With Open Door Sessions Mastermind just having kicked off a couple of months ago, we have had many incredible guests come on to share with us their experiences being in the music industry. One of our recent guests Miyuki came on to walk us through her journey in pursuing her passion as a trance DJ and artist. Miyuki first attended an Open Door Sessions in Los Angeles back in the summer of 2019 and submitted one of her first tracks for our demo listening party, early on in her music career. Since then, we have seen her blossom and grow into an established artist with an ever growing fanbase. During this session, she shared the importance of utilizing Twitch and social media as essential platforms that helped her expedite her pursuit in the industry. Some of the key points that she made, and a recurring theme throughout Open Door Sessions, is that you can always find the courage and motivation to continue progressing by being yourself, continuing to do what you love, and truly connecting with the community.

Miyuki started the conversation by sharing the challenges she had faced when taking her initial leap into the music industry. As much as she had always dreamed of doing music, her parents of course wanted her to pursue another path instead. She proceeded to achieve a degree in biology and obtained her PhD in cancer research. Afterwards, she decided it was time to take the leap into music and started learning music production using any free or affordable resources online, and even attended a music business program in UCLA to learn about music marketing and laws. In October 2019, Miyuki decided to conquer her feelings of shyness and started to DJ on Twitch.

Open Door Sessions ODS MM Miyuki Twitch

Miyuki’s appearance twice a week on Twitch during the pandemic had over time created a very supportive, fun, positive, and kind community. She emphasized the importance of cultivating a loving and genuine environment throughout any of her shows and believes that this is one of the most important elements that helped create a strong foundation in her musical journey. Even after the first year of the pandemic, Miyuki continued to step outside of her comfort zone and eventually performed at her first show in LA – that she produced herself! She had shared how shocking and heartwarming it was to see over 450 of her Twitch community members come together singing along to her music for her first produced show! Although based on her weekly track record, it came as no surprise to us.

One of Miyuki’s key mindsets is that she strays away from focusing on short-term profit. Rather, she focuses on building the foundation necessary to work up to the bigger goals. Rather than optimizing her ways into making the most money right now, she focuses on investing the time and effort into growing relationships with her fanbase, playing shows in key places, and spending the money on being mentored by experienced producers.

Miyuki also emphasized the importance of being authentic and genuine whether in producing music, learning different styles, or meeting new people. Being genuine means that you can have your own version of being charismatic and it does not need to match the charisma of other successful people. “Capitalize on who you are,” she stated. As an example, she understands that she is shy but sees that her brand of charisma on Twitch is due to not only her passion for music but also her vulnerability with her community.

“Branding is not the same thing as making up a persona and embodying it.” She passionately stands by this concept. Branding is about vulnerability. It’s not about pretending to be someone else; it’s actually about showing others more about who you are.

Open Door Sessions ODS Mastermind Miyuki Twitch

Lastly, Miyuki left the conversation with the note that no matter where you are in your career, don’t wait until the perfect setup or until you’ve perfected the skill. Just do it. Allow people to watch you grow and see your equipment change. And try not to worry about the numbers or compare yourself to other people because it’s unfair to yourself. By comparing, you are now going by their standard and not yours. You have your own set of skills and your own brand of charisma. Own it.

Open Door Sessions is a branch of Neon Owl that focuses on bringing the music community together to CONNECT, CREATE, and ELEVATE. We host in person and virtual music industry networking events, education talks, demo listening parties and showcases. If you are curious about attending one of our future Open Door Sessions events, you can sign up for our e-mail list or check here for the next upcoming event. If you would like to learn more about the Open Door Sessions Mastermind program where we help artists level up to get seen, heard, and signed faster, e-mail [email protected] for more information or to get on the waitlist.