Introducing @deanpress (aka Apex Rise) on Steemit!

I’m Dean van D, known on Steemit as @deanpress
I built a successful music marketing web app, and I spend my time meddling with several industries: Web Development, Marketing, Music, and Blockchain Technologies. Also board & video games!

Producer & Rapper

I make dope trap music as Apex Rise (Spotify), and I rap as Lil Train (Spotify). I have about 71,000 followers on the Apex Rise SoundCloud.
At age 20 I got accepted in The Netherlands’ conservatory (back then the only official college) for electronic music production. I loved it. I loved it so much, that after about one year into classes, I quit. I learned what I wanted and I was able to make more music not traveling for hours on end to get to college. So after learning the essentials, I started producing in my bedroom, going to parties to meet the local DJs and producers that I looked up to, and getting my music heard. In less than a year’s time I was getting bookings all over Europe and was making a career for myself in the electronic music scene.
Then I discovered an important missing part in the music marketing industry. So I put my music career on hold to learn how to code and build my app. Which brings me to:

Entrepreneur & Web Developer

I made a web app called Click.DJ. It quickly became one of the most popular music marketing apps in the Electronic Music industry. It was the first application of its kind with an interesting set of features. Nowadays it doesn’t just support music marketing, but any kind of content!
When building these apps I face new and interesting challenges, and I have to come up with cool solutions. I’ll be talking about these in my future posts!
With the success of my web endeavors, I was able to add another pastime to the list:

Blockchain Enthusiast

Ever since Bitcoin started (and I mean started started) I’ve been absolutely passionate about the Blockchain. Now, with Ethereum and so many other amazing, innovative Blockchain technologies, I’m convinced that this technology is the future of the internet and society as a whole. Not only for financial transactions, but for (big) data, A.I. and everything and anything that can live on a server will be running in Blockchain-esque systems. What seemed like fiction and a fun ideal in the very recent (still airing) comedy series Silicon Valley is quickly becoming reality in front of our very eyes.
Since I like to put money where my mouth is, I’m investing in the crypto currencies and Blockchain technologies that I find to be particularly original and groundbreaking.

If you’d like to check out my music, here are some of my own personal favorites:

• Take U Out by Apex Rise
• Decisions by Lil Train
• Cherry Blossom Trees by Apex Rise

Here’s a photo of my producer set-up, which sits across my dual-monitor desk:

If any of these things interest you, you can follow @deanpress on Steemit for more of my content!