The following is an excerpt from my ebook “Indie Music Release Checklist.” Download the entire Indie Music Release Checklist ebook for free by clicking here and signing up for my email list.
DON’T set your release date before your audio is complete
DO wait to set the date after you have received Mastered audio
You should have goals of when you expect to complete your project to keep you focused, but you should never work under a hard deadline if you can help it. As an Independent Artist, you can help it - you’re the boss. Here’s what usually happens when you set a hard release date while your project is unfinished - the project is 90% done by the due date and no time remains to create or execute a marketing plan.
DON’T upload your final audio less than a month in advance of your release date
DO upload your audio a month in advance
A month may sound excessive to you when sites like Soundcloud and YouTube can take your music live instantly and services like Distrokid are able to take a song live on Spotify and Apple Music in as little as 12 hours. There’s a certain excitement to living in a time when releasing music is so accessible and nearly instant, but there are advantages to taking a month or more:
● Unforeseen delays can happen in the upload process. A fairly common one is rejected artwork (read the artwork specs from your digital distributor!). If you first uploaded a month or more out you’ll have time to fix it and re-upload without missing your release date.
● Most digital distributors don’t guarantee your release date unless it is at least a month in the future.
● Music stores have upload rules. For example, Spotify requires at least a week in advance to be able to submit to their playlist editors AND to deliver your release to your followers’ Release Radar playlists. Even if you have only 100 followers on Spotify right now, you don’t want to guarantee that those people that chose to follow you get sent your music? Many Spotify listeners check their Release Radar playlists, it’s a huge advantage to be there. Some followers also receive email updates when your new releases go live. THE VAST MAJORITY OF YOUR STREAMS ON SPOTIFY (THE SOURCE OF THE VAST MAJORITY OF YOUR OVERALL STREAMS) WILL COME FROM YOUR MUSIC BEING SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR FOLLOWERS AND BEING PLAYLISTED. You must submit more than 1 week in advance to take advantage of your top sources of streams. This one month window also gives you time to plan a marketing strategy and ramp up social media efforts.
DON’T set your release on a date because it has sentimental meaning to you
DO complete your audio at least 3 months before your special date if it’s truly important or make it a goal rather than a deadline
It’s beautiful if you want to dedicate your album to a special someone on their birthday or you think it’d be cute to release your new love song on Valentine’s day. Having a special date isn’t automatically a problem. If meeting that date prevents you from having your audio uploaded at least a month in advance though, you’ve done your project a disservice to meet a deadline that is arbitrary to your audience. You also want to avoid releasing on holidays. Unless you already have a dedicated listenership, everyone is distracted from your new release on a holiday. One more best practice - you may want to pick a Friday. In 2016, Friday became the standard music release day for major label releases after 25 years of being on Tuesdays. The reason labels picked Friday may be beneficial to you as well. Of the three scenarios I advised against here (the sentimental date, the holiday, and the non-Friday release), what day of the week you release on is the one that’s open to some experimentation as long you gave the date proper lead time and it isn’t a holiday.
Drew Mantia
Feel Good Music Recordings
3146264270
feelgoodmusicrecordings@gmail.com