It absolutely cannot be forced; I totally agree with that.
The great thing about the Internet nowadays is that you can try stuff out. If I'm going to part with money to buy an album, it's 90% likely that I'm familiar with, and like, something the artist has done. It might be a new band made up of one or more members of bands I'm already familiar with, so I kinda know what I'm getting.
When it comes to new albums from bands I'm already familiar with, more often than not they sink in reasonably quickly, although one or two have taken a bit longer, like Circa's Valley of the Windmill from 2016. I've bought albums from Kaipa, Nad Sylvan and Ozric Tentacles this year that I haven't majorly gotten into yet, but I feel they should work their magic eventually, when I give them the time.