Artist Development in 2025: How to Go Viral, Get Placements and Win Awards

Artist Development in 2025: How to Go Viral, Get Placements and Win Awards

In today’s industry with next to zero information out there on artist development — artists are expected to go from 0 – 360 completely on their own. Caught in an exhausting cycle of — crafting artistry, putting out music, posting endlessly on social media, and growing an audience all on your own— the to-do list is overwhelming.

It’s time to stop scattering your energy and resources trying to do everything at once, and get our brand new artist development plan that will show you exactly how to stay on course to fitting it all in with ease and order, knowing you are on track to your best work ever! Our clients using these methods have won major awards and gained the notoriety and industry recognition they were looking for — and you can too.

If you want to learn the latest methods in artist development that are working in the music industry right NOW — then Join me for this live free training on Zoom to learn ways to attract the right audience and build career opportunities.  

Join our upcoming Free Masterclass May 22, 2025: The Ultimate Artist Development Plan for 2025: How to Build a Career That Gets Awards, Recognition, and Respect – Without Burning Out. This is a one-time event — register here. 

Let’s dive in for the latest artist development information to help you tip the scales on your music. This is as much a lesson in artist identity and marketing as it is in artist development.

1. The right product

The number one job you have as an artist is to put out great music. Music that not only you love, but your audience loves. Without this, you won’t be able to build. Many artists make the mistake of focusing on socials over making exceptional music. But it’s your music quality that will build your audience. People love great music. So your number one role is to become the best singer, songwriter, musician, performer that you possibly can. And put out the best music you possibly can. This is where your success comes from.

These three golden keys of marketing to going viral, getting placements and winning awards help us to understand how things go viral in the marketplace. It is the key to understanding how to evolve your music and brand to encapsulate all three. It is a process! 

The first one is “the right product”. Without the right music you won’t strike that chord with your audience you need to go far.

An artist is only as good as the music they put out. A career can only go as far as the music can carry them.

It starts with your songs. 
Then your voice.
Then your production – and a broadcast-quality record 

All three are needed to go viral.

Without the right product you won’t be able to grow your career or your revenue. 
Singles are helpful in-between releases or when you are just starting out releasing music. However, to really build a successful career and build revenue, you need an album of material.

Here is what I recommend in this order to build your song catalog of exceptional songs 

• Write 2-3x what you need.
• Play an instrument if you don’t already. You’re going to need this.
• Write consistently. Study songwriting.
• Demo a new song every week. Become great at vocal comping.
• Once you have a song catalog then pick the cherries for your releases. Get opinions and votes on best songs from a blend of industry professionals, fans and friends to help you choose the best ones.  

When you release music, be sure to release “broadcast quality” with professional mixes and mastering. Anything that is not broadcast quality should be put up on Soundcloud and do not belong on DSPs like Spotify and Apple Music (Digital Service Providers).

When you are selecting music for submissions to sync you only want to submit your very best and songs with high emotional quotients. This process will help you gain placements!

2. The right message

The next key of the three golden keys of marketing to going viral, getting placements and winning awards is “the right message”. You can have the right product but not the right message, and your outreach will fall flat. 

Cultivating the right message is the heart of branding and marketing. It’s the visual that stops the scroll, but the copy (message) that gets people to click or convert.

It starts with your mission, then building your brand pillars, your archetype and identifying your niche or in marketing terms your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).

• Start by writing down your mission statement. “My mission as an artist is to ….”. Write it as if you were going to read it at an announcement ceremony. Get clear about why you do music.
• Work on your brand pillars. Brand pillars are the foundational elements that define a brand’s identity and values, helping to differentiate it from competitors. The five main brand pillars are purpose, perception, personality, positioning, and promotion, which together shape the overall brand experience. Write them out and use them in your communications and on social media. They will bring clarity to your messaging.
• Next, take the 12 Brand Archetype Quiz and identify your 3 archetypes. https://www.brandarchetypequiz.com/jen/. This will inform your message and “why”  even more. Study it. These archetypes come from the famous psychologist Carl Jung and are used by all major brands as the foundation of their messaging.

We do all of this work, which is laid out for you inside my Step Up to the Spotlight Kickstart Artist Development Program. Click here to learn more.

3. The right audience

The next key of the three golden keys of marketing to going viral, getting placements and winning awards is to reach the “the right audience”. You can have the right product and the right message but not be speaking to the right audience and your campaigns will fall flat.

If you are trying to get a sync placement but aren’t pitching your music to the right agencies; or you want to win awards but aren’t submitting to the right opportunities; or you are sharing great music or content with the wrong audience will get you nowhere fast. 

Many artists who advertise without the right marketing can gain followers, but the wrong audience. The way you know you have the wrong audience is no engagements on your posts. This can also be a sign of the wrong content to the right audience as well.

But whatever your goals are, you need to be communicating with the right audience, or agencies or opportunities to attain them.

To build the right audience try this.

• Build your mission statement, brand pillars and get clarity on your purpose and your “why”. This informs the content you share to attract the right audience.
• Be more authentic. Authenticity is the king of great projects. Have the courage and confidence to be more authentic in the marketplace.
• Build your archetype. Stop thinking quantity of numbers, think quality. Focus on attracting your niche audience. 

4. The key to going viral, gaining sync placements and winning awards is your music. 

Creating an exceptional product (music), message and audience are the keys to gaining that kind of attention and attracting the right opportunities. 

No amount of marketing or social media followers will do that for you. You can market until you are blue in the face, but if you don’t have what people want, and don’t know how to brand and market it in a package to connect, you will fall short. And remember—it’s a process! This never happens overnight. Just keep at it until you start to see the results. 

Each release or album is another opportunity to reach your goals. My biggest advice from here is to not do everything on your own. I know it’s tempting because music is not a “turn-key” business, it’s harder to part with investment dollars. However, when you work on your own in an isolated environment with no one to give you feedback or improve your work, you run the risk of not reaching your full potential and constantly falling short! It’s not your talent that falls short —it’s the curation of your music and content! 

Click here to start your artist development success journey now!