How To Set Better Goals As a Musician In 2025

2024 is finally a thing of the past! It’s been a long year, but it’s time to start looking towards the future. As a musician, it’s important to set goals for your career and create a plan to make them happen. From learning new skills and getting more followers to earning more money and booking more gigs, setting clear goals is the key to seeing your dreams come to life. Here’s how to set better goals for the new year…

How To Set Better Goals As A Musician in 2025

Reflect on Your Wins and Challenges from 2024

Before setting new goals, take some time to reflect on the past year. What were your biggest accomplishments? What challenges did you face? By analyzing what worked and what didn’t, you can approach 2025 with greater clarity and purpose. For example, if a particular marketing strategy helped you grow your fanbase, consider doubling down on it in 2025. If a project didn’t pan out as expected, reflect on what you learned and how you can pivot moving forward.

That being said, a great way to ensure your goals are clear and achievable is by following the S.M.A.R.T. framework.

Let’s talk S.M.A.R.T.

When it comes to goal setting, many pros around the world use the S.M.A.R.T. method. Created back in 1981, S.M.A.R.T is an acronym that helps you create specific criteria for your goals to help improve the chances of their success.

What does it stand for?

S – Specific

M – Measurable 

A – Achievable

R – Realistic

T – Timed 

How to use the S.M.A.R.T Method:

When it comes to your music career, your goals need to be realistic and specific. You should be able to quantifiably measure their success. For them to be achievable for you as an artist, you also need to be able to give it a set time period for it to be accomplished.

🧠 Pro Tip: Always write down your goals. Once they’re written down, you can look back at them whenever you start to feel lost and get right back on track.

Here’s an example…

Let’s apply the S.M.A.R.T method to, “I want more people to listen to my music”.

What’s wrong with that? — This goal needs to be more specific. First, think about where you want more people to listen to your music. Which platform do you want these listeners on? Next, make it measurable. Come up with a variable that is quantifiable. Now, it’s time to make sure it’s achievable and realistic for where you are in your career. How many new listeners are you actually capable of reaching with your resources?

Those big time goals are good to keep in the back of your mind, but starting off with unrealistic goals will make you frustrated and disappointed when you’re just starting out. You’ll eventually reach those crazy goals, but you need to start small and work your way up. That being said, this leads us to the last step. Timed.

Your goals need to have a time limit. It’s easier to stay on track when you have a set time frame to get things done. (With checkpoints along the way!)

When you apply the S.M.A.R.T method to, “I want more people to listen to my music”, it turns into something like: “I want 1000 more monthly listeners on Spotify by May 31st.” instead. You can keep it focused on your profile’s full monthly listeners or you could break it down even further by focusing on a single release.

Now, that’s doable!

Let’s try one more…

Let’s try a more complex example for applying the S.M.A.R.T method. How about, “I want to go on tour.”

Great goal!

Let’s make it specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timed. Specifically where and when do you want to go on tour? Is it the right time in your career to start touring? Do you have enough fans in various cities who would buy tickets to your shows? When do you want to achieve this? What variables do you have to meet in order to meet this goal? For example, reaching X total amount of monthly listeners by this date or cultivating X amount of fans in X cities by this date.

(These are things your Spotify analytics can show you, by the way… We even wrote “How To Book a Tour Using Spotify and Soundcloud Analytics” to help you out.)

How does this change our original statement? Something like, “I want to go on tour” changes to something like “I will meet XYZ requirements for touring by December 1st in order to start touring by January 1st .”

Make sense? Keep in mind that you can make these goals as specific as you need to. The more specific, the better.

Embrace Learning New Things

The music industry is constantly evolving, and staying ahead means committing to continuous learning. Whether it’s mastering social media marketing, understanding new streaming tools, or exploring emerging trends like AI-generated music, make a plan to learn something new in 2025. Take advantage of free or affordable online courses (like the ones from Coursera or Udemy), and keep yourself informed through blogs, webinars, and networking events.

To be the best at anything, you have to put the work in. How you use social media is no exception. Social media marketing is an incredibly competitive landscape, so it’s important that you thoroughly understand the basics in order to get the most out of your efforts. Luckily, there are tons of courses out there to help you learn how to optimize your strategy and use your social media to its fullest potential. // Check out 10 of our favorite social media courses right here.

Prioritize Mental Health and Well-Being

Success doesn’t mean much if it comes at the cost of your well-being. Make mental health a priority in 2025 by setting goals that promote balance and self-care. This could include scheduling time for hobbies, practicing mindfulness, or simply taking breaks when needed. Remember, a healthy mind fosters creativity and productivity.

We take pride in offering mental health resources here at Symphonic. If you’re looking to learn, check these out:

• Ways To Better Your Mental Health for the New Year
• Time Management Tips To Reduce Stress as a Musician
• How To Overcome Imposter Syndrome as a Musician
• How To Manifest The Life You Want as a Musician

Celebrate Your Progress

Lastly, don’t forget to celebrate milestones along the way! Acknowledging your wins, no matter how small, can keep you motivated and focused on the bigger picture. Whether it’s landing a playlist placement, completing a track, or simply sticking to your schedule, every step forward is worth celebrating.

In Conclusion…

2024 was rough for a lot of us. However, one thing it did give us was a chance to assess ourselves. What do we want for our music careers? What’s been working? What efforts have been more time-consuming than fruitful? Now that you’ve had all this time to brainstorm about the future, it’s time to make sure your goals for the new year reflect that.

2025 is a great opportunity to jump back in and hit the ground running!

Just be S.M.A.R.T. 😉