In this episode, we talk about the 5 Big Mistakes You’re Making When Releasing New Music.
So, if this is something you’re interested in, take a listen….
The episode is brought to you by The Music Marketing Starter Kit. The Starter Kit is a collection of useful tools and resources helping you to market your music. The Kit shows you how to set up a fan email list and also build your own website. But, the most important thing of all. It shows you how to separate your fans from your followers.
If this is something you’re interested in, the link is in the description.
Let’s get on with the episode…
So, in today’s episode, we’re going to talk about the “Big Mistakes You’re Making When Releasing New Music.”
Introduction
There’s no doubt about it. Indie artists are the heartbeat of our industry. They invest a lot of their time and money into their music because it contains so much emotion and creativity with every release- be it an album, EP, or single.
It can literally take months to perfect songs for each project before finally getting in front of fans to make them feel what you were feeling when writing these tracks:
Great moments and flashbacks from your life coming back at you as if we’re sitting right there next to one another on this magical ride called “life.”
The emotional connection you provide through your music and songwriting online often entices listeners who may not have been interested or even know who you are to seek you out.
This means new followers just might find themselves turning up at any of your upcoming live shows!
The music release process can be difficult, and long-winded.
There are tons of pitfalls that often lead to missed opportunities and annoying regrets–but you don’t have to make the same mistakes as others!
So, let’s get into the 5 biggest mistakes artists make throughout this journey (and how you can avoid them!) so your next album will be fruitful, rewarding, and an enjoyable process.
Over-committing
It’s all too much! You’re playing in three bands, managing your town’s adult soccer league and you live to create. In order for that energy to be channeled into the most important project, you need to streamline your focus and cut back so you can use al of that energy, creativity and time on just one thing!
I’ve talked about the book “The One Thing” previously and I’ll leave a link to the book in the description.
The next BIG mistake is…..
Start Building Your Fanbase After Release
Record labels used to use a marketing strategy of grouping all the promotional events together, but now they prefer to have one lead single that is heavily promoted. This leads new listeners into an artist’s music and if it catches on with them then they can go buy more songs or even the full album!
The old model of releasing singles to the radio in order to promote an album has come under fire with the rise of streaming.
Nowadays, labels release a single as soon as they have it ready and when that song becomes popular on streaming platforms, people will want more music from them so they’ll gradually go out and purchase their whole discography or see if anything else is available on YouTube/Spotify which eventually drives sales for albums released by those artists.
The days of middlemen with connections in the radio and media might be over for indie artists.
Streaming has pretty much leveled the playing field, so now it’s more than just a question about who can get their music heard by fans. The problem we now have is – anyone can do that on social media!
It’s not all doom and gloom.
Indie musicians are finding new ways to communicate with their listeners through streaming platforms like Spotify or YouTube, which give them direct access without having to go through any “middleman.”
The release of each single before an album means there’s always another chance- right after one song is out-to catch some ears and generate press leading up to full releases.
There’s so much potential for artists to get close and personal with their fans these days. Analytics, social media following, playlist marketing–the digital landscape has paved the way for more opportunities than ever before!
With incredible tools and distribution services gives the artist more chances to interact with new fans, and make a name for themselves.
By releasing multiple singles before their album or EP, they get exposure in front of newer crowd that might have not heard them yet.
If an artist releases one single by itself it has less chance at being found on the likes of Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist which means other channels need to be used such as Facebook Live videos or Twitter live streaming where new followers can find out about these artists earlier than ever before!
The next mistake is….
Focusing on Only A Few Aspects of The Release Strategy
Yeah, sure it’s great that we all have access to more music than ever before. But the downside of this is, the sheer amount of noise in the marketplace on any given service like Spotify or Apple Music.
So while being a blessing in some ways, streaming services are also an unbelievable curse because everyone has so many options and not enough time to listen to everything!
That’s why branding yourself and music is so important as I’ve discussed multiple times in the past.
Well, without a label, an artist is left to handle all of the aspects of their release and tasks that used to be handled by multiple specialized departments. You’re now on you’re own. And we’re talking about 12 months plus 2-3 more months for production and proofing (not including creating merchandise etc).
There’s a lot to do.
Working on multiple projects at once can be difficult, but it’s especially hard when you have to manage all the deadlines. It’ll take a lot of time and patience so you don’t miss any important deadlines. So it’s worth assembling a team of freelance designers, production, mastering etc that will help you with these tasks.
One common mistake artists make is neglecting to book any shows to support their release. And when I say shows, we’re talking physical indoor and outdoor shows as well as radio play..
This means that the momentum will quickly fizzle it after release, and an artist may find themselves trying desperately hard just in order for people not to forget about them after they released a new album or EP.
To avoid this problem you should take care of all eight main focus areas during your release.
Not Creating a Timeline for The Season of Releases
Let’s say we’re working with a graphic designer (note: In the launch checklist I do recommend sorting this bit out first).; as soon as they finish one part of your design like designing the album cover or insert for an article publication. You’ll arrange for them to work on something else so that you can really maximise both yours and their time.
It may seem complicated but when you make sure each person has what they need in order to complete their part, then organising gets a lot easier.
The eight areas of focus during an artist’s release are:
- Big Picture Planning
- Recording & Mixing/Mastering
- Marketing & PR
- Distribution
- Booking/Touring
- Release Events
- Spotify Playlists & Local/Digital Radio
- Monetisation
The enormity of the project will be much easier to manage with a timeline in place. It’s important that an all-inclusive one is created so you can stay on top of what needs to be done when, and who should do it–both now and later down the road.
You’ll find the checklist will help with this.
It’s all about deadlines. If you don’t have a deadline, your creative process will be clogged up with obstacles because of panic and anxiety over what you’re doing or not doing.
It’s so much more satisfying to check items off the list each week than it is trying to keep track of everything in one sitting.
The truth is, you only get one chance at launching an album into orbit without missing crucial checkpoints along the way. The timeline guarantees this by checking things off after every major milestone–reducing overall overwhelm.
Lastly….
Ignoring Your Back Catalog
One of the qualities that make you such a great artist is your ability to evolve. However, this can also lead to neglecting certain songs or albums in favor of others.
Now look, I understand! That’s what makes our newest song or album feel so fresh and new
Even if a potential fan has only listened to one type of music from us, they’re still a strong possibility that they’ll want to listen to your other tunes..
This means your entire back catalog to them will be fresh and new.
Make sure your entire catalog is signed up for worldwide distribution, YouTube monetization, sync licensing, publishing royalty collection and more. This way you can really maximize the potential of making money off all of your years of hard work!
So guys that’s it.
Don’t forget to download the launch checklist and I would also like to remind you that the Music Marketing Starter Kit is now live. I’ll leave the links in the show notes or on the website if you’re interested?
Intro Music by Tonez&Re-C
Outro Music by Brian Tyrie – Owner and Founder of TalentWav.com
The item mentioned – MusicLaunchChecklist
The episode is sponsored by – Musicmarketingstarterkit.com