Our 5 Top Tips On Budget And Planning For Success
Don’t just pay for the record! Over the years, we’ve all become used to running, or supporting, crowd funders for indie artists. Most people, both artists and fans, understand that musicians need paying, studios aren’t free and, historically, that some CDs would need printing. But now more than ever, it’s crucial artists remember to budget for telling potential audience about the project at release time, marketing in other words. Most artists we speak to hate the idea of self-promotion but with at least 60,000 tracks per day being uploaded to Spotify alone, your music is simply not going to organically find it’s way to new fans, however good it is. And you’ll also notice that in the Spotify for Artists pitch tool, they ask you about promotional plans. They want to know you have a plan and some skin in the game when considering your track for playlisting. We would advise planning to spend at least 50% of the figure you’ve spent on recording, on marketing.
Get some alt versions in the vault! Did you know you can only pitch a song for playlist consideration once? Even if you take it down from the streaming platforms and re-upload it? While you’re in the production process, why not do some acoustic or re-mixed versions of the songs in the vault? As they will count as different recordings to the originals, they can be released, and pitched, as a quick and easy follow up to the main project to a) keep the release momentum going which helps with audience growth and pleases the DSP algorithms and b) helps retrospectively promote the original project whether that release has been playlisted or not.
Plan Ahead! Every artist wants to get their material out ASAP. These are songs which have been part of your life for a while and you’re ready to get them out and move on to the next project! But if you rush your release, you’re missing out on the opportunity for the most amount of people who could discover you songs. We recommend a six week lead time between upload and release to allow time for the release to be properly ingested in to the streaming services’ systems and pitched for playlisting. So make sure, for instance, that you’ve organised your artwork in good time to be ready when the music is, you don’t want to be hanging around for that busy designer to get the file to you!
Shout about it! We’ve never met an artist who like self-promotion. But in reality, if you’re not telling people about your release, who is? The best way to use social media in the run up to, and following a release, is to always have a ‘Call To Action’ in your posts. This gives each post a purpose. For instance, in the run up to release, grab the free Smart URL you get from distributing through Wings Access and ask people to Pre Save/Add the track. This gives the person reading the post a clear direction as to how they can support you, and counts in your favour with the streaming services as it’s the first indicator they have of engagement with the track pre-release. Post-release, ask people to add the track to their personal playlists and hit ‘follow’ on Spotify.
Never Pay for Steams or Playlisting! So marketing is crucial, but beware the sharks out there promising you streams or playlisting in exchange for cash. It’s hard to know which of these outfits is genuine or not so it’s a risky business. Particularly as the sharks out there will boost your streaming numbers with fake streams, which the streaming platforms are watching out for, and it can really harm your relationship with them if you get caught up in it.
Explore more of our top tips and guidance for releasing your music and sharing your message with the world in the Digital Release Playbook.