#228: Networking for Beginners: How to Build Real Connections Without Being Awkward

A single Spotify comment sparked a bigger question: Does networking actually help musicians, or are you on your own? In this episode, Marc breaks down networking tips for beginners who want real results without feeling fake, awkward, or salesy. If you’ve ever wondered how to network as a beginner, or asked yourself “what is not an example of professional networking?”, this conversation offers a clear, no-cringe reset you can use immediately.

We start by reframing what professional networking really is, and what it isn’t. Blind DMs, copy-paste promo, and asking for favours from strangers? Not examples of professional networking. Instead, Marc explains why trust, context, and consistency matter more than follower counts, and answers common beginner questions like “how do beginners network with no connections?” and “how do you network without sounding fake?” Talent only opens doors when people know you exist and trust your work—and that trust is built through small, human interactions.

From there, we get practical. You’ll learn how to start networking as a beginner using warm introductions, why they outperform cold outreach, and the exact low-pressure question that often unlocks a new contact. We break down online networking tips for beginners, including how to engage publicly before sending a DM, how to pick one platform to focus on, and how to write short, natural messages that don’t feel awkward or transactional. This is especially useful if you’re asking, “How do I network when I hate networking?” or “How do introverts network effectively?”

We also map out where networking actually works: Discord servers, curated group chats, niche forums, gigs, workshops, and meetups, and how to spot high-signal spaces without burning time. You’ll get a simple weekly networking cadence beginners can stick to: two helpful public interactions, one thoughtful DM, and one introduction you make for someone else. It’s a sustainable way to build a professional network from scratch, especially for producers, artists, and creatives.

As we look ahead to 2026, we’re doubling down on in-person connections, studio sessions, and conversations that start with curiosity, not promotion. Consider this your nudge to reach out to one person this week simply to acknowledge their work. If you’re looking for beginner-friendly networking strategies that actually lead to collaborations, gigs, and momentum, this episode shows you how to start, without being awkward, fake, or pushy.

If the ideas land, share this episode with a producer friend, subscribe for more practical breakdowns, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Who’s one warm introduction you’ll ask for this week?

Chapters

• 0:00 A Comment Sparks The Topic
• 1:52 Why Networking Isn’t Optional
• 4:12 Rejection Fear And Skill Building
• 6:12 Warm Introductions Beat Cold Outreach
• 8:40 Engage Publicly Before You DM
• 10:56 Where Producers Actually Network

Transcript

Marc Matthews: 0:00

Someone commented on Spotify saying no one is going to help you. You have to connect to others by yourself. And honestly, they're probably right, but also possibly wrong. Because if you treat networking like shouting into the void, you, my friends, will burn out fast. So in this episode, I want to show you how producers actually build real connections, even if you hate networking, feel awkward, in DMs, or don't know where to start. You're listening to the Inside the Mix podcast with your host, Mark Matthews. Welcome to Inside the Mix, your go-to podcast for music creation and production. Whether you're crafting your first track or refining your mixing skills, join me each week for expert interviews, practical tutorials, and insights to help you level up your music and smash it in the music industry. Let's dive in. Hey folks, welcome to Inside the Mix, the show where we focus on practical production systems, creative workflows, and real-world advice for producers and artists. This is the very first episode of 2026. So a big welcome back to all the returning listeners, and of course a big welcome to you, the new listener in 2026. So this episode is a response to a Spotify comment that hit a nerve. I say hit a nerve, hit a nerve sounds like a bad thing. Didn't really hit a nerve, but it piqued my interest, let's say, because it reflects how a lot of producers feel about networking. So the comment was on Spotify, as I mentioned, and it was on episode 223, How a New York intern became a Grammy winning mastering engineer with Dan Millis. So this was where the Sound Discussion podcast took over the uh the podcast Inside the Mix just before the turn of the year. And the comment itself is no one is going to help you. You have to connect to others by yourself. So my goal for this episode is that you will walk away with a healthier mindset about networking as a producer or artist, a simple way to start conversations without feeling selsy, and a few places where real producer relationships actually form. So if networking feels intimidating, fake, or pointless, this episode is for you. The important first point to raise really is that networking kind of isn't optional. It's something that you need to do. If you want to kick on and get noticed and create opportunities, very rarely and seldom does talent alone create those opportunities. And I've known this myself with the podcast, and it's something that I'm going to do more of this year in particular and build on, and also with my own music as well, and is to continue developing that network. And we'll touch on this a bit later in this episode with regards to warm introductions. So it reminds me of a story, and it's something in particular that I noticed when I was first in a band. And you'd put adverts out there for musicians, and there are these incredible musicians that exist out there, but because they don't put themselves out there, nobody knows they exist. And they kind of exist in this ether of bedroom musicians. So you need to get out there, you need to sort of break that mindset of I'm no good at networking. The more it's like any skill, right? The more you do it, the better you are going to get at it. If people don't know what you do, how can they help you? So we're going to touch on this shortly with regards to where the networking opportunities are. But I think it's important to leave with the fact that you need to put yourself out there and get over that initial friction of, oh, I don't like networking. Maybe you might consider yourself not a people person, but I guarantee you, the more you do it, the better you'll get. I remember when I was um teaching uh in in a previous in a past life, let's say. And in particular, in my formative years, my late teens and early 20s, I hated getting up and talking in front of people. And the idea of entertaining a say entertaining or talking in front of a group of people, uh put the frighteners on me. But the more I did it, the better I got. And that has only helped me with regards to networking as well. And getting over that idea of, oh, I don't know, if I reach out to somebody, they're either going to ignore me or they're going to say no. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? You get ignored at the end of the day, and you move on to the next opportunity or the net next networking opportunity. So you really do have to put yourself out there. And again, the more you do it, the better you'll get. If people don't know what you do, how can they help you? Moving on to my sort of second point, and that is warm introductions. And the reason why this Spotify comment stood out to me was with regards to no one's gonna do it for you. It was that bit in particular, and it got me thinking, actually, there are people that will do it for you. And this is something I have leveraged a lot with the podcast, and it's warm introductions. And I find personally, now this isn't the same for everyone, but warm introductions tend to be cold outreach. I've had much more success with regards to inviting individuals onto the podcast from a warm introduction. So I talk to someone on the podcast, and then the follow-up is if you know someone who you think would be suitable for the podcast, I would love a warm introduction. And it has worked wonders in terms of growing my network. And it's not exclusive to the podcast. I also use it for my own music. So I've got a relatively large network of musician friends, and I know that if I'm in need of a particular instrument or particular musician or help with anything really, I could reach out to that network and probably hopefully get a warm introduction to someone or something that could help. And it just expedites the process of building that connection. Now you may be thinking, well, Mark, that's all well and good, but I'm just starting out. I don't have a network that I can reach out to. Well, this is where you can start that ball rolling. And I find the best way it works for me, if I want to start to build a connection with someone, say there's an artist I want to work with, as a producer, or maybe I want to invite someone on the podcast, and I cannot get that warm introduction, I'll start, I'll follow them on social media, not a creepy way, I won't start stalking them, but I'll start to interact with them with regards to their posts, comments, sharing, and contributing and building social credit that way. And I find that helps. That way, when I do eventually DM them, it doesn't feel so random and it's a bit more natural. I'm I'm not coming out of nowhere and saying, hey, would you like to collab on this track with me? Because they'll probably be like, Well, who are you? But if I've gone through that process and I've learned a bit about them as well, I can use that in my initial uh my opening gambit, as it were, when I do that initial cold outreach to that, let's say uh that it's a singer maybe for a track, or it's uh an audio engineer I'd love to have on the podcast. One bit of advice I would give you is to focus on one platform in particular. If you are doing that initial cold outreach and trying to build that network through following and building social credit, focus on one platform. It's much easier that way rather than spreading yourself too thin and forgetting to reply to comments and and forget forgetting to reply to DMs and stuff. So I focus primarily on Instagram when it comes to that, more so with my producer per uh profile, but some interaction with the with the inside the mix uh Instagram profile as well. Follow both if you haven't, if you're not doing so already. So, sort of a mini takeaway would be to engage publicly before you reach out privately. Lovely tagline there. Should get put that should get that put on a t-shirt, right? So, where do producers and artists actually network? So there are a few different types of networking. I'll give some quick examples here. So we've got forums and communities, so Discord servers, that's a great place to start. Get invited to some of those. You could probably find a lot of those or links to them on Reddit. Um, can't say I use Reddit much myself. There are some very niche groups on there, so that's a very good place to start. Maybe Facebook groups, but can't say I use Facebook groups that often. I don't know about you folks, but I've I seldom use Facebook these days. Uh, it's more so Instagram for me. DMs, this is the one I use a lot, but again, you kind of want to make that connection initially before going in with that straight off the bat with that cold DM. Uh group chats, I'm a part of a number of group chats, in particular on Instagram. That's a good place. Get an invite from a fellow producer, find your niche, a group of producers or artists like you, and you'll probably quite quickly find other group chats that you can get added to. Maybe you can ask your fellow musicians do they know of any that might be of benefit? And can you get a warm introduction to that group or the admin for that particular group? Warm introductions again, again, folks, they work great. And then in person, so this is something I want to do more of myself this year. In-person networking. I used to do this a lot in a past life, in uh in content creation in particular, but it's not something I do a lot for the podcast of my own music, and it's something I want to do a lot more of. So meetups, gigs, and workshops are three I'm thinking off the top of my head. No matter how big or how small they are, I would love to get involved in some in-person events. So if you're listening to this and you're from the Southwest or basically anywhere in the UK, really, and you know of any uh in-person events that would be great for the podcast and and producers as well, please do share them with me. Send me a message, click that link in the episode description and let me know what's going on. So I've got a rule of thumb here, and this works really well for me. If the space encourages conversation and not promotion, you're in the right place. I use this all the time. If I join a group, and I find this more so on Facebook, if I do join a Facebook group, which is very rare, if I join that group and I see it's just full of promotion, I quickly leave. And the same with Discord as well. If I join a server and it's just full of promotion, I generally maybe I don't leave straight away. I give it a chance, but I don't engage with it that often because I'm not interested in just promotion. I'm not interested in individuals just promoting their work. I want to build active, supportive connections, I want to build that network. So again, just to reiterate that sort of rule of thumb, if the space encourages conversation and not promotion, you're probably in the right place. As always, folks, this is just my experience. It's not the right or wrong way to do things. It's just that Spotify comment piqued my interest. And I thought, you know what? I'll start the year with a message surrounding networking because it's something I do all the time with the podcast. Admittedly, when it when it got to the end of 2025, it tailed off a bit because the festive season and it's my favourite time of year, and it's also my birthday as well. So and I got married on the 31st of October, so there was a lot going on at the end of the year. So I won't lie, my networking did drop. But it's something I'm gonna kick on and do more of in 2026, notably the in-person one as well. So I may, you may get some podcast episodes where I'm on the road talking to people in their studios. It's something I want to do this year, so listen out for those. Exciting, exciting. I cannot wait to do those. So hopefully, I've set myself up now. So if I don't do it by the end of the year, uh you can come back to me and say, Mark, where were these episodes you promised us? Circling back to the Spotify comment, I want to hear from you. Do you agree or disagree with that comment? Send me a message using the link in the episode description, and I'll feature it in a future episode and give you a shout-out. And my challenge to you as well. So, two parts here. This week, reach out to one person, not to ask for anything, just to acknowledge their work and then start flexing that networking muscle. Now, if you've enjoyed this episode, I think you'll enjoy episode 205, Why Artists Need Strategy Over Followers in 2025. Now, I appreciate that reference is 2025. However, it's still applicable in 2026. So go and check that episode out if you haven't if you haven't done so already. And if you've enjoyed this episode, don't forget to grab my free weekly tips in the episode description. Once a week I send out an email to you lovely people with some additional tips and tricks and thoughts, uh thoughts rather, put my teeth back in from me. So click the link in the episode description, jump on that email list. I hate to call it email list because you automatically think of this long automated email chain, but it's not that, folks. I promise you, it's not spam. Once a week you'll get an email from me just with some useful tips and tricks for you to kick on in the music industry. And until next time, folks, keep creating, keep mixing, and join me in the next episode.