What artists should keep and leave in 2025
A shift from quantity to quality might reshape music marketing.
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Let’s dive into today’s topic:
What artists should keep and leave in 2025
What I hope artists are saying goodbye to as 2024 comes to a close 👋, and what I hope to see more in 2025. 🤩
Why it matters
Marketing evolves rapidly. What’s hot now could be outdated next year. It isn’t easy to keep track of everything that happens. Especially at the end of the year when every strategist with a newsletter publishes their trend forecast. 🙋♂️
Understanding which strategies to embrace and which to leave behind helps artists focus their efforts where they matter most.
How it works
The key shifts shaping artist marketing in 2025:
Realistic demands for social media
OUT: Three posts per day.
IN: Three high-quality posts per week.
Focus and priorities
OUT: Attempting twenty tactics at 20% effort.
IN: Excelling at one approach before adding another.
Platform strategy
OUT: Managing every platform where fans may be.
IN: Optimising the one platform where core fans engage.
Growth strategy
OUT: Chasing industry gatekeepers.
IN: Building communities with fellow artists in the same scene.
Giving more than asking
OUT: Only post content.
IN: Engage meaningfully with people and other artists’ content.
Collaborative content creation
OUT: DIY.
IN: Meeting up with fellow artists to create collaborative content.
Content pacing
OUT: Fast-paced content on social media platforms.
IN: Slow-paced content through newsletters (bonus: the artist owning their fan data).
Simplified content creation
OUT: Videos.
IN: Carousels.
Media
OUT: Traditional music journalists.
IN: Micro-influencers creating music recommendation content.
Globalisation
OUT: A Western bias focused on the UK and US.
IN: A globalised approach targeting under-explored markets.
Simplified metrics for success
OUT: Tracking every possible metric.
IN: Only measure the North Star Metric and OMTM.
Marketing live music as an experience
OUT: “Their single got millions of streams”.
IN: “Bring a dry shirt. You WILL sweat at this high-energy show!”
Conversions
OUT: “Pre-save now #linkinbio”
IN: “Comment below, I’ll send you a direct link via DM.”
AI
OUT: Use ChatGPT for everything.
IN: Use task-optimised AI tools, such as Claude for content creation and Perplexity for search.
Yes, but..
While these shifts suggest promising directions, artists should adapt them to their unique situations. What works for one artist might not work for another, and regional differences can significantly impact strategy effectiveness.
Also, my list is way too long, and it’s probably not the first list with 2025 predictions you’ve read. If you narrow it down, I only foresee three main trends:
Quality will become more important than quantity on many levels.
Collaboration and community building are key for growth. People need identifiers other than genre to position artists.
Artists will allow more fan-first outside-in approaches in their authenticity-first inside-out strategies.
Take action now
Artists could evaluate their current marketing efforts against these trends and identify areas for improvement in 2025.
Your thoughts
Which marketing approach should artists leave behind in 2024? Share your predictions in the comments below.
Happy holidays! 🎄
Further reading
2025 Social Media, Content, and Creator Predictions (Future Social)
What 2024’s biggest trends teach us about the future of social media (Pretty Little Marketer on Instagram)
Do you post or do you RELEASE? (Metalabel)
What can artists learn from Instagram and TikTok’s trend forecasts? (The Fanbase Builder)
Building The Perfect Artist Brand in 2024 (The Fanbase Builder)
Artists should focus on only two metrics (The Fanbase Builder)
Inside-out and outside-in strategies for artists (The Fanbase Builder)