Things to think about before you release new music
My friend Solveig Whittle asked me to come up with a few things indie artists should think about before releasing new music. Here was my response:
- Have you made alternate mixes without vocals and a mix with just bgv’s (background vocals) for licensing and karaoke?
- Does the artwork have a story that could interest media?
- Are elements of technology incorporated in the album design as means of data collection and marketing tools? These could include QR codes and short links.
- Have you considered releasing your album as singles over a period time and the full album with the final track? This is a great way to build and develop contacts and relationships with press,blogs, radio, etc… It gives you multiple reasons to talk about your music. By the time your album is released you have an audience and media ready and waiting.
- If you are Canadian have you indicated the MAPL (CanCon) on the back cover?
- As a means of music discovery, is your distribution company affiliated with a company like Shazam and able to register your tracks automatically or do you need to submit your songs directly to Shazam or similar?
- Have you indicated who the copyright owners are with the proper copyright symbols to the master and publishing elements of each song?
- Do you have an audience for your music?
- Do you have a website?
This was part of Solveig's blog post called "25 Tips From Music Marketing Experts for An Indie Release." She asked a number of industry experts their opinions and I highly recommend you check out their answers in the full post here.
