Good Music Does Not Promote Itself

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Cannon’s Law: The Myth of Self-Promoting Music

If you've spent any time on music forums, you've probably encountered what I call "Cannon's Law" (named after Godwin's Law). It states that any discussion about promoting music will eventually lead to some self-proclaimed genius stroking their Rick Rubin-like beard and declaring, "Good music promotes itself." Let's unpack why this statement is more complicated than it seems.

The Complexity of "Good Music Promotes Itself"

This idea is tricky because great music can indeed make even mediocre marketing more effective. But here's the catch – you still need to get your music heard in the first place. What some people mean by this statement is that when a song is really susceptible (more on that in a moment), it will do most of the work for you.

Song susceptibility is how likely a listener is to enjoy a track when they hear it. Each song has a different level of susceptibility. Some tracks are literally thousands of times more likely to be liked than others. Just compare a Merzbow noise track to Outkast's "Hey Ya" – one converts nearly everyone into a fan, while the other... well, let's just say it has a more niche appeal.

But here's where the Reddit geniuses get it wrong. They often mean that if a song is good, you won't need to promote it at all. They believe it will eventually gain buzz even if only 100 people know who you are. To that, I've got to call BS.

Real-World Example: South Arcade

Let's look at a real example. South Arcade, a band I recently covered in my member-only feed, released a great song called "Danger." I personally love it and play it often. But here's the thing – it took a year of them pushing it on TikTok before it really blew up.

This illustrates a crucial point: often, a susceptible song needs to find the right audience. The crazy thing with TikTok is that you can go viral and find an audience that's way more likely to love your song than the one who was hearing you before. If you get into another corner of the algorithm with a more susceptible audience, suddenly a song can really take off. Look at some of South Arcade's recent TikToks – they got around 10 million combined views. That's a lot of people hearing an earworm and potentially converting to fans.

The Obscurity Problem

The biggest problem for musicians with no fanbase is obscurity. No one even hears them to decide if they like them or not. You need to do the work to find your audience, and right now, short-form video – if you do it right – can really help you find that audience. It's your best chance of getting your music to the people most susceptible to it. The question then becomes: does it actually convert people into listeners?

We see this constantly – many songs that would have blown up if they were pushed in a smart way get a ton of streams and a new life when the artist is discovered, sometimes even years later. Those songs become some of their top ones on Spotify as an audience finally explores them, while the less susceptible songs stay at very few plays.