An ideal bite-sized introduction to your music, singles are an effective way to realize new followers and construct as much as an extended launch. Right here’s all the things it’s worthwhile to learn about the way to launch a single to maximise engagement and construct momentum.
Put together for distribution
Earlier than you submit your single to a distributor like CD Child, put together your supplies and knowledge to make sure a easy submission.
End your music: Make any closing tweaks to your combine, then grasp your recording, and guarantee it meets audio specs for distribution. Receive licenses for any samples in your music.
Manage your metadata: Create a observe title, artist title (if it’s your debut), notice any featured artists, and ensure producer and songwriter credit. Study extra about metadata right here.
Format your cowl artwork: Guarantee your cowl artwork follows distributor and companion platform pointers. Learn extra about cowl artwork finest practices right here.
Submit your music for distribution
When you’ve ready your supplies, you’re able to share your music with the world!
Select a distributor: CD Child affords worldwide distribution to over 150 streaming platforms for a one-time fee per launch and we offer you advertising and marketing steerage and instruments that will help you take your music additional. We’ve served impartial artists in 1998, paying out over $1 billion in royalties to this point. Study extra about CD Child right here.
Add your music, metadata, and canopy artwork: Take your time to evaluation all of your particulars and property earlier than submitting for distribution. Inaccuracies or errors in your submission may cause delays, rejections, and even jeopardize your pay.
Schedule your launch date: Set your launch a minimum of 6 weeks sooner or later to permit satisfactory time for promotion and distribution.
Arrange pre-save, pre-add, and pre-order hyperlinks: As quickly as you’ve submitted your music, you possibly can arrange hyperlinks to permit your followers to save lots of or order your launch upfront.
Plan a world round your launch
Earlier than you begin producing promotional content material or pitching the press, take the time to mirror in your launch and determine the principle themes, concepts, experiences, and feelings you need to talk by your marketing campaign. Taking this all into consideration will guarantee all of your property cohere right into a compelling inventive assertion that resonates together with your viewers.
Contemplate the next:
- Lengthen the visible id of the duvet artwork throughout all inventive supplies — together with picture shoots, music movies, and short-form social content material — to create a cohesive aesthetic.
- Outline the message and emotional tone of the discharge, clarifying what you’re attempting to speak and the way the viewers ought to really feel when partaking with it. Contemplate narrative factors or concepts {that a} journalist or fan may latch onto to explain your launch.
- Determine the audience and analyze the discharge methods of overlapping/comparable artists to attract inspiration and adapt efficient rollout concepts.
After you have a strong thought of what your launch represents and how one can translate it throughout media, you can begin producing property on your rollout.
Create visible content material for promotion
Between short-form movies behind the scenes, music movies, and press pictures, you’ll want lots of visible content material to advertise your launch.
Manage a photoshoot: Plan a location, key pictures, and themes forward of time. Use a temper board of references to present your photographer a way of what you’re searching for. Get a mixture of panorama, portrait, and sq. pictures so you should utilize the images throughout codecs. Additional factors if you happen to seize behind-the-scenes content material from the shoot
Shoot a music video: You don’t want a significant finances – simply intention to have enjoyable. At present’s music movies differ from scraped collectively b-roll to total productions. Do what feels genuine (and sensible) on your rollout.
Begin creating core short-form content material property: Create short-form content material for platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. These will be cuts out of your music video, behind the scenes clips out of your photoshoot, and new footage that drums up curiosity in your music: play a snippet reside, overlay audio on partaking footage, and even make a 30 second intro clip.
Get skilled pictures of your merch: Nothing accompanies a launch higher than shiny new merch on the market. Make it engaging by getting skilled images of your newest choices for socials.
Create variations of your cowl artwork: It’s possible you’ll must put up your cowl artwork somewhere else and contexts – it might probably assist to mock it up in banner and portrait codecs with a name to motion and a QR code, an summary zoomed-in model to function background for textual content, an alternatively coloured model for a remix or alt model, and so on. Having variations of your cowl artwork means you possibly can slip it into any media with out tough crops or redundancy.
Continuously acquire b-roll: From the studio to late evening planning periods, make it a behavior of turning on the digicam. You by no means know what you may organically seize on movie — this footage can present beneficial filler if you don’t know what to put up.
Put together your digital streaming property
Declare your streaming profiles: As quickly as you’re ready, declare your profiles on main streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music and customise each obtainable perform on your profile from imagery and bios to playlists or Q&As.
Add Spotify Canvases and Apple Music Album Movement Artwork: Add some partaking visuals to your launch. CDB Video Creator lets you create
Replace your web site: Add a pre-save/add/order hyperlink to your web site together with the duvet artwork and your launch date. Contemplate updating your web site to match the coloring of the duvet artwork.
Plan a playlist round your launch: Create a draft of a playlist that features songs that impressed you to put in writing or have sonic overlap together with your newest launch.
Collect your written content material for promotion
Subsequent, it’s time to get your written content material collectively to advertise your launch throughout text-first channels.
Create or refresh your digital press package (EPK): Your digital press package comprises all of the important info for somebody within the trade to study your music and accomplishments. Learn our information to EPKs to construct yours.
Write a press launch: Create a press launch containing key details about your launch, artist quotes, a personal listening hyperlink, images, and your cowl artwork.
Draft an electronic mail to your followers: Draft two emails to have interaction your followers round your upcoming launch: one to ship a couple of weeks forward of launch with pre-save/add/order hyperlinks and one for launch day to allow them to understand it’s out (with a hyperlink to stream it on their most popular platform). Should you don’t but have an electronic mail checklist, get began with our information right here.
Draft a social media caption for launch day: You don’t need to miss any of us when crediting those that helped together with your launch in a release-day announcement. Ensure you might have the social handles and credit sorted for everybody who helped you create, produce, and launch your music. Then draft all of it into an announcement put up that lets followers know the place they will hear and who helped make it occur.
Pitch your launch
Your launch can open up new alternatives for protection, exhibits, and airtime.
Submit a observe to editorial playlists: Not less than one week earlier than launch, pitch a observe to editorial playlists on a streaming platform. Get tips about the way to pitch Spotify playlists right here
Pitch your launch to the press: Not less than two weeks upfront for native media and 4 weeks for nationwide media, ship your launch to journalists for protection. You may goal your pitches by discovering journalists who’ve coated artists inside your scene, getting suggestions from mates, or pitching journalists who’ve coated artists inside your style.
Attain out to school radio stations: The air waves are nonetheless honest sport! Pitch native school radio stations on interviews or perhaps a present.
Coordinate a launch present: Pitch a invoice to an area promoter for a releaser present. It’s a superb option to have fun together with your followers in particular person and develop your viewers. Don’t neglect to convey merch (and an electronic mail signup checklist) .
Have interaction your followers
As you’re pitching your launch for brand spanking new alternatives, don’t neglect to construct anticipation amongst your present fanbase.
Announce your launch date: Not less than 4 weeks upfront, allow you to followers know your launch is on the way in which. Use a multichannel strategy, contacting followers by electronic mail, social media, textual content chains, and so on.
Launch your pre-save/add/order marketing campaign: Encourage your followers to save lots of, add, or order your launch forward of time by together with a hyperlink and name to motion in all of your countdown posts.
Share teaser clips of your music: Give your followers a sneak peak of your launch and pique the curiosity of latest followers by together with snippets of your music in promotional short-form movies. These can embrace reside footage, music video clips, different performances, or summary visualizers.
Begin a countdown: Capitalize on the anticipation of your launch by beginning a countdown. Be cautious of fatiguing followers although – begin the countdown per week or two earlier than the discharge and put up updates on channels the place content material is short-term, akin to Instagram Tales.
What to do on launch day
The day is lastly right here! Now’s the time to be hyper-active on-line. Let your followers know the place they will hear and ensure to have interaction with any posts, protection, or feedback about your launch.
Announce your launch: Share streaming hyperlinks together with your followers throughout channels (social media, electronic mail, web site, and so on.)
Have interaction with followers personally: Preserve tabs on followers resharing, commenting, or tagging mates in your social media and interact with them personally.
Replace your social media bios and hyperlinks: Change any bios to advertise your launch and embrace a hyperlink to your streaming pages.
Preserve an eye fixed out for protection: Reshare any press protection and seek for any discussions round your launch in on-line communities.
Spotlight your launch throughout streaming profiles: Each streaming platform has a method of highlighting your newest launch. Make sure you’re utilizing each perform obtainable to put your new music proper the place followers can see it.
Retain momentum after your launch
Don’t lose steam after launch day! Observe these tricks to preserve your followers engaged and drive repeat listens on streaming platforms.
Plan one other milestone: Whether or not it’s a tour, merch drop, reside model, or music video, give your followers one thing to sit up for that also facilities your newest launch.
Retarget followers and achieve new ones: Make reminder posts over your channels with hyperlinks for followers who need to hear and missed your preliminary marketing campaign. Proceed posting short-form clips together with your music to achieve past your followers.
Observe up on press protection: Journalists are inundated with pitches – comply with up a minimum of as soon as after your launch goes reside. Take the chance to replace them on any main streaming milestones or plans for exhibits.
Promote a playlist round your launch: Should you haven’t already, create a playlist round your launch and put it on the market over social media. Tag any artists who’re on the playlist and encourage them to share with their followers.
Collaborate with different artists, creators, and companies for cross promotion: Artistic partnerships are a few of the finest methods to construct group and promote your music. Attain out to creatives on-line and in-person to debate joint campaigns or cross-promotions that may assist get your music in entrance of latest audiences.
Conclusion
Observe this guidelines to roll out your launch like an expert. Launch your subsequent single with CD Child and get your music on over 150 streaming platforms worldwide for a one-time payment. Past distribution, you’ll have entry to instruments, companies, and insights to take your music additional.