Once your music has been mastered, it’s always tempting to immediately release it into the world so that it can be heard. But having an album release strategy can monumentally increase the amount of people who actually end up listening to your music. There are so many options for releasing music, depending on your budget and goals, and there is no one size fits all method. This guide will walk you through some of the key steps and decisions you’ll have to make in releasing your music.
By Rachel Baiman
Plan far in Advance
Many people releasing a record for the first time don’t realize how much lead time you need to give between finishing the music and putting it out in the world. Here are some guidelines for how much time you might need to allow for each element:
• Booking a publicist 4-6 months in advance of release date
• Physical copies, pressed and in hand: up to 12 weeks before release date to send out advance copies
• Creating artwork: 4 weeks from start to finish
• Photography edits: Up to 2 weeks.
• Vinyl Production: 4-6 months or more if you make changes to the master recording and depending on the pressing plant
All of these things will vary, but the main point is that you shouldn’t plan to release your music too soon after it’s finished. Rushing your release date will be stressful and will limit your opportunities for the best release.
Create a Story around your album and album title.
In order to get the most out of the next potential decisions; publicity, artwork, photos and design, you need to have a cohesive and interesting story about yourself and the music that you are releasing. This will help people connect with your music, generate blog, magazine, and news stories, and drive your social media campaigns. If you don’t feel super comfortable with writing about your own music, you can hire a bio writer to help craft the messaging around the album. If you are working with a publicist, they will probably be able to direct you to someone good for this job or they can work with you on writing it.
The longform biography that you use on your website should reflect your most recent album, and tell the story of your life in regards to that particular musical project. So even if you already have a general biography, it’s a good idea to give it a revamp when you release a new recording.
Consider Publicity
Publicity is a vital part of a record release. If nobody knows that you have a new album out, they won’t know that they should listen to it or purchase it. Getting positive reviews of your music can help you take big career steps, gather new team members or get hired for better gigs. That being said, hiring publicity can be a cost-prohibitive expense. For a full album release you generally want about 3-4 months of publicity, and hiring a firm can cost between $1,000-$10,000 for every month! This is when you really want to ask yourself what your goals are for the project, and how much you are able to spend. There are no guarantees with publicity, so even if you spend a ton of money, it doesn’t mean that you will get featured in NPR or The Rolling Stone. However, it’s very hard to achieve these things without hiring a publicist, so it can be a ticket into those exclusive media sites.
There are a few different realms of publicity, so before you hire a PR firm, make sure you’re clear on which kinds of PR they are doing. For example, some firms will do digital PR such as social media and youtube advertising, some will just do print and online versions of print media, like newspapers and physical and online magazines and some will do radio. Some firms will do all of the above.
If you simply have no money for publicity at all, or feel that it’s not a good use of your money, you can still do your own publicity for your project:
• Reach out to friends personally and invite them to your album release show, or send out free copies to anybody who you think might be well connected in the music world.
• You can use your own social media outlets to let everyone know about your release. You can use targeted advertising on your social media pages to get your music in front of people who you think might like it. For example, you can target your advertising towards those people who like the local indie music festival, or who are fans of some of your favorite bands. Social media advertising is a relatively cheap way of doing PR, in comparison to hiring a publicist.
• You can send your album to media outlets yourself, via physical copies or emails.
• You can look for blogs, radio shows or podcasts that might be interested in your music genre and drop them a line! Although publicists might have better relationships with these media outlets, they are simply doing the same thing, sending emails and hoping for the best!
Decide on your Digital Distribution Partner
These days, most musicians want to have their music available for download or streaming on digital music platforms such as iTunes, Tidal, Spotify, YouTube and AppleMusic. You can do this by uploading your album assets to a digital distribution site such as CD Baby or Tunecore. These sites do the work of sending your music to all digital platforms for a small, flat rate fee.
Alternatively, you can work with a digital distribution company, who will promote your music on these platforms in exchange for a percentage of your earnings. Companies such as Tone Tree Music, or AntiFragile Music will try to get your songs onto Spotify playlists or apple music collections. If you feel that your songs may have a good chance of earning a place on a playlist, this can be a lucrative choice, as it’s hard to get on these types of editorial playlists without a company pitching your work. The nice thing about working with a digital distribution company is that it doesn’t require an upfront investment the way that publicity does, so it’s not a high risk choice.
Commission great Artwork and Design
Finding the right visual artist and designer for your music can be one of the most enjoyable parts of the release process. It’s an opportunity to create a visual manifestation of your musical message, and it really makes the record feel like something you could hold in your hands, versus flies flying around the internet. You want the artwork to reflect the finished sound of your project, which can evolve greatly through the recording process, so don’t start the process too early, or you may end up with imagery that feels irrelevant. The Artwork and design can make use of the aforementioned photography, or not, it totally depends on what you want to say with your album cover.
Your artwork needs will vary depending on the formats you plan to release your music in, so make sure you communicate with your designer about this when contracting the job. Creating a cover for a digital release is a very different job in size and scope than designing the entire layout for a vinyl album, and the cost will vary substantially. Make sure the artwork will stand the test of time, and that it’s something you will be proud to look at for years to come. It’s going to be a long term part of your brand and the way that people visualize your music and the experience of listening to it.
If you are creating anything more than a digital album cover, your design should include credits for everyone involved in the making of the album, photography, artwork and design. Don’t forget to credit all the musicians, songwriters, and engineers on the record, and check for the correct spelling of names.
Sometimes people want to create their own artwork. If you are a visual artist and have created professional artwork before, this can be a great idea. But it’s not the time to try your hand at designing for the first time. There will be resolution, text visibility, and layout issues which should be tackled by an experienced designer for a truly professional looking product.
Get professional Photos
No matter how you end up releasing your music, you need professional photos of yourself or your band. Anyone who is part of the artist title should be included in the photos. So if you’re calling your album Daisies by Joe Johnson, then you only need photos of Joe. But if it’s Daisies by Joe Johnson and the Johnsonette Crew, then you should have photos of the entire “Crew”. Photos should clearly show your face, be high resolution, and reflect the mood that you want your music to create. Make sure you have both vertical and horizontal options.
Photos will be vital to any magazine, blog, or even social media post promoting your music. It’s a good idea to choose a handful of images for use with each record release cycle, and stick to just those photos for any album related promo. That way you will maintain a consistent visual brand for your specific recording project.
If you feel lost with this process, take a look at some music photography, see what draws you in, and check out who took the photos. Music photography is generally very different from family, wedding or lifestyle photography, so it’s not the time to go to your local senior portrait studio, unless you’re going for something ironic. You don’t want it to be too shiny and touched up, or look like your grandmother’s wall of family portraits. It is not a bad idea, though, to hire someone to do your hair/makeup/styling if that’s an area in which you don’t feel totally comfortable. Photos are a big investment and will make a big difference to how your album is perceived.
Planning a Tour
Playing live shows, or live-streams is a great way to get the word out about your music. If you can, plan to do as many performances as you can around or in the six months following your album release date. If you have friends who perform regularly, creating joint bills will help you share audiences and grow your fan base.
Remember to register your work.
Make sure that your original music, whether it’s instrumental or vocal, is registered with a Performing Rights Organization, or PRO. such as ASCAP, BMI or SESAC.
There are pros and cons to the different PROs (Performing Rights Organizations), but all of them will protect your music from being used without compensation, and will ensure that you get paid when your music is played publicly. It’s a good idea to register your work as soon as you are performing it publicly, but recording and releasing your music only makes it that much more publicly accessible. Someone may hear your song and want to cover it, or use it for a commercial, and you want to make sure that your work is legally protected so that you get properly compensated for the use of your material.
You can find a quick summary of the different PROs here.
Note: If you have recorded songs or music written by someone else, you will have to take out a mechanical license, usually from the Harry Fox Agency, and pay the writers for their work based on how many physical copies you intend to create, or how many digital copies you sell.
Enjoy!
Finishing a record is a great feeling. When you listen back to your masters for the first time, you can think back on all of that hard work and focused time in the studio, agonizing over every small musical detail, and be proud of your final outcome!