If you’re a reader of my articles (or a client), you know that I’ve been coining a phrase that can completely reshape your understanding of how to be successful in music:
10% = 100X.
And what does that exactly mean?
Essentially, the idea is that when you’re writing a song, creating a production, finalizing a mix—whatever it might be—just by going above and beyond and leveling up your song by 10% in quality, you have the potential to 100X the results.
Doubt me? Just think of it. There’s a whole vast sea of mediocrity out there. And not just mediocrity. Actually, a lot of releases are “really good music.” But that’s the problem. There’s a huge release schedule of “really good” music that happens daily. That’s right—there are probably 200,000 “really good” songs out of the 750,000 that were released this week, including those from the majors.
Songs released weekly
But what if your song was just 10% better than that vast ocean? That small margin could be the key to how to be successful in music when everyone else is merely “really good.”
Could just “10% better” garner one additional playlist? Could this playlist trigger others? Could 10% better spawn or inspire that key and pivotal TikTok that starts a whole trend? Could just 10% better get 10% more listeners that can compound and exponentiate week after week? Could 10% better get that one key YouTube distribution channel upload whereby the rest of the channels and influencers follow?
Note: This actually happened to me on one of our releases. We got one massive channel, and the rest followed like dominoes.
10% = 100X
So, hell yes! The 10% better is the signal and new level for you to stand out.
I implore you to read further about this crucial epiphany in your approach to music. Note: It’s actually way more than 100X. I did some back-of-the-envelope math, and 10% better can in theory result in 16,420% more results, or 165X. This includes if you actually want to sell your catalog or song at some point! Read the article here to get the full breakdown.
Yes! Just 10% extra effort, love, creativity, originality, grit, risk, going above and beyond can be LIFE-CHANGING.
That is what this post is about. This simple shift in mindset could completely transform how to be successful in music and life. In fact, in this article, I’m including a free download of my 10% Intention Worksheet. Download it through the widget to the right.
“It can. It must. It will!”
The idea is that you want to pick three things you want to achieve, be it as a goal this quarter, this month, this week, or whatever it might be. It can be career-based or personal (like maybe a health goal).
First step: What’s that outcome that you want to make happen? Is it 1 million streams on your new release, or 100 million? Is it losing 5 lbs? Is it having a successful live tour with rave reviews? Whatever it is, write it down here as far as the intention/goal.
Second step: Write down 10 extra items and action points you could do that go above and beyond your “normal” efforts. Think of each of those answers as being an extra 1% contributing to your 10% overall additional effort.
Now, 1% for each of those lines might not seem much. But we’re going to do this 10 times in this exercise—for an added 10% increase of going above and beyond the “normal” excellent work you would normally do!
This exact mindset is key if you want to truly understand how to be successful in music—or in any creative pursuit.
Actually, Seth Godin said this best in his blog post “Hardly Worth the Effort.” Here, Seth expounds that the last 10%, the last 5%, or hell yeah, the last 1% of effort on whatever you’re doing is actually what you get paid for. Why? Because everyone else is already busy doing the 90 percent. And that’s where most people stop thinking “it’s good enough.”
Seth Godin
You see, you NEED to be that outlier—going the extra distance and showing up in this way and standing out.
Think of this another way. When you think your song, your action plan, your efforts are complete, what if in reality, it was only 70%, 80%, or 90% done?
Upshift and put in the extra 10%, and just see if everything can change.
This is also how the biggest and most consistent hit-makers operate. They’re looking at and overturning every stone.
What could this look like in a practical example? I’m glad you asked! I’m actually going to take a personal and real-life example that’s happening in my world right now—with a new artist we’ve signed that we want to break.
We already have a plan with about 70 action steps. You can actually get that plan right here via The DIY Label Release Plan.
The DIY Label Release Plan
But what if there are 10 other things specific to this artist that we can do that go above and beyond that? Especially as things change so quickly in getting traction for music releases.
Essentially—leaving no stone unturned. This is one of the clearest real-world examples of how to be successful in music: relentlessly pushing beyond the standard checklist and doing what others won’t.
Let us take a look.
Goal/Outcome #1: Break Our New Artist on the Label and Publishing Front
- Research, onboard, and try out top AI tools to help with on-brand asset creation, social media spending, etc. Check out the full article here.
- Ask five people I trust about new DSP editorial contacts and if they’d help make an introduction.
- Set up remarketing campaigns targeting fans who have visited the artist’s YouTube channel or Instagram in the last three months.
- Ask all friends and colleagues to support on social media and to check out the song on release day (this is uncomfortable to ask a favor, but this is also what this post is about…going above and beyond, even if it’s uncomfortable).
- Connect with power Reddit users to help promote on subreddits. More on a Reddit marketing strategy here.
- Do a remix contest?
- Do a campaign for slowed-down and high-speed versions.
That’s a lot of versions
- Push for sync campaign features with my contacts.
- Do a cold email sync campaign to new music supervisors.
- Set up separate ad campaigns targeting only major metropolitan cities instead of “USA.”
- Set up a duet TikTok campaign.
- Look for and reach out to potential remixers who are up and coming and/or featured artists for new songs or collaborations.
In this way, I really need to exhaust all possible ideas worthy of exploring. I need to overturn every stone here so that at the end of this release—if we have a breakout success or just an OK result—either way, I’ll not have any regrets knowing we did all that we could.
Then, maybe through these new ideas, we can see if any of the 1% or collectively small actions yielded results.
Move the needle
In summary, if you believe there’s merit in the 10% = 100X principle and you’re going all the way in creating your work of art…why stop there? We all need to go all the way in every aspect.
In that way, we make our success unavoidable. This philosophy—executed consistently—is at the heart of how to be successful in music, especially in a landscape saturated with talented but complacent artists. And at the very least, knowing we did absolutely everything we could do and investing in ourselves.
Do this again and again and again—you’re manifesting a completely new universe for you, your results, and your success. Not just for you, but everyone in your circle.
Let us get that 10%, again and again and again.
Sources:
Joi Ito, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
