From Dizgo Disaster to The Purpose Chasers | Mark Crandall Comeback
January’s Invitation: I Fumbled the Bag
The email hit on the first Monday of January. Dizgo—the Indiana jamtronica musical equivalent of a blow torched pack of crayons! Colorful Magic! I earned a spot to cover their winter tour, wrap stories around every encore, and help sponsors finally notice the grind. It felt like the perfect rebound after months of post-exit drift. I said yes, packed a notebook, and promised twenty backstage blogs before spring.
The Weight I Carried On The Road
Depression does not care about access passes. While Dizgo blended synths and shredding guitar for packed rooms. I stayed frozen behind a half-lit laptop. Draft after draft stalled at the headline. Missed posts became missed calls. By early March their manager’s gentle check-ins sat unopened like unpaid parking tickets. The shame spiral tightened until I finally replied, “You deserve better.” Hitting send felt like dropping my pen in the middle of the show.
Finding Oxygen In A New Project
Two weeks later Nef called. The Brooklyn producer had studio plaques but zero digital foundation. No real website authority, no SEO, a LinkTree siphoning every fan click. He needed infrastructure, not hype. Together we:
Moved him off LinkTree and onto Produced by Nef, giving every visitor back to his own pixel pool. Learn how much I HATE LinkTree here.....
Built keyword clusters around beats, mixing, and mastering that vaulted his site onto page one for branded search (producedbynef.com.
Launched testimonial videos from legends like Termanology, turning social proof into a perpetual traffic engine.
Watching Spotify listeners tick upward and inquiries land without paid ads made the depression fog lift. The work proved I still had game—just needed the right arena.
The Comeback Blueprint: Purpose Chasers
Out of that momentum grew The Purpose Chasers Podcast and the management arm behind it. Purpose Chasers is my Robin Hood model for creators:
• We steal reach back from algorithm landlords and return it through owned websites, email, and SEO.
• We layer funnels, tour logistics, and contract strategy so artists can focus on craft.
• Every episode spotlights a grind story to remind listeners that resilience pays compound interest.
Our first season opened with Nef, proof of concept carved in real results and rising chart positions. The podcast feeds Scale to Sale Consulting blogs while those blogs backlink to Produced by Nef, creating a flywheel of organic authority.
Confidence Rebuilt, Mission Clear
The Dizgo tour taught me that opportunity without mental bandwidth equals failure—but failure, handled honestly, can draft the blueprint for a stronger mission. Today my confidence is not chest-thumping bravado; it is the quiet certainty that I will show up, system in hand, every time an artist entrusts me with their story.
If you are a creator tired of rented attention and broken promises, step into the Purpose Chasers circle. We will build the assets, win the search, and make sure your next tour is documented in real time, not lost in a hotel room spiral.
Dizgo’s Lifeline and My Fumble
They gave me the golden ticket: write their tour blog, spin their behind-the-scenes reels, help tighten the brand so sponsors would finally bite. I opened a fresh Google Doc, stared at the cursor, and drowned in self-doubt.
Missed deadlines: I told myself I was waiting on “better footage.” Truth: I was afraid the words wouldn’t land.
Silent inbox: Dizgo dropped me messages like “All good, brother?” I ghosted, then hated myself for ghosting.
Shame spiral: Each day I failed to hit publish, the next day felt heavier. Creativity needs oxygen; I was breathing mud.
Go Support this Dizgo → I don’t understand why they are not Headlining all the jamband festivals this summer?
The Summer Blur
Tour life never pauses. Dizgo kept ripping twenty-minute jams while my mental health tuned out. Backstage passes stacked in my pocket like IOUs—each one a reminder that I owed them more than apologies. Nights ended with me alone in cheap hotels, scrolling highlights I never helped create.
I watched other marketers celebrate “wins” on LinkedIn and convinced myself I had nothing left to give.
I replayed every client's success from my Energy Shield days and decided they were flukes.
Hitting Bottom
By late August, I wasn’t just exhausted; I was empty. The final straw was an email from their manager: “No hard feelings—just need to know if you’re still in.” I typed one sentence and sent nothing!
I thought that was the finale. Turns out it was the prologue. The humiliation burned away my ego and exposed two truths:
I missed the mission more than the money.
I still believed in artists—even if I didn’t believe in myself—yet.
From a Media Standpoint The Trip Was Worth It: Check out the 5 Clips of Dizgo I shot across my 4 Days Following Them.
Why This Matters Now
That lost summer with Dizgo is the reason The Purpose Chasers Podcast exists. It is why Robinhood marketing is baked into every client agreement. I never want another musician to rely on someone who cannot show up because they are drowning silently.
If you are an artist who feels unseen, I see you.
If you are a marketer hiding behind “writer’s block,” I’ve worn that excuse. Rip it off.
Dizgo handed me a shot to create magic. I dropped it. The bruise became a compass: serve creators with everything I have or step aside. Today I choose to serve—fully, loudly, and without disappearing when it gets heavy.
Custom Domain & GoHighLevel Build-out
Registered and pointed to ProducedByNef.com (instead of LinkTree).
Built his site and all landing pages inside GoHighLevel, using its SEO settings (meta titles, descriptions, canonical URLs).
SEO in Hip Doesn’t work: “Scale to Sale Consulting’s Marketing Model Breathes life into dead hip hop SEO”
Installed Google Analytics and Google Search Console on his site to own his fan data.
Researched and mapped primary keywords (e.g. “Nef beats,” “Brooklyn hip-hop producer”) and applied them across headings, image alt tags, and page copy.
Content & Backlink Ecosystem
Published weekly long-form blog posts (“Beat Breakdown,” episode recaps like The Gentleman’s Board), each with YouTube embeds, studio shots, and on-page SEO.
Cross-linked every new post from Scale to Sale, The Purpose Chasers, and Carolyn Colleen’s sites back to ProducedByNef.com—seeding authority.
Secured guest-post placements and features on Showoff Radio, Showoff’s blog, and other hip-hop publications.
Testimonial Waterfall Deployment
Captured on-camera endorsements (notably Termanology’s session feedback).
Repurposed those clips into YouTube Shorts, Instagram Stories, and our Rabbit Hole newsletter within 24 hours of filming.
YouTube & Social Optimization
Overhauled his YouTube channel: SEO-optimized channel title/description, custom thumbnails, and concise Shorts titles with relevant hashtags.
Turned key podcast moments into LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram posts—each formatted tight for quick copy-and-paste.
Email List & Automation
Set up GoHighLevel automations: gated beat packs and behind-the-scenes PDFs in exchange for email sign-ups.
Launched a weekly “Inside the Booth” newsletter, feeding site traffic back into new releases and service CTAs.
Confidence Rebuilt, Mission Clear
The Dizgo slip proved that opportunity without mental capacity equals failure, but owning that failure drafted the framework for a stronger mission. Today my confidence is quiet and steady. I show up, system in hand, whenever an artist trusts me with a story.
Where It Stands Today: The Purpose Chasers Artist Management
Carry that momentum forward to the present: I have stepped fully into managing Produced by Nef under The Purpose Chasers banner. Every blog, podcast episode, and campaign now flows through one unified system built to lift artists, own their data, and turn purpose into lasting impact. If you are tired of rented attention and broken promises, step into the Purpose Chasers circle. We will build the assets, win the search, and make sure your next tour is documented in real time, never again lost in a hotel room spiral.
