In 2024, I discovered three major mistakes that new artists will continue making in 2025 and beyond. These seemingly wise moves make many artists feel empowered—until they see their efforts crash later in the year! I'm still paying for my past mistakes! But if you want to avoid these pitfalls, tune in!
Depending on the algorithm for Fans First
The truth about depending on the algorithm for fans first is that it makes the heavy lifting harder in the beginning because you have no concentrated followers who have created an audience for the algorithm to measure and use to find similar followers to show your content to. Without this audience, it makes the algorithm work extremely hard to find your tribe. It would be best to manually find your initial tribe yourself through micro-influencers and groups that share and are interested in your type of music. This can and should be done both online and in person. Always encourage these groups to follow you and listen to more of your music—this way, the algorithm won't recommend your content to random people.
Run Ads before Organic Content
The devastating truth nobody tells artists about running ads before producing organic content is that the average new artist cannot afford paid awareness. It’s too Expensive. Ads cause most teams to burn through marketing funds extremely fast! For Artists, awareness should be built organically to move people to a level of affinity for your music and you as a person. Your personality and music together builds trust. Trust is what’s needed to create fans. If you only seek awareness people will tend to like your music only and not you as a person if this happens you end up with a bunch of casual listeners on Spotify with a shallow fan base.
Produce Amazing visuals all year with no Enlightenment content
The problem with producing amazing visuals without content that tells your story is that listeners cannot find out more about you as an artist. Therefore, word of mouth is reduced to whatever they see in your social media bio and the visuals you share. This keeps user-generated content promotion to a minimum and prevents potential fans from becoming loyal to your brand and your personal experience. If this continues, you won't make it to 2026 at the next level—you'll be starting all over again because attention is fleeting. It's hard to get, easy to lose, and even harder to get back.
So are you saying I shouldn’t use social media in the beginning at all?
No. You should use social media strategically to gather your initial follower base faster by tapping into influencers first. You should also use your physical geographical area to target key people of influence that have audiences already built that support your listener type.
You could run the ads to get the look-alike audience right?
Yes, you can run ads for lookalike audiences, but you must limit your spending. Otherwise, you'll burn through funds that could have been used for organic content—which is crucial in the beginning. Some of this work will need to be done manually. No pain, no gain.
If I don’t have visuals how will people relate to my art?
I'm not saying you don't need visuals—what I'm saying is don't forget to tell your backstory, present story, and future story. Stories create better word-of-mouth promotion in cases where songs alone lack the power to promote themselves.
Here’s what you can do!
Use your favorite social media platform to target and build campaigns with desired influencers. Consider what type of video you want them to create with your song, or simply ask if they'd be willing to use it in their content. Connect with local influencers for collaborations that boost your presence, feature your music, and help tell your story. Join the Music Money Makers community—now open to everyone—for artist funding, resources, connections, information, and more.
Making boss moves
Connecting with influencers builds your audience faster and more effectively
This naturally leads to creating story-driven content that boosts word-of-mouth promotion
Which then justifies spending ad dollars to promote both your music and personal brand
Making amateur moves
Takes a physical and mental toll as you work extra hours to save money, only to see it disappear with no results to show for it.
Your motivation crumbles as diminishing returns leave you feeling defeated and drained.
Forces you into making difficult decisions about your future.
At the End Of The Day
If you were struggling with:
When to run your ads
Fighting the algorithm
Producing story-based content
You now have the means to become the advantageous artist you’ve always wanted to be.
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