{"id":16042,"date":"2021-04-23T21:26:09","date_gmt":"2021-04-24T01:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=16042"},"modified":"2026-01-14T15:17:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T20:17:36","slug":"finding-audience-for-genreless-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/finding-audience-for-genreless-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding an audience for your music when it’s genreless, niche, or cross-over"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Illustration:<\/strong> Franco \u00c9galit\u00e9<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many more microgenres will we create until we give up and call it all music?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s musicians and listeners are largely ready for a genre-fluid world, as indicated by creative output and listening habits. However, it will take some time for even the most nimble members of the supply chain to catch up to the artists and fans at each end. With various interests at play, decision makers continue to rely on genre categorization for organization, distribution, and discovery mechanisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the tides change (albeit slowly), here are some ways you can increase the discoverability of your music today, whether you\u2019re making hyper niche or genreless art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no escaping categorization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your niche is the area in which you\u2019re especially skilled. A niche market is a group of people who share a specific taste or interest. If you\u2019re best at creating pop music, that\u2019s your niche. Yet, we as an industry tend to use \u201cniche\u201d to describe styles outside of the cultural norm or what\u2019s popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In music, we use the term \u201csubgenre\u201d to describe specific styles within broader genres of music defined by instrumentation, BPM, process, societal relevance, and more (i.e. pop-punk, UK garage, trap, etc.). We\u2019ve nuanced genres so much, to the point where we began creating microgenres<\/a> in the 1970s: think hyperpop, grindcore, gigicore, vaporwave, lowercase, cloud rap,<\/a> bassline, witch house, cute metal, Simposonwave, flolktronica\u2014the list goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With increased access to music creation tools, artists are developing new niches all the time. When they combine predefined styles to create something new, we generate a new label for it and call it niche. It\u2019s like how NYC leasing agents turn a city block into a neighborhood (\u201cEast Williamsburg?\u201d A newly invented thing). It becomes something new to talk about and to brand\u2014to commoditize and to market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As emerging creators stretch and break creative bounds, we\u2019ll continue to assign made-up names to these newly invented styles. Meanwhile, listeners will continue to broaden and diversify their tastes and habits, and the powers at be will be chasing the trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people are hungry for something different<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Media outlets have a tendency to relate niche music to small but loyal fanbases. We use terms like \u201ccult-like following\u201d to describe them. However, if you think about subgenres like trap, emo rock, hyperpop, and folk,<\/a> they\u2019ve all reached mainstream status at some point. This begs the question: can art be niche if it has mass appeal?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the artists with power behind them continue to rise to the top. The ones on major labels with the biggest budgets, strongest ties, and invasive marketing campaigns get the most radio plays and press coverage, leading to chart-topping, terrestrial radio success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there’s a shift happening. The internet\u2014specifically with social media and platforms like Bandcamp and SoundCloud\u2014allows artists to connect with the people looking for something different. And that group of people seems to be growing exponentially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although there’s more music available than ever at the click of a button, there are also more people looking for what you\u2019ve created. The trick is to optimize your projects on the admin side (after creating them) so that your future fans can find them (or, to hire the right people to do so for you).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with genres<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Genre categorizations can be stifling, binary, and exclusionary. On the flip side, they\u2019re also a helpful organizational tool for the platforms that serve as creation and discovery mechanisms. The organizations that have historically indicated success by boardroom standards (sales, streams, awards, accolades, etc.) also lean on them heavily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is less about the fact that genres exist and more that artists have little control over how their music is labeled and discovered, and therefore perceived. They can tell their own story, but without control of the context, they can\u2019t form their full narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We saw Billboard knock Lil Nas X\u2019s \u201cOld Town Road\u201d off the country charts. It\u2019s a song that blurred genre lines, employing traditional country music elements and iconography along with a Nine Inch Nails sample, rapping, and singing. Lil Nas X himself tagged the song as country in its initial metadata and publicly described it as \u201ccountry-trap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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