You Will Have More Flops Than Hits: Why That Should Free Your Music Career
If you sit down in your studio with the sole intention of crafting a chart-topping hit, you are almost guaranteed to fail.
Hits—whether they are dancefloor anthems, radio staples, or viral TikTok moments—rarely happen by force. They happen organically. Sometimes a track takes off purely by chance; other times, it takes a push of promotion. But after three decades in the music industry, releasing between 300 and 400 tracks across house, ambient, hip-hop, and disco, I can tell you one absolute truth:
99% of what you make will flop. And that is the best news you’ll hear all day.
Understanding this reality isn't discouraging—it's liberating. Here is why accepting the "flop ratio" will free your creative process, keep you making music for decades, and ultimately build your success.
The Reality Check: 30 Years, 400 Tracks, a Handful of Hits
When you look at a musician's career from the outside, it's easy to see only the highlights. But if you open up my vinyl crate, the picture looks very different. Out of dozens of physical releases since the 1990s and hundreds of digital releases, only a small fraction ever charted or made money.
The 1990s: Releasing under the alias Boy Wunda on Manifesto Records, I hit #1 on the Radio 1 Club Charts and landed at #7 on the official UK Pop Chart, earning a spot on Top of the Pops.
The 2000s: In 2002, a remix under my Soul Glow project hit #1 on the Radio 1 Cool Cuts Countdown.
The 2010s: Fast-forward another 13 years—filled with releases that did nothing—before landing a successful vinyl and MP3 release on the Masterworks Bag of Tricks compilation in 2015, followed by a string of top-10 releases on Juno Download and Traxsource.
What happened to the rest of those 300+ tracks?
They flopped. Plain and simple, Some got plays from DJ,s of course and were well received by many who heard them, but they werent top ten hits or spotify anthems.
In the physical era, I pressed hundreds of white-label vinyl records, spent money on distribution and couriers, lost money, and eventually threw unsold inventory directly into a skip. In the digital era, dozens of tracks just cruised through with minimal downloads and limited streams and the odd playlist exposure.
Did that stop me? Never.
Why? Because the goal was never just to chase hits. For me it is always about expression and trying a variety of different styles.
Making Music for the Sheer Joy vs. Chasing Stardom
If your ultimate goal is to become a global superstar, making music is only a fraction of the job. Stardom is about image, networking, playing specific gigs, hanging out in the right areas of a specific musical genre and leveraging industry connections.
But if you are in this for the sheer joy of creativity, the dynamic shifts completely.
The Trap: Sitting on a finished track for months because you're terrified it's not "perfect," or dreading that people will laugh at you if it fails to get streams.
The Mindset Shift: Focus on continuity and consistency. You don't release music to make a massive splash every time; you release music to maintain momentum and honor your creative output.
When you remove the pressure of every release having to "go big," you give yourself permission to experiment. Lately, I've shifted from house and disco to producing an instrumental hip-hop album—a breath of fresh air that has given me a brand-new lease on creative life.
How Consistency Breaks Through the Noise
People often ask how those few chart-topping tracks actually happened if the vast majority flopped. The answer is simple: Consistency created the opportunities.
During the mid-2010s disco edit boom, I didn't sit around waiting for a mega-label to call. I just consistently put tracks out. Because I was active in the scene, other producers and independent label heads started noticing. That led to collaborative EPs, compilation features, and eventually #1 chart placements on Juno and Traxsource.
If you are waiting for a major label like to notice your first three tracks, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Instead:
Target Small Independent Labels: Reach out to niche, independent labels in your specific subgenre (whether that's Hard House, Trance, or Lo-Fi Hip-Hop). Smaller labels actually listen to demo submissions and are willing to build with you.
Collaborate & Join EPs: Many of my best-performing releases were group efforts—multi-artist EPs or compilations where collective promotion elevated everyone involved.
Do Simple Self-Promotion: Put your music out, post a short preview on social media, build a YouTube video around it, share it with niche communities, and move on to the next project. In this day and age people want to see real physical action and not just artwork of your latest reelase. They are already fatiqued with AI slop and therefore want to see and hear what artists are doing.
Stop Sitting on Your Music: The Danger of "Perfection"
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for music producers is the fear of finishing.
I can listen to tracks I released 10 years ago and immediately pick out mix errors, balance issues, or arrangement flaws. It doesn't matter. If you wait until a track is 100% perfect, you will never release anything.
When you have pushed a track as far as your current skill level allows, put it out.
If it gets plays and chart placements? Fantastic.
If it gets zero streams and disappears into the void? Keep going.
Every track you finish and release makes you a better producer for the next track. The pursuit of creativity is about the chase and the drive to improve, not the final vanity metrics.
Final Thoughts
You will have more flops than hits. Accept it, embrace it, and let it take the pressure off your shoulders.
Stop worrying about whether your next release is going to make you famous. Focus on consistency, connect with small independent communities, release your work when it's done, and keep creating for the love of the process. That 1% that takes off will make the entire journey worth it.
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR ? ITS LATE ENOUGH ALREADY.
RELEASE, RELEASE, RELEASE.
WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE?
Comments