5 tips you need to know before releasing music

Avoid any beginner mistakes when you release your next hit with these 5 tips every musician should know.

by CHRIS ROBLEY of CD Baby’s DIY Musician blog

What many new artists don’t know about releasing music.

I have a neighbor who’s a clever and hilarious songwriter. Though he plays local gigs, he has a career outside music and has never released his own songs.

But he wants to. So last night we sat on the porch talking about how to release music.

His questions reminded me that for people who’ve never distributed music before, it’s a whole new exciting or terrifying world.

The conversation also reminded me of something else. That when you’re just starting, it’s easy to overcomplicate simple things, and to oversimplify difficult things.

In other words, new recording artists tend to worry about the wrong stuff. So I thought it’d be good to address those common points of confusion.

And to be fair to my friend, he wasn’t in-the-dark on all of the points below. His questions just stoked the idea for the article, and years of conversations with new artists filled in the rest!

NOTE: None of this is legal or even life advice. Just my perspective. 

5 things every new artist should understand:

1. You own your copyright already

Lots of new recording artists are afraid of someone stealing their songs. They don’t want to release the track until they’ve copyrighted their music.

But the truth is, when you consider that thousands of new tracks are released every day, copyright infringement is comparatively rare. Of course you should still register your copyright, but don’t let that process slow you down from releasing music. 

Modern music production and copyright registration move at very different speeds. Releasing music is the fast lane. Registering copyright is the slow lane.

Again, I’m not saying you shouldn’t protect your music. You absolutely should. But don’t delay your release plans for fear of copyright infringement. Because if you’ve written down your lyrics, recorded a demo, or completed the track, you own the copyright to your music already!

Registering your copyright with the Library of Congress provides significant benefits if you have to take someone to court. While that application process is quick, you could be waiting nine months for your registration to be approved. Don’t lose steam just because you’re afraid someone will steal your music. Get your songs out there.

2. Don’t put the acronyms before the horse

There’s always some music industry veteran out there warning newbies that they need to affiliate themselves with some particular association before they’re a REAL recording artist or songwriter. Telling you that you shouldn’t take any steps to release your music until you’re affiliated with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, the MLC, the Recording Academy, the local union, the state songwriter society, SoundExchange,…

The list is long.

That list is also full of extremely valuable services for artists and songwriters, and you SHOULD affiliate with some of them! But let’s remember that many of those organizations are tasked with collecting royalties for music that is already available — the songs are out there in the world  being heard, used, streamed, played, placed, and performed.

So the problem isn’t that the “helpful” industry veteran above is scamming you as a newbie, or leading you astray. It’s that so much emphasis is put on these various organizations (who probably all sound the same to you because most of them are just acronyms), that you, the hopeful recording artist, get intimidated. You start worrying that you can’t proceed until you have a full understanding of various realms of the music industry.

Again, don’t get me wrong: Understanding your rights, how they’re monetized, and what services help you collect royalties is important. But the reason those services exist is to do the work for you. You don’t need to know the finer details of mechanical royalty flow in order to get affiliated with an entity whose entire mission is to take care of all that stuff for you.

And similar to the copyright concern, it’s EASY to associate yourself with some of these organizations. In fact, if you use CD Baby Pro for distribution, we’ll affiliate you with a performing rights organization such as ASCAP or BMI, register your songs, and make sure you collect all your publishing royalties. We’ll also collect your mechanical royalties for you, so you don’t have to register with the MLC directly. And SoundExchange? Yes, they’re great. Sign up with them, which is easy. Problem solved!

Don’t worry about acronyms. Get back to writing songs and releasing music.

3. Your distributor makes things manageable

Speaking of music distribution, you’ll need it.

It’s the process of getting your music onto multiple platforms around the world. Sound complicated and expensive?

It’s not. Basically, you sign up your music with one service (hopefully CD Baby!), and we deliver your tracks all over the world — to 150+ music platforms, including Spotify, TikTok, YouTube Music, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Pandora, and so many more.

Well, I should restate what I said above: It IS complicated.

Just not for you. CD Baby handles all the file formatting and deliveries, we collects your royalties, and we pay it all to you in one simple dashboard. For the same one-time fee, we also include sync licensing, social video monetization, and more.

Those are additional opportunities for your music that we provide as part of our standard service. But as with all the other advice I’ve given, you’ll learn as you go. Just like any other new pursuit. So don’t assume you need to become an expert in things like sync licensing or YouTube Content ID before you release your music.

4. No one will hear your music simply because it’s available

One thing that is a bummer to hear, but absolutely crucial for you to understand upfront, is that no one will care about your new music until you make them care.

The arrival of a new song isn’t special. I mean, of course it’s special to YOU; but some reports say that 60k new songs are released every day. Imagine that! All the work and talent you put into your new music… 60k other musicians did the same thing today?

The availability of your music, while something worth celebrating, is not an indicator of success. You have to put in extra work, find your music marketing edge, tell a compelling story, and make people care. Only then will they interrupt their day to press play and listen to the music.

THIS is the primary thing artists should be concerned about when releasing new songs: attracting listeners and gaining momentum.

And while we always have high hopes for our new music, we’re never gonna dig into the hard work of actually BUILDING an audience if we hold onto the naive assumption that people will automatically notice and care.

5. You are a label

This is another way of stating what I’ve said above, but YOU are ultimately responsible for your music’s performance in the marketplace. And yes, it’s a marketplace. With a rapidly-increasing supply of music to meet an increasingly limited amount of audience attention, this is no easy task.

A label’s job is to fund, guide, and assist the artist. If you don’t have a label, you are your OWN label. And a label is a business, with a budget, a network of connections, and a strategy. As an artist, you provide the spark, the voice, the story. As a label, you provide the plan, the effort, and maybe even monetary investment.

To be successful, you’re gonna have to either wear both hats (label owner and artist) or build a trusted team of experts around your music. Both approaches will have pros and cons, but remember: you’re the label. You’re the CEO of your music career. You’re in charge. No one else is going to swoop in and make you a star until you’ve already proven to be an artist (and business) worth their time, attention, and capital.

Don’t wait around hoping to get anointed by kingmakers, tastemakers, big brands, cool blogs, or hot playlists. Get started today finding your own path to success. Once you do, all those power players will suddenly be in your corner.

The most important thing to remember about releasing music

Copyright, publishing rights, distribution,… these things can feel confusing and intimidating at the start.

But remember, it’s just infrastructure. It’s the plumbing or electrical wiring of the music industry. It’s not the MAGIC!

Everything truly special about music is driven by the artist and the listener. All these services, the acronyms, your distributor, they can help bridge that gap between you and your audience, but it’s up to you to make the connection.

So don’t wait. Dive in. You’ll learn as you go.

And remember this early and often: You should always put the MOST emphasis on making great music, designing compelling cover artwork, and telling a good story about your songs.3

Chris Robley is the Editor of CD Baby’s DIY Musician Blog. I write Beatlesque indie-pop songs that’ve been praised by No Depression, KCRW, The LA Times, & others. My poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, Prairie Schooner, The Poetry Review, & more. I live in Maine and like peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, a little too much.