If you’re looking to break into the music industry, you might think your main job is making good music. You’d be wrong. In 2026, you’re a content creator, marketing strategist and publicist first – a musician second.
One artist who has been open about these struggles is AKOSIA, a Naarm/Melbourne-based ‘genreless’ artist who does ‘what I want to do when I want to do it’. She recently posted a video on TikTok under @iam.akosia, calling the journey of an Australian artist a ‘continuous climb’ and an ‘uphill battle’.
I spoke with AKOSIA about what that grind actually looks like and why she and other artists feel like they’re both working for and fighting against the algorithm.
‘When we started off as artists… we had this sort of idea that, you know, as long as you work hard, that’s good.’ She recounted the earlier days of social media, when the algorithm was more forgiving. ‘But now the way it works is you’re encouraged to post as much as possible… they still want you to have these incredible visuals. But of course, these visuals cost money, and also I have bills to pay, and I do like to eat.’
Unlike in the past, AKOSIA explained, a follow doesn’t necessarily result in a view. Modern algorithms mostly disregard follows when it comes to curating home feed content. ‘There’s people who I really enjoy their content… I’ll see their content on the home feed and it was posted three days ago.’
The result is an arms race with the algorithm. ‘It really makes artists feel disheartened,’ she says. ‘We’re trying to stay creative and create our visuals. Sometimes we also have to record our vocals or produce… we feel like we’re swimming against an uphill stream. And a lot of artists are not necessarily like me. They don’t want to get in front of the camera and chat.’
