The Artist Rise #037
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.
There are two types of artists when it comes to releasing music:
The type that drops it as soon as they have it, and the type that sits on it for a bit and builds a real plan for it.
It's great to get the music out quick, but at what cost?
Releasing the right way
It's not new news that releasing music takes more than just uploading to a distributor.
There's marketing, press, content and asset collection, you name it.
All of these pieces play important roles in the process.
And as much time as they take, they're crucial steps to making sure your release is received the way you want it to be.
That's why there are best practices for releasing music and strategies out there for artists to follow.
Taking your time allows you to drive more effort behind the release and execute on items that will help your release perform more in line with where your goals are for it.
So what's the difference in dropping it next week vs. next month?
Pre-release opportunities
There's plenty you can do if you move ahead of time with an upcoming release.
For starters, the earlier you're prepared, the more likely you can get yourself some media coverage on the song.
Outlets want submissions 3-4 weeks in advance.
Not only that, but having a finished product ready to go means you can move onto getting some content ready and out there to get fans excited about what's coming next.
Plus, distributors want your music 4 weeks (at LEAST) before you want it to be released so they can get it ready for platforms like Spotify.
And then you can pitch to Spotify for Artists on a reasonable timeline.
Extra time really opens doors for a release.
More time = more work?
Having more time means you can do more, sure.
But too many artists try to scrape together the same work in a shorter amount of time as it is. So what's the difference?
The amount of work and effort that goes into a good release doesn't change, but the effort does.
The more time you have, the more organized and more intentional you can be about the moves you make.
Not only that, but it allows you to build more foundational pieces and routines to help future releases go even smoother.
Sure, you can cram it all in and make it work, but it won't set you up for as much success as taking your time.
Starting the next cycle
Sure, taking time sounds great.
Less daily lift, more aligned with industry expectations, but still no guarantee of results, right?
There's never a guarantee in music that you'll reach a certain mark or hit any particular milestone, but there's an added layer to this more strategic, timely approach that you can't get with a rushed process:
A head start.
By taking 5 weeks instead of 2 to prep and roll out a newly finished song, you allow yourself to tap into your creative brain and develop the next idea.
When you have more time to do something, you can break it down and chip away at it a little every day than having to dive fully in all at once just to get the job complete.
While you're focused on giving this song the best run you can, you're not over exerting yourself on any aspect of the release and you're allowing yourself to save space for every artist's favorite piece of the puzzle: creating.
And when you can tap into that creative muscle more often, you create more and then have more you're ready to release.
Which then leads to more momentum, and momentum means growth.
All in all
More and more artists are starting to take more time with their release cycles, which is a huge step into making your artistry more sustainable, but there are still many moves artists make from a place of wanting the music to be out and not from the place of building something they can sustain.
What can sometimes feel like a quick win in the moment with getting the music in the hands of the fans is more of a detriment to your artist project than you may think.
Taking time allows for a better and stronger finished product, and ultimately leads to systems and foundations for growth, aka the thing every artist wants.
So make the good music, and match that with the plan and effort you put in to making a mark with the release.
And make sure you allow yourself the time you need to do it.
Build momentum, not moments.
Want to go further?
If you want more guidance in developing strategies and workflows that work for you, book a free intro session and see what a game-changing strategy can look like for you and your artistry.
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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