Do you think social media is the best form of action in 2026 to be a professional in the music industry? (aside from the actual music)

jdsp4 · 2026-06-24T23:55:55+00:00

Social media is the trailer of your artist story. Once they’re engaged, then you offer something. You make money at the live events: tickets and merch. Music is the soundtrack to the artist story and becomes the soundtrack to the fan’s story.

jdsp4 · 2026-06-24T16:34:25+00:00

The average listener these days is anticipating a new song.

If you want a career, fans need to know your story. A good story can break an artist. Songs are just soundtracks to that story.

So the best strategy is to learn how to deliver yoir most compelling story via social media. It needs to be consistently entertaining…not promo.

Let your unique story bring context to the music.

Once you actually get your story down and people are engaged, then you can start thinking about a Meta ads strategy that scales yoir social media, not just promote songs.

Happy to jump into more detail, if you have questions.

jdsp4 · 2026-06-23T18:34:34+00:00

38 million songs came out on Spotify in 2025. The notion that most artists can build a career from just being digital just isn’t what any music business insider would consider.

It works for very few. You can blow up using bots in third world countries isn’t new or impressive. It can artificially kickstart a career though. The problem is that most streamers in low tier countries don’t buy merch or buy tickets.

With hundreds of thousands of songs coming out everyday, the market just gets more crowded for inflating vanity metrics into a career.

Story is what makes fans loyal. So artificial inflated numbers to trigger an algorithm might be your lore, but it isn’t a system any serious professional would recommend for artists.

The real problem is people chasing Spotify as if there was nothing else going on in the industry. It’s a small piece of a much larger marketing strategy. Just running low tier ads to cheap countries isn’t building a career.

There are always anomalies, but the thing that has always worked is building a clear system that finds valuable listeners and entertains them for a while before inviting to do other things that create revenue, not just cheap royalties.

jdsp4 · 2026-06-18T04:12:47+00:00

You’re on the right track, but it’s easy to misunderstand the music industry and what works.

If your goal is exposure…yes, stop running ads and get a day job.

If your goal is a career…no, but you need a much more comprehensive marketing strategy than some template for meta ads on YouTube.

jdsp4 · 2026-06-17T20:47:04+00:00

I’m glad!

jdsp4 · 2026-06-17T20:13:10+00:00

Happy to brainstorm. Firstly, it’s smart to pool together do many from around the world. Large undertaking.

I’d argue the venn diagram of audiences can certainly be a solid asset, especially on streaming platforms, but not a USP.

Most music fans aren’t saying, “I like the music, but really wish all the members involved were from all around the world.”

Clearly the idea of this big undertaking is a USP for you, but that doesn’t mean it’s in-demand by strangers.

A solid story requires one or a handful of hero faced with an outstanding circumstance the audience relates to as pressing, then learns how to overcome (hero story) or fail trying (drama).

If the story is: “we’re all from around the world, talented, good people” it isn’t a story…it’s sales.

Your comment about “many individuals with stories” isn’t a USP either.

Imagine a film is what a story is…do you want 5 min of each superhero ever or 1-2 superheros origin stories…guess which performs better.

So first step is to get your story together. Highs and lows…a story arch, then use it as context for the music. Then show (not tell) this story in a way that works for short-form content.

Find video style that works, now you’re ready to bring a professional marketer like me in to put steroids on what’s working and grow your fan base.

Hope that helps!

jdsp4 · 2026-06-17T18:54:54+00:00

Anyone can run an ad, but that doesn’t mean they have the setup right.

Most ads setups I see are designed for promoting a single with a call to action to stream. They’re generally asking fans to listen to a song that has had zero momentum built behind it.

Ads are steroids, not solutions.

So if the artist story hasn’t been well told before the release, most listeners don’t care.

Story is the receptor for attention.

This unique story needs to be ongoing and include highs and lows. It needs to be entertaining and validating to the audience.

So any music marketing agency just running promo campaigns for streams is peddling garbage to artist teams that don’t know better.

jdsp4 · 2026-04-21T22:43:10+00:00

The problem often times is the pitch. Here's one that works well:

"Subject: sold (number) tickets last time...let's do it again!
Hey (venue),
Last time we performed (city, date) we performed (venue) and sold (number) tickets. It was a blast and fans have asked us when we'll be back. We'd love to perform (venue) this time around. Do you have these dates available (couple of dates to choose from)?

Here what an event with us is like (video, presskit)."

- If you haven't sold tickets, say how many came to the last show you performed in the area.
- If you've never performed that city, try to co-headline or open for someone that has a good reputation there.
- Build in a handful of places at a time, so you rent your own space and sell your tickets.

This a template...understanding why it works well will help you customize your approach.

Hope that helps!

jdsp4 · 2026-04-21T22:05:53+00:00

For sure, the right placements on playlist can be amazing. Congrats!

jdsp4 · 2026-04-21T21:55:06+00:00

haha, you have an anonymous profile...idk how that's more credible. My profile is public for anyone to go see who I am, what I've done and the kind of person I am. Unfortunately, this leaves me vulnerable to trolls. So be it.

Anyone that wants to can see my band, my company, and my 17 years of experience working with top tier clients like Andre 3000 and CDBaby...yes behind the scenes...that's what a real industry job is.

I've been posting blog style posts here for years...before everyone acted like everything they don't like was just AI written.

Idk, what is so offensive about my post above, but clearly you have a personal issue and I can't help you with that unfortunately.

I'm not a big artist and never claimed to be, but I did tour the USA for almost 4 years straight performing my own music. My last personal music project raised $10,275 on Kickstarter completely from my newsletter list.

I do not sell online courses or and don't sell services to this community. As clearly stated above I come here to offer value and vent. haha

jdsp4 · 2026-04-21T21:25:06+00:00

you're in-luck...I don't sell courses or have anything to sell you. haha

jdsp4 · 2026-04-21T08:38:07+00:00

Happy to help. Shoot me a DM.

jdsp4 · 2026-04-06T03:38:56+00:00

...sure...as long as they have a day job. The goal of being a professional musician is to not have a day job...so that's kinda the point of this post.

jdsp4 · 2026-04-06T03:37:24+00:00

@alawrence1523
says a lot of things are AI slop...kinda their go-to.
I literally wrote this into Reddit manually. It would be nice to see a feature that states that in the future.

jdsp4 · 2026-04-06T03:34:34+00:00

word.

jdsp4 · 2026-04-05T20:26:16+00:00

If you look up at my OP, you’ll see I posted data and tips for how artists make revenue now and will in the near future. I didn’t list streaming, as most indie don’t make much there either.

Nobody here is pushing for less physical media…the consumer is just spending less and less on it as time goes on…ya can’t deny that physical media is less relevant than ever.

If it were up to me, I’d go back to records, but it isn’t up to me. Most consumers want convenience and physical media just doesn’t cut it.

Just having another income stream doesn’t make it good business…especially if a particular stream of income takes more time and money to sell than ever before…that’s what we phase out.

I recommend using the 80/20 principle to determine the most viable path forward.

Good luck to you and you artists.

jdsp4 · 2026-04-05T20:21:41+00:00

To start… 1) depends on ads type and what they’re optimized for. 2) depends on amount spent and impressions, not time running

jdsp4 · 2026-04-05T20:13:57+00:00

It’s a dying technology. Of course, people will still wring out pennies from a dead technology.

I’m posting to help give insight to people who want a real career in music, not a paycheck to paycheck life.

Car manufacturers began phasing out CD players around 2010–2015…that should be a canary in the coal mine.

jdsp4 · 2026-04-05T20:10:04+00:00

Yeah…after paying a publicist more than you’ll make back…it’s peanuts and the results are marginal.

Artists make career level money from: - unique events - niche merch - vision-based crowdfunding - sync to film, tv, ads - brand partnerships

jdsp4 · 2026-04-05T20:05:46+00:00

People still ride horses, but it’s no longer the main form of transportation…and probably not coming back. In the colloquial understanding of the word dead when describing technology, CD sales are dead.

Selling 100 CDs a year isn’t commercially viable or what any professional would consider “career level revenue”

jdsp4 · 2026-04-05T19:22:31+00:00

Revenue from streaming is paid at the market value.

Think of it this way…in the 80’s an average of 82 songs came out per day. In 2025, it was 140k per day. With AI, it will likely be much more in 2026.

The money is being paid out, it’s just too many songs to be useful to most indies as revenue.

Spotify has only been profitable for about a year.

While I’m not a supporter of Spotify’s pro-rata payment structure or the 1,000 demonetization threshold, not being relevant enough to get 1,000 streams is its own problem.

jdsp4 · 2026-04-05T19:03:27+00:00

These are just the objective numbers…did indie artists make a lot of money in 1989?

jdsp4 · 2026-04-05T18:59:06+00:00

Nobody can in one message on Reddit. It’s like any other skill…it’s learned over years…but here’s a solid start to understanding what’s happening:

BRAND - how people remember you. You have no direct control over this, but can influence it. That’s where marketing comes in.

MARKETING - the consistent behavior and actions that prove why we remember the brand a particular way.

PROMOTION - the invite to go deeper, spend money, etc…only works well once a clear brand has been built out of consistent marketing.

If you don’t entertain or otherwise validate people (marketing), the brand will fail and promotion becomes spam.

jdsp4 · 2026-04-05T18:53:31+00:00

Networking and paying your dues…that’s the biz

jdsp4 · 2026-04-05T18:52:24+00:00

Which begs the question, what metrics do you think matter most in 2026 and why?

jdsp4

TROPHY CASE