I interviewed 100 independent artists

Here are the top 5 problems right now

Over the last 3 weeks, I booked 150 interviews with independent artists from all around the world.

I spoke to up-and-comers from Latin America, grannies from Europe, young kids from the U.S., ex-pats in Japan, and everyone in between.

And as much as we all love to think we’re just so different… it’s remarkable how similar everyone’s problems are.

So, without further ado, here are the top 5 problems artists are facing according to my boots-on-the-ground research…

---

1. Loneliness

Whether it was explicitly stated or passively observed, almost every artist I spoke with was dealing with a moderate to severe case of loneliness.

On the other end of almost every Zoom call was a perfectly pleasant, perfectly alone artist, usually in a warm (if not a little cluttered) bedroom studio.

They were all kind, respectful, and thoughtful… and yet nearly every single one of them expressed a sense of loneliness or isolation with their careers.

The DIY era for music has lowered the barriers to entry for artists… but it’s also created an environment that is incredibly isolating. Many artists’ entire music journey has taken place with no help whatsoever… and while that’s incredibly admirable, it’s also incredibly sad.

After our 45 minute discussion, both of us would leave feeling energized and reinspired… and then the Zoom call would end and suddenly I’d remember that (both of us) are actually still alone in our rooms.

We’ve been conditioned to believe that this is just the norm… but loneliness is a true epidemic that has an untold cost on the music industry. DIY music is admirable, but abnormal.

While it’s intimidating to share your art with others… it is utterly necessary. Find a community, a confidant, ANYONE to share your music journey with… and if you don’t have anyone, well then shoot me a DM on SubStack and I’ll be your friend.

2. Advertising Strategy

Ok this one is less sappy… but almost every artist I spoke with was running some sort of paid ads.

Somewhere along the line, someone told them that running Meta ads to Spotify is the best way to promote their music, trigger the algorithm……. and…. actually, I’m not sure what’s supposed to come next….. a world tour?

The reality is (and pardon me for repeating this as I’ve spoken about it at length in past articles), unless you’re capturing the data on who is actually streaming your music, it’s as good as worthless.

Imagine for a moment that your Meta ads take off and you get 1 million streams on your top song.

Congrats, but now what? How are you going to ever reach those 1 million people again? More ads?

“But if I can just get added to Discover Weekly then I can….”

I get it, I do. I spent THOUSANDS on ads when I was an independent artist, and I even got added to Fresh Finds on Spotify. You know what happened?

My monthly listeners shot up to 50,000, and then they all slowly drifted away like Sandra Bullock in that space movie, Gravity.

Bye bye fans!

Paying to reach your own fans is completely backward.

Instead, use that advertising budget to drive your fans to an asset that you actually own, like an email or SMS list. That way, you can reach them indefinitely and build your fanbase over time.

3. External Locus of Control

Ok this one’s a little heady, but it’s important.

I have not met one “successful” person, in any industry, that does not believe that they are in control of their own destiny.

They believe they can make things happen instead of believing that things happen to them.

Sourced from this article here.

Now, I understand…. the music industry is broken right now.

But if you truly believe that you cannot overcome the odds, then you certainly, 100% won’t.

Let me demonstrate this with an example:

Let’s say you reach out to 5 venues to play a gig, and none of them respond.

Someone with an internal locus of control will say:

“OK, well that’s embarrassing, but in a week I’ll follow up with some additional press photos and testimonials from past shows. If that doesn’t work, I’ll find some smaller venues to approach and get my foot in the door there before re-approaching these target venues again.”

Someone with an external locus of control will say:

“See? No one wants to give me a chance. What a waste of time. I don’t know why I even bother.”

Now again, I get it. Rejection sucks, especially when it feels like it validates a negative belief about yourself.

But the problem isn’t the rejection, unfortunately that’s inevitable in this industry.

The problem is the negative belief. If you believe your music is a waste of time, you will use instances like this to validate that belief.

So when you feel like you’re not in control of your music career, it’s a good indicator that there is a negative belief that needs to be addressed.

You are never failing unless you believe you are.

4. Trend Chasing

True artists set trends, they don’t chase them.

“Trend hacking” is a waste of time, because it never teaches you to think critically about marketing and promotion.

If you’re always chasing the latest trend, you’re never identifying what it is that YOU are truly good at.

Instead of trying to ride the hot trend and get an easy viral piece of content… focus on what is unique about you that you are passionate about, and build your marketing strategy around that.

Again, this will take time + repeated failure, but that is a much more worthy challenge than shaking your ass on TikTok just because it’s trending right now (unless that’s what you love… then shake away).

5. Unclear goals

When I asked artists what they wanted from their music career, it was always answered with some vague, smokey response like:

“I just…. want people to hear what I’m doing. Shows….. touring would be cool…. anything to get my music heard.”

Now, imagine if I walked into a bank to get a loan for a business and my business plan was:

“Maybe a pizza shop. Maybe one of those cute little knick-knack stores……. vape pens? I just want to make money.”

When you are open to anything, you’re essentially open to nothing. And even worse, it’s impossible to measure your progress if you don’t actually know what you’re moving towards.

A better plan sounds like:

“In 2025, I want to play X venue. I want to hire a photographer for that show, and use those assets to shop my band around to other venues in the area until I have 5 other shows booked. Once I do that, I’ll start to move outside of my city and approach some venues in the next town over, and bootstrap it from there.”

Is it the best plan? Who knows. We can always adjust and iterate as we go along. But, like one of those Roomba vacuums, it’s better to move in a direction and bump into a barrier than it is to be paralyzed by endless possibility.

---

My conclusion: Yes artists are facing very real problems… but most of them start in our own heads.

Our success with playlisting, ad strategies, social media, etc, all stems from our belief in our own ability to overcome whatever obstacles are in front of us.

If you aren’t cool with yourself, it will be impossible to effectively problem solve and think critically.

So - make a decision.

If you’re going to make a run at building a career in music, then commit to it.

Stop looking for things to validate your failures, and simply start problem solving.

If something doesn’t work, ask why instead of quitting.

If you can’t figure it out, reach out to someone for help.

If they don’t answer you, reach out to 10 more people.

If they don’t answer……… maybe change how you’re asking…….. or reach out to 50 more.

The point is, you wouldn’t read this entire SubStack article from a mentally ill man (me) unless you believed you could make it in music.

So why waste the time waffling back and forth on if it’s going to actually work, and channel that energy into solving the current problems in front of you instead.

I believe in you, but that won't matter unless you believe in yourself first.

Anyways, thanks for meeting with me.

101 artists ✅

*End Zoom call*

Michael from MAD Records

(🚨🚨🚨 It’s your last chance to join our 3-month artist mentorship program, “The Artist Incubator” which kicks off THIS FRIDAY. If you’re interested in joining, schedule a free consultation with me by clicking here.)