Understanding the Basic Algorithm Components

You're making great music. You've even figured out how to create engaging content for TikTok and Instagram. Yet, your growth is stagnant. You're trapped in algorithmic jail, and it's time to go up to that guy who has the shiv and get out of there. The harsh truth? You're playing a game without understanding the rules. But here's the thing: those rules—the inner workings of algorithms—aren't as complex as you might think. Even a country rap artist could grasp them. So let's demystify these algorithms and get your music the attention it deserves. Algorithms are actually way simpler than you'd think.

There are basically two main ways they figure out who to recommend you to. First up is user modeling - it's super straightforward. The algorithm builds these profiles of what users like. If you follow 10 artists, they look for other people who follow those same artists and then suggest what else those people are into. It's a bit more complex, but we'll get into that later.

The Role of Music Genomes

Then there's this whole music genome thing. The algorithm actually analyzes your song and rates it on different markers. It's pretty crucial because it helps match songs to people's moods. You wouldn't want LCD Soundsystem's upbeat stuff to suddenly switch to that super depressing "Someone Great" song at a dance party, right? Or imagine you're on a date vibing to Outkast, and suddenly Andre 3000's ambient flute album comes on, and your date falls asleep like I did listening to that record.

Why You're in "Algorithmic Jail"

If you're stuck in algorithmic jail, it's probably because you haven't given the algorithm any clues about who you are. You're following your cousin Paulie, who only posts about pickleball, or your creepy friend Norman, who's always commenting "princess" on young girls' posts. Or maybe you're using super vague hashtags like "best new music" that tell the algorithm absolutely nothing about your potential fans.

How Connection Scoring Works

These platforms are constantly keeping score of how many connections users have to artists. So if you listen to Playboi Carti, you've probably already listened to these five other specific artists - everyone like you does. And if you haven't heard one of those five, guess what? That's exactly what they're gonna recommend to you next.

You gotta find smaller artists in your community to build connections with. You're never gonna get enough points to connect with Playboy Carti unless you really blow up, but you can totally get connected to smaller artists who are growing. Look for one to three hashtags where you find similar-sized artists with comparable monthly Spotify listeners. And now you are interacting in that hashtag, following the artists and creators who post in it regularly. You post comments and even video replies.

The Power of Clout Bombing

You know that thing called clout bombing? When you see a bunch of musicians in one pic together? It's super effective because when people see their faves together, they share it and make fun of it. Whatever - but they tag everyone, and it deepens those algorithmic connections. I'm literally writing this the morning after the Grammys, dealing with enough clout bombs to supply a whole war if clout was a weapon. (Yeah, I know, terrible joke.)

The Importance of Recency

This whole thing is really about who you're connecting with right now, in the present. You can't just make connections once and call it a day. Even the biggest artists have to keep building connections since new artists are always coming up and building their own connections. You must keep making content that connects you to these artists, or you'll stop being recommended.

Collaboration Power

So this is why features, collabs, remixes, and split releases are such huge marketing opportunities right now. When you do these, you're literally living on that other artist's page, getting into their algorithm. Their fans constantly see you, and when people share that artist, you get tagged along with them. You will get recommendations on YouTube's browse page, Spotify radio, Discover Weekly, Instagram, and TikTok for years to come.

Music Connections

So if you hit up MusicStax.com, you can actually see some of Spotify's data on your song or really any song. You'll notice Spotify's playing songs with similar scores in things like danceability or instrumentalness. But there are some small complications as the algorithms pick up so much today with AI detections. The songs in your video backgrounds are like hashtags, and they regularly serve people who use the same song to make videos to users who watch the video with that song.

Cross-Platform Growth

When you've got all these good algorithmic connections going, maybe you're touring with another artist or constantly going live together, and fans start tagging you together, and each platform starts recommending you more and more. And when these artists grow, you grow with them if you're still connected to them. That's why I'm always pushing for consistent, sustained promotion and collaboration.

It's wild how this stuff spreads across platforms. If someone who follows you on Instagram also follows similar artists and then jumps to Spotify to check you out, you get connected to all their other artists. Then they follow those artists on Instagram too, and this whole circle of algorithms keeps recommending you.

Finding Your Community

The first thing you gotta do is figure out your micro-genre and niche. Once you've got that list of a hundred or so artists - because you really believe in your music and are hardworking - now you want to follow all those artists on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Start engaging with these profiles, commenting, and making video replies to teach the algorithm that you are in this community. Most of all, reach out to the artists you find, collaborate, do shows together, and do things online together, like going live and chatting.

The whole point is to get fans talking about you and with you and other up-and-coming artists your fans like. I have plenty of other articles and videos about how to do just that. If you do this right, you'll probably all grow together and escape algorithmic jail. Everyone will hold hands, and everything will be great. Won't that be wonderful?