Don’t sleep on organic discovery 

There are many ways to market your music, but nothing beats being found the old fashioned way. 

Yes, ads are incredibly powerful. 

And yes, sometimes even the right playlist can actually move the needle for you. 

But that natural, word of mouth discovery where someone subscribes to what you do and then intentionally seeks you out is more powerful than anything. 

Because this method of discovery is conscious. 

You register in a different part of the brain and become part of someone’s journey, even their identity. 

“Oh, you’re a Swifty? Me too!”

That’s the power of organic discovery. 

And too many artists ignore it. 

Running from the truth 

The unfortunate reality is this: there’s a lot of bad music out there. 

Honestly, I struggle to say that because I always want to fall on the side of encouragement. 

I believe everyone should pursue their dreams and work hard to do what makes them happy. 

If that’s creating music and trying to build a business out of it, then you should absolutely give it a shot. 

But effort doesn’t equal outcome. 

Bypassing the whole “quality is subjective” argument, some music is objectively just not up to par. 

Unfortunately, many artists don’t give themselves the space to learn which side of the spectrum they fall on. 

Because they’re accidentally fudging the numbers. 

They don’t mean to. 

They just end up creating a bird’s nest of feedback that prevents them from separating signal from noise. 

For example, it’s easy to get on a handful of playlists and drive your listeners up past that 10k monthly mark. 

And it feels good, no doubt. 

But are those listeners there because of the quality of your work? 

Or simply because you got a short-term boost? 

Are those “listeners” even real people? 

When it comes to playlisting, who knows? 

If they are real people, most likely, their discovery of you is unconscious. 

You’re just playing in the background. 

Very different from that conscious, organic discovery that turns into long-term fandom. 

Look, there’s nothing wrong with using your money in place of your time to push something that’s working. 

In fact, I highly encourage it! 

But it’s easy to fall into the trap of paying to boost everything and thereby obfuscating the truth about what works for you and what doesn’t. 

And in the long run, that’s not doing anyone any favors. 

Use your time wisely 

There is a balance to be found between paying for promotion and giving your work a bit of breathing room at the same time. 

On social media especially, I’m a fan of posting organically to test the market and learn what resonates with your audience. 

Especially when you’re just starting out. 

When you’re new on the scene, you’ll do yourself a lot of favors by taking it slow for the first few months to try different things and see what works. 

Create all kinds of content, and learn from the results. 

Share song clips to see how they resonate. 

Practice building in public, learning, and adjusting. 

The important thing is to just create. 

Once you find a few cornerstones you can count on, you’ll have a playbook for creating better work in the future and attracting more attention in the process. 

Which you can then use to drive traffic to your music, your website, your products, your shows, or anything else. 

From there, you’ll be armed with the information you need to create winning ads, winning cover art, and to build a winning brand that truly speaks to your audience. 

And you’ll be in a better position to deploy your marketing spend in the most effective way possible. 

Because you know what works.

So instead of jumping the gun and trying to spend your way to the top, consider suffering in service of the long game. 

If you can strike the right balance between organic and paid traffic, odds are, you’ll be just fine.