THE 5 PILLARS

OF A GREAT RELEASE
A PRACTICAL REVIEW OF
ELECTRONIC MUSIC MARKETING
 CHOOSE YOUR RELEASE PLATFORM

FOR EVERY RELEASE, YOU HAVE THE OPTION TO

RELEASE 1) ON A RECORD LABEL, OR 2) INDEPENDENTLY
(INDIE). BOTH REQUIRE UNIQUE APPROACHES IN ORDER
TO BE SUCCESSFUL.

A main advantage of releasing on a record label is access to their

distributor — distribution is how your music gets onto streaming platforms
and music stores. Labels work closely with distributors to handle this for
you; however, if you release independently, you’ll have to work with the
distribution company of your choice directly, and often pay for their
services.

Labels often produce greater stream counts and sales due to a larger
marketing reach, but this comes with a price. Labels regularly take up to
(and sometimes greater than) 80% of a song’s revenue. By releasing
independently, you can retain up to 100% of the song’s revenue
(depending on which distributor you choose), but you’ll need to do your
marketing yourself.
 LEVERAGE YOUR MARKETING DATABASE

TAKE THE TIME TO BUILD A DATABASE OF VALUABLE

CONTACTS TO USE FOR YOUR RELEASE MARKETING
(EVEN IF YOU PLAN TO RELEASE ON A LABEL) — YOUR
DATABASE SHOULD INCLUDE EVERYONE FROM
INDUSTRY TASTEMAKERS IN DIFFERENT VERTICALS, TO
DEDICATED FANS/FRIENDS, TO OTHER ARTISTS.

Identify and find contact information for curators of Spotify playlists and
owners of large Soundcloud channels. Send emails to these contacts
before a song release to have them include your song on a playlist or
repost it to their followers. The number of Spotify/Soundcloud contacts
should be well into the hundreds — this list can be reused for future
releases.

Build a network of similar artists to help you market your music — from
playing other artists’ music during live performances or in radio shows, to
Soundcloud reposts, tweets, and Instagram stories, artists can co-market
music to their fan bases. But, be sure to be equally supportive — seek to
give support as much as you ask for it.
 DESIGN A RELEASE STRATEGY

IT ISN’T ENOUGH TO WHIMSICALLY POST ON YOUR

SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES WHENEVER YOU FEEL LIKE IT. IT’S
EXTREMELY USEFUL TO CREATE AN ORGANIZED AND
DETAILED PLAN FOR EVERY RELEASE — AND, THIS ONLY
GETS EASIER WITH EACH RELEASE!

For every song, create a document (we like to use Excel) to house all song
information, links, a calendar for social media posts, and database contacts
who require personal outreach (because of past support, a stronger
personal relationship, etc.). Be sure to plan a release relative to other
releases, too — we recommend releasing a song every 1-2 months.

Create at least 2-3 pieces of ancillary content per release. DJ mixes,

in-the-studio tutorials, quirky social media videos, Instagram story
takeovers, etc. — these are all effective ways to market your release to your
audience without repeatedly posting Spotify links. It’s important to
maintain constant contact with your audience to create a buzz around a
release.
 ASSETS AND ARTWORK

THE VISUAL ELEMENTS OF YOUR SONG AND ALL THE

WRITTEN COPY SHOULD BE PREPARED IN ADVANCE OF
RELEASE DAY. TO ACHIEVE A TRULY VIRAL RELEASE, THIS
NEEDS TO GO BEYOND A SIMPLE ALBUM ARTWORK.

“Copy” is an important term to understand — it is the exact text that will be

used in marketing materials. Write all social media posts and emails in
advance of the release, and pre-schedule as many of them as you can. This
allows you to strategize on the collective language that will be used, and it
will save you precious time during the release cycle.

Artwork: do it yourself, or pay for a visual artist? First, this depends on

your budget. If you have a budget for artwork, working with a visual artist
can be a great way to professionally build out your own visual ideas, or
leverage someone else’s creative vision. If it’s not in your budget, no
worries — keep it simple and clean, you can’t go wrong there.
 THE KEYS TO SPOTIFY

WE’VE ALREADY TOUCHED ON THIS, BUT WE’RE GOING

TO REITERATE — SPOTIFY IS THE DOMINATING FORCE IN
MUSIC STREAMING. IN MOST CASES, WITHOUT A ROBUST
SPOTIFY PRESENCE, IT’S VERY HARD TO GROW YOUR
BRAND AS AN ARTIST.

Focus on playlists. Spotify’s playlists snowball on each other — the more

playlists a song is in, and the fewer times listeners skip a song in a playlist,
the more new playlists Spotify’s algorithms will place it in (specifically the
Discover Weekly playlists). In order to avoid skips, make sure you submit
your song only to playlists curated for your specific genre.

A NEW Spotify playlist system is just around the corner. Currently in beta,
this artists-only platform will allow for direct submissions to playlist curators
from a single submission page. Start using this as soon as it is available —
but remember, even though this will be convenient, nothing beats a
personal contact with a playlister built upon individual, direct contact.
HYPERBITS HYPERBITS HYPERBITS HYPERBITS HYPERBITS

www .hyperbitsmusic.com