Difference between superstar and unknown artist

[Zanardi1]

Did you ever listen on Spotify or elsewhere to a song that you liked, played by an unknown artist and asked yourself what does the unknown artist lack so as he can also reach superstardome?

I ask myself this question many times and I can't seem to find an appropriate answer.

[Sebasty]

That's a good question, @Zanardi1. 🙂

The immediate answer from me would be this:

the huge label behind the superstar. Choices curated by music industry that often may not care about the goodness or originality of the artist.

Can't forget that majority of users of streaming services tend to be casual listeners. They're the kind that do listen to music, likely every day as well, but they don't go beyond Spotify-curated or algorithm-created playlists. Their musical circle is at the hands of algorithms or curators.

That would mean that while it's possible for lesser-known artists to appear in the playlist and gain more or less traction, it is definitely not certain this will happen to the artist you listened to. Again it's not really about originality, but more about similarity to other content in the playlist or to the listener's tastes, or what the algorithms think the listener should like.

There's more to it, I am sure. : )