Tag: Strategy

Categories
Artist Advice Business Advice Editorials News

A Step-By-Step Guide To Making The Most of Your Next Single Release

Your next single release should be the biggest moment of your career to date. Whether or not that turns out to be the case is entirely up to you.

In the streaming era, singles matter as much — if not more — than albums. A single song can determine whether or not someone gives the rest of your music a chance, if they see you on tour, or if they ever think of you again. You have one chance to convert listeners, and most of the time that chance is the first thirty-seconds (or less) of any song you choose to promote.

With this in mind, it is very important that you treat each single release as if it is the biggest thing to ever happen. Your singles should be events that are promoted heavily and celebrated thoroughly. Everyone should know you have a new song, even if they don’t get around to streaming the track themselves. 

Thanks to our pal Jesea Lee from High Road Publicity, we now have a seven-step guide to maximizing the value of a single release. Check it out:

Set a release date with enough lead time!

Most artists don’t have enough content to fill two months of promotion for a single song. Maybe you’re the exception, but generally speaking, four to six weeks is an ideal timeframe to promote new music. That allows you time to make sure everyone who cares about your career and many who don’t are made aware of your plans. 

Create a Spotify pre-save campaign.

Streaming is king, so you might as well bow down and acknowledge the reign Spotify has over the music business. Pre-saves ensure people don’t forget your new music is released, and they only take a few minutes to create. SmartURL is a tool which allows you to create different geo-redirect links for music & more. It is completely free, although some features are restricted to registered users only (registration is free!). SmartURL has a tool called ‘Pivot’, which will allow you to put all of your URL links into one landing page, such as iTunes/ Google/Amazon/Spotify, etc, and your fans can then choose their favorite service and be redirected to it. If you’re looking to only set up a pre-save, there is a specific ‘Pre-Save’ tool. This is open to registered users. To set up a pre-save on Spotify you’ll need the URI of your release.

Other pre-save link generators exist. Find the service that best meets your needs and use it.

Update your Spotify profile.

When your new single comes out, and the world is finally paying attention, how will people know who you are and what you’re all about? Spotify profiles can feel sparse at first, but you can make the most of them by adding thoughtful bios, tour dates, and plenty of pictures for your fans to enjoy. If you have the budget, please consider hiring someone to help create a bio and other content for your page.

Submit for Official Spotify Playlist Consideration and Release Radar.

Playlists are the new mixtapes. Placement on popular playlists can turn unknown musicians into viral sensations overnight, sell tickets, and get people talking about your music. Spotify has a great tool for playlist submission that will get your song in front of curators who oversee some of the platform’s most popular playlists. Here’s how it works:

  1. Log in or sign up to Spotify for Artists using a desktop computer.
  2. On the ‘Home’ section, click ‘Get Started’ next to the music you’d like to submit.
  3. If it’s an album or EP, choose one release to submit.
  4. Complete the playlist submission form, giving as much information as possible about the track.

Reach Out to Press and Independent Playlists

You know what is louder than you screaming into the void known as internet about your new material? Dozens of people screaming into the void about your new material.

Haulix is used by thousands of artists to reach tastemakers in all corners of the world with fully-customizable promo pages that compliment the music being shared. You can sign up today for a one-month trial, upload your contacts, and immediately begin promoting your music to people in positions of influence throughout the industry.

If you need help finding independent playlist curators, try this post or this one.

Tease on socials. 

Your creativity outside of writing and recording will likely determine how much traction your new single receives online, especially from people unfamiliar with your work. Create and share teaser clips, video clips, memes, song lyrics, behind the track information, and anything else you can think of to promote the song’s upcoming release. If you need help coming up with content ideas, especially if you have a limited budget, we recommend learning from artists like Heart Attack Man and Hot Mulligan. Both bands keep their names circulating throughout their music scene without needing to constantly release polished music videos or studio tracks. Just be yourself (in the most creative way possible).

Prepare your release day social posts

The last thing you want to happen on release day is to find yourself scrambling for content. At least five days in advance of your single release, take time to craft a series of social media posts that are unique to each of your channels. Know what you’re going to post to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as when you’re going to post it. That way, when the day comes, you can focus all your energy on engaging with listeners in real time. 

Categories
Business Advice Editorials News

Why you need an “I don’t want to, but I will anyway” mindset in music

There are universal hurdles to success that prevent everyone, regardless of age or economic status, from achieving their goals. In this post, we’ll tell you how to avoid falling victim to the voice inside your head.

Working out. Science says we should do it, our parents tell us to do it, but most people would rather work an extra hour at the office than do a set of ten push-ups.

Want to know a secret? The people who wake up and work out every morning – either now, or at some point in their fitness journey – do not want to work out either. They also hate being outside in the cold, and many prefer watching television to running, jogging, or doing any physical activity that may cause aches and/or sweat. It’s hard. It’s hard for everyone.

Something also they don’t tell you about working out regularly is the mindset that it can help produce. An “I don’t want to, but it doesn’t matter” mindset comes from making the decision to do the things you know are good for you even when they are not the most appealing activities at the moment.

Learning to fight your instinct to avoid development challenges in preference for maintaining your current lifestyle when you want more out of life is key to finding success.

People who develop the mindset of “I don’t want to, but it doesn’t matter,” whether through working out or something else, gain an ability that will help them accomplish anything they set their mind to in life. They recognize that the one thing stopping most people from becoming the person they wish to be is themselves and that all they have to do to rise above that barrier is take a single step in the right direction.

“I don’t want to, but it doesn’t matter” is not a cure-all for life. There are still going to be days when you wake up feeling as though doing literally anything else would be better than the tasks you’ve set for yourself. There are going to be a lot of those days, in fact, but again — that is a part of life. The resistance you feel is the same resistance everyone feels, and unfortunately, it is too much for most people.

By refusing to let the resistance you feel deter you from working towards your goals each and every day you are already farther ahead in the journey to achieving your dreams than most ever reach. Most turn back at the first sign of struggle and settle into a life where the struggle is minimal, but so are their achievements. 

If you want something more for yourself you have to face resistance and struggle head-on, which is a lot easier than you may think or feel right now. All you have to do is try. Wake up every morning and try. Put one foot in front of the other, then repeat, until you get to where you want to be. Some days will be easy, some days will be hard, but as long as you keep trying you will eventually get to where you are going.

Categories
News

If not now, when?

A new year is upon us. If the late night I spent celebrating the end of the preceding year was not proof enough of this being true then the line I spotted outside my local gym at the crack of dawn today certainly did the trick.

A lot of people resolve to get in shape every year, but the number of people who actually accomplish that goal is incredibly small. Achieving physical fitness of any kind is a long road that requires focus, dedication, and hard work in order to reach your desired results.

Most people who resolve to make a change in their life never take a single step towards reaching that goal. They hope and wish and dream, but when push comes to shove they choose not to act. This is failure.

Failure is giving up before you start. Failure is recognizing the fact there is work to be done and choosing to remain idle instead. Failure is understanding your potential for greatness and ignoring it. Failure is never going after the things you want most.

Any study of New Year’s resolutions will tell you that most people never achieve their goals, but what they fail to detail are the people who try. Far more people say they will change than the number of people who actually take even a single step toward change. Most people are lazy. Most people never try.

You may never become the version of yourself that appears when you close your eyes, but that is no reason to remain complacent with where or who you are right now. A meaningful life results from taking risks. You have to risk failure in order to grow, develop, and achieve virtually anything.

Do not fear risk. Do not fear failure. The only thing you should fear is letting the fear you feel get the best of you. Fear wants you to be so afraid of failure that you never try in the first place. Do not let fear dictate your actions.

Make this year a time when you recognize what you want out of life and pursue it with every fiber of your being. Failures will arise, but so will a lot of success as well. The key is overcoming the doubt and fear that makes you feel as if there is no point in trying at all. You are better and more intelligent than you know. Trust in yourself and everything else will fall into place.

James Shotwell is the Marketing Director for Haulix. You can find his every thought and opinion on Twitter. If you want to hear him speak, we recommend subscribing to the Inside Music podcast.

Categories
News

Artists: Here Is Why You Need To Develop A YouTube Content Strategy

This has probably been mentioned at least three times in the past on this blog, but YouTube is already the number one source for music discovery amongst young listeners. Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube—that’s almost an hour for every person on Earth, and if you want your career to go anywhere in 2014 you better lay claim to as many of those hours as you possibly can. Viral videos will certainly make a splash, but the likelihood of your next clip landing on the front page of Reddit is about one in a million, if not more. The smart play, at least for those who are willing to make time to create content properly, is to develop a video strategy they can maintain for the foreseeable future. We can help.

If you have any questions about the content of the blog, or if you would like more information regarding the distributional services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The majority of December 2013 was dedicated to sharing tips on how to optimize your presence on YouTube (here’s part 1, part 2, and part 3). Those articles were intended to give you everything needed to have a modest presence on the world’s largest video streaming platform, but in order to grow your audience and raise the chances your content will be seen by someone in a position to help move your career forward you will need a plan that includes regular video updates featuring a variety of content. What that content entails will need to be discussed between you and the other members of your group, but thanks to authors Lucy Blair and Caroline Bottomley of Radar Music Videos we were able to find the following list of basic types of video content uploaded by musicians, which we have :

  • Official music videos / release videos
  • Audio uploads of music with a static visual (aka ‘art videos’)
  • Live performances
  • Lyric videos
  • Behind the scenes (which could be anything from a ‘day in the life of’ to a tour video diary or the making of your latest music video)
  • Covers
  • Breaking news announcements (e.g. a new album/single/tour, or a big milestone)

  • Tutorials
  • Interviews including fan led
  • Video press kits promoting your latest album/single/tour
  • Playlists
  • Fan-generated videos
  • Competitions
  • Google+ Hangouts on Air
  • Live-streaming (archivable streaming may be necessary across different timezones)
  • Episodic events

It is important to note these are all suggestions, and by no means should any artist/group feel obligated to attempt everything at once. Content strategy is a lot like learning a new skill, and by that I mean everyone works at their own pace. You have to decide what you are not only able to create, but what you are able to create to the best of your abilities on a regular basis.

Once you have discussed and settled on the type of content you feel you’re best able to create, do your best to draft a release plan for your video efforts and, more importantly, stick to it. If you want to do a weekly performance/cover series, make sure you know what you’re going to perform and when it’s going to be live online. Create content as far in advance as you need to in order to ensure you do not miss a premiere. Consistency is next to quality in terms of importance, and in the world of video there are no two elements that matter more.

That is, aside from talent, perhaps, but even that is easy to fake in 2014.

Developing and sticking to a video content strategy not only helps you develop your presence on YouTube, but it also gives your audience something to look forward to every week. People discover and forget more bands and songs every month than you ever want to realize, but with the release of consistent, quality content you can further the likelihood of your efforts standing out from the herd of unsigned artists currently clamoring for attention.

On the press side of things, having a well-functioning and scheduled video content plan can offer you a variety of exclusive opportunities with blogs. If you know you are going to have a video tour blog uploaded every week on your upcoming tour, then you have a weekly exclusive to offer writers to entice them to feature your band. Same goes for covers/performance series and fan Q&A. Too many young bands struggle with marketing because they do not plan things far enough in advance to allow for proper promotion. Do not be one of those bands.

Additional points to consider….

How far out should I plan?

Good question, person we invented to transition in the middle of this article. Most artists and labels approach album releases and the promotion for them in multi-month cycles. Depending on the type of content you want to create, the same efforts should be made for planning video updates. If you want to start a new series, don’t launch it tomorrow, but rather make a plan to launch at a point in the near future that allows you to properly build anticipation amongst your fans. There is no need to rush, and doing so will only result in poor content with little-to-no engagement.

How frequently should I post content?

Again, this is a case-by-case basis. Deciding the proper amount of time to wait between video uploads will depend heavily on the types of content you plan to release. Most should know there is no real need for daily video updates, but once or twice a week certainly would not be overkill. Unless you have nothing to say or share, of course, in which case there is no reason to upload content at all. The only thing worse than a lack of content is an abundance of useless content no one wants to share or enjoy.

How do I know if the quality of my content is good enough to share?

Before you post a video update, music video, or any type of media for that matter, ask yourself this: Would I want to share this content if I were to discover it online? If the answer is no, or even maybe, then you may want to hold off on posting until something better can be created. Never release something you do not feel represents you or your band in the best way possible.

Does this really matter? What are the consequences of not posting video content?

There are those who choose to leave the video work to signed musicians and do perfectly fine without engaging the internet via YouTube. Those cases are few and far between, of course, but you are always more than welcome to lead your career in whatever direction you see fit. There are no direct consequences, per say, but you are limiting the likelihood of your music being exposed to curious music fans online.

The fact of the matter is that most artists today will do anything if they feel it will help them reach new listeners while further engaging their current fan base, and those who eventually ‘make it’ are the ones smart enough to manage their various channels of communication well. YouTube and sites like it offer a unique platform for reaching listeners that is audio and text cannot match, but it only works if you do your part and create content worth enjoying. Make a plan, stick to it, and work every day to better the skills needed to create the content your followers enjoy the most. Success will follow.

Exit mobile version