Independent musicians are bombarded with numbers—streams, followers, likes, monthly listeners. But here’s the truth: most of these numbers don’t matter. Not in the way you think they do.
If you’re obsessing over Spotify monthly listeners, you’re likely playing a game with rules you didn’t write. Worse, you might be measuring success in a way that has nothing to do with the kind of artist you actually want to be.
Let’s talk about the numbers that matter, the concept of “enough,” and how to define your minimum viable audience—so you can focus on building, not just chasing stats.
The Trap of Vanity Metrics
Music platforms, social media, and even industry professionals love to highlight vanity metrics—big, flashy numbers that seem important but don’t tell the full story.
- Spotify Monthly Listeners? Changes daily and is largely outside your control.
- Social Media Followers? An audience you don’t own, dictated by an algorithm that isn’t on your side.
- Viral Hits? Often fleeting, leaving no lasting impact on a sustainable career.
If you’re measuring yourself by these metrics, you’re setting yourself up for frustration. These numbers don’t measure impact. They measure popularity, and “pop-ular” music will always out-stream niche genres. If you want bigger Spotify numbers, stop making jazz and start making pop. But that’s not why you’re here.
Decide What “Enough” Looks Like
Patricia Barber, the legendary Jazz Pianist, sells out The Green Mill in Chicago every Monday night. It’s a 100-seat venue. And that? That’s enough.
The most dangerous trap for an artist is chasing endless growth without defining what success actually looks like. If you don’t decide what enough means for you, you’ll always feel like you’re falling short—no matter how much progress you make.
Ask yourself:
- How many true fans do I need to sustain my work?
- What revenue goal allows me to keep creating full-time?
- What kind of artistic fulfillment am I looking for?
These are the real questions. Not “how do I get my monthly listeners up?” but “how do I build an audience that deeply cares, and has given me explicit permission to connect with them?”
The Metrics That Actually Matter
If you want to build a real, sustainable career as an independent musician, shift your focus to qualitative metrics—the numbers that indicate real connection and longevity.
- Email List Growth: Unlike social media, you own this audience. A list of 5,000 engaged fans is far more valuable than 100,000 passive Instagram followers.
- Direct Fan Engagement: How many people are buying your music, coming to shows, and actually supporting your work?
- Repeat Listeners & Superfans: Are people listening once, or are they coming back? Are they sharing your music with others?
- Sustainable Revenue Streams: Streaming won’t make you rich, but direct-to-fan sales (Bandcamp, Patreon, memberships) might. Track the income that actually supports your work.
You can build a thriving music career with fewer fans than you think—if they truly care about what you do.
Your Minimum Viable Audience
Kevin Kelly’s famous “1,000 True Fans” concept still holds up. You don’t need millions of streams—you need a small, passionate group of superfans who will support you over time.
This means focusing on:
- Building real connections, not chasing faceless numbers.
- Serving a specific audience deeply, rather than appealing to the masses.
- Creating meaningful experiences that turn casual listeners into long-term supporters.
When you stop measuring yourself against mainstream success and start measuring yourself against your own goals, everything changes.
Action: Redefine Your Numbers
- Write down your own definition of success—what does “enough” look like for you?
- Identify three meaningful metrics that actually align with your long-term vision.
- Start tracking those instead—and let go of the numbers that don’t serve you.
Success isn’t about being the biggest. In fact the internet, with it’s infinite shelf space, ensures our culture will continue to struggle coming together over agreed upon “hits” (or “truths” for that matter), so the definition of “big” isn’t what it used to be.
It’s about doing work that matters and being able to do it on your own terms. Define your enough. Own meaningful metrics. Build your art your way.
