Is Your Song Good Enough?

Hold your horses!

Before we dive into marketing your music, let's address the elephant in the room: having the right music to promote.

I get why musicians skip this part. I did the same thing, and honestly, I still do it sometimes. Deep down, I was terrified my music wasn't good enough, and having an outsider confirm my worst fears would have crushed me.

But here's the truth: without feedback, you'll never grow. You need to start thinking of your music career as managing a business, and that makes your music your product.

No matter how good your marketing is, if your music isn't there yet, you will struggle to grow at the pace you want.

Estimate a song's potential before you spend on it

Not every song you create will be a hit, and even the greatest artists have songs that don't receive a massive response.

But if you estimate the potential of a song before releasing it, you can decide how much money, time, and effort to invest in promoting it. One hit song can lift your whole catalog.

You need feedback from 2 main sources:

1. Professional feedback, from other musicians, producers, and industry people who can give constructive criticism.
2. Audience feedback, from sharing snippets of your song in reels and stories and watching how people react.

Both matter. A professional might tell you your song sounds flawless even if your audience doesn't connect with it, and your audience might love a song that isn't fully polished technically.

Ask for specific feedback

The more specific you are about the feedback you seek, the more useful it will be.

"Cool song, bro" teaches you nothing. "Cut the trumpets below 300 Hz so the bass guitar stands out in the third chorus" gives you something you can act on today.

Based on the average reaction, you can sort the song into one of 3 levels.

Amazing reaction (9-10)

Let's say you posted snippets on TikTok and they immediately took off with thousands of supportive comments. Or you shared the song with 20 people and most of them came back very positive.

That's when you know you've struck gold. The worst thing you could do now is release the song without a marketing plan. A song has a limited window to get added to algorithmic playlists, and if you don't plan the first month right, you lose momentum you can never get back.

Average reaction (6-8)

You have 2 good options here.

Option 1: release it as part of an album. Even the biggest artists have songs most fans don't know exist. Promote the strongest songs, and the album carries the rest. The Beatles never promoted "Revolution 9" individually, and it still gathers millions of streams every year because it sits inside one of their most popular albums.

Option 2: focus on connecting with your audience. When your music resonates with listeners, they become forgiving of your less-than-stellar songs and support everything you release.

Poor reaction (0-5)

Don't spend a penny on promoting a below-average song. Instead of investing hours into content to push it, spend that time gathering more feedback and improving your skills.

If you still want the song out in the world, upload it to a free platform like SoundCloud and keep learning from the reactions, without paying for distribution and promotion.

And please, don't take bad feedback personally. Use it as a tool to grow. Also, don't rely only on your own opinion or on close friends. You need someone who can give you the hard truth.