Hey guys,

I've been making music for about 10 months or so, but I hit a sort of brick wall at like 45 followers..
My songs all tend to get a similar amount of plays (between 100 and 400) and never really go beyond there.

My brother makes music and so does his best friend (they convinced me to start too), we're a very musical family (even my parents are in a band )
so I often ask his friends for tips on breaking the ice with regards to that stuff (you may recognize ORACLES and his other friend Attom), but they just said try to promote your tracks and stuff, cause they thought my music was already cool. So I said okay then I tried that. I didn't get very far. I'm here now. What advice do you guys have?...

PS: as a side note, you can listen to my music and if you think it's crap and that's the reason I hit the wall I did then PLEASE tell me my music is bad, otherwise I'm just gonna sit here scratching my head over something that's obvious from a distance that no one was up front enough to tell me. If it's bad I need to know XD

- Vera

Thanks for the response man,

I appreciate your compliments and I guess I should just keep at it. I think as both a drummer and a pianist I'm probably a little more on the theory side of things than being technically skilled with the program, so as a result of that the mixing won't really be as great. I suppose that all comes with experience. Maybe if I get enough experience my brothers friend can help me out with a repost

As much annoying as it could sound, producer/dj nowadays also has to be manager, visual artist, blogger and tons of other professions  (at least in the beginning)

If you feel like your music can attract people, you should encourage yourself and start to learn a bit of a marketing - there are tons of youtube videos (balancing with quality) about "selling yourself" as an artist, this should at least give you some basic understanding.

More than that it's just about opening the doors that nobody openned before you = you need to find unique way of how to get heard, not only sitting on soundcloud. This path is full of tries and fails and YOU need to discover one path that suits you best.
Few examples of original breakthrough:
myspace.com - Justice, Skrillex (closed door nowadays  )
showing unique content on youtube - Madeon (Pop Culture made him widely known)
Reddit - (I think) was a place that helped KRNE
Create unique-style remixes - Kygo

Or just put a mask on and create this "mysterious artist" persona 

As you can see, nobody followed one formula how to reach so many people, they had to open unused "doors" to success

Don't use the internet as a measurement, unless you're actively spouting out to labels or blogs.

You need to make the connections through playing live shows, meeting folks who can get you to meet more folks, and having a good brand image and philosophy.

I only started to get anywhere a few years after producing music. After fully dedicating to it over a long period of time, it sort of becomes a part of who you are. That is what's driven me so far, I think the key is that you genuinely need to care about what you're doing and you need put a lot of love into your music. Once you do that, you'll start to see results. Focusing on results themselves is pointless! Focus on what makes those results happen.. keep pushing yourself to learn more about what you're doing, and keep pushing yourself to love what you're doing!

Here's a very brief overview of my relationship with music over the past few years as I've gained more experience:

Before I started Ninth Parallel, I was making terrible music under an alias (I won't reveal), and all of the songs I uploaded would get less plays than the numbers you stated in your opening post. Something traumatic happened in my life and music was the only thing I could confide in, and I began to grow an extremely close bond to the creative process (this was after two years of producing). Each time I go through something traumatic in my life, the first thing I do is believe music will be my way out and to a better life. I always trust that my music will help me become a better person - anyways the first song I released under Ninth Parallel after my first existential crisis, called 'Reentry', got thousands of plays and I was so shocked! And I knew that I was finally making music that deserved any attention in the first place.

While my perception of music has completely changed ever since I wrote Reentry, and music is much more meaningful and influential in my life, I still learned a lot in that initial period of time. It's been a few more years and now I've achieved dreams I never thought I'd be able to achieve. The most important thing about this though is to let your goals keep evolving. I've played shows with Madeon and had an official remix for Porter Robinson but those things are in the past now. The ideas and goals I have now are so much more vibrant. You just need to dedicate yourself to your craft and put your entire being into what you do.

If you're unhappy with your current progression as a producer, or your lack of interesting ideas, you are obligated to push through that if you want to get better. Make this your goal. Once you achieve this goal there will be other, more daunting goals, but each one you conquer will make you stronger and more fit to keep breaking down those walls. Always push yourself to keep learning!