6 ways musicians can prepare for the holiday season

The holiday season is coming up fast, and musicians all over the world are planning their holiday strategies accordingly. Want to make the most out of this holiday season? Here are a couple ways to prepare…

A guest post by Randi Zimmerman of SymphonicBlog.

Promote Like Crazy

The holiday season is one of the biggest times for buying music. From CD’s and vinyl to posters and merch, consumers all over the world are looking for the perfect gifts for their music loving friends and family.

During this time, you should be promoting whatever you have out as much as possible. But that doesn’t mean to blast the same shit on every platform. There are lots of creative ways to promote during the holidays. For example, try things like:

• Remind your fans of how your latest album on vinyl would make a perfect stocking stuffer.
• Post pictures of you wearing your coziest merch by the fire with a link to your merch store.
• Give a gift of your own by offering sale prices on your merch for a limited time.

These are just a couple ideas to get your creative juices flowing. — Think about what you’d like to see from your favorite artist and make it your own.

Brainstorm Holiday Themed Content

Do you plan on releasing an entire holiday album? Or maybe one holiday single? Whatever you decide to do, consider creating something exclusive for it. This could mean anything, but here are some examples to consider:

• Livestream a different holiday cover every week leading up to the holiday of your choosing.
• Create exclusive holiday merch.
• Try a themed contest on socials where the winners get exclusive access to your upcoming holiday single before anyone else.
• Do a merch giveaway.
• Do holiday themed collabs with other artists.

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Feed your brain…

Holiday Songs You Can Cover for Free

The Best and Worst Months to Release Music

The Winter Slowdown of the Music Industry

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Create a Holiday Playlist

Help get the holiday spirit started with your own holiday playlists! Personally, I am the designated playlist curator for my friends and family. No matter the occasion, they know I’ve got something cooking. — Your fans are the same. Getting personally curated playlists from you is a great way to show you’re thinking of them and give back.

Keep in mind, dinner party ambiance, cooking music, mellow holiday vibes, and festive holiday jams perform the best during the holiday season. Once you’ve created the perfect playlist, share the link on Instagram Stories, Twitter, Facebook groups, or really anywhere and everywhere you connect the most with your audience.

To step it up a notch, you could even work on a collaborative playlist with another artist and release that to expand your reach even further…

• There are two great streaming services that offer the collaborative playlist feature, Spotify and Apple Music.
• Both of them are the same concept and super easy to use, so feel free to use whichever one your heart desires.

Never made a collaborative playlist before? // Check out “How To Make Collaborative Playlists On Spotify and Apple Music” to get started.

Go Local

Depending on your state, your city might be throwing social distanced events this holiday season. Whether a venue is in need of a live performance or a just a great holiday playlist, there are many ways you can participate in your local activities. — Reach out to local bars and hit up your city’s Facebook groups to see what’s going on and how you can get involved.

Be Aware of Holiday Deadlines

The music industry is filled with people just like you who like to spend time with their families and get a second to sit back and drink hot chocolate by the fire. Not only that, major streaming platforms take holiday breaks, too. — Last year, iTunes was closed for the week of Thanksgiving, and again from December 22nd through January 1st.

Towards the end of the year, everything starts to slow down. Regardless of if you work with an independent distributor or not, never wait until the very last minute to try and release that holiday single. It never goes smoothly.

• When it comes to Symphonic, our team approves releases on a daily basis, Monday through Friday. Each release is carefully reviewed, inspected, and screened to ensure that it meets guidelines for distribution to the partners that we deliver to.
• We generally approve all releases within 2-3 business days, but that doesn’t include holidays or weekends.
• To make sure you aren’t blind sided at the end of the year, we have a post with all the deadlines to keep in mind. Be sure to check that out here: “2021 Holiday Hours and Content Cut Off Reminders”

Be vocal with your team about what you’re planning to release and when you want it done. Just because you decide to do things last minute doesn’t mean your peers will be willing to.

Get Ahead

With the new year right around the corner, it’s time to start planning ahead. The end of the year is a good time to assess the past year and analyze what has worked and what hasn’t. Use this information to adapt moving forward.

Look into which platforms have garnered the most engagement, what types of posts did the best, where your audience has expanded because of these efforts, and more from tools like Google Analytics, Instagram Stories Analytics, etc.

Knowing where you stand and where you have room to grow is the key to excelling in this industry. // To help you truly understand your stats and streamline your efforts, check these out:

• How to Choose the Perfect Music Analytics Tool
• Best Analytics Tools for Audience Development
• Best Streaming and Sales Analytics for Music Managers and Record Labels

In Conclusion…

From November to December, industry folks tend to travel and be out of the office more frequently, the major labels’ biggest artists tend to release in the 4th quarter to take advantage of the holiday retail spike, and artists of all genres are releasing holiday music and content.

If you have a New Year / Christmas / Holiday song, of course now is a great time to release it. However, although the market is heavily saturated with music, there are other things you can do to keep the momentum going strong. Do your research. Be creative with your efforts, and the holiday season is sure to be a hit.