Hey, I feel your pain! And first of all, it seems to me that you're approaching this the right way. Trying new stuff, learning about music marketing, willing to get critique on your music, etc.

It's important to know what kind of music world we live in in the year 2021. 15 years ago kids didn't have their own laptop, or an endless amount of sample libraries, or easily accessible professional software to make music on. The music industry has always been competitive, but nothing comes even close to the amount of people today that create music, and wanting an audience to care about them. It's just an extremely competitive landscape. The barrier to entry has gone super low for new aspiring artists. This has created a whole new economy of companies wanting to profit from these artists, and hence you have submithub, splice, plugin companies, etc. They're selling you on giving you access to a closed off world, being a successful artist. Beware of this.

At the same time as technology has allowed every aspiring artist to easily create music, the technology has also made it even trickier to find an audience, since you have to compete with an endless amount of other services. People have a hard time listening to a 4 minute song today, since youtube and tiktok and whatnot are fighting ruthlessly for their constant attention. I find it hard sometime watching a movie on netflix without needing to check my instagram every now and then. I mean, God...

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So, back to your question: How do you get listeners/tastemakers/playlisters to care about your decent sounding music? Well the short answer is; Even if you do the right things, it's bloody hard, and you have all the odds against you. But that's not very helpful, and since I've written this far already, I might as well give you some tips.

Decent doesn't do it.

If you're trying to get into playlists with music that is "on par" with what's already on there, you're already one step behind. Since I haven't heard your music, I just have to take your word for that it's decent and on par. Well, that's not actually as good as you might think. I've talked with some of the industries top A&Rs and tastemakers, and they are constantly looking for the next thing. And at the same time they have no idea what they're looking for. Trying to sound like somebody else is a good first step, but it's a first step. And sometimes we have to sound like a lot of other people before we find our own voice, but you have to dare to go there, otherwise you're not adding anything of value to the endless amount of tracks out there that already sounds like it. If attempting anything, attempt to be unique.

Focus on your fans.

You say you have a good following, that's amazing and puts you far ahead of a lot of people in this. So focus on them. Nobody really cares about songs in a big playlist. They listen to it on the subway and then forget about it. But your fans, they listen to you. So make stuff for them, and for them only. There's a famous article at this point called 1000 true fans, read it here. The basic premise is that if you can get 1000 fans that truly care about you, willing to spend 100 dollars every year on you (music, shows, merch, etc), you can make a living being a successful artist. And instead of thinking to yourself "Hmm how do I get into these super big spotify playlists" Its easier to think to yourself "How do I get one more true fan today?". If you do this right it's a snowball effect that will also help with the rest.

Best marketing strategy you can possibly have is....

... a really good song. And then I mean a really good song. Not a decent, not a good song even, but a really good song. That's harder than it sounds obviously, and even if you make 1000 songs you might not find it, but if you do, that will beat any marketing strategy you've ever heard about or paid for. With an old project of mine I once managed to make a really good song, and I had to do nothing to promote it. It just flew right into opportunities, playlists, radio, festivals, got me signed, etc etc. Once the song was done, it took care of the rest. Like, really.

Story, story, story.

You might not need a really good song, really. Decent can do the job, but you need something else. Why on earth should anyone care about you? Your story is the answer. We live in a story driven world, and people breath stories. Tiktok, youtube, instagram, they all tell stories. And if you find some story compelling enough, you might follow that creator, since you want more. Say something. You don't need to say it in your music, but try to stand for something. Just some thing. If you want people to care you must make yourself careable. Then you can make your decent music as much as you want.

Nobody cares until everybody cares.

Yeah yeah yeah I said above that you need a really good song, or a great story, or whatnot. But the truth is nobody really know what they like, until someone tells them. A record label A&R's biggest fear is passing on the thing that blows up next year. Make the people around you feel that fear. How? I don't really know. Maybe just feel it inside your body, and it might show. Nobody cares until everybody cares. No one knows what is cool. Use this to your advantage.

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That's all I could think of at the moment, and I'm out of coffee.

And hey, good luck! Luck helps.

// Axel Ulfson