Beyond the Boys’ Club: Zheani on Finding Success as a DIY Artist

The post Beyond the Boys’ Club: Zheani on Finding Success as a DIY Artist appeared first on Consequence .

Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column focusing on women in rock and metal music, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. Journalist, radio host and musician Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio and the music outfit Upon Wings , writes the column. This month’s piece features an interview with trap-metal artist Zheani.

Life as a DIY musician isn’t easy, but it can be very rewarding. You don’t have to do what a record label or manager tells you to do. You can keep your vision as pure and focused as you want without any outside influences.

It’s always beautiful when a DIY musician rises above the challenges of being independent and achieves notable success. That’s what’s happening with Zheani. The Australian trap-metal artist has overseen her whole career. Her music videos have garnered millions of views on YouTube, and now she’s touring the world and selling out shows just like major-label artists. And she’s doing it all without compromising her values as an artist.

Zheani just released the new single and video “Sex Never Dies,” and is set to embark on a US tour from September 4th through October 15, with tickets available via Ticketmaster or StubHub . Ahead of the run, she spoke with Heavy Consequence for the latest Beyond the Boys’ Club column, discussing her choice to stay DIY, her experience as a woman in the music industry, why she thinks her messages resonate with fans and more.

You’ve spent a long time as a DIY artist and only recently started adding to your team. What’s it like being a DIY artist today? What kind of opportunities are there?

Independence as an artist has resulted from my nature. Every independent win is worth a 100 times one that is gained by the machine. I think that collaborating with the machine would undermine the meaning behind my art. The future of music is independent and the only advantages record labels maintain today are gained by their racketeering.

What are the biggest challenges to being a DIY artist today? How do you get your music heard without a big “machine?”

Most of the challenges to being a DIY artist are artificial barricades held in place by the legacy music industry itself, and I think the best way to explain this is with a series of examples.

I released music for years using Distrokid as my distributor and never got any editorial Spotify playlisting. My peers on major labels, even those with far less traction than me, would have every release playlisted. Distrokid was a fantastic tool automatically sharing royalties with collaborators and putting everything in my control. For every single song, I used Spotify’s portal to pitch and always gave the industry standard time in advance. I promised the full gamut of marketing, music videos, etc. on my end. For years and years, and nothing. No help from Spotify whatsoever.

After years, I finally capitulated and started using a main line distributor giving them 12% of my royalties, and lo and behold, I’m playlisted. Just like that, a gate is open, and all it took was paying people that work in the music industry. I’m answering these questions because I paid a publicist with my hard earned independent musician money, so that I had some kind of media coverage to promote my self-funded independent world tour.

Rent seeking is the biggest challenge in the music industry. There is no reason a Spotify employee couldn’t have just looked at their own algorithm to figure out the appropriate playlisting. A journalist could have looked at me independently doing nearly a hundred shows all around the world this year in this economy and reached out, but no one did. It is parasitism. It is a racket and a mafia. It is shameful.

In Australia, Triple J, the state radio station has a monopoly on the airwaves. Triple J doesn’t play my music. They can’t play my music. The music of artists whose catalogs are owned by multinational corporations make up the majority of the airtime. My taxes pay for the station. My taxes pay the royalties being paid out to these corporations directly by the Australian government. I wouldn’t pay if it wasn’t for the fact that men with guns would come to my house and put me in a cage if I didn’t. It’s a perfect union, the lucrative merger of corporation and state. What is that the definition of again?

You succeed against the machine by being as agile and DIY as possible. I make better music videos than industry artists that have 50 production credits, and they cost me a fraction of the money they shill out to generate theirs. This is an advantage. Dudes in sandals hiding in caves with decades old AK-47s can defeat the Global American Empire. The machine will sow the seeds of its own destruction.

You’re touring worldwide and selling out shows, which is amazing for an up-and-coming artist. Why do you think you’re attracting so many people to your shows?

I think I tell a very common story that is seldom honestly told. I’m thankful and feel indebted to everyone that shows out, and for this reason, I give them all the energy that they deserve. Even my agents were surprised by how many tickets I sell compared to my monthly listeners. That’s because every one of them is a real person and has discovered and connected with me organically.

Touring used to be where artists made the majority of their income. In 2024 with the cost of living, travel, legal fees, accommodation and more, it’s really just a labor of love. But, I love my fans and I want to meet as many of them as I can before I get weird and disappear into the mountains.

Tell me about the messages you want to share as an artist. I know you have a message of empowerment, and you’ve been personally sharing stories of trauma and resilience, which inspires others.

I’ve been making music for almost a decade now. My creative journey was instigated and fueled by trauma. Not quitting is the biggest and simplest key to success. I see more women filling the darker niches, and it’s beautiful. The wet, deep and dark is our domain, and we shouldn’t be afraid of it.

Have you had any pushback or struggles being a woman in music, either from fans or people you’ve worked with over the years?

I can give you insight about something only women have to face in the music industry. In my Instagram DMs, I have had dozens of the biggest male artists in rap, rock and electronic music. (If I told you names, you would have a viral article, hahaha). Trying to wield this attention into a breadcrumb of real world support or heaven forbid collaboration is forever awkward as f**k, and at this point, I don’t even bother anymore. It’s forever a challenge, putting all of my ambition into getting ahead in a field filled with people I have valid disdain for. Having said that, the rare gentleman still does exist.

Music is filled with predators and narcissists, people with holes in their souls they are trying to fill. There have been times when I have seen the entire industry as evil and second-guessed whether by being a part of it, I was just adding to the ritual. In time, I have come to see the creative industry as a congress where we all come together, representatives of the worst and best aspects of humanity, and all battle it out. Know which side you are on, and beware of what becomes of you when you fight monsters.

As for push back from fans, when a woman criticizes another woman publicly, everyone reacts in shock and disgust. When men do the same thing, it’s called beef and is a fantastic asset to everyone involved. When men are publicly aggressive, it’s celebrated, all while women do the exact same thing privately dragging each other down in the shadows to all our collective detriment. I wish very much this would change.

What advice do you have for women in music?

Steel yourself, because you are going into hostile territory. From its inception, the music industry was founded by pimps and gangsters. You love music, but you will encounter many people involved in it for far less noble reasons. Use your femininity to your advantage and spite those that shame you for doing so. If you’re a good person, you won’t feel comfortable, and for heaven’s sake, never bend to make anyone else feel comfortable in this industry. Never censor yourself. They will censor you regardless. Innocence is always lost in the end. She told me blood will wash from my hands, and to listen to the turning of the earth.

Zheani 2024 Tour Dates:
09/04 – San Diego, CA @ Music Box
09/05 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
09/06 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
09/07 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
09/09 – Portland, OR @ The Hawthorne Theatre
09/10 – Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club
09/12 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
09/13 – Boise, ID @ The Olympic
09/14 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex Grand
09/15 – Denver, CO @ Summit
09/17 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
09/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
09/20 – Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest
09/24 – Toronto, ON @ The Velvet Underground
09/25 – Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmount *Courage*
09/26 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
09/27 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Hall
09/29 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
09/30 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage
10/01 – Charlotte, NC @ Underground @ Fillmore
10/02 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
10/04 – Orlando, FL @ The Abbey
10/05 – Tampa, FL @ Crowbar
10/08 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
10/09 – San Antonio, TX @ The Rock Box at Vibes Event Center
10/10 – Austin, TX @ Parish (Stage)
10/12 – Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey Theatre
10/15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom

Beyond the Boys’ Club: Zheani on Finding Success as a DIY Artist
Anne Erickson