There’s no longer a need to rely on established record labels to release your music to the public. More and more artists are taking the reins and releasing their music independently, and you can too.
With an increasing number of opportunities it’s easier than ever for independent artists to launch a successful career without the support of a major label, or a huge budget to work with. That being said, many new artists frankly haven’t got a clue where to start, how to devise a successful music marketing campaign or even how to make money from their music.
The potential with self-releasing is huge, mostly thanks to social media, and you can self release successfully in your own time with total control over all aspects of your release. Sure, a bigger budget wouldn’t hurt, but you don’t need one as long as you’re prepared to put in the work! So, now we’ve cleared that up let’s explore what it takes to release music as an independent music artist
Make music like a pro
First things first, the quality of your music should be your top priority. You could follow all our advice and do everything right, but if your music is poorly written, isn’t great quality and doesn’t sound professional you’ll struggle right out of the gate. And the best way to get your music sounding its best is to have it professionally mixed and mastered.
But why is this so important?
Apple Music and Spotify can limit your music’s ranking and reduce the chance of it featuring in playlists if it doesn’t fit with their volume specifications. If the music you upload is too loud, they’ll reduce the volume and you’ll be left with a watered down version that sounds totally different to the track you uploaded.
And let’s face it, if you want to have a solid fan base who rave about your music, you need it to sound good. Listeners will skip past music that doesn’t sound ‘full’ or is poorly arranged – tinny percussion loops, or sub-basses that blow your speakers are jarring. You also need to consider the kinds of devices people will use to listen to your music. Whether it’s through your headphones or in your car, your music should sound great regardless, and a good mix and master will help this!
Having your music mixed and mastered by a professional is relatively inexpensive, but guarantees that you’ll be making a great first impression to your listeners wherever they decide to tune in.
Create an online presence
To successfully release music as an independent artist you need your name to be popping up constantly in front of your target audience, whether that’s on a Google search or social media.
Set up a clean, simple website that represents who you are as an artist. You can showcase your music, sell your merch, display images of you performing and give your audience insight into who you are to allow them to connect even further with your music. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to find you on Google. Get started ASAP as it can take a while for Google to rank websites, and include as much information as you can to help boost your ranking!
On your website make sure to include a mailing list sign up form, where you can connect directly with your fans and give them exclusive content, notify them of new merch or let them be the first to know about your upcoming music.
Social media is just as important as your website. It helps you show viewers what you get up to day to day, and is one of the most important aspects of releasing your music as an independent artist. And when you’re ready, you can run Youtube music promotion campaigns or Instagram and Facebook ads to help put your music in front of your ideal audience.
Document the process
For independent artists, it’s super important to connect to fans and listeners. By letting your audience in on the process it can really help your audience feel a part of your music. You can take pictures of the recording room, post stories to give a taste of your music and show people a behind-the-scenes view of your music making process! Whatever you’re doing, just capture as many pictures and videos as you can.
All of this content will be a valuable way to relate to your listeners on an emotional level, because releasing music is about more than just uploading your tracks to Spotify. The key here is to create hype; if you can bring your audience with you on the ride, you’ll be well on your way to having a loyal set of fans that are excited to hear your new music.
Sign up to streaming services
Signing up for a music streaming service is an easy way to get your new music in front of listeners. Services like Spotify and Apple Music allow you exclusive access features, benefits etc., that are only available through their platforms as well – so as a music artist signing-up with these companies make sense!
Let’s look at Spotify for Artists; you can add a profile picture, submit your music to be featured in playlists, write your own artist bio and even view your streaming analytics which helps highlight how well your music is performing and measure the impact your marketing efforts are having.
And there’s plenty of streaming services to choose from. Aside from Spotify and Apple Music for Artists, you could also utilise Deezer and Youtube to release your music – so what are you waiting for, go sign up!
Choose a distribution agency
So you’ve signed up for Apple Music or Spotify, but how do you actually get your music on there? Through a distribution agency!
When you’re ready to release your music, there are many different ways for it to reach the world. Some of these agencies can be free while others will require a small fee or subscription service in order to access them all at once but let me tell you, it’s worth every penny! Our top picks are Ditto Music and Distrokid, but do your own research and decide which is going to be the best for you.
Before getting started on any platform though make sure that everything is ready; including submitting an album cover artwork alongside personal info like website links and social media handles. Your track then has to get approval for release which can take a few weeks, and if you don’t have all these things ready to go it could cause delays.
Once your track has been approved you’ll be given an official release date, and this is where it gets exciting! With that date you can begin to promote your track across your website, socials and Youtube channel to build anticipation for your new music.
Don’t forget, you can make money from your music by streaming on platforms such as Spotify! 0.006 cents per play is the current amount paid out to artists, but it’s possible for you to receive more depending how popular or well-known you are. Your distribution agency will automatically collect royalty payments into an account that is ready and waiting for withdrawal whenever you need them.
Get playlisted
Getting your music playlisted on Spotify or other platforms is not an easy task, but it’s possible with some hard work. Playlists can really help grow your success and will allow for thousands of people across different demographics (including fans) to listen to your song! Not only will it skyrocket your streams and increase awareness, but that’s a whole heap of royalty earnings straight in your pocket.
You need to pitch your song directly to Spotify through the Spotify for Artists dashboard. It’s important you do this before your song has been released. The very latest you should pitch your song is 7 days before the release date. Don’t leave it too late or wait until after the release date though – if you do you’ll miss out as Spotify won’t consider it for a playlist. Remember, thousands of artists will pitch their songs every day, so increase your chances of getting heard by pitching early!
Press & blog features
If you want to take your music career up a level, getting featured in publications like mainstream magazines or niche blogs is an important first step. Not only will these placements help build hype for yourself as a musician but it also gives credibility that can’t be bought!
The best option would be hiring a PR executive that specialises in handling campaigns from musicians and other artists- but this isn’t always an option when you’re just starting out and funds are limited!
If you don’t have the budget you can always do it yourself, but make sure you are approaching the journalists and bloggers in the right way. We recommend using an electronic press kit (EPK) to give you the best chance of getting coverage or promotion in the press. This is essentially your digital portfolio that captures the essence of who you are as an artist, and is designed to fit in with your current image and branding.
Release music videos
Music videos are an exciting, interesting and original way to introduce new music. The video has the potential for going viral even if the track itself isn’t a hit!
The way you present your music can make all the difference in whether or not people will want to listen. Its important to think outside the box, get creative and explore different concepts for your music videos. Quirky themes, or videos with a deeper underlying message often perform really well because they are so memorable!
Of course, for new artists, spending thousands on an official music video isn’t always an option. In that case you can create an interesting lyric video or audio visualiser to accompany your track. But whatever you do, it’s worth investing some time and energy into your video because the potential for growth and exposure is huge!
Know your target audience
Marketing your music can be difficult, but it’s important. Finding the right audience for you and what they like will make all of the difference in how successful a campaign is to promote yourself as an artist.
It sounds obvious but put yourself in places where your ideal listener already is. If you’re a heavy metal band, you’d join a heavy metal community or play in heavy metal type venues to win over new fans. If you’re a rapper, you’d join rap communities and play in rap venues, and so on. Find out where your target listener hangs out, what instagram pages they follow, what other artists do they listen to, and use this to figure out where you can best promote your music.
Niches are often defined by genre, but if you have more widespread appeal start locally. Typically people want to see an artist from their local area succeed and will go out of the way to support them; take advantage of this mentality by growing your following close to home before tackling national or even global audiences.
Once you’ve figured out your target audience you can take advantage of the marketing and promotion capabilities of Youtube, Instagram and Facebook. Marketing unlocks a huge potential for exposure, engagement and growth to help you find new fans and listeners who will love your music!
Try to enjoy the process
Releasing music can be stressful and complicated. There’s a lot to do and at times it can feel like an unenjoyable hassle. But when the work finally is finished (and even during all those tedious moments) take time to enjoy yourself, and remember, you are doing something incredible – releasing your art into this world!
Enjoy the process, take your time to make sure you are fulfilling every step, and celebrate the release when the time comes. There is no shortcut to success. Don’t expect your journey to look like everyone else’s, because it won’t – Every artist who self-releases is learning along the way, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Try to release expectations of how well your release will perform, remove comparison and you’re bound to enjoy the process much more. Who knows, it might even help you create better music too!