With the emergence of social media, streaming platforms and the advancement in technology, creating, releasing and distributing music has becoming increasingly easier. Being able to do everything yourself from the comfort of your own bedroom (even if you don’t have a full understanding of the intricacies and nuances to get it done perfectly) recording music and fan engaging has become seamless. Access to your analytics has been granted across all platforms to a point never seen before. Everyday more and more artists are releasing music, and everyday more and more fans are searching for, finding and listening to music. With all this in mind, why is your music still not being heard? Why are you not seeing the numbers you would like to see? What are you doing wrong? These questions (especially the last one) are not so simple to answer as there could be a myriad of reasons why you are under the radar of the mass public.
Each day thousands of new records are released, (just think about how many songs and albums are released on Fridays, never mind the rest of the week) and hundreds of new artists are releasing those same records. (it has been estimated that around 40,000 songs are released each week) Due to the advancement of technology anyone and everyone can become an artist today. With the emergence of social media anyone can become famous with millions of followers overnight. Each one of these people are vying for the same attention, for the same likes, same comments and same eyes as everyone else. Facebook has 2 billion active users, Instagram and Twitter has tens of millions, TikTok is on every teenagers and young persons phone and LinkedIn is used by every single business professional in the world. With literally billions of posts across all platforms daily it is very easy for your music to be over looked. So how do you change that?
Before I answer that question (partly which has been answered in pervious articles based around the topic of how to effectively use social media) I want to explain briefly why your career may not be progressing as you would like it to. While there could be just an endless list of possible reasons why this could be, for sake of this article it basically all boils down to a few overarching reasons. Work ethic, time management, attention and quality.
If you read any book or article that centers on how to enhance your social media presence it will undoubtably tell you that quality of your content is essential. As I mentioned above (and would be mentioned in these same books) millions of people are active with billions of posts daily. The accounts that generate the most views and the best engagement are all have great quality content. (paid advertising campaigns also doesn’t hurt) What does this mean? Well, just like everything else, it differs depending on the account and the audience of that account. However, the basics are the same for each. Incredible quality pictures, great advice, captivating captions, engaging videos and great personalities are why these accounts are succeeding. As an artist attempting to separate yourself from the millions of other artists vying for the same attention as you, you have to create top quality content to stand out among the crowd. Quality music production, professional photography and videography, an engaging personality and a lifestyle that people want to live, are all the aspects that make a great music account. Think of the top artists (forgetting for the moment they are platinum selling established artists with an already established fanbase of millions) they all have one of, if not multiple of these traits. Tory Lanez used his personality to gain millions of followers. (Launching Quarantine radio to the point of getting a deal with MTV) Rick Ross, Drake, and Migos show a lavish lifestyle every person would like to be living. Megan Thee Stallion, Rihanna and Beyonce (along with most female artists) have incredible looking photos. All of them have the best sounding music. These artists are portraying attributes that attract an everyday audience. Yes, of course the money and resources they have at their disposal helps, but taking that away you still have something that the average everyday person wants to see. Each of their audiences is different, and looking for a different type of content. Knowing how to engage and captivate your target audience is tantamount it establishing a thriving social media page.
Work ethic and time management go hand in hand. You have to put in the work if you want to be great. (remember the 10,000 hour rule) At the same time you have to be aiming at the right target or your waisting your time. Being diligent in your work is great, but if you are not spending that time working to the right things then it won’t matter how hard you work you will be running in a circle. Make sure you are spending your time wisely. I had a teacher in college that told the class a method he uses that I still use to this day. This technique helped me tremendously and saved me an incredible amount of time, he called it the ten minute rule. If you are working on an idea (this was a music class and he happened to be speaking about creating music, but the idea holds true for almost anything) for more than ten minutes and are still circling the wagon (meaning you haven’t progressed in the idea and are basically still where you started in minute one) scrap the idea and move on to a different one. I know that sometimes it’s not best to completely scrap an idea, as walking away and coming back later could help complete the idea, but using this method will ensure that you don’t spend entire days banging your head against a wall on an idea that you are obviously stuck on, and you can work on something else that will be beneficial for the time being. You have to be diligent in your work and how you spend your time. If you listen to or read any of Garry V’s books on how to grow your social media brand, he will say that in the beginning you have to spend all day (somewhere between 12-17 hours a day) on the social media platform of your choice. Posting, commenting, DMs, creating and anything else that is going to further your engagement on that platform is a job within itself. You have to have the drive and work ethic to continue to work even if you don’t see immediate results. (and trust me you won’t see immediate results) The perseverance it takes to continue working towards your goal when you are not necessarily seeing tangible results is hard, but as an artist in order for your career to grow this is what you need to do. You never know who is watching (of course on most platforms you are able to see who is looking at your posts, but there could be people that are being shown your work without you knowing it because they could be seeing it from someone else’s phone) and you never know how close you are to achieving your goal. You could choose to give up today and tomorrow could have been the tipping point and the day you got your big break.
Lastly, attention. Where this may seem simple, of course it is not. Gaining the attention of people who don’t know who you are is one thing, holding their attention is a whole different animal. I will say this, if you have any of the above aspects working under your belt, gaining their attention will be easier, but holding their attention is increasingly more difficult. With the ever lessening attention span of people (especially the younger generations) anything that is going to take more than three-seconds to captivate an audience is too long. Get in get out, is something to live by on social media. You have three-seconds to gain their attention, and another three-seconds to keep their attention. Anything longer than that to do either and you have already lost. (ever wonder why Vine and now TikTok videos are caped at six-seconds) Think of social media like a book or a new TV show you are beginning to watch. If you are recommended a show by a friend how long do you give the first episode before deciding to continue watching or not? If you are deciding to read a book, you are going to read the back cover to see whether you are going to be interested in reading the whole story. Your social media is the same way. If I as the general public follow multiple independent artists that look and sound just like you (along with the multitude of other sponsored and suggested post I will see on the same subject each day) what is going to make me stop on your page and posts as someone I don’t know, as apposed to an account I already have an established relationship with? You have to capture my attention while I am laying in bed after a long day scrolling through my phone. The general public doing this each day is not necessarily looking for anything in particular, they are just scrolling for the sake of scrolling, and if an image or beginning of a video catches their eye they are going to stop scrolling to at least watch the first few seconds of that video, or look at the picture.
Now, let’s answer our proposed question, why your career isn’t working up to your expectations and how do you change that? You career could not be meeting your expectations partially because your expectations are too high and unrealistic. If your expectations are to be the most popular artist on Instagram, have your music on the top Spotify playlists and sign a major record deal with your first release, you have set your expectations too high and are fighting a losing battle. (these are great aspirations to have as long term goals, but you have to set short term goals to reach those long term goals first, walk before you run) Make your expectations realistic, this way you are able to meet your expectations. Setting goals is great for any artist as this is a way to make and stay on a track to furthering your career. However, you have to understand where you are in your career and set your goals accordingly. As a new artist setting a goal of gaining 100 new followers a week, getting 100 hundred plays on your newly released record, and getting likes and comments equivalent to 1% of your current follower base are all good starting points. (adjust your numbers accordingly) Most artists today are looking at their numbers within hours of releasing their newest single or album. If you drop your song Friday at midnight with every other major label artist (who of course is going to be featured on the front page of Spotify’s new music section) don’t expect to get the same numbers and reaction as those artists. By setting these type of expectations you are setting yourself up for failure. Don’t compare your career to the next artist because you could be in a totally different place in your career then them. If you compare your first release numbers to an artist’s numbers on their tenth release you are going to see failure every time because your numbers will be lower than there’s. If your expectations are too high you are going to look at your career as not being where you want it to be even if it is progressing on a positive path. Unrealistic expectations are one of the greatest hindrances of a new artist. Your career isn’t where you want it to be because you want be Drake before being Fivio.
How dose your music compare to the vast amount of other music being released. (compare your music to other independent artists in your genre on the same level as you, meaning the same amount of followers and same amount of releases, comparing your first release to an independent artist that has released 10 songs is an unfair comparison) Making sure your music in on par sonically with other artist on your level will only make you improve that much faster. If you want to be the best you have to set the bar at the best. If you are competing and comparing your music to lower quality music, you will not reach the peak you are aiming for. If you are judging your music to low quality music, then your music will be on par to low quality music and people will bypass your music based on the quality. Learn how to up your quality, whether this means going to a studio to get your music professionally done, or going to YouTube University and learning how to do it yourself, having the best quality possible is imperative to gaining the attention you want. Great quality will beat great quantity every time. When I listen to independent playlists on Spotify to scout new and emerging talent, the first thing I listen to before the lyrics, the beat, the singing or the flow, is the quality of how the record sounds. If the quality isn’t there I will skip that record sometimes before the intro is over because sonically the quality isn’t there. The general public may not know what good quality is but they know what bad quality is. If your song sounds bad coming on after playing a song that sounds good or on a playlist coming on after a song from one of my favorite artists, why would I stop and listen to your song when I can skip this one particular song and play the next song that is going to sound exactly like yours but with better quality? Just like social media, you have to make me stop and want to listen to your music. It has to stand out and catch my attention. Bad quality music could be the biggest reason you are not progressing in your career. You could be a phenomenal artist, but if I can’t hear it or can’t stand to listen to the song because the quality is so bad and everything is sounding distorted, then it isn’t going to matter because I won’t listen to your song, never mind going back and listening to your song a second time.
How are you engaging with your fanbase? Or you engaging with them at all? You have to make your fanbase (especially on social media) feel as though they are part of your life. Part of this is with the content you create and how you present it to them. Part of this is done by how you engage with them. Speak to your audience, answer their questions, ask them questions, answer their comments, and speak to them when they DM you. Engaging with you audience will make them feel like they know you as a person and you are not just another personality. Being a personality is great once you have hit that mark in your career, but you can only do that once you have grown the fanbase enough to be considered a personality. If the fans feel like they know you as a person and are more engaged with you past you being an artist, they will share your music more willingly because they want to promote you as a person and not just an artist. Going back to the Gary V example above, he mentions that you have to answer every comment and message from every person every day. Ignoring your audience is the fastest way to alienate your audience. Why would I spend time on your content, promoting you, or engaging with you if every time I attempt to engage with you in any way, shape or form I get ignored? This of this like dating, you fans are the equivalent of you trying to speak with the girl you like. If you attempt to trying a talk and/or message her and don’t get a response, how likely are you to try and continue getting her attention? After a while (or maybe even just one time) you will no longer be interested in talking to her because you know you are not going to get an answer. However, if she does answer, that conversation can progress into a relationship. Same with your audience, creating that relationship with them through engagement makes them feel more connected to you, thus making them more willing to promote you and your music.
There could be many reasons why your career isn’t at the point you feel it should be. However, at the same time there are many ways to fix this problem and get your career on track. Be diligent with how you spend your time. Don’t waste time on things that are unimportant. Use your time effectively. Find things that work for you, and put the time in to perfecting those things. Each day is a trial and error, until the day you find trial and success. Once that day comes you will have reached that tipping point where all the work you have put in up to this point comes to fruition.
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