Needless to say, this applies to any kind of industry. I'm here to only tell the truth, and we live in a world where people are generally afraid to tell that. The idea is to view success like the ultimate goal; most people are too naive, they don't understand why they are not valued the way they "deserved", but no one will tell you to go look for the credit you "deserve"; the notion of "deserving" something is, to me, a total utopia especially in nowadays' world where any breakthrough can be made through clever planning.
You have to reverse-engineer your success in a way. That's how I view it. Why do I link that with dealers ? Because dealers think in terms of productivity more than anyone else. I'm not telling you to go and sell drugs, but the truth is, you should definitely view what we call the "audience" as junkies that are only looking for new things to get their mind in some certain state they've never been in, I'm not excluding myself from that, I've been a "junkie" type of listener at some point in my life when I was going to some festivals, though not to the point when I was a die-hard fan of someone, I don't like that mentality as it makes you lose any sense of logic.
As an example, I appreciated David Guetta, I still appreciate him but I always prefer an artist in the period of "rise up", in "early years", where there's only authenticity, as those years are the true years. Look at artists in the EDM industry who tried to stay true whatever happened; it's not very glorious; Avicii is the best example. At the end of the day, you do what you want with your music productions, but they must be done with some logic in terms of where you're planning to go (if the demo is going to be sent to a label, you won't want to make silly beginners' mistakes, and you will want to emphasize what represents your style the most, as well keep some coherence and quality so that the chances that it becomes a hit increase).
You get the idea. Every single action you do has to be linked with success, if that's what you want. That's why you should view the "audience" (the normal people who go on youtube or anywhere else to find new music to hear) as clients that you will have to keep coming for you to listen to what you have, even at some time, be ready to buy tickets to events linked with your music.
I can make a comparison with the world of sports as well, the will to constantly have more and more and never be fed up, always be hungry, is precisely what makes the difference between a "good" player and a legend that will stay in the history books and in what we call the collective unconscious. Anyone can be a musician, think about it: the moment you touch an instrument makes you a "musician"; it's how you combine the notes that defines you more and more, until you make what you believe is your style recognized, and then you're something more than that: it's just about having a strong enough will and project in terms of style and tracks to breakthrough; and a clear business plan as well, whether you learn it by yourself or with the help of a manager.
