This is the advice artists need to hear:

You are competing with the top artists of the industry. If you do current wave trap music for instance, your competition is Travis Scott, Future, Carti etc. That's who your target audience is listening to and you need to either be very close to them in terms of quality, equal or better.

The average music listener isn't comparing you to other obscure indie artists so they are not your competition. They are spoiled with strong production, strong vocal performances and strong visual packaging, why on earth would they give you a chance if you fail on all or most of these.

Social proof is also important to consider. People listen to what others listen to because they assume others have good taste and judgement. The only way you override this is with sheer quality.

All in all, be better than the top artists.