290. How Two Friends Used Free Mixes to Build a Multimillion-Dollar Career
Trading Secrets
Audioboom Studios
4.9 • 5.7K Ratings
🗓️ 13 April 2026
⏱️ 60 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
This week, Jason is joined by Matt Halper and Eli Sones — the duo behind Two Friends, for a conversation on how they turned a college hobby into one of the most successful independent DJ brands in the world.
Starting as best friends making music for fun in middle school and college, Matt and Eli share how they took a leap after graduation with no real income, betting on themselves in an industry dominated by record labels. What began as small gigs paying a few thousand dollars quickly evolved into a global touring business but not without years of uncertainty, financial risk, and reinvestment.
They break down the real business of being a DJ today, revealing why the majority of their revenue doesn’t come from music, but from live shows, brand partnerships, and building an experience-driven brand. From early days barely breaking even to landing six-figure deals and major residencies in Las Vegas, they explain how they scaled strategically while staying independent.
They also dive into the viral success of their Big Booty Mixes and why, despite millions of listeners, they’ve never made a dollar directly from them. Instead, they reveal how free content became their most powerful marketing engine, driving ticket sales, brand deals, and a loyal fanbase around the world.
Jason and the guys also explore the future of music and technology, including how AI is changing the creative process and lowering the barrier to entry for new artists and what that means for the next generation of creators.
Matt and Eli reveal all this and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Indeed presents. |
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| 0:26.8 | Visit Indeed.com slash next hire and sponsor your job today. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. |
| 0:46.7 | Today we are joined by one of the most successful independent DJ duos in the world. |
| 0:51.9 | Two friends. |
| 0:53.0 | Matt Helper and Eli Sones built their brand before college |
| 0:57.7 | to house parties into a global touring act. From their viral big booty mixes, I know you guys |
| 1:03.9 | at home know all about those, to sold out tours, major festival stages. They've turned remixes |
| 1:10.1 | and mashups into a scalable business. But behind the music, |
| 1:14.0 | there's something even more interesting. They've built a highly profitable, independent operation |
| 1:19.5 | in an industry that's totally dominated by labels. It's nothing like we've seen on the podcast yet. |
| 1:26.0 | Matt and Eli, welcome to Trang Secrets. Thank you. Thanks for having us. You know, obviously there was a lot of business talk, but last time I saw you guys, you were taking the Crown Championship at Art Basel at the Celsius Padel tournament. Who'd you guys beat in the finals? It was us versus Dwight Howard and Diplow. When you guys won that, do you want any money for that or no? |
| 1:45.0 | It was for charity. |
| 1:46.0 | We got to do a nice. |
| 1:47.0 | Okay, I love it. |
| 1:48.0 | That's good stuff. |
| 1:49.0 | That's good stuff. |
| 1:50.0 | You're getting paid by Celsius to be there. |
| 1:52.0 | Do you have a partnership with Celsius? |
| 1:53.0 | We did. |
... |
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