How to make 2026 the best year of your music producer career

We always want the next year to be better than the current one, but sometimes we don’t actively pursue that and just let the next year arrive without doing anything about it.

So, this is how you prepare for 2026 as a musician and how you can make 2026 the best year of your music career:

4 THOUGHTS FROM ME

1. Start planning 2026 right now.

Your 2026 has already begun, especially if you’re planning to release anything in January. Therefore

1. Stop thinking about 2025. At this point, it’s better to just focus on 2026 than to try to push songs to be released in 2025;
2. Start and finish more music. To make it the best year, set yourself up to release the most music you can, and for that, you’ll need to start and finish more music. Make it happen;
3. Set a production weekly quota. Discover how long it takes you to finish a song, and set a production time quota that allows you to finish at least one song per month. You can track this time with Toggl.com;
4. Batch tasks to build momentum. Batching activities together makes you more efficient, and can also create momentum and flow in these activities;
5. Work on multiple projects at the same time. This way, whenever you run out of ideas in one, you can move to another to always keep on working;
6. Collaborate more. It’s an amazing way to make songs faster, and also end up with possibly a better song than if you did it alone.

2. Focus on what makes you happy in music.

To make sure 2026 is the best year, make sure you’re happy and motivated while making music, otherwise, you can quickly fall off track. So:

1. Drop any projects that are currently draining you. If there’s any song that you’re just dreading finishing, drop it, or come back to it later;
2. Do what you love, and outsource what you hate. Do you hate marketing, but know you need it? Pay someone to do it for you. This way, you keep making what you love while not being drained by what you hate;
3. Schedule “play sessions”. This can increase your fun time, which is crucial for you to be motivated for when you’re producing a song you want to release;
4. Build creative rituals that get you inspired. Create a playlist with songs that inspire you; Repeat the rituals that previously got you in the zone. This can bring momentum and trigger inspiration on the go;
5. Jam with a friend. Have fun with a friend without any expectations, which can be really fun and eventually breed amazing ideas for you to work on together;
6. Don’t put your happiness in the label’s hands. Stop thinking about labels when producing your songs, and this will take the pressure away from making your music, which makes it more fun and less like “work”.

3. Push your creative boundaries and experiment boldly.

Making 2026 your best year depends on you expanding your creative and technical skills to make better and more unique music, so:

1. Find the three themes you love the most in your songs. Find three vibes that you like the most and that you feel you connect better with, and focus on them, as this can increase your flow state when producing. In addition, stop making music in the vibes or themes that keep you stuck;
2. Find 5-10 sounds that relate to your favorite themes. Look for sounds that relate to your favorite themes and turn them your signature sounds. If possible, do the same for visuals so everything is consistent across your music and brand.
3. Use AI to help you make better ideas. Instead of just trying to create out of your head, use AI to help you expand on your ideas and make them even better;
4. Work with a vocalist. Vocal songs tend to resonate more with people, and can be an amazing learning experience for you. Use AI to create something to guide you, and then replace it with a real vocalist if you can;
5. Reimagine your current genre. Add a twist to your current genre, or merge it with another genre, exploring new elements that you can add to it or ways you can change it to make it more unique, as that’s a way to make your music more memorable.

4. Diversify your release and promotion strategies.

In addition to pumping out more music, actively pursue ways to make your music reach new crowds. So:

1. Set an ideal release schedule for your year. How often do you want to release? Divide this by the number of months, and you’ll know how often you need to release songs. Now, schedule your songs to make your schedule more consistent;
2. List your target labels and find the proper way to send them demos. Don’t just look for labels when you finish a song. Make a list of labels to pursue and their emails, so you can be more efficient when submitting your songs;
3. List your ideal Spotify playlists that you’ll send your songs to. Same with labels, this avoids the repetition of having to search for playlists every time you have a new song. Use Isitagoodplaylist or Songstats for this.
4. Pitch your music beyond Spotify. Find YouTube channels that promote music or DJs that do live sets to send your songs, magazines to make stories about you, as they can often make better pieces of content for you;
5. Track and adapt according to your results. As you go releasing, adapt your strategy to maximize your results and bring you closer to your goals.
   Stop doing what is not working, but also make sure to look inward to see if it’s anything you can fix. You can read more ways to better promote your music here.

1 QUESTION FOR YOU

What questions should you ask yourself throughout the year to stay aligned with making 2026 the best it can be?

1. “Is my music improving with each release?”.
Make sure that with every song, your quality improves. If not, it’s time to take a step back to avoid just ‘making another song’

2. “Am I still having fun making music?”
The moment you stop having fun with music, it will feel like “work” and you will lose your motivation. So, it’s important to make sure to always have fun with it, and you can read more about it here.

3. “Am I exploring new creative ideas or stuck in the same routine?”
Listen to podcasts in your genre that feature songs that challenge you and your creativity, helping it evolve so you don’t fall into a creative ‘comfort zone’ and just make the same thing over and over.

4. “Am I happy with how this year is going?”
Every 3 months, ask yourself this question. If the answer is NO, adapt what you’re doing so you can quickly redirect it to make a year you’re proud of