99% of Artists Struggle to Make It to Mid-Level, Let Alone Become Mainstream or Superstars, Study Reveals
Chartmetric, the platform advancing music through data insights, recently presented its Inaugural Year in Music report with the stats and sounds of music in 2023. Tracking over 9.7 million artists, Chartmetric’s report tackles questions posed by the music industry with a focus on artist development, providing an overview of the social and streaming ecosystem.
They’ve leveraged lots of data in the report and come up with several insights — from the top countries that bring more new artists to gender imbalance among artists and which pronouns they use, but we wanted to pay special attention to this — musicians’ career stages and how complicated (or sometimes impossible) it is to make it in the music industry.
Artists struggle to make it even to the Mid-Level category, let alone Mainstream & Superstar
According to Chartmetric, “Artists are ranked by their Chartmetric artist score, an aggregate of various measures of success across different platforms. Based on their Chartmetric artist rank, they are assigned a Career Stage.” These Career Stages include Legendary (artists with a lasting legacy and music releases that are over 30 years old), Superstar (artists who are widely popular and influential in the industry), Mainstream (musicians who have a notable impact and consistent success across various platforms), Mid-Level (artists with growing influence), Developing (up-and-coming musicians), and Undiscovered (artists new to the music scene yet to establish a consistent audience and online presence).
The music industry has always been highly competitive, with countless musicians vying for attention and recognition. This saturation makes it difficult for new artists to break through and gain visibility. Building a fanbase and promoting music requires effective marketing strategies and substantial investment of time and resources, and many talented aspiring musicians struggle to gain exposure due to limited marketing budgets or lack of knowledge about promotional techniques. Like many industries, success in music often depends on who you know — building relationships with industry insiders, producers, agents, and record label executives, can be crucial for advancing one’s career.
So, according to the report, 99.9% of the artists added to Chartmetric in 2023 ended the year in the Undiscovered and Developing categories, while the remaining 0.1% were labeled as Mid-Level, Mainstream, or Superstar. What’s more, twice as many Developing artists (0.5%) not only failed to advance to the Mid-Level category but regressed back to Undiscovered status, in contrast to those who ascended to Mainstream or Superstar levels.
Nonetheless, 12.2% of these artists successfully advanced to the Mid-Level category. Furthermore, 54.5% of the Mid-Level category managed to elevate their status by one tier, entering the Mainstream category. The takeaway? Artists who succeed in building a devoted fanbase lay a strong foundation for expanding their audience even more.
TikTok is what might give emerging indie artists this foundation. And now, there’s probably the best time for independent musicians to enter it. After Universal Music Group started removing its music from TikTok, a big niche for smaller artists appeared, making it easier to get attention from users and TikTok creators — Taylor’s, The Weeknd’s, Drake’s, and millions of other songs aren’t there anymore.
💡TikTok vs. UMG public beef: What does it mean for musicians and content creators?
Though it can’t solely contribute to a musician’s success, interacting with an artist’s music on TikTok often has a direct impact on their streaming numbers. Take, for example, the track “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” by HitKidd and GloRilla, which saw a surge in popularity as a viral challenge on TikTok months after its release. Despite the trend eventually fading, HitKidd experienced sustained growth in their solo projects in the months following the viral success.
Another illustration is RAYE. Following the release of her single “Escapism,” RAYE witnessed a significant surge in global popularity after a user-generated remix gained viral traction on TikTok. With RAYE’s official endorsement, the remix garnered widespread attention and was subsequently released as an official version. This move resulted in increased traction both on and off the platform for both the original and remixed versions of the song. Consequently, RAYE achieved a successful debut album launch titled “My 21st Century Blues” in February 2023. Shortly after, “Escapism” by RAYE secured the eighth position on Billboard’s Global 200 chart during its release week.
