The Artist Rise #032
Welcome to your weekly resource for all things branding, release strategy, and overall artist development.
Every week I'll help you strengthen your artistry through sustainable strategies that will help you build your career rather than force you into burnout.
Let's get into it.
The "Strategy"
"Release strategy" can mean 100 different things to 100 different artists.
But what it ultimately boils down to is the steps that you take to present your project or song and reach the goal(s) that you have for the release.
It's like a puzzle. You can put a lot of different pieces in it to try and achieve your result, which is part of why creating the strategy feels rather daunting.
So instead of leaving it all up to educated guess work, today I'll walk you through the key elements every release strategy needs.
1. The Overall Project
First and foremost, you have to understand the project.
Whether it's a single track or 20 songs compiled into the greatest body of work you could compile, you have to define what this project represents.
Is it your first multi-track project that speaks to the artist you want people to see you as? Is it a brief dabble into a different genre or style that shows you can branch out from time to time? What role does this release play in your greater artistry?
Understanding what role the project plays in the overall landscape of your artistry is important to note before taking any next steps in rolling it out.
Why?
Because that's the lens you have to view the release through to make it work for you and your artistry in the bigger picture.
A bonus piece that you should also define is what your goal is for the project.
Knowing what kind of outcome or impact you want something to have really helps direct other decisions.
Once you know those two key things, then the planning can begin.
2. The Plan
This is where you define the details.
Pick a release date, set when you need to submit to your distributor, and decide what channels you want to use for promoting your new project.
A good rule of thumb is always to submit at least 4 weeks before your release date, but in terms of promotion pieces, that's left up to you.
This is where the goal for your project plays a big factor.
Making decisions on where you're going to use your marketing budget is just guesswork if you don't know what goal you're working towards.
For example, if you're just trying to get heard and get in front of more ears, playlisting could be an option.
If your goal for this single is to make it more of a statement piece for your artistry, then you can focus on more PR efforts.
What role does social play in that?
Social is non-negotiable, in my opinion. That's a critical part of your strategy regardless of your goal.
Then once you have your release timeline and promotional channels picked out, you can then also define what your promo timeline is in relation to the release.
And the plan just keeps on building!
3. The Assets
Once you have the plan, you have to collect the rest of the materials you need to make it happen.
Cover art, content, BTS footage, press release, ads, videos, you name it.
Pro tip: as you build your promotion plan, you can also create a checklist of what assets you need.
Some of it you can collect along the way as you make the project, others you can craft after the fact.
But take the time to make sure you have what you need to deliver on your plan and help reach your goal.
4. The Execution
All that's left is to bring it to life!
Create the content, start running the campaigns, share it with your community.
Now you complete whatever is left on your list.
Another pro tip for during the promotion plan stage: create a "release day" checklist that has everything you need to do the day the song goes live.
Things like updating your social bios, adding it to your Linktree, sharing a release day post, all that good stuff.
Added bonus: once you build the checklist once, you have it for every future project that follows.
Even where the strategy differs, the basic pieces stay the same so you're already one step ahead for next time.
5. The Results
Even though the release is out, the process isn't quite over yet.
The true mark of any real strategy is the post-run reflection at the end.
Did you achieve the goal you had in mind for this project? Did your promotion plan align with not only your release, but your artistry as a whole?
What would you do different next time?
Take time to reflect, and make it better for next time.
Bottom line is you want every release to be better than the last, so post-release is where you set the bar for the next pre-release.
Want to go further?
If you want more than this rough outline and are looking to work on your own next release strategy, book some time with me and we will not only get your strategy ready but I'll help you position yourself as an artist too.
Until next time,
-Ava
That's it for this week! Hopefully this helped you take the next step in developing yourself as an artist and a brand. Stay tuned for more next week.
If you have any topics you want to see more of or any questions you'd love for me to answer, simply reply to this email.
Keep learning and growing,
Ava Rose Lynch
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