Guide

How Hitladder works

The loop, from first demo to the Top 100

1. Weeks and energy

Every action costs energy, and energy recovers each week. Resting restores more but spends the week. Running on empty leads to burnout, which hits your mood and, through your mood, your songs.

2. Skills

Five skills: songwriting, performance (flow for rappers, vocals for singers), production, stage and content. Practice raises a skill, quickly at first and slowly near the top. Songwriting and performance drive how good a song is, production shows in the polish, stage shapes your shows, content shapes your social reach.

3. Writing and recording

A song has quality, hook and polish. Quality and hook come from writing: your skills, your mood, how well the genre fits you and some luck. Polish comes from the studio. There are four: Bedroom, Budget studio, Pro studio and Top studio, each better and more expensive. "Write to what's hot" means checking which genres are trending before you commit a week to a song.

4. Releasing and promotion

Release singles, EPs or albums. A promotion budget widens the first weeks. Streams then fade as a song ages, so spacing releases matters: rush them and listeners tune out. Posting keeps your social reach warm. Paid ads bring listeners, not followers.

5. Playlists, radio and going viral

Songs can land editorial and algorithmic playlists, a major label can push a song to radio, and a promoted song has a small chance of going viral. These are swings, not plans.

6. Shows and tours

Venues: open mic, bar, club, theater, arena, stadium. Each needs enough demand to fill, pays by the ticket, and costs energy. A tour runs several weeks of shows. You can open for a bigger act (their crowd, their terms) or headline your own.

7. Labels

Offers arrive as your numbers grow. A major deal brings a bigger advance, radio and playlist push, a lower royalty rate and more to recoup. An indie deal brings a smaller advance and a higher royalty. The offer shows the advance, the royalty, the marketing per release and how many releases the deal covers. The advance is recouped from your royalties before label income reaches you. Every contract ends; then you renew, switch or go independent.

8. Charts and rivals

The Top 100 ranks every song in the world by weekly streams, yours and the 96 rivals'. Each genre has a Top 25, where your first chart appearance usually happens. Rivals release on their own schedules and have hits and slumps of their own.

9. Events

91 events, drawn by what's going on in your career: a heckler at a bar show, a sponsor offer, a leaked message, a lawsuit, a label asking for a change. Choices cost money, energy, mood or reputation, and reputation affects the deals you're offered.

10. Saving

Your career is saved every week, on your iPhone only. Close the app mid-week and you resume where you were. There's no account or server; your careers are included in your iPhone backup.

Pro and cash packs

Hitladder Pro ($6.99, once): a sandbox start where you choose your starting money and followers, up to five careers at once, poster colors and career stats. Cash packs (Tip Jar $0.99, Studio Fund $2.99, Tour Budget $4.99) add in-game money to the career you're playing. None of them add fans.

Free on iPhone · one-time Pro upgrade · no forced ads

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