Some artists – with all the potential in the world – may never see the light of day. A wide range of different factors can influence an artists popularity and today we are going to discuss a few.

Hard selling. Begging people to listen to your new song twenty times a day on Facebook is going to turn people off. Give you audience a variety of posts to engage with. The making of the song, an acoustic version of the song, or a quick video explaining what the song is about. Don’t make people’s experience frustrating and annoying and don’t just ask them to give you something (a like or a listen). Give the audience something back! Take your audience on a journey and build relationships from there. Let your audience in at the start and not at the finish line. Allow them to become emotionally invested in what you do.

Ego. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Once you start building up steam and selling tickets to your shows, don’t just assume you are “there”. There is always something bigger and better around the corner if you work for it. You need to keep up the workload, the hunger and the drive. It is important to keep your audiences attention, as the overnight popularity can disappear just as quickly.

Getting hung up. Don’t become concerned with things that don’t matter. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It is more important that you release constant material. Taking too long can see you losing relevance and your audience moving on. Tiny details on songs do not matter and spending all your time correcting them could hold you back.

Fear. Conquer it. Don’t overthink. The more you post, them more comfortable you will be. You can only begin telling your story with a first post. People will appreciate seeing your drive to improve and even if somebody is small and insecure enough to criticise your efforts, they are still talking about you! Look at Rebecca Black with her “hit” Friday. It now has 165 million views on Youtube and she is now a millionaire. Your content may not be for everyone but if you keep trying, you will find your audience. Don’t waste your time second guessing yourself.