How Often Should You Release Music?
Todd Simpson
Jul 26 2020, 07:44 AM
GMC:er
Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA

There are a lot of theories on this currently. Some people think you should release an album once per year. Pick the best song and make that the first single. Pick the second best song and make that the second single. This is the traditional method that was used when people used to buy “value added plastic” (CDs). Things have changed a LOT since then.

With the advent of streaming, people are flooded with new content at a level we have never seen before. Furthermore, it’s never been easier to make music. These days, all you really need is a laptop, some headphones (ear buds are often used to start with) and laptop or tablet and you can download enough free software to start making music. You can download REAPER and a free drum program and some other free instruments and plugins and you are ready to go. You don’t even need to know how to play an instrument. You can download VST/software instruments that you can trigger from your computer keyboard or use pre built MIDI. You can download various samples to put together. Etc. You can grab bits of songs you like and mash them up. Many producers don’t play an instrument at all. With technology as it is, you can get away with not even knowing an instrument if you have a good ear and can make use of the technology.

I have released two songs with a musician from IRAN who does not play an instrument. He goes by the name HAMIN. He uses one of the guitar vst programs for the guitar parts. I just come in to play the guitar solo. That’s it. I’m the only real instrument on the track, and so far, nobody has seemed to notice. So don’t think you have to be an amazing musician. You don’t. You just need to be ablet to create something people want ot listen to.

So once you have created a song, now what? Should you wait until you have an album worth of material?

NO.

The “New” way of releasing music is to release several tracks over the course of a year, maybe one per month or one every couple of months. This gives you a deadline to work against. What’s better, at the end of the year, you can make a compilation of these songs, and put the most popular ones near the first tracks and non so popular ones near the back. Then you have an E.P. or album that you can put out there as well.

Releasing more songs more often, allows you to be in front of your fans more often. Just one album per year puts you a real disadvantage in the current market. People expect a constant flow of content. So putting one out there each more or so, lets you get more feedback from your audience. It let’s you build your brand along the way.

You can use each song as a way to test your promotional ideas. After all, if you release new music and nobody listens to it, did it even happen?

One thing to try is collaboration. Some collaborators may be way more popular than you are. Collabing with these people can help you get more exposure. However, the other person usually wants to be paid in order to work with you since they are not going to get much benefit out of this. You are. If the idea of paying influencers in your genre to collab with you turns your stomach, try to find people who are roughly at your same level of audience penetration. E.G. similar numbers on socia media etc. At that point you are equals and you can collab if you both just want to. I’ve collabed with people from all over the planet. Each one has been a wonderful experience. Being able to create music with people from various parts of the world is a great part of where we are in terms of technology.

Before you release, pass your song around to people you trust and consider paying a professional in your genre to listen to it and give you some advice on it. Some folks are just not up for paying for pro people to critique their music. You don’t have to, it’s just another pay to play type option.

Try NOT to just spam your new song out to everyone if you can help it. Try not to make the same post every day for a month about the same song. People will just tune out. You can tell your fans you have new music, you can invite them to do a mash up with it. You can have a contest with some sort of prize (one that you buy or one you partner with a vendor to get for free) for people to do a cover version of your song, or the solo etc.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


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This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Jul 26 2020, 07:44 AM
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