When And How To Start Promoting Your Next Release
With the market so saturated and consumer attention at an all time premium, knowing when and how to proceed with your next album rollout can be a thorny issue. In this article we offer some advice on how to proceed.
Guest post by James Shotwell of Haulix
With the competition for attention at an all-time high, knowing when to begin an album rollout may determine whether or not your next release is a success.
Timing is everything in music today. Start too soon, and you’re likely to lose consumer interest before your music is ready. Start too late, and you may fail to reach the people who need your music the most. But knowing the right to begin a new album rollout is hard, and finding the right answer for you requires first asking a series of questions.
How successful am I? Before you can begin an album rollout, it’s best for artists to step back and take stock of their careers. Are you at the level of Taylor Swift and others who make worldwide headlines with every announcement? If not, maybe you’re a mid-level talent with an engaged audience that you hope to build further with your upcoming release. Perhaps you’re a relative newcomer, whose audience is small and not as engaged as you’d like. Whatever the case, knowing where you are can play a significant role in the amount of time needed to successfully promote something new. Specifically, those with less fame and recognition typically need more time to get the word out about their latest activities.
How do I want to promote my new release? Take a moment to picture your perfect rollout. What kind of promotional materials do you share? How often are you sharing them? If you’re making videos or taking promotional photos, who will you hire to oversee that production? As you build these ideas, take our paper and write down every single piece of promotion you wish to create. Be specific. The more you can describe your ideal rollout, the easier it will be to make those dreams come true.
How long will it take to get all the promotional materials ready? Preparing your album campaign takes time. You shouldn’t announce anything until you have all the accompanying content ready to share. You need to look at the list you made in response to the second question and figure out the nitty-gritty details of realizing your vision. Once that is done, make it happen. Shoot the videos, prepare the promotional images, etc.
Today’s Music Biz 101 clip explores these questions further and covers what to do once you’ve finished step three. Check it out:
Music Biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Start your one-month free trial today and gain instant access to the same promotional tools used by BMG, Concord, Rise Records, Pure Noise Records, and hundreds more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.
James Shotwell is the Director of Customer Engagement at Haulix and host of the company’s podcast, Inside Music. He is also a public speaker known for promoting careers in the entertainment industry, as well as an entertainment journalist with over a decade of experience. His bylines include Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Substream Magazine, Nu Sound, and Under The Gun Review, among other popular outlets.
