The Two Things You Must Do For People to Care About Your Music

Look, there’s a really simple answer to the question: “Why isn’t my [music, art, app, etc.] more popular/widely known?” There are many wrong answers to this question, but the right answer to this question is always the same; either:

1. Your [music, art, app, etc.] isn’t [yet] remarkable
2. You have haven’t put it in front of people pre-disposed to like it

That’s it.

REALLY.

If you do both of these things, you will (not might, but will) succeed. If you do only one, you will not succeed to your highest possible level (if at all). If you do neither, you will fail.

Looking at each, it’s pretty simple.

The first requires that your work be remarkable. I chose that word carefully. The key part of the word “remarkable” is “remark.” That is, people will talk about your work. If people don’t do this, it means that your work will never spread beyond the very limited number of people who you can attract on your own.

The second point is equally crucial. You could make the most remarkable art in the world — Miles Davis could come back from the grave — but, if you put it in front of people who don’t have a predisposition to like it, you will fail. My grandma would politely ask Miles Davis to stop making all that racket.

Now, like everything, the devil is in the details. How do you know your music is remarkable? How do you know your putting in front of the right people? Not easy on either count. However, through measuring, through refining, through observing, and through following the advice presented in our featured article today, you’ll – over time – begin to get better at discerning when and for whom your music is connecting.

When this happens – when you make remarkable music (music people tell their friends about), and put it in front of those who have an affinity for what you do – magic begins. You do what every band/artist/company who has ever succeeded did: You shift the burden of promotion from you to your fans. Once that happens, the game has changed. Unless and until that happens, you can’t succeed.