DEEPME Reveals What the Music Industry Is Really Like

Claudia and Lynnie sit down with internationally recognized DJ and producer DEEPME for an honest conversation about the realities of the electronic music industry.

From building a global career and navigating the business side of music to the sacrifices that come with life on the road, DEEPME shares insights rarely discussed publicly. We dive into success, social media, touring, personal growth, and what it truly takes to stand out in one of the world's most competitive industries.

Whether you're an aspiring artist, a music fan, or simply curious about what happens behind the scenes, this conversation offers an unfiltered look at the modern music business!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Coffee and Cleavage.

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome, guys.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hello, I'm Lenny.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

And I'm Claudia.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

And we have a very special guest today.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

We do. I was just saying on our YouTube behind the scenes. So if you guys are watching this, make sure you check out the behind the scenes. I love when we have women guests on the show.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

And I especially love when we have talented women on the show. And I especially love when we have women on here that basically are showing up men in their own fields. And that is our guest today, Miss Deepme, who is now a friend of mine, but also my favorite female DJ and producer.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

So she's so beautiful. I know.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Like, geez. So welcome, Deep Me to the show.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yeah, thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Yes. Welcome to Coffee and Cleavage. Hi, ladies. Hello, my guys. Hello. Hello to everybody. Hello on Spotify, YouTube, wherever you're watching.

unknown 1:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

I want to talk a little bit about you first before we get into we have some fun questions about like music and the culture of DJ culture and EDM culture and all that fun stuff. But tell our guests just a little bit about you, how you got your start in music, and you know, basically what you're doing now. Oh, that's a very tough question.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

But I do accept the challenge. So I got into music, I think around six years. I I like to dance when I was six years old, and I was dancing everywhere, possible and impossible. I was annoying people, my family. But it is what it is. Um I think around when I was like 16, 17, that's when I actually jumped into DJing. And back then it was really, really hard to be a DJ as a woman because it's a man-dominated field even back then, so everybody was making fun of me.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

I and I just was keep going and stopping and going again, you know. So now I'm a star on YouTube.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

You really are.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Like, I got goosebumps when you said that because it's like it's so cool that like you you came from that background of men probably looking at you and being like, you'll you'll never get anywhere with this, and now you're blowing up past these men. Like it's so cool to watch that.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Yeah. The funny fact is I've been hated by men my whole life. Same. And uh I, you know, like I can give them like a couple of excuses. When I was like a teenager, I was like wearing braces and having all this acne, whatever. Uh sometimes I was too skinny, sometimes I was too, you know, fat.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Um yeah, that's understandable. But now, well, I don't know what's going on now. Yeah, it's just uh non-stop, uh, you know, non-stop DMs, non-stop comments about my appearance. And the most popular one, they're calling me a transgender. They all telling, like, no, you are a man, you've always been a man. We get that all the time. It's like, can you guys get that?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Can you guys start coming up with better insults? Like, why does everybody look like a like a trans girl? Like, and why is that an insult? Like, some trans girls are more beautiful than like natural women. So, like, why is that such an insult? I don't understand.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

I don't even take it as an insult. For me, it's funny. Like, yeah, every time when somebody says something bad in the comment on the person, it just makes me love. Yeah. Because it's just funny.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

It is funny. And and some of the things that they come up with are clever. But the trans thing, you guys, come on, like, come up with something better. So let's get into like the the nitty-gritty of like the dance culture, DJ culture. Do you think, because like I this is a very hot topic, I think, online. Do you think women that are DJs need to be beautiful to be successful, or do you think that hinders you because you're not taking it seriously?

SPEAKER_02 4:06

Well, I think in 2026, uh, we finally get into the point that uh woman just has to make great music and have a lot of connections. Yeah. But again, if you're beautiful, no matter who you are, men, woman, of course, you're gonna get more attention. Yeah. That works. It's like, you know, it's like it's a kind of a tramp in your sleeve.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

But uh I don't think you have to be beautiful to be successful because it's only hard work and connections. There is nothing has to do, like you can be all beautiful in the world, but if if you don't know how to read the crowd, how to move the room, how to tell them a story with your DJ said, you're not gonna be successful. It's impossible.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Yeah, like these like TikTok DJs. Like sometimes I'll see these women. I'm like, I know you're not making your own music, right? But they're getting booked for like these huge venues. I'm like, how, like, and then you have DJs that are like so talented and they're not booking anything, but they're going for like the Instagirl, right? That has six million people following, and they'll book this girl, even though her following is fake, you know, that she she bought the followers, you know, three years ago. And they're booking these women when there's so many talented, amazing women that that should be taking these jobs, you know.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

So uh in the music industry, it's all about connections first. It's all about who you know, how do you know them, and what they can do for you. And the second part about making music, most of the top, top artists in the world, they do not make their music. They probably never made their music, they just, it's a proper marketing.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

And to be honest, I don't hate those people. I do understand because when you treat a DJ job as a real like business, it's a brand, uh, that's okay. Because even like famous names who've been around for like 30-35 years, even them, they all have like a bunch of ghostwriters, so they can pop out hits like every week. Yeah. Because there is like a hundred people bringing them hundred tracks, and they're like, okay, so this one is gonna hit, that one is not. So it's just the way that industry is.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Have you been accused of using ghost producers and ghostwriters? Yeah, all the time. Really?

SPEAKER_02 6:17

It's okay. It's okay because for most people, uh, they see a beautiful woman as something very dumb, and they believe that only men can do the job. But look, music itself has been created by a woman, okay?

SPEAKER_00 6:34

For sure. The whole world has been created by women.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Yeah, so I don't know why they're so mad, but again, it doesn't it doesn't do anything to me. Just again, it's funny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Why are female DJs judged harder than men if they make mistakes, do you think?

SPEAKER_02 6:50

I think women women in general judged by men and male-centered women just because the way the system is. It doesn't matter you a DJ, I don't know, you a bartender, or you're a nurse, or you, I don't know, a nun, you're gonna be judged. There's gonna be a group of people who are gonna tell you, like, oh my god, look.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah, yeah. But I just don't know why men think women aren't capable of doing this.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Like, you know, it's I believe they're just afraid of us because they are our children.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Yeah, so true. That's that's the main point because it's only one excuse I can give them. Yeah, they're making mistakes. Very true.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

I know that, like, so just knowing you as a friend, obviously, I've been following you for a long time. You have a lot of success and notoriety in India. How did how did that come about? Like, how are you so big in in India? I know you're so big everywhere, but like you have such a massive following there. Like, how did that happen?

SPEAKER_02 7:46

It's all because of my one of my YouTube videos back in 2022, got like a million view in the first three weeks. That's amazing. And then it skyrocketed to the 15 million, and that's how everything started coming. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Do you enjoy playing there?

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Yeah, I do enjoy playing. I'm always very scared of you know traveling and stuff, but once I'm on the stage, all the fear is gone and I'm just vibing with my crowd. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

And do you like do you feed off of that? Like, because some people love producing, but they don't love playing. Like, do you like both 50-50 things?

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Yeah, I do because my point is I do speak through my music. Yeah. Like, I sometimes I cannot say something with the words, but with the music, easy. It's an art. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

It's such an art. Yeah. What is like, is there like a specific venue or something that you've played or like a show you've done that you feel like has changed the trajectory for you of your career, or like amplified your sound differently, or anything that like just changed how you viewed music or yourself?

SPEAKER_02 8:49

I don't recall that. I believe every venue that I'm playing, it has its different, you know, uh state and vibe.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

But overall, people in India is very happy people because dancing is a part of their culture. So they just, you know, giving all of it uh on the dance floor.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

They just happy, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Do they like sell rooms out? Like, do a lot of people show up?

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Like, is it yeah, like the main the main uh secret of them showing up? So let's say you're a DJ and you headline in the show and it's already like 12 midnight and there is nobody on the dance floor. But the moment you're showing up at the stage, the moment you're touching the the button, it's like and uh it's a full house.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Like just they just like swarm.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

Yeah, they're like, you know, they they like a beer, and I'm like, oh, wow, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

It's like magic. Clubs here, like people will show up and they'll just stand on the dance floor until like their person comes on, you know, like and they just stand there like this EDC, like perfect example. Like they will literally stand there just like like this. I've seen a lot of videos, yeah. And then somebody comes on and they're like, they like come to life. Like it's so it's so interesting, like how how people react to music. I love seeing that. Um, this is a a topic that I wanted to ask because I'm an influencer first, and then you know, I I do my other stuff. Do you think DJs now are influencers first and DJ second, or do you need to be a DJ first, influencer second? Like, what is your take on that?

SPEAKER_02 10:23

I think you can have you have to do both. Yeah. Because in 2026, uh you have to have a strong social media presence. And of course, you have to be having a set of skills. Yeah. Uh because DJing, it's not that you like practice at home and had a couple of gigs, and that's how you're gonna be a DJ. No, like you need years, years and years. You need to play different styles of music to understand what exactly moves, how it moves uh the crowd, and you're gonna be able to read because that skill you cannot buy, you cannot fake it. Yeah, I see like for my entire career uh of 18 years, I've seen a bunch of uh DJs, like famous DJs, you know, they all like on Instagram, they have like big crowds, festivals. But once they come into a lane and then coming, I am coming to their show and they expecting like you know, like two, three thousand people, and it's like three 300 people on the floor, and they they're confused. Yeah, and I'm like, oh they this DJ is like so famous, everybody knows their track. Yeah, beautiful, but the crowd don't care. So there is something going on, so maybe set of skills as a DJ locking, or maybe you know, something else.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Because you know, like how artists, and and I don't feel like this is so much in our industry, Lenny, because like we have to be online, but yeah, I feel like a lot of artists I know, DJs, producers, they're like, Well, I don't want to be online because you know I'm an artist and the music will find me and da da da da, and like I don't need a social media presence. Like, I can't believe like in this day and age, like you said, like people still think they don't need social media. Like you you need it, like you need to get your yeah, like there, there's but there's so many people that are like, I'll post once a week. I'm like, that's not what are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 12:13

I believe that you can say that if you've been on a scene for the past 25 years, yeah. So people already know you, like you know, there's like people like Eric Preetz. He he doesn't need social media. Everybody knows who he is, everybody knows his famous piano track, and uh he he doesn't need that. But let's say you just started a couple of years ago, you have to have social media, like for sure. You have to have TikTok, you have to have YouTube, because for example, TikTok not gonna hit India, yeah. Uh YouTube gonna hit America, and uh let's say Instagram gonna hit everywhere. Yeah. Because people are on Instagram in like every day, every moment of the day, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Do you think there's like a formula for you? Like I have to release a YouTube video every boom. I have to release a song every boom. Like, what is your formula right now?

SPEAKER_02 13:06

My formula right now, I'm releasing a track every month. Okay. And I do release one video every month on YouTube. Of course, I would love to do more. Like, you know, the best thing is to do it like once a week.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

I'm I'm talking about YouTube videos, but again, it's really, really hard to make it happen. It's really hard.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

We also wonder with like YouTube, like for us, like, does YouTube favor us posting more often? Or if you have a video, for example, that has gone viral, does it, if you post the next one, does it take away the momentum from the first one that's going viral? Like that's always such a question in my brain. Like, if I post something and this one's viral, is it gonna stop the virality of this one? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Absolutely not. That's not how YouTube algorithms work. Yeah. So what you have to do, you have to understand that you have to post consistently for like a year. Let's say you make a decision you're gonna post once a month, so you have to do it for a year to see a result.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Otherwise, there's not gonna be a result. Six months, it's not gonna be a result. Three months not.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

It's so hard to. Yeah. I feel like YouTube is the hardest one.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

Yeah, but once you like on the way to post, you know, like every month consistently, yeah, after a year, you have a hundred thousand followers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Why is it that it's so hard?

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Yeah, like why why is that? Like, why uh even like we're all different creators in our own fields. Like, why do you like why do you think they make it so hard? Like YouTube, are you listening?

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

Be nicer to us. You're nice to Deep Me. Be nicer to us.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Well, well, I don't know about nice to me. Like a couple of my videos recently didn't get as many uh views as I expected them to do, and I don't know what's their reason. Yeah, but YouTube algorithms they triggered by people commenting and sharing your video. So let's say if you like the best way to promote yourself on YouTube is got get a lot of hate. Because my my video, first viral video, it got tons of hate. It was such a hateful, crazy comments, especially. What?

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Yeah, you're making you're playing good music. Well, what is the hate?

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Well, there was like starting from the boobs and my lips with bodox. Um then they like, oh, she's not playing, it's a recorded mix. But on that video, you literally can see my hands, yeah, like very, very close. So it's like then somebody commanding, oh, equipment probably off, like this and that. And I'm oh my god. But look, for YouTube, it doesn't matter. Even if uh let's say uh 50 people gonna post uh a crappy motions over there in like emoji, right? Yeah, YouTube's gonna think, oh yeah, we we're gonna move it right now. It's engagement, yeah. It's engagement, it doesn't matter which one. So, you know, like more haters, haters, haters, like we let's we like the haters.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

I think what haters don't understand is these platforms don't know if you're being nice or mean. They just know that you're saying something, and that's that's all that matters to these platforms.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

Yeah, it's like you know, there is a famous saying if you're a hater but still watching, you are a fan. You're a fan.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

You're a fan, babe. I love that. I know, I do too. So please leave some hateful comments if you're watching. If you don't want to leave a nice one, leave a hateful one because we'll we'll we'll take that one too. Yeah. Do you think viral DJs are just really good freaking marketers?

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Yes. Yeah. Every track, every video that goes viral fast, uh, there is a lot of manipulations, especially uh for the Spotify right now.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Really?

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Like uh it cost tons of money for a track to become viral. It's not gonna become viral for like by itself. And that's how platforms build right now, because they see that okay, so there is people who can you know give us money, yeah. People who have like a lot of you know, like an unlimited budget, yeah, money to burn. Yeah. So they're like, okay, fine, we're gonna be promoting whatever type of music, whenever, uh, unless as long as we're getting paid. So if you're expecting, like you let's yet let's say you created the banger and that track is so amazing. If you're expecting that you're gonna just post it on Spotify or YouTube and it's gonna become viral, absolutely not. Yeah. Absolutely not. There is there is has to be something.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Even I think, like, I think it was like Diplo that did a song with like Pink Pantress or or something, like one of these bands, and like it got like a hundred million views in like a week or something. It's adds it's targeting. I'm like, but it's like you would think like Diplo wouldn't need to do that, you know, or people like Diplo, but it's like they're still doing this stuff.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

No, everybody doing it because look, Diplo probably not gonna even blink if you're gonna spend a hundred thousand per day for marketing, right? It's not gonna even blink, you know. For him, it's like it's like for I don't know, for me 10 bucks coffee.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

True. Like I don't know, I don't know that, but um, you know, like I'm guessing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Crazy.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

If you're like, so let's say you have a uh aspiring DJ producer watching right now, like what would you like suggest that their path is if you want to become viral like like you have on YouTube and on your other platforms too? Like, what is like a good advice you could give them with consistency and what they're doing to basically follow your footsteps? Like, what is your suggestion?

SPEAKER_02 18:24

Well, if you are in UDJ and you have a very limiting budget, but you do have a phone, right? So you you somehow on Instagram, somehow you're posting, just post as much as possible. The the fastest way is posting every day, like reels, carousels, stories, and also you have to engage with your community. Yeah, like for example, I do call my community techno family, and everybody knows that they are techno family. Every time they see me online, they're like, Oh yeah, I'm a part of your techno family. That's cool. So you have to create something for your crowd that they're gonna know that it's you and it's connected to you. So just posting, posting and posting. And you know, I don't wanna like if you wanna go viral. I I don't want to hear from you, like, oh, I cannot be present online. No, you can. Yeah, you have a phone, go go do it.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

And you don't even have to, like this day and age, you don't even have to show your face to go viral.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Yeah, you can uh I will not suggest to create AI just because you know it's kind of weird to me. I agree, but again, you can find five, ten minutes per day to just record a regular video. Yeah, easily like say like uh hey guys, you know, I'm working on this track, what do you think? Or hey guys, you know, I'm like mixing this or like doing mashups, something. What do you think? Yeah, ask questions, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

How do you how do you um because people this is a very conflicted issue online? What do you think about AI and music? Are you for it or are you against it?

SPEAKER_02 19:50

So uh as somebody who producing since there was no AI, or maybe I didn't know that it was AI, you know. Um AI can be used as a tool. Uh it's like you're using you know, like some sort of devices to calculate your like taxes or whatever. It's the same thing for me. So it can help you, of course, it can speed up the process, but use it like for 100%, like ask AI to create a track for you just you know, because you program in this robot and say, like, give me this vibes, vibes techno 125 bpm, this and that. I don't think that's right. Yeah, I see that on a TikTok, um uh uh tracks like that going viral just because TikTok wired to support AI. I don't know particular reasons, I just saw it uh you know myself. But if you do want to, you know, like create something from your heart, something that people are gonna remember you for, that's definitely not AI. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

It is a tool, it's a tool, it is a tool, it's not a crutch.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Yeah, and and you're seeing a lot of that, like a lot of people rely on it, they use it for everything.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Yeah, yeah. Even in our world, like these like girls using like creating content.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Yes, it's crazy. It is. I don't like it.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Well, for me, I do use the eye. For example, let's say I am creating some sort of idea, right? And it's like 3 a.m. in the morning, and I need some sort of vocal because I cannot at 3 a.m. I cannot call you know some of the vocalists and say, oh, you know, can you record it? Like it's gonna be weird, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Yeah, yeah. I mean you can.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

I I do respect people's, you know, people's privacy. So yeah, so I'm programming AI and say, okay, so sing for me this and that. So now I have a vocal. Now I can, you know, finish the idea and in the morning text my vocalist or any other person, say, you know what, like can you do it for me? Like this is an example. It's just uh vocal is a placement, so that's what how we have to think. Yeah. So now it's a it's an example as a tool. So now I'm explaining to the vocalist faster. Yeah. Because now I don't have to spend hours on a studio recording and explaining. Now they already have everything so they can just practice and recording gonna take like I don't know one hour, maybe last.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Saves you time, money, all of it. Yeah. Do you like using samples or do you like creating like your own specific sounds for for things?

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Well, it depends from the vibe. Let's say most of the time I have to create it because you know it's in my head. So it's not that uh like there is uh another sample like this, so maybe yes, like you know, so for the time I'm gonna spend looking for it, I better create it. Yeah. So yeah, it's better to create. But it's again, it's for me. Uh, if you have like um a perfect, you know, like uh samples that you created yourself a long time ago that you're just gonna use it, of course, use it because that's your um that's your uh own sound, yeah, and that's how people are gonna recognize you for that.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Like our like our remix, we I love it. I can't say our, it's my vocal. I'm not gonna say R, but your remix of Lucre's song. Yeah, I think I have so many questions, people being like, How did you like come up with that storyline? And I'm like, you know what's so funny about that whole vocal? I was sitting in the closet, I closed the door, I turned the light off, and my husband sent me because he wanted me to do like some just like like yapping about something, and he wanted to make it sound like it was like in the background. And I'm like, I'm like, I just I don't know. Like, I don't want to make it sound like I'm like in the background. He's like, just talk about something. And I'm like, you know, I'm like, what do I talk about? I have no idea what I'm talking about. And we were at a party, and there's like the super hot chick there, and I'm just like, I'm like, I'm just gonna start yapping. And I'm and I just yapped and I sent it to him. He's like, this is really good. And I'm like, I just was bullshitting up my mouth. It came out, and now this remix is awesome. Yeah, nobody has no idea where it came from. I don't even know where it came from. Just sometimes the verbal diarrhea.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

Yeah, because they are so clueless.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

They're so clueless. Uh, something we love to ask all of our guests if you had to tell your younger self something, what would it be?

SPEAKER_02 24:12

I would tell never ever listen to anybody, even your own mom and dad, and like nobody, what you have to do in life. Just follow your dreams and follow your intuition. No matter how hard it is, just go for it.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

You guys need to all listen to that. I feel like we're all a little guilty of not following our our own path sometimes. Well, where can our guests and our viewers find you? And and what are you working on now that they could look forward to?

SPEAKER_02 24:45

Well, now I redirected my whole uh style to high tech minimal. Okay. And I I enjoy producing. I'm making now a lot. So I think by the end of this year it's gonna be something very, very new, maybe even early. I don't know. Cool. But yeah, that's very exciting to me.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Yeah, and we're gonna drop her uh all her handles and everything. So please make sure you give her a follow. Um, yeah, and listen to the she was there, he was there remix. I love it. It's so good.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

I had it in my head the other day. I was like, this is so fucking good.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

But and like I'm I'm listening to the song. I'm like, is it good because it's me in it, or is it also good because like the way that it's like I'm like, am I biased? Am I biased? But no, everybody loves it. So you did a beautiful job on that. Thank you. Congratulations on that. Thank you. So thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much. Thank you. Till next time. Cheers, guys.