Stick it to ‘em: How to make your music more sticky

What makes a song get stuck in your head?

Is it the beat, the lyrics, the way it fits into an album? These factors and many more are what make a song “sticky” or not, and WordPlay T. Jay is looking at ways to make sticky happen.

Stickiness is defined by Malcolm Gladwell in “The Tipping Point” as “the quality that compels people to pay close, sustained attention to a product, concept or idea.”

For his music and advice channel, T. Jay aims to make all his content as sticky as possible, so what things can help?

First, let’s take a look at things not to do. The anti-stick list includes:

• Long songs — keep them 3 minutes or less

• Choppy music — songs with no flow or connectivity

• Friends and family sharing — this is fine, but we don’t get most of our music recommendations from friends and family, so it’s less sticky than shares from strangers or acquaintances

• Emotionless — like you can’t connect to it

• Preachy — telling others how to live or do things

• Quickly skipped — If your song is quickly and frequently skipped on streaming services, it’s not sticky enough!

Now that we know what doesn’t work, what does?

• 3-minute songs — this is the sweet-spot for music attention spans

• Catchy hooks — get people into it

• Memorable music — take people on a journey with your instrumentals or lyrics

• People telling distant friends — this is how most music is successfully shared

• Great music — don’t do average things, instead, elevate your product

• Emotional/relatable — people like music they can relate to

• Get saves or thumbs up

If you are not already, join Apple Music for Artists and Spotify Music for Artists to see trends in listening, then use that data when crafting music.

Look for things like your save rates, thumbs up or playlist adds. These things show engagement in your listeners.

When you get a song with a high save rate, thumbs up or playlist adds, study that song and try to artistically replicate the things that make it sticky.

For more on making your music sticky, check out the video below.

WordPlay T. Jay is a hip-hop artist and producer from Little Rock, Ark., focused on making music for the underdog. He started his YouTube music advice channel because he wanted people to have information about the music business as he learns it, allowing them to apply tips and tricks for success.