Over the weekend, I was wrapping up a Tony Robbins seminar workbook from way back in 1998. And here’s the thing: whether you’re wondering how to get noticed in the music industry or seeking general life guidance, when a program still delivers powerful tools and epiphanies 25 years later, you know you’re looking at something timeless.
One passage in particular resonated with me—and I think it will with you too:
Leaders must create their own vision. The standard you live by is to be OUTSTANDING.
Robbins explained it like this:
Do a good job → you get poor rewards.
Do an excellent job → you get good rewards.
Do an outstanding job → you get all the rewards.
And here’s the kicker: outstanding is just one small notch above excellent.
Tony Robbins.
This isn’t just a motivational soundbite. It’s the reality of how to get noticed in the music industry today. Because in music, just like in life, the rewards are wildly disproportionate at the level of outstanding.
What Outstanding Really Means in Music
If that sounds familiar, it’s because this principle mirrors the modern music business perfectly.
Think about the state of streaming:
The songwriters and artists who push beyond “excellent” into outstanding are the ones who break through.
They’re getting all the rewards.
These are the songs that contain the maximum level of song energy in their song vessel—the kind of undeniable energy that listeners can’t ignore.
These are the artists who lean in and maximally stand for something—heartbreak, joy, rebellion, the dance floor. They’re not vague; they’re visceral.
Importantly, this also applies to their live shows, their social media, and more.
And here’s the truth: most of your peers and competitors are just not doing this. They’re content with “good” or “excellent,” which means they’re earning the corresponding “poor” or “good” rewards.
That’s why so many releases today fall into what I call the Spotify <1 million (or even <1,000) streams purgatory. Good music, but not quite outstanding—so it never escapes the gravitational orbit of “good+” or mediocrity.
The 10% = 100X Rule: How to Get Noticed in the Music Industry
This is where my mantra comes in: 10% = 100X.
If you can make a potentially great song just 10% better, the rewards can compound 100X over.
From my webinar The State of the Music Industry.
For example:
A “really good” song might do 100,000 to 1 million streams. And even these days, especially as a new artist, for a “really good song” that can certainly be a win. But referencing the Tony quote above, if you do a “good job,” you get “poor rewards.” And literally—you’ll be poor. All that effort might not even pay the rent. Impressive, sure, but in the big picture it’s “meh.”
Now let’s say you do an “excellent” job with your song. Not just the writing but everything around it—the marketing, the social media, the live show approach. Now, your “excellent” job is getting “good” rewards. Hey, maybe after one to two years you’re at 5 million Spotify streams. And sure, a high five is in order.
But again, in the big picture, so what?
What are you leaving on the table?
Picture this.
A song that’s just 10% better? That’s the one that blows up. It lands on top playlists, fuels a TikTok trend, gets synced in a hit show, inspires user-generated content—and suddenly you’re looking at hundreds of millions or even billions of streams.
Can you imagine your song on this playlist?
Here’s the wild part if you really extrapolate this out long-term: the math shows that this isn’t just 100X better. That extra 10% of quality can actually deliver 165X more results. That’s the difference between a catalog long-term that might be valued at $125,000 and one worth $20 million.
And it all comes down to what Tony Robbins was talking about: making the leap from excellent to outstanding. It’s the kind of strategic push every artist must understand when figuring out how to get noticed in the music industry.
MrBeast, king of YouTube, also paraphrased this philosophy. In concept it’s easier to get 100 million views on one video than it is to make 10 videos that each get 1 million views each. Why? Because you’re living in the rarefied league of OUTSTANDING. Rewatchable, shareable, inspiring, something unlike any other!
Let me say that again: putting 10% more effort into your creative works on any front doesn’t equal 10% more rewards. It’s exponential upon exponential of that.
Standing Out in a Saturated Market
Here’s just one more story that drives this home. The above was put in the context of an artist—signed to a label or releasing their music independently or DIY. So here’s how to frame this concept for the professional songwriters.
An executive at one of the world’s top K-pop labels told me they get over 1,000 songs a week from professional songwriters.
Now imagine being song No. 999, landing in their inbox at 5:45 p.m. on a Friday.
What must that song sound like to stand apart from the previous 998?
It must be outstanding. Not just excellent—outstanding.
Either as a songwriter or an artist, it’s also likely you must redefine your level of what outstanding is for you. Quite simply, it’s very likely that what you think is a “9/10” is really a “5/10” in the big picture of everything previously mentioned. Sorry, but the good news is that if you agree there’s truth here, there’s something you can do about it.
This is the essence of how to get noticed in the music industry: your work must cut through when decision makers are overwhelmed, tired, and drowning in options.
Or, as I like to say: compete where there is no competition.
@benjamin.groff “Compete where there is no competition.” In places like Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, and London, the volume of professional-level songs made each day is wild. A thousand songs a day, all polished and pitch-ready. And most of them? Really good. But really good is also really common. Everyone is living in the same musical neighborhood: same toplines, same tricks, same ceiling. The fringe is where the magic happens. The left-of-center, slightly what-the-hell-is-this kind of songs. That’s where the juicy, jump-off-the-speakers moments are born. So I’ve been wondering: what happens if you stop renovating the same house and move to another block? More at BenjaminGroff.com. #HowToWriteASong #ProfessionalSongwriter #Songwriter #Songwriting #SongwritingTips ♬ original sound – Benjamin Groff
How to Get Noticed in the Music Industry: Push Your Work Into Outstanding Territory
So how do you actually get there? How do you take your work from excellent to outstanding, from invisible to impossible to ignore?
First of all—as RuPaul once said, “You better work.”
Here are the keys:
Commit to songwriter development. Don’t fall into the trap of endlessly dropping “whatever” songs into the DSP landfill. Ask yourself: are you happy with 50,000 streams, 500,000, or even 5 million? Or can you raise your ceiling? Build a real development plan to tackle your weak spots. Part of your development is having a curriculum—notably standing on the “shoulders of the giants” who have come before you. That means studying the greats and modeling them. Check out my article “The Songwriting Vocabulary Expander.” This is essential—yet no one is doing it.
From my course The Hit Songwriter Accelerator.
Find a guide. Every artist needs what I call an “artist or songwriting sherpa”—a coach, mentor, manager, or publisher who can provide radical honesty and steer you toward growth. No one climbs Everest alone. Do that alone and it’s likely you’ll fall into a crevasse. Don’t try to do this journey solo. Find someone who’s been up and down the mountain many times. They will be invaluable to you. Side note: It’s also why I offer coaching myself.
Did you know I offer coaching to artists and songwriters?
Seek and demand better songs. At the end of the day, songs are your most valuable currency. Don’t settle for “B” material when you could be recording or writing “A+” songs, EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT YOUR OWN. Collaborate widely, flip classics, dig for gold in catalogs, seek out hits from others—do whatever it takes to find undeniable material. Remember—we need OUTSTANDING here to get ALL the rewards.
Refine relentlessly. Don’t stop when you hit 85 to 90% done. Overturn every stone in finding the 1%—even the fractional %—of quality. That extra polish is what transforms a song from good or even great to timeless. It’s also the work that most artists and songwriters are just not doing today. Especially if you look at the “best of the week” playlists—this has unfortunately become the new barometer of quality and the goal to reach—not the timeless hits of the past (even if the past for you is 2010). This is exactly what separates those who know how to get noticed in the music industry from those who remain stuck at “good enough.”
Market with passion. As Ryan Holiday puts it in Perennial Seller, spend as much time, excellence, originality, and love into marketing your songs as you did making them. Don’t see it as “cringe.” See it as serving—giving fans the chance to connect with your art. Your marketing can’t be an afterthought. It has to be a main event in the realm of OUTSTANDING as well. This is how you’ll get ALL the rewards. If you do the standard type of marketing that everyone else is doing, you’ll also get the standard level of rewards.
Apply the 10% = 100X mindset everywhere. Don’t just push for that extra 10% in your music. Do it in your visuals, your TikToks, your live show, your outreach. One effort that’s 10% better than what you already consider to be excellent might just unlock exponential results.
This is the mindset shift. Most people stop at “good enough.” You must be the artist or songwriter who digs deeper, who gets to the very last fraction of potential, who refuses to leave the gold half buried.
Why It Matters Beyond Money
Yes, the financial upside is enormous. But being outstanding pays in ways far beyond royalties:
Career acceleration. One outstanding hit can cut years off your grind. It gets you into the premium rooms, opens doors to collaborations you only dreamed about, and multiplies your opportunities. With a hit, a perennial new classic song, or a cultural moment taking off—everyone will want a piece of you.
Artistic legacy. Outstanding songs are the ones that still get played 20 years later. They’re the ones listeners pass down like heirlooms. They’re the ones where you walk into the room at the ASCAP or BMI Awards and everyone notices that you’re there.
Joy and fulfillment. There’s nothing like knowing you gave everything to your craft—that you didn’t stop at excellent but chased outstanding and actually got there.
That’s priceless.
Final Word: How to Get Noticed in the Music Industry
Tony Robbins was right: outstanding gets all the rewards.
If you’ve been asking yourself how to get noticed in the music industry, the answer isn’t dropping more songs, chasing trends, or hoping for luck. It’s about making the leap from excellent to outstanding.
Because in today’s world, where 1 million songs drop every week, the most valuable territory is that extra notch above.
Nigel Tufnel.
That’s where the disproportionate rewards live. That’s where careers are built. That’s where songs become timeless.
So the next time you finish a track, ask yourself:
Does this song contain the maximum level of song energy in its song vessel? Does it stand for something so strongly it can’t be ignored? Is it merely excellent—or is it truly outstanding?
Your future depends on that answer.
Credits:
Gustavo.medina.neto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
