SEVEN things that happened after I founded our musicians community
Hey ladies and gents!
Here’s a little behind the scenes of things that have happened so far - hopefully you can see life from my side a little, enjoy ☕️
-Danny
1. WHATSDEPP TO DEPSAPP
Way back in 2022 the first year, we were called WhatsDepp.
Then, META legal and their solicitors sent me a letter, saying our name and branding was too similar to WhatsApp.
It was. No way around it 😂 But still, how on earth did they know?
Who knows, but they kindly advised, and I instead re-branded to DepsApp, which conveniently is a lot easier to find on Google
(WhatsDepp only comes up as a WhatsApp spell mistake!)
2. S-CLUB 7
When watching S Club 7 at Nottingham Arena, there was a chap sitting in front of us, literally typing away in one of the musician chats.
Then, Tina from the group, the one who I exclaimed looked fantastic, followed me on Instagram.
Sonia jokes that she doesn’t like them anymore.
The same for Sophie Ellis Bextor, but that’s a story for a different day.
3. BONJOUR
Being on a ferry to France, and the singer performing for us, is in the chats. Then, on the ferry home, we step off and there’s a duo from the chats literally standing there waiting to board.
There, and back.
Mad.
4. NOT ALL SUNSHINE
Then there’s the slightly less fun side of being known by a lot of people.
I’ve had people I’ve never met, never connected with, and in some cases have actually benefited from what I’ve built, say some pretty wild things about me or try to damage my character.
The thing is, I’ve never taken commission from the thousands of opportunities that have come through these chats. I could have, but I wanted that money to go to the musicians.
The whole point is to make things easier. No chasing. No faffing around. Future gigs go directly to the musicians.
And, it’s worked.
Our musicians have earned over half a million pounds, and continue to do so from repeat bookings.
It’s essentially the same principle as last-minute deps, just cheaper, and with an actual wholesome community of humans behind it, and we help anyone in urgent need of equipment or a musician for their gig
…..for FREE - simply WhatsApp us
5. “You got no fans”
What blows my mind more than anything, though, is how often I now bump into people from the chats.
Pretty much every concert we go to, someone is there - either on stage or in the audience.
For the last four years, I genuinely can’t think of a gig we’ve been to where there hasn’t been someone from the community.
Major festivals. Corporate events. Sonia’s work events. My work events. (Seperate work places in different cities). Weddings I’ve been DJing at or delivering speakers for.
Sometimes I’ll turn up somewhere and realise there are multiple people from the chats there.
That still gets me.
6. Friend request
Then there are the messages from complete strangers.
People wanting to meet. People who grew up in the same place as me after finding me on Facebook. People asking for advice. People asking me to hire them.
Most of it is lovely, and I’m incredibly grateful for it.
But I’ll be honest - being known in this weird little way can also be daunting.
Sometimes even scary, particularly when the messages aren’t so nice, and also when they add my family members.
I don’t think of myself as some sort of important person. I genuinely don’t.
I’m still just a dude who still builds diggers, hangs out with the same mates I’ve always had, and somehow ended up in this position, okay over a period of time, and a heck of a lot of work.
7. OOH EER
And then there’s the ELITES chat.
When I first started the WhatsApp community, two people who got in touch had played with pop stars. I thought, right, I’ll make an ELITES group for each instrument.
That went nowhere pretty quickly because I realised I didn’t actually know enough people 😂
So I just put everyone in one chat.
There are now around 70 people in there.
And you regularly see these musicians headlining festivals, appearing on TV and playing some of the biggest stages going.
They’re also dotted throughout the wider community.
Frankly, I don’t know pop stars.
But somehow, through these chats, I’ve definitely met a lot more of them
Not only that, I was sat across from Rod Stewart at one event, and then played football with the Darkness at another, one of my favourite bands of all time since a teen?
I don’t know, these this just happen now
And between everyone in that top chat, I genuinely think we collectively have one of the most ridiculous phonebooks in the music industry.
8. Bonus round:
Something currently on my mind. Another thing, I still don’t think I’ll ever get used to is finding people talking about me online.
The judgement
The “I’ve heard…”
The assumptions
They charge to join!
(Yes, this community takes multiple people to run and share the 10,000+ gigs we have so far, without commission; so we are patreon supported, plus with 1,000+ musicians.. that’s a lot of day to day help and admin, not to mention offering our free public service on top)
They give anyone work!
(We don’t.. we provide our musicians with job leads to apply for. Fixers get final say, and can look elsewhere if they please)
The things people confidently say, ..when they have absolutely no idea, what actually goes on and haven’t joined the groups!
I don’t deal with that particularly well.
It shouldn’t bother me as much as it does, but sometimes it keeps me awake at night. If someone who’s spreading that stuff is in the chats, they’ll get pulled.
Because, I’m human and so are my team.
You’re not going to get a reply at 11pm, our business hours are in the day.
This happened again last week, keyboard warriors, and I’m getting married in two weeks.
It’s a very heavy load on your mind when this happens.
Conclusion:
When I step back from all of that, the patreon is nice yes, and yes the musicians have picked up thousands of opportunities, repeat work and decent money themselves along the way.
BUT, the real heart of this thing, is the chats.
It’s being able to send one message and connect with like-minded musicians instantly, rather than endlessly scrolling through adverts online.
It’s the humans behind the messages and gigs.
The laughs.
The conversations.
The advice.
People helping each other.
People lifting each other up.
People who might never have met otherwise suddenly becoming mates, working together, recommending each other and creating opportunities for one another.
There’s a proper human connection behind these chats.
And after everything that’s happened, I still think that’s the most special part of it.
We’re here for each other, and that’s what music does best. Unites. I’m here for that, for the gigs that are in urgent need of saving for musicians or equipment, for people to enjoy playing the music, and for the people there that would be let down without the music.
Our duty is to serve, entertain and bring joy to the people, for isn’t that what life really is about?
We hear from some people that we have genuinely changed their lives, multiple people infact.
I’m so proud that we’re able to help in this way, it makes us feel good, and we hope you feel good too in knowing that we’ll be here to continue to try help save the day one gig at a time.
Thank you to all of you that continue to believe in and support us.
By Danny
Founder
Team DepsApp
