You’ve put in countless hours and energy pursuing your dream of being a hit recording artist… and no one seems to notice. All your hard work sometimes seems like it’s going no where. Yet, you see other artists getting attention and making waves. What are you doing wrong?

First, don’t get discouraged. Striving to get noticed is a common experience for music makers, and standing out is difficult in a world of stiff competition seemingly driven by quick hits and social media “viral explosions.” In the past, artists only had success if they had the right connections (ie- agents, managers, attorneys) who could get them in front of label executives and big-company publishers. But good news! Those days are no more. Unsigned artists have more opportunities than ever to cause a stir, get noticed, and turn their musical content into revenue.

If you have what it takes, the creativity, work ethic, charisma, and drive to succeed, then all you lack is a little bit of know-how. Here are 4 ideas you can use to elevate your game and get noticed:

1. Keep Writing and Make the Song Hot!

So many artists settle for mediocrity when it comes to songwriting. This is the number one weakness that keeps artists from success. The song is king. Does your song have a compelling idea behind it? Emotional? Inspiring? Does its theme or story capture the imagination of listeners? Is the beat contagious? Does the melodic hook get stuck in your head? These are questions you must ask when creating the music itself. And settle for nothing less than the best.

2. Become an Expert at Social Media

Like it or not, in today’s music industry, discoveries are being made more and more via social media (especially Tik Tok!). The days of getting your demo to a label executive and getting signed are long gone. Nowadays, the labels are scouring over data and looking on the social media platforms for signs of viral hits. You must learn to engage in these forums with your music, images and messages. If you don’t get the viral action overnight, keep trying. The more you do this, even if you don’t get immediate attention, your efforts will help you in the next item…

3. Build Your Own Fan Base

Focus on the people. Fans who are reacting to your music on social media, as they grow into greater numbers, can really get the attention of music industry professionals. And once you grow these numbers on your own social media platforms such as Tik Tok, Instagram and YouTube, you have a channel through which to feed new content to fans who have already expressed an interest in your music (because they are already following you). Connecting with and regularly communicating interesting things with fans online is one of the most valuable skills an artist can have, and it will pay dividends throughout an artist’s career.

4. Create a Strong Artist Brand

Your name, image and logo are essential to fans identifying you as an artist. Think about building consistent imaging in the form of quality photographs, brand logo, and consistent fonts for everything representing you online and in social media. If possible, find the single most iconic shot of you as an artist, and use it everywhere you can. This helps build familiarity for fans who are discovering you and will assist them in finding out more about you.