear. This guy wants me to like just make a TikTokable song. Right. Just like think of someone else while I'm making something for me. Yeah. You know what I mean? And but that, but that's the business part of it. And that's the part where I can get out of my own way a little bit. Because I make songs that I love for me. A lot of those aren't out. You know, those those I make them because I scratched that itch. I love making them. I just haven't released a lot of them. Some of those are coming out now. It like that I'm in a different place. Um, and that whole album I put out for Amanda, a lot of that stuff was songs that that I really liked that my wife hand picked, but they just weren't like when I look at them. So before it was like I would pick a song, see a song in my dropbox.

I got a Dropbox full of 300 masters, just ready to go. I would scroll through and be like, Do I have any content? No, do I have a content idea? No, do I have a content idea? No, do I have it? And then I would pick, okay, I have an idea for this. I'm releasing this song. That's how I would pick songs to release. And now it's like, do I love this song? Like that's the difference. Yeah. And and so that comes second though. Yeah. It's just interesting. And so when did you get to this new point? Was it a monetary thing? You know, did you make a certain amount of money? Did you get a certain amount of stream? You know what I mean? Like when when did you feel comfortable shifting away from that? And more to like, I just want to release this, and that's what I'm gonna do, regardless of how I think I can or cannot market this effectively. Well, when you hit five million monthly listeners, I'm gonna do that. Well, that's what I mean. It's Like, well, you know, what what was the what was the thing? I I've officially peaked, not peaked, but like my highest monthlies ever was, which is which is funny to think about because I've kind of taken a break from really grinding social media, and my highest monthly listeners ever was like two months ago, six six point something million. Love that.

Yeah, you've been way less active, I feel like way less. So to answer your question, it was November of I think 2022. Yeah, November 2022. I first I was sitting in my studio, my other studio, not this one, and I just wasn't having fun making content anymore. I wasn't interested in the science of it. And I was thinking, okay, what's going on? Why, like, why is this? And then I was trying to break it down. And what I realized was that I felt like I had beat the game. And the point of beating the game is to be free of the game, not to keep playing after you've beat it. Like you beat the game, cool, the game's over, you know. And the game isn't the music game. The game I was playing was like was whatever I was playing, the game I was playing in my own head, like whoever I was trying to prove wrong. Like I ran, I literally ran out of people to prove wrong.

And I think, and I think that was like me beating the game in a sense. Like it was it was me just getting past my pride, I think. Like it was me, like, okay, I think that I don't need any more from this to like show people I'm good enough. You know what I mean? Like I think that was, and possibly that was my dad, you know. Like my dad wasn't around growing up, and it was like that probably played into a lot of my desire to be successful, um, to show him I'm good enough, to show him I is worth his time, to show like maybe if I'm trying to like find the depths of it. But yeah, I came to this point where I just didn't need more from it. It felt like I was playing the same levels over and over again, trying to collect more coins and like trying to find different ways to like get to the same place. I didn't want to move the goalpost back anymore. Like I know if I I know if I keep moving it I'll meet it and I'll it'll never end. I'll just keep it'll keep going.

And I was like for what? The boss is already dead. Yeah it's like I don't need like Bowser man I I saved the princess you know we're good. And then even after that I was like all right let me see if I still got it is really what I was really what I thought. And then I released Sundown and made videos and Sundown ends up on the viral 50 charts. I was like okay sick I still got it. And really like it was like do you think you'll do that like forever now you think you'll just like every year or two just like be like do I still got it bro let's pick a song and just run this run this shit up. And I hope that doesn't come across like arrogant. It just it was like no I think it's very clear you've mastered this shit Nick I don't think that you I don't think anything you say is gonna like come across as arrogant because like it's one thing for like Henry and I to have executives on here and music tech CEOs on here to talk about all the cool tools that you know indie artists can use to to you know level up their careers whatever. It's a different thing bro like having a peer right like you're a peer of anyone who's out there listening that is an artist themselves and is trying to do this shit. You know what I mean?

So that it just your your voice rings a lot different I feel like right um but so something I struggle with right even just as like a music marketing nerd is how did you learn how to convert someone from just a viewer of a TikTok video to then a listener of Nic D's music to then even a true fan customer of Nic D. Like talk to us about that journey. There's a few a few points that I want to. I'm gonna make them briefly in short, and then hopefully you'll ask me any questions and I'll elaborate. If we're any fucking good at our jobs, one is I'm just gonna state like low facts. Um so to get people to convert, often I find, and I've probably said it before, that people care more when they think they found it and less when you tell them about it. Yes. So when I make I now I do whatever I want. When I was making content before, I would never tell people, hey, this is my song, give it a listen. It was never written in the description, it was never anywhere.

Uh and before you could pin comments on TikTok. So I'd make a video for the sake of making a good video and not trying to shove people like sell something and shove it down their throat. I'd make a video to try to make a good video, and if it works, you know, if you build it, they will come type energy. Like if you and and uh I'd wait for the first comment, I'd be hovering, and I'd wait for the what's is this song? Is this song out? Right. It's a golden comment. And I'd pin it and I would say, yes, it's out. It's blah, blah, blah, by Nic D. Hope you like it. Uh, let me know. Whatever. And then that comment we pinned, and then it doesn't feel like I was trying to force myself on someone. You know what I mean? Like, people care more about it when they find it and less when you tell them about it. Um, the other side is you never know what song is gonna be the right song. You could have, you could have a video do a hundred million views, and it could be the wrong song. And that sucks. It's not it's not gonna convert. Um now, the other side of that same coin, it's a sales thing.

On average, people need to see something seven times before they buy it. So if you're scrolling through an Instagram ad and you get an Instagram ad once, you're like, all right, and you and you're interested in it. Like you like you like the idea of it, you'll scroll past it. You know, you're not gonna buy it on the first go, probably. And then tomorrow you'll see it again. And then you might see it again later that night. On average, it takes the seventh time for you to buy that product. So that plays into post that same song more, right? They need to see it more before they go and stream it. And I can give a real live example. My first viral video, 7 million or something, fine Apple video. It took my streams from that 30K a day that I told you up to 50K a day. I posted it again the next day, took it from 50K to 70K. I posted it again the next day, took it from 70K to like 100 something K. Posted it again the next day, took it from 100 something K to low 200s, posted again the next day, took it to 280. If I had stopped posting it, right, and the reason it jumped every time, it wasn't like more views, it was probably the same people, but it took them that many times for them to go and decide to listen to it.

Now, how do I convert people to a fan? I think you have to be uh authentic, you have to there's a word for it. The Freddie show. Um, it was like I never cross-promoted, but when people saw me over there, they liked me for me. They they if they liked me over there, they liked me. Like that was just me. And then when they found me at the music, it's an instant fan because they already like me. A lot, like a lot of people have a song go viral. If one video goes viral, they like the song. They know nothing about you. They don't know if you're funny, if if you're fun to be around, if if they have similarities to you, if you both, you know, put your socks on first, like whatever it is. They don't know. You know what I mean? But if they connect to you as a person, which, and this is an outlier. It wasn't something I was trying to do intentionally. It's something that I found out just through posting a lot of crap. Um, was that I would a lot of the comments on my music stuff, is this the same guy from the podcast? And when it's like, yeah, one and the same, dude.

And it's like, oh, I love that dude. This song's awesome. And now every time I release, they already like me, so now they're a fan. So I think I don't know this like the exact what should people do in this scenario? Because not everyone's gonna go start a you know a comedy podcast with their friend. But like it's just no, it's it's it's an interesting example. So why did you make the decision to not show more of your uh just personality on your Nic D music page, right? Like why why did you choose to put it over here? That was just a thought based off algorithmically. Um it was I don't want to confuse the algorithm. If I post me at Chick-fil-A, and it's like it's gonna go to people who really love Chick-fil-A, and then I try to post a music talk and it goes to that same first batch. So like the way the algorithm works, it sends it out to a small batch. You might know this already, sends it out to a small batch, and then from that batch, how do they react to it? And then it sends it out to a bigger batch.

Let's say it sends it out to 10 people, then 100 people, then a thousand people, and based off of how these people are reacting, it's either gonna shut that video down or it's gonna let it let it fly. It's gonna show it to 100,000. And after 100,000, did most of these people like it? Send it more, right? And it's gonna, so it's like I don't want to go viral for the wrong reason. Uh I don't want to confuse the algorithm that I've been honing on to try to dial in on this music page. I don't I don't want to throw anything in the way. And I'm not saying that's right or wrong. That's just what I was doing at the time. I don't even know if that plays a part. I think now it's based off solely a video. Just video by video, yeah. I think it's video by video now, but I was just thinking that's how I was operating. Yeah. So how do you think the let's just use TikTok for example? How do you think the TikTok algorithm has changed from when you, you know, saw a lot of success with Fine Apple in 2021 to whatever you're doing now in 2025? There's a lot of people going after it. Yeah. And some people see that as a negative thing. I just see it as like most of the people going after are gonna give up.

And that's just the fact. Like they're gonna stop before they before they find success. And that success could have been on their next next video. It doesn't mean they're not talented. They're probably far more talented than me, but they're just not gonna do it long enough because it's too hard to watch themselves flop and fail for too long. It's hard. It's not an easy thing to do to post a video to nobody and then get in your head like, do I suck? Does the is this song bad? Like, am I not even good? Should I even be posting this stuff? Should I just give up? Like all those thoughts come into people's heads based off of one bad video, two bad videos, a hundred bad videos. Those thoughts are gonna creep in. And it's like unfortunately, the the most talented people are gonna give up before they find success. And that sucks because they deserve to find the success, but it's it's hard. So I do think that if people like the only difference between people who found success and didn't is that the people who did kept kept going. They just kept going.

That's literally we hit 10,000 subscribers on YouTube yesterday. It took four four years. Smash that fucking doing episodes, smash that subscribe button. Whatever the YouTubers say. It's not enough to keep the lights on. Hit that bell icon. Drop a comment down below. Let us know if you're enjoying the Nic D interview. Yeah. No, but but honestly, um, you know, we've we've done like two interviews. Maybe I don't know. We're about to do one another one recently or like soon getting interviewed. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like being interviewed. And you know, they ask us like what you know, what we attribute the like growth of the podcast to. And I mean, it literally not stopping. It's literally just that. That's it. It's This is kush. We're still here. I like I first started making music when I was 13. I didn't have my first viral moment until I was like 29. So that's you know, I wasn't pursuing it as a career the whole time, but I was like honing in on making a better song, at least during that time, you know. Um, and Fine Apple was my 80-something released song on Spotify.

But my viewpoint was always the same, and I've said it a billion times. Like, I want more at bats to hit a home run. I want to release as many songs as I can because quality is subjective, and I don't know which one's gonna work. The song I love probably flop. The song I hate might blow me up. And I mean, to touch on that specifically, I had a song. I thought a song I thought was gonna blow me up. It was called Antsy, and I put it on my album, This Can't Be It. I was like, Oh, this is the one. I called Cakes, I was like, bro, you gotta hear the song. I can't even play for you over the phone, you gotta come here in person. He he drove an hour to two, two hours that night to just come and hear the song first. Oh my god, shout out to Jake. Legit. And I was like, and I was like, bruh, this beat's 500. He was like, I'll split it with you. Oh cakes is the goal. So cakes gave me 250 bucks towards that song. I put the other two fifty. We bought the beats, most expensive beat I ever bought. I was buying, I was buying $50 beats left and right. So anyway, I was like, all right, let's come up with a music video. Let's, let's

Let's make this perfect. We were thinking all this crap. I was like, all right, but I need a song to come out this Friday. I can't skip a week. So I'm gonna make a song in the meantime. And I went and made a song. And the original demo title was called In the Meantime. And that song was Mona Lisa, and that was my first video on TikTok to get a million views. So the song I made in the meantime for the song I thought was gonna blow up my career was my first video that did a million views on TikTok. That's how it goes, man. And and the antsy flopped. Oh no. So it's like, oh my gosh. So always how it goes. So I I think I know the answer based on like how you were describing your process of like choosing a song based on if you were gonna be able to be being able to make content around it or not. Yeah. So did you make content for every single song early on? Is that part of the testing? Okay, so I'll go early, early in 2019. Before I was really, I was like deep in figuring it out. Yeah.

Uh that was my first year. That year I did a song and a music video every two weeks. That was my that was my goal. And to touch on why, because a lot of people hear that and they're like, you know, I don't know, they're easy for you or whatever. Um why, why I did that was it gave me a deadline every two weeks towards my goal. It wasn't like a law, it wasn't like a lofty goal. It wasn't like my career goal. It gave me a deadline of a goal every two weeks that was working towards my goal. Um, and I was able to then boom, boom, boom, check off these boxes. It gave me momentum, momentum. Moment fuels progress. Like over overthinking is is paralyzing to your progress. So the momentum of creating, releasing, filming, the only thing I did during that time was just get better. Like that's all I did was get better because I was doing it more. It's the same thing, like Steph Curry shoots how many shots? And that's why he's getting better. That's why he's the best in the world because he shot more shots than anyone else in the world. That's why he's the best.

Um yep. So anyway, yeah. But I didn't expect anything from those songs. And I think that's the problem. Like people love their stuff so much, they think it's amazing, and and it could be, but then they expect it to just blow up organically. And to them, organically is just on its own, I guess. And that's the hard part. Like, like no one's gonna hear it because they don't even know it's there. And you need to make sure people know it's there. Okay, but in the beginning, 2019, the song every two weeks in the music video. Yeah, what I did then, because I was just figuring it out. I would allocate a budget. My budget was uh 250 songs per 250 dollars per release. So if I could get a beat for 50 bucks, get a mix and master for 50 bucks, and record myself, then I had 150 bucks less. I was spending a thousand dollars or five hundred dollars a month because I was releasing every two weeks, and I spent that other 150 on Instagram ads. And my early career, that's what I was doing.

Uh and I haven't run an ad since 2020, like no paid advertisement since 2020. So but during that, but during that time I was trying to figure it out. I was like, I don't know what to do, so I'm gonna run ads, and if that doesn't work, I'm gonna try something else. So I ran ads, 150 per release, and if if it seemed like it was reacting well, I would give it another 50 bucks or you know, something like that. So that's how I actually got my first 30,000 Instagram followers was from Instagram story ads. So we've had a lot of ads gurus on the podcast. I'm not gonna lie. We've had a music marketing tech uh CEO that helps optimize ad campaigns, et cetera. Why are you anti-ads? Uh I just don't I never wanted to be the ad guy. Like the like, oh, that's the ad guy. That's the guy I see all the time in the ads. I never wanted to be that guy. I don't know that you would have, though, bro.

Well, you know what's funny? I his philosophy is people find him, right? Have people that feel like they discovered you. That's not really happening. But it says paid, you know. But bro, I I still look at it like an and conversation, not an or. I'm very curious why. I mean, because someone like you, you've had multiple videos that have proven to go, right? And a lot of these ads gurus talk about, of course, like testing content before you start pumping ad dollars into it. You you were a genius when it came to just test pass exactly, right? Like you you you might've been like the easiest ad client of any ad guru out there, right? Of like, oh, this guy came with viral video after viral video after viral video that is is guaranteed to convert because it already proven, it already proved it organically. So I'm really curious. Yeah, like what so you didn't want to be the ads guy, which I think is I mean, I don't know, that's a weird weird thing, but like I agree with you. Uh that it's weird. That no, that's one thing that I'm in my own way on.

Okay, sure, sure. Yeah, it's a weird psychological Nic D thing. Um, but I actually what you said was uh uh an ad guy would like salivate over it. So I forgot I did forget about one thing. When pineapple was working, I went to Did you go to Brandman Sean? Brandman Sean. Yeah, okay. He's one of the guys. Yeah. I went to Brandman Sean and I was like, hey, I got 4,000 bucks. Um what would you do with it, basically? Yeah. And I don't know what they're I forget their split on how much they keep for themselves and how much is allocated towards whatever. I was like, I want to do an influencer campaign. I want to test an influencer campaign. I think that they might have run a couple pineapple boosted TikTok posts. Most of it, I think was spent on influencer posts that didn't. It's hard to tell, like what what works and what doesn't. I would say it didn't affect the streams. Um and pineapple only had a total of 11,000 videos made to it.

Um like to the sound, which in the grand scheme of things on TikTok, that's nothing. You know what I mean? For a song that quote unquote goes viral. I've never outside of a collab with Connor had a sound go viral. Uh like, you know what I mean? Like people are making videos to it. Yeah, like like UGC content, like user-generated content going crazy. Okay. I've never had that. Still to this day? Outside of a collab with Connor, like maybe still hot. Yeah. Uh people were making videos too. wow. But I've never had like the the most I've had on a solo song is Fine Apple, like 11,000 views, or 11,000 videos made. And you posted 10,000 videos of it to pineapple. I did. I did go It was UGC, but it was just all Nic D's account. One U. One U is crazy, bro. I uh oh wow. For for IC Pop, I did go back and count. I did over 30 videos to IC Pop.

Is that the most? I don't know. That you've ever done? That's the only that's the only one I went back and counted because someone someone asked me. It was over 30 videos to IC Pop. Interesting. Did you have a number of videos target? Like as you, you know, release content for a song? Was there like a hey, I I want to make 10 videos for this song? Was that like a thing? It was all based on the same concept. It was release a song, post. I would always have like two ready uh when the song was coming out. Um at minimum, I'd like two ready. I'd throw them up, and based on how those reacted, would determine if I'm going to film more or if I'm gonna focus on this next release. So I would never like I would never die on the hill of I think this song should work. I'm gonna drill, you know, content, content, content, content uh until it works. I've I've never done that, and it might like it might've worked if I'd have done that. I was about to say, two's not that many at bats, bro. I mean, the way these algorithms work test.

It's just an initial test to see if I would make more. Okay, sure, sure. So and then I would go because I knew I had in like so I would pull I wouldn't post them immediately. I'd I'd release a song on a Friday. I'd probably post one that Friday. I'd skip the weekend because streams are down on weekends, and I would post again on Monday. And if either one of those did enough, I don't know what my radar was then. I would go out and film more that week. If not, I knew I had another song coming out Thursday night at midnight. So I would just spend those next three days prepping for that. Sure. So so what was your content creation process What was your content process like, right? Like did you come up with you know a hundred ideas and then narrow it down? You know what I mean? Like what like I know you studied this and you watched what worked as you like started posting more and testing it, right? But like a lot of the artist friends that we had, they really really struggle with content creation, like ideation. And this isn't a this isn't a fucking ad, but like if you go to Hundred Viral Content Ideas.com, you might get some free content ideas. Some of them might include Nic D and his friend Connor Price.

Yeah, yeah, I think you guys are definitely a little bit more. Yeah, for sure. But but yeah, so all jokes aside, like What, what was your process like to keep up with the consistency that you were striving for? Uh my initial test videos were always kind of simple. I go out in a public place, uh, bring my microphone, and that happened to work for me. I got lucky that the thing that worked for me was to set up my microphone somewhere beautiful. Like I got lucky that that's what worked. Connor has to do skits. Yeah, these are like fucking short film, like short comedic films, bro. And Nick's just in a fucking literally, he's at a crosswalk. Yeah. he's at a crosswalk with like a cool main street background and just a microphone. I got lucky that that's what worked for me. But that doesn't mean I didn't try a bunch of crap until I found out that's what works for me. Sure, you know what I mean? I got lucky that that's that I got lucky in the sense that these are easy enough for me to create. The only thing that I really focused on intentionally in that kind of was a thing, the separating factor is that I always broke the fourth wall in a sense. I speak before I start to sing.

I love that. Yeah, I love that approach. Throat clear or like. It's like, hey, I'm a real person. Like, hey, this is really happening. It's like, you know, uh, do you think blah blah blah? Anyway, I don't know, you know. So it's like I broke the fourth wall by saying, I'm real, this is real, I'm not selling you anything. If you like this, I hope you do, you know, see it if you don't. You know, it's like I wasn't forcing anybody, but I wanted to let you know I'm real and I hope you enjoy it. Dude, that little touch is so cool. Breaking the fourth wall is an interesting like way to put it, but it's it's totally true. How did you and Connor Price first meet? Just on TikTok, uh through a DM. So I met him uh in 2020 December 2021. I met him. Yeah, but like what what do you mean? So he saw a video of yours, you saw a video of him. What did you say, right? Like, I mean, dude, you guys are basically you've dropped multiple collab full-length albums.

He's brought you out on tour, right? Like you guys make content together. I mean, you know, you you have a very strong relationship, right? Both also one of my best friends. Exactly, both creatively and personally. So, like, yeah, you met in 2021, but like, how did it actually go down? Well, I I just I'm careful with answering because the way we met was I got on the phone with him and I just gave him a bunch of advice and then he applied it and it worked and he blew up. But I don't want to, but I don't, but I don't want to shit. But I don't want to take away from the fact that he probably would have blown up anyway, and that he's very talented and his wife is a genius, and they and they're both amazing people, and they're amazingly talented, and and they would have probably done it anyway. I don't want to take away from that. That's too late. We got our clip. Nic D made Connor Price. No, Nic D joking. Nic D takes all credit for Connor Price fame. That's just like if you want if you go back to then, it was 2021, December. I got on a FaceTime with them, and I what I did with a lot of artists when I saw that they were doing things and they're talented, and I would try to point them in the right direction.

I did it with so many people. Um and Connor, his content works. It was going viral, like quote unquote, 500,000 views, a million views. But it was he was working in the wrong direction. He was making remixes, he was doing whatever. All I did was point him in the right direction. He was already doing the right stuff, but he was just working in the wrong direction. So I pointed him in the right direction with my advice. And that was just never do another remix. Only promote your original music. You know, if you if someone finds you off a remix, it's probably because they like the original song you're remixing. They might think you're dope, but they're not gonna go listen to your original music. I was like, never make another remix. What's the most practical way to make a living making music? That's what my advice has always stemmed from. So, but but then you know, how do y'all go from that initial you know conversation? Like you said, you were doing that with a lot of artists. Like I understand Connor then, you know, saw a huge surge in growth, right? So that's cool. That probably, you know, is incentive for you to collaborate, just you know, once again to kind of further your own career. But like, what what did you know what I mean?

Because a lot of artists, I don't know, collaboration's interesting, right? Sometimes it's just business. Yeah, sometimes it's straight business, sometimes it gets too personal, and like y'all aren't really meant to collaborate, and you probably shouldn't, you know. So, like, what what do you think works about y'all's you know, relationship, both you know, creatively and personally, to to be doing so much stuff together over the last several years. Yeah, I don't know exactly So what I, I, I, we, we collabed on a song called Nobody's, and that was a song that I had finished, and not many people have heard that one. Um, but that was our first collab, and it was already done. I don't know why or when it came up, like, hey, let's collab on a song. I I've probably brought it up because at the time I had more, you know, monthly, monthlies, and it's it's a tough question to usually ask if someone's bigger than you. Hey, do you want to collab? You know what I mean? Um, so I would assume that I just said, hey, I got this, I got let's pick one from my Dropbox. Which one do you like?

And we made a song, we made nobody's. And then I ended up flying to him in Vegas. Oh, it was the Independent Podcast. We started the Independent Podcast. And on the way to film our first few episodes of the Independent Podcast, I was getting on the plane and I saw Graham had posted a carousel of beats. And usually he sends me his good beats before he posts his carousel. But I but I found a beat in there. I was like, bruh, why is this in a carousel? Texas beats in me. And then on the plane, I wrote majority of the song gasoline. And then that song now is 75 million streams. But I wrote it on the plane on the way there. And then I was like, hey, I got this, you know. Let's let's see, let's put a verse, let's finish it and let's drop it. And so that's like how the collaboration started. And obviously, seeing something do well, it's like, all right, let's make some more. Yeah, let's make some more. Yeah, you know. Why did you guys stop the independent podcast, bro? I loved it.

Is it just a time thing? Just not enough. For them, I would I was down to do it. They uh they were focusing on the artist's career, you know. Yeah. Making it, it's it's a time thing. Oh, we know. We know, bro. And I'm passionate about it. Yeah. Um, and you know, I think that's not where their passion lies at the time it was. It was like uh Brie had big plans for it, and um she was inspired and excited, and I think it just the excitement fell off. And and I wanted to keep it going, but I didn't feel right to do it without them. So I just started Freddie for Artists and uh do uh the very first. There we go. Well, Nic D, we've entered a final segment of the podcast. Oh shit. Speaking of excitement, Henry. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. This is my favorite part. That's my favorite too. Nick, this is the rapid fire rampage. There's gonna be three short sections. I'll explain them as we go. Just gonna start with some short answer questions.

I'm gonna do my best to give a short answer. The first, these, you know, I mean, if you have a point to make, like, feel free, but we are judging you on speed. Question one. Uh, what's the deal with airline food? Oh gosh. Uh hot, but not good. It's a hot to take. Okay, Henry. God. You said before your music is kind of more about your story than drawing inspiration from others. But I'm curious, like, are there some artists that you admire or you like study from a distance? There's like who who do you listen to? This is there's no record of this, and I want the record to be on the one more time podcast. Sure. Uh so I I tend to like people. I'm inspired more more by people than the art they create. So, John Bellion, even though he creates amazing art, he's one of the most talented songwriters of our generation. How he carries himself as a person, how he keeps his private life private. Um, he's also a believer, like things that I relate to him on a personal level draw me to him. Uh Donald Glover, his ability to do a lot of things and excel at all of them.

Uh, I'm inspired by that because I pride myself on the ability on my ability to really focus on things until I get decent at them, get to get good at them, and I feel like it's good enough to you know put out into the world. Uh, I try to be also well versed in a lot of stuff. And then I would say artists like I'm still never even learned how to pronounce his name, but Bonnie Vare, Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie Vare. Bonnie Vare. Yeah. Um love, love. Like, if I'm gonna listen to music, which I don't do often, it's in that genre. Uh it's a classic artist thing. Artists don't listen to music that much. Yeah. Well, that's it. It's like a mechanic. Like a mechanic drives a beater, a construction worker's house is falling apart. Like, they don't want to do what they do all day when they get home. That's right. You know. Okay, moving on. Um, you are in this hypothetical situation. You're a newer artist with a thousand dollars about to drop a single. Describe your rollout. And this is newer artist, not you now. Yep.

Dude, a thousand bucks. So the song's already done. Song's done. All right. Take that thousand bucks and buy 10 more beats and make 10 more songs. That's a good turn. Yes. Really? And now I know some people are like, I'm not a con artist. Like my genre, I don't, we don't buy beats. We make everything from scratch. I'm like, all right, cool, bro. But like get a splice loop at least. Like, start, just start. Like, just create more. Like, I know what you're doing and what you're saying and why you're saying it. You love it. This is your baby. I get it. That's not enough to make a living making music. Like, it's just not. You have to do something. You have to sacrifice somewhere, uh, so that you can take this thing farther to where you can provide for your family off of it. And if you're cool, happy with just doing whatever you want, do whatever you want. But a thousand bucks, I would I would buy more beats, I'd make more songs, and I would, if I had anything left over, I'd spend it on an idea for short form content. I wouldn't, I wouldn't do anything else.

Uh Nick, you've just been appointed supreme leader of the music industry with unlimited power. What is your first order of business? Oh man, figure out where all the labels are spending their money. So a simple audit. Just simple audit. Yeah. Simple audit. Maybe maybe audit distributors, you know. Oh maybe, maybe make Spotify pay you more. I'm not sure. You know, like uh the trouble though, is like our artists complain about not making enough from Spotify Spotify not paying out enough. But it's like a lot of you wouldn't even have careers, me included, without Spotify paying what they do. You know what I mean? So it's like, I don't know. And are you willing to pay 50 100 bucks a month for Spotify? You know, like money's gotta come from somewhere. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. moving on. Uh what is your most underrated song? Mm. Mm. so this is tough because I've had a few videos do well with them, but like songs like I'll set the table, even though it's new, um, it's a song that I love and that was sitting in my dropbox for a while, and that I decided to release. So songs that I love would probably lean that way.

I'll set the table, atmosphere, and atmosphere has 5 million streams, but in the grand scheme of things, that's still light. It's still light for like other songs. Your catalog. Yeah, exactly. Right. So atmosphere, I'll set the table. A song uh guilty that I released, I feels really good. Bro, I'll say this, man. Daytona, Ooh. with you and with you and V Wills, right? So underrated, bro. Yeah, that's that's a gem. And I go back to that one all the time. Yeah, I love how it just starts. I'll text you another one. Please. I do that on purpose. I I do the starting on purpose. Same with Sundown. Yeah, that's a short attention span kind of feature. It's just it's like don't give anyone a chance. Like if they come across it on accident or in a radio play, it's like don't give them a chance to skip it if they don't know if they like it or not. Like, give them something at the beginning and and give them the best. Give them the hook right out of the gate. And then if if they like it, they'll stay, and like you just want them over. But if you give them a 25 second instrumental, it's like you know, they don't know who this is.

I don't know, go to the next one. Wait, to find someone I know. Yes, you know. Give us, if you can, like a secret trick, a hidden tip, something about like content creation, just one little like kind of niche, like something that I mean could work for artists. I would emphasize breaking the fourth wall. Yes. Um, and I mentioned it earlier, and and you know, it seemed like it perked ears a little bit. It did. I would emphasize that. It's it's just letting people know I'm real, this is real, I'm not selling anything. If you like it, you like it. If you don't, you can scroll. And then just the the mind frame of making a video for the sake of making an entertaining video. If People are on entertainment apps, they're not there to find your music. They're not there, they don't even honestly. Honestly, think about it like this. If somebody scrolls on your video, assume that they don't know who you are, they don't like your genre of music, they aren't looking for music. They have five minutes, they just sat down on the toilet, and there's a better video one scroll away.

That's good. Right there. How do you how do you grab them? Right. How do you grab that person? Frame your mind like that, and then iterate until something works. That's fire. Yeah, that's so good. That's amazing. Wow. Last one of the short answer. What is the perfect thermostat setting? Oh, yeah, me or my wife, because I don't actually get to set it. Let's go both. Let's go you and then what it actually is setting up. My wife probably like 65. Ooh, actually. And sleep in sleeping times and sleeping times. Uh for me, I I like, you know, I like shorts and a t-shirt, maybe, maybe 70. 70 is clean. 70s, you know, it's not it's not creeping into the 72s, but yeah, 70 the 72 people. That's like borderline heat, bro. 72, even though it's room tip. Like, fuck that. No, it's not. That's hot. Anyway, moving on to the second section. This is the this or that. I'm gonna give you two choices. You just gotta pick one of them.

Uh starting with hooks or verses. Uh so it's not quick. Justin Timberlake is a guy that is good to research this. You could pretty much enter inner uh swap his verses with his hooks, and they would all they would all work. Like even his verses are catchy enough to be hooks. And I think that's often people, and if you're not in the melody game, but try to be to where when someone hears your verse, it could have been a hook. It's good enough to have been a hook. I think to think about it like that. Um does that mean hooks? But me picking, I guess hooks. Yeah, I guess hooks. Drums or melodies. Oh melody. Eat pineapple on pizza once or a year in jail. Pineapple on pizza once. Okay. I don't know. Do you know he doesn't like pineapple on pizza or something? I got kids. I figured he's a normal human being. I got kids. Oh. TikTok or Spotify.

Oof. You got to give me TikTok for discovery. Texas wedge or bump and run. For a fellow golfer. Yeah, I've been golfing a lot. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna bump and run. I like it. I like it. We use, like, like, get a little nine-iron out or a little pitching. You could. I mean, I, I got my hands are getting nice around the green. I'm, pretty much everything around the green. Yeah. Rapping or singing? That's two, it's two ways to look at it. Cause people I think will listen to you if you're rapping. They will hear what you're saying. Uh, if you just give them bars. They will they'll pay attention, they'll listen, they'll they'll they'll try to dissect it. And that's fun. Um, but they'll probably only listen once. Uh maybe twice. So I think the part of the melody is that you can get it stuck in someone's head. The earworm, maybe. Every time I hear the word melody, I just hear T Ron Thomas go, Melody's the most important part of a song. I can't not hear it every time I hear just the word melody. It's he ruined it for me, man. Yeah, or he saved it for you.

I don't know. Think about Sundown. Yeah. Uh it's like when a song goes down. Oh, the memories of you, you, you, you, need to stop coming on. And it's like it's in your head forever. And that one little flip, you You suck. That's a good one, man. Sorry. Burnout or boredom. There was okay. Somebody said this. It was the most creative you'll ever be is gonna stem from how bored you were. Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. So, I agree. Yeah. Yeah. boredom can be valuable. Hey, yo, or she. I knew the answer. I just wanted to hear him say it one time. Are these inside jokes between you two? Yeah, we talked before that. We've actually been friends for a while, man. That's good. Is this the Nick you were talking about that you've been golfing with? This is him. I don't know. Took you so long to get me on. Wow. Um eat pineapple on pizza once or become allergic to your own music. Become allergic to your own music.

Oh man, eat pineapple on pizza. Oh, geez, Louise. Why do you hate it so it's for another day. It's a Horrible conversation. It's a horrible combination. Anyway, singles or projects. Uh, you know me. You know me. Singles, man. Singles for growth, projects to scratch your itch of being an artist. Love that distinction. Guitar or piano. Ooh. I have tight fingers, guitar. And finally, sign your masters away in a mediocre record deal or leave the music industry forever. Leave the music industry forever. He's gone, baby. Out of here. Sayonara. But I will sell my catalog one day. Sure. No, I mean that's different. Oops. That was the wrong sound effect, everybody. Sorry. I hit the wrong button. I agree with his answer. Anyway, the last section is the word association. Nick, I'm gonna say one word, and I just need you to respond with the first word that comes to your head. You're not judged on the word, you're only judged on speed. I'm The Freddie Show? Yes.

Yeah, you guys do do a kind of like that. So you should be great at this. Starting with music. Industry. Yeah, why is that hilarious? No, that was great. You're doing great. I'm locked in. I'm locked in. He's dialed in right now, bro. Good. Content. Creation. Pillow. Soft. Penguin. White and black. Streaming. Service. service. Riz. Gosh, and the Rizzler. I don't know. That's where my head went. I've never even seen the kid. Me neither. It's so funny to say that. That's how good his branding is. Exactly. Podcast. One more time. One more time. Mexico. Oh, like a like a cruise. Connor Price. Rapper.

Magenta. Red. Toenail. Fungus. AI. Taking over the world. Four. sure. I was looking for Amanda there on the last one. Amanda. This has been the this has been the Freddy show. I mean, wait, the one more time podcast with Nic D. I literally thought you were on the Freddy show just then. That was great. Bro, if y'all didn't if y'all didn't get some game from this one, unsubscribe. We're gonna pack it up in that case. Yeah, unsubscribe. Uh, we're quitting the last episode because oh my god, I learned so much. Appreciate you coming on the show, man. Thank you, man. Until next time, what are we doing? Getting out of here. Getting out of here. Peace, y'all. Bye bye. See ya.