As strange as it may sound, the two do not always go hand in hand. In fact, sadly, many artists that you are familiar with, who have had hit songs, are financially struggling. How can this be? Simple. You can be famous and not be "successful". I've seen artists on social media that literally have almost 1,000,000 followers, but have less than 10,000  monthly listeners on Spotify. YIKES. 

On the flip side, I've seen artists that have less than 5,000 followers on social media, yet  have hundreds of thousands of streams. Why? Because those 5,000 followers are really "Core Fans" and supporters; rather than just followers. 

A follower may just think you're cute, funny or motivational. That doesn't mean that they will support your music or any product that you may end up selling. Therefore, you should always focus on being successful and not famous. 

Think about it this way. A girl dresses super sexy and takes half naked pictures on Instagram (*gasp* shocking) and gains quite the following. She has been doing music for years and really wants to blow up in the industry. She amasses over 300,000 followers and is now InstaFamous! Yaaaaayyyy!!!! But alas, there's a problem. The majority of those 300,000 followers are just thirsty old men who could care less about her music. You get it? She's famous, but as far as her music career is concerned, she's not successful. 

Look at success in the music industry as:
1) Is your fan base growing? (example: are you getting more streams, more views and consistently have new people viewing your content?)

2) Have you been able to monetize your music? Are you getting royalties? 

3) Do you love what you're doing and are you still passionate about music? 

If so, you're already successful. If you aren't, work towards it. Don't get blinded by followers and likes. That will not necessarily get you paid. You want to hear something crazy? There are small-time artists that are from America that are touring all over the world & performing their music... AND getting paid for it. And that's their full-time job. Hold on, I've got another one. 

There are tons of rappers that you have never heard of that make a full-time living solely off of their Spotify streams. I repeat: you've probably never even heard of them. Crazy huh? 

Hey hey silly goose! I never said that you couldn't. Simmer down buddy. You can absolutely have both! But they aren't always synonymous (big word). You can be famous without being successful, and you can surely be successful without being famous.  

Great question. Focus on getting supporters, not just followers. Get people to join your email lists, get your streams up, get those Youtube views up, do gorilla marketing in the streets, hand out flyers, HUSTLE. But remember, you're doing it to get supporters (who will BUY something from you AND support your music) and not just a follower (someone who will just hit the LIKE button). 

Kayo Out ​🥊

Let me start by saying this.

We've all seen them. We've all experienced them. And most of us usually roll our eyes when we see someone doing it. What am I speaking of? People who spam your comment section. If you are in fact, one of these people that do this, I'm going to tell you why it is a waste of time. 

I usually get a few of these under each of my Instagram posts. 

"Check me out bruh, I just dropped a new video"
"Dm Me!"
"I'm the hottest rapper in my city, come to my page to find out why!"

In order to understand why this is a total waste of time, we need to study our own viewing habits. Let me ask you a serious question. 

When people self-promote under your posts, do you actually go to their desired link? Most likely not. Or if you have, you most certainly ignore them more than you click on them. 

We all make fun of people on Instagram who offer people "animated art covers" because they are literally under every post. Here's a news flash: If you're self promoting under other people's posts... you've now become the animated art cover guy. 

Not only will most people ignore it, but it also comes across as rude. I get messages all the time from people saying.. "Follow me and check out my music". Let's evaluate this. I should take time out of my schedule to check out some random rapper, whom I do not know, and who does not follow me, and who has not checked out any of my music first? Why would I do that? 

​

Think about it this way. There are literally hundreds of thousands of artists on Instagram. Literally. People don't have to go out of their way to find new music or new artists. Most of the time, they'll find them naturally or through word of mouth. Because of this, they will usually ignore a random message or comment from someone that they have not been exposed to yet. Let me tell you a better way to go about it. 

Naturally engage with posts that you like on Instagram (or whatever platform you are on.) Take the time to leave thoughtful comments (Not just that "yo this is fire, check me out fam") type of BS comment. Leave a comment that is related to the post that you are commenting on. Do you know what will happen?

Most of the time, the people will naturally come over to your page and check out your music. Why? Because you've now added value to them. Instead of using them, you're NETWORKING. 
​

Run ads. Simple. Master Facebook/Instagram/Youtube ads. By doing this, you'll never even have to ask anyone to check out your music. Why? Because through ads, you'll reach thousands of people everyday. Easy Peezy! 

Want to learn how to run ads? Cool. I'm working on a course for that. I'll have it ready for you all soon. Need help advertising or naturally increasing your online presence? Send me a message or email my team at [email protected]

Oh yea... by the way.. if you didn't know. I rap too :) 

​Check this out 

Kayo Out.