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Overnight Success Is Very Rare in Music — And There’s Data to Prove It
Music business success takes time, data shows. A report from Chartmetric shows the long odds of going from undiscovered to mainstream in one leap.
Chartmetric created its proprietary Career Stages categories by taking into account artists’ performance across streaming services, social media platforms and radio airplay. Those rare instances grab headlines and feed the narrative that technology has eroded traditional gatekeepers’ powers and democratized access to audiences. Just as economic mobility characterizes the “American dream,” the idea that a person can strive to achieve a better life, the great hope of the modern music business is that artists can make a living on streaming royalties.
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