If I Was Launching as an Artist in 2026: 7 Lessons From the Other Side of the Desk

If you're an emerging artist, please read on for seven key shifts to help you grow.

On Wednesday last week I met with the chief AI scientist building the music model at Klay - the only AI platform with deals in place with all 3 major labels and their publishing arms. And on Friday I met with Paul Sanders, founder of The state51 Conspiracy - over 30 years in the game and a true bastion of independent music. It was a pleasure to spend time with both. I learnt a lot and it certainly set my mind whirring on the future direction of travel for the music industry. I’ll be writing up some of my thinking in future posts.

Meanwhile, this week I thought it would be useful to run a thought experiment: what would I do if I was starting out today as an artist? This is written with the huge advantage of 30 years of real-world experience behind me, from fanzine editing to leadership roles at BBC Radio 1, Spotify and Apple Music. So, if you’re an emerging artist, here are some ideas to think about. In many ways this is a follow-up to my article last week about the iceberg principle of curation (check the link at the bottom of this page and please feel free to subscribe).

The ideas below are about building the mass below the waterline and how you can create something artistically great that also travels.

1. Don’t Start with an Album. Instead: Think About Building Signals.

Most artists still think in terms of projects. EPs or Albums aka “bodies of work.” The platforms that move the needle don't. For better or worse, they are led by data and respond to signals in their datasets. When you are dealing with 100,000+ new tracks per day it’s frankly the only way to figure out how listeners are reacting. These are some of the key indicators being looked at:

•      Are people finishing the track?

•      Are they saving it?

•      Are they coming back to it?

•      Are they sharing it?

In my experience, Spotify’s datasets and dashboards are superior to Apple Music’s, which is one of several reasons why users spend so much more time listening on Spotify. When it comes to the critical attention war between streaming platforms, Spotify is dominant. Hate on Spotify all you want, but if you're trying to launch a career inside this system you can't afford to ignore them. Take a look at this US Comscore research from Jan 2025. It’s pretty much the same story in the UK.

Having said that, the most important signal sits outside the DSPs entirely.

Tickets don't lie.  I quoted the old music industry adage in my last article - and I stand by it. 

They are the fastest, most accurate signal there is. How many tickets are you selling, and how quickly?

Streams can be passive. Saves can be performative. Playlist adds are great. But someone standing in a queue in the rain, ready to hand over £25 to stand in a room and watch you play is the truest data point in the business. It’s one of the reasons I’ve always maintained friendships inside the live business - their data is gold!

So, if I was starting my career as an artist now, I wouldn't disappear for 12 months making an album.

I'd release frequently and deliberately, treating every track as a test.

The film industry figured this out decades ago - invite the audience to test screenings, study the feedback and recut or reshoot as necessary.

The music industry equivalent is to put tracks out and learn what connects.

I’ve seen this in practice with my son’s ex-band, Punkband. Their ethos, attitude and fundamental ideas didn’t change, but they tested the waters with various singles in slightly different styles to help understand what their fans really wanted.

In 2026, data is feedback on creativity, not the opposite of it. Don’t sleep on it. I’ve met many of the world’s biggest artists and the best of the best think hard about every aspect of their business - the art and the numbers.

2. Focus Less on Fans and More on Momentum

This will sound counterintuitive, but early on, I wouldn't obsess over building a “core fanbase.”

That will come if you’re worthy.

At the start, the system rewards movement, not loyalty. A track or video that gets picked up and spreads, however lightly, is more valuable than a small group of deeply engaged fans that never grows.

So I'd optimise for discovery, velocity and reach.  Excuse me for mentioning Angine de Poitrine again, but they are a brilliant example of this. They are built from the bottom up for virality, and then fans discover their depth and substance. I just searched for them on Google and my entire screen got flooded with their famous black dots before settling on the results. That is mind blowing branding success for a relatively new act!

3. Design For Context, Not Just Quality

For years, we've told artists: make the best music you can. And of course you MUST! But that’s not enough, because music doesn't exist in isolation anymore.

It exists in playlists, feeds, short-form video, background listening, algorithmic recommendations etc. Which means asking “is this good?” on its own isn’t enough anymore.

I’d be asking myself where the music is going to live, whether it’s instantly recognisable inside ten seconds, whether someone with no context can tell what they’re feeling, and whether the track can do its job in the situations people actually press play in - driving, working, social, content.

In a world of infinite supply, context is what gives music its edge, and increasingly, I wouldn't assume one version of a track can do everything.

I'd think in terms of multiple versions, designed for different environments:

•      a tighter, more immediate version for short-form video

•      a fuller version for streaming platforms

•      an instrumental or alternative mix for background and sync-style use

Not as a gimmick, but as a way of maximising how and where the track can travel. There is real consumer demand for this and if you manage this well, it will enhance your appeal - not diminish it.

You’ve got to ask yourself, “Where does this work? How many places can it work?”

Different versions of a track used to be a marketing tactic. They’re now a smart distribution strategy - and not enough artists are taking advantage of it. I’ve been preaching this since my Spotify days.

4. Treat Platforms Differently (Because They Are Different)

Not all platforms do the same job, and a smart artist will design appropriately.

Spotify is where most listeners will find you for the first time. Its scale and dataset advantage are still unmatched, which is why I’d build any discovery strategy around it.

YouTube does a different job. It’s where credibility gets built and where A&Rs, agents, festival bookers and serious fans go to find out what you actually look and sound like in a room, and it’s where your visual identity gets stored - music videos, live sessions, lyric videos, behind-the-scenes. Unlike TikTok, what you put up on YouTube compounds: it surfaces in Google months and years later, gets embedded in press, and can do as much heavy lifting for an act’s profile as the streaming numbers do.

TikTok on the other hand, is the wild card where attention catches fire. A clip there can re-route a career inside a week, even if the streams that follow don’t always stick around for the long haul.

A track going big on TikTok doesn't automatically mean it will convert on streaming, although the editorial teams at the streamers do pay close attention. And, as self-confirming delights go, recognition with a playlist add on Spotify is terrific, but it doesn't necessarily mean you have fans.

So, I'd design different strategies for different outcomes.

5. Obsess Over The First 30 Seconds

The skip button is the real gatekeeper now. Every track is being judged inside the first few seconds, by a thumb rather than an A&R, and the construction of the song has to start from that reality.

Focus relentlessly on the intro i.e. how quickly the track arrives, whether it creates immediate intrigue and whether it gives the listener a reason to stay.

I don’t see any of that as dumbing music down. It’s the music having to do its work inside its environment. And don’t forget - you only get paid by DSPs after 30 seconds of listening. You can get even more mercenary with track design and song structure. For instance, endings matter, because psychologically an end is better than a fade for encouraging repeat listens. And durations matter too - short and sweet songs demand a replay, meaning you get paid more and, if you’re new to market, it’ll get you faster to that magic Spotify 1000 stream threshold in a 12 month period (after which they pay out).

6. Build A World. Don’t Just Release Tracks

The artists who cut through now don't just make songs. If you really want to break through you need to think in terms of fully rounded artistic expression. To me this is super exciting. A lot of people can sing or play an instrument well - and that’s great - but if you want a successful career making music you must work on your identity.

Something your future fans can recognise instantly: visually, emotionally and culturally.

When everything is available all at once, people end up connecting to meaning at least as much as they connect to the sound itself.

At the most basic starting point - consider your artist name. Your name matters.

This week I discovered one of the UK’s most exciting new acts - Compost Compost Compost. The most unforgettable name I've come across since Arctic Monkeys and you cannot underestimate the value in that. They are three musicians out of The Guildhall School of Music and Drama - George Thorby and Jamie Holman from the Electronic and Produced Music programme, alongside jazz alum Isaac Burland. There is no music currently available on DSPs, bar a track with George The Poet, but on YouTube you can watch and listen to some material recorded live. The whole act feels considered before a single track has done its work.

So, think carefully about: what you stand for, how you show up and what connects all your output.

Done well, this stops feeling like marketing and starts feeling like a coherent whole that fans are going to fall in love with.

7. Don’t Chase The Industry. Let It Come To You

When I started out, the goal was to get signed, played on the radio (ideally a specialist music show first to give it credibility), written about in the music press, noticed by the key industry gatekeepers and ultimately playlisted on big radio stations and MTV.

Ticking off modern variations on that theme would still feel good, but the power of gatekeepers has hugely diminished. However, here’s the great news: the leverage has flipped.

If something starts to move, the platforms notice, the industry notices and opportunities come to you. To go back to Compost, Compost, Compost - they built some traction live and are now working with the legendary Jamie Oborne, founder of Dirty Hit, home of Beabadoobee and The 1975.

So instead of chasing validation, focus on getting something moving. Once it does, the rest tends to find you.

Because, to quote a famous marketing guru, whose name I’ve forgotten (sorry!): 

“Attention is the new gatekeeper.”

The Bottom Line

If I was starting again today as a musician, I'd be playing by very different rules to when I started my career. Musicians are now operating inside a system of infinite supply, real-time feedback and fragmented attention, and like it or not, you've got to build accordingly.

But even with all this guidance, none of it can guarantee anything. Success in the music industry is unpredictable and always has been. Plenty of artists who do everything right won't break through, and a few who ignore every word of this will. The system isn't fair and the rules change fast.

However, I believe that understanding some of the key levers will give you a better chance of finding your own way through the modern music industry. So, ultimately, make of this what you will.

I look forward to seeing and hearing the results.

If you're an artist trying to find your way through this - or a company trying to understand how this system really works - I write about it every week.

And increasingly, I work directly with artists and teams who want to move faster and more intelligently inside it.

Link to watch Compost Compost Compost on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_u3CgHC-no&list=RDk_u3CgHC-no&start_radio=1