THE PERFECT CALENDAR FOR YOUR NEXT RELEASE

With so many songs being released every day, your goal is to stand out and get your music heard.

Choose a release date for your next release, on a Friday preferably, a few months or a few weeks prior.

There are so many things to think about and to do before a release. There are so many platforms and social media to manage. There are so many people to get in touch with.

I noticed that the biggest struggle for artists is to know when is the right time to do each of these things. If you don't have a set schedule, you'll be overwhelmed and unproductive.

The secret : plan ahead. 


promotion-calendar
How will you structure the best promotion calendar for your next release?

Here's my suggested calendar to make your next release efficient and successful:

Your plan should start 3 months before your music release:

  • Register your new song on ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC, to collect your royalties. Those 3 PRO foci on royalties for your song (performance rights). For live royalties, BMI and ASCAP both offer portals to collect royalties from playing live. Once your songs are registered on the PRO database, you log in and enter any dates you have performed those songs, where they were performed, and which songs.
  • Registered with SoundExchange. It collects your royalties for your recording (mechanical rights).
  • Document the recording and creation journey: Sharing the behind the scenes with your fans will get them excited! (writing, recording, mixing, mastering, being in the studio, etc.)
  • Update your mailing list for your newsletter to reach as many of your fans as possible
  • Complete the to-do list to get all your materials ready for your upcoming promotion
  • Choose your PR & Marketing Plan. Now is a good time to decide if you'll be hiring a PR to run your campaign, or if you'll go DIY. If you hire a PR, make sure you do your homework. If you’re going with a do-it-yourself approach, keep reading this post for an effective music PR campaign!

2 Months Before your Release:

  • Increase your audience: find your friends and people who write for blogs, radio hosts, other artists, venues, local spots you like to hang out in, etc. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and start following! This will increase your audience because many of the people you follow will follow you back – especially if you already know them.
  • Prep your social media content calendar - prior to the release (teasers, get fans excited), the day of the release, and after the release (share any articles, feature, airplay, etc.)

6 weeks Before your Release:

  • Submit your music to your distributor (Distrokid, TuneCore, CDBaby, Orchard, Believe, etc.) - my personal favorite is Distrokid :) You must have your single artwork ready at this time! They generally need 6 weeks to send your music to iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon Music, and other digital service providers (DSPs).
  • Submit Your Single to The Spotify Curators: Login to your Spotify For Artists account and submit your track for playlist consideration.
  • Launch a Facebook-like campaign to get more followers to your page. A lot of promoters, venues, and music bloggers still look at social numbers so make sure yours are consistently growing (and don’t buy fake fans ever! It's obvious to everyone when artists do!)

4 weeks Before your Release:

  • Launch your music PR. (If you are hiring a PR team, this will be when they will launch).
  • Contact the bigger blogs you'd like to be featured in first, as they receive more submissions, they need more time to get back to you in time.
  • It's also a good time to secure a premiere on a cool blog.
  • Contact the printed publications. Monthly magazines for example work at least a month in advance.
  • Prepare social media visuals for “out now” banners.
  • Write your day of the newsletter. You'll be too busy the day of the release, and you'll be happy it was done before!
  • Organize the release party/book your next shows, make an announcement on your socials and invite people. Make this show more special than the others: Decorate the venue, or your studio if you are live streaming. When we get back to normal life and you can have a real release party at an actual venue, work with the bar to create a special shot or cocktail, pre-sell a merch pack, hire a party bus, ask a food truck to pull outside the venue, etc.

2 Weeks Before your Release:

  • Hold a contest to win the new music or give away tickets to your next show (the release party).
  • Daily posting on socials
  • Contact the podcasts and radio shows hosts you'd like your music to be featured on or you being interviewed.
  • Send your music to radio stations for airplay

1 Week Before your Release:

  • Start pre-sale campaign
  • Announce a music release event (live show or listening party) You might want to consider a special interactive ticketed Zoom live stream using Sidedoor with a co-host to facilitate special moments with your audience.
  • Make mini video announcing your release and share them on your social media (teasers, a trailer of the music video, announcement from the band...)
  • Schedule countdowns across your socials
  • Promote your release party
  • The day before, schedule all you have to do the next day, and get some rest!

press-release-calendar
How soon should you start planning your song release calendar?

On the release day:

  • Send your press release to ALL the blogs and publications, either you already contacted them or not.
  • Send the newsletter
  • Update your website: Change the artwork on your homepage to announce the new music and add an announcement to the News section
  • Update your Instagram:1) Create a killer Instagram Story (4-6 graphics to post throughout the day), 2) change your bio to announce the release + add the streaming link, 3) Go to Instagram Live and talk about the fact that the music is available and ask for fan feedback.
  • Update your Facebook: 1) Create a Facebook Story, 2) Make a cool video about the release – and Boost! 3) Boost or Buy an Ad announcing the release to your fans and a lookalike audience, 4) Edit the “About” section to include the new release, 5) Post a status update announcing your release, and pin it to the top as a timeline feature, 6) Go to Facebook Live and talk about the fact that the music is available and ask for fan feedback.
  • If you have a solid Facebook following do a live listening party.
  • Update your Spotify: 1) Header and Profile Photo: Keep these up to date and in line with the rest of your social profiles, 2) Image Gallery: Choose images most aligned with your brand and recent music, 3) Social Media Links: Add links to your socials, 4) Update your Spotify Bio, 5) Add an Artist’s Pick: You can designate a song, album, or playlist as the “Artist’s Pick.” This will appear at the top of your profile with a note from you. 
  • Update your Twitter: Tweet out your release announcement, pin the tweet to the top of your profile page, and update your profile/band pictures with updated photos and banners.
  • Update your Youtube: Customize the banner to announce the new music, Add your streaming link and mention the release the “About” section, Upload your music video (or a video of the cover art with the track playing in the background if you don't have a music video)
  • Launch your playlist campaign: contact playlists curators, submit to playlists - nonstop for the next few weeks. It's your new challenge: being featured on as many playlists as possible, on Spotify, Deezer, Apple, Soundcloud...
  • PLAY YOUR SHOW AND ENJOY - THIS IS YOUR NIGHT!

After the release date

  • Post on socials any articles, new playlist your song is featured on, any airplay, and news about the release you worked so hard on. It's reward time! :) Make it last until your next campaign, and start all over again!
  • Keep updating your Spotify bio: include shows, notable press, and new singles. Optimize your bio by tagging other artists when appropriate
  • Twitter: schedule your tweets about the new release (1 - 3 per day) for the next 10 days + tweet any upcoming news on a daily basis.

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