Release Checklist
You’ve written, arranged, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered a song. Now it’s time to release! It does not cover everything, and it definitely doesn’t cover the promotion and marketing side, but we consistently see bands doing this part wrong. Plus, there are tons of hints for sync and other techniques to give your song a chance to perform well in the market. That’s another pod.
Putting a song out and just hoping for it to gain traction is not a plan.
This is extremely helpful if you have other people on your team helping you set up a release. We suggest Dropbox for the files - especially for audio and video. Although Google Drive can work for the .doc files too.
Here is a handy checklist for release:
- Register it with your PRO
- Output a wav/mp3 file of the single
- Output a wav/mp3 file of the instrumental
- Output a wav/mp3 file of the a capella
- Create a Lyric file in a doc (no punctuation on the end of lines, no extraneous notes)
- Create Credits doc
- Create 3000x3000 square cover art jpg or png
- Create YouTube video thumbnail - 1280x720 pixels tall, with a minimum width of 640 pixels. A ratio of 16:9 2mb max
- Create 2-3 :30 sec snippets - mp3s
- Create 2 8 second snippets Canvas 3-8 seconds long. Vertical 9:16 ratio. Between 720px1080px tall
- Create your Superlink - Toneden/Hypeddit/KOMI/ Laylo for preDrop
- YouTube Prep : Descriptions, 3 hashtags, header. Video cover X - load video as a premier.
- Facebook Prep: Description Header change
- Instagram Prep: Description, hashtags, include Superlink
- Load to distro platform- wav, load credits, load lyrics. Friday release (midnight ET)
- Bandcamp: upload song, lyrics, credits
- Create 2 playlists on Spotify to make your song top or second song.
- Match if possible and create 2 playlists on Youtube, one not listed.
Release on Thursday night 12 midnight Eastern
In your timezone, have video ads loaded in Google Ad manager for Youtube (they can’t go live until the video is released)
Have ads loaded in Business manager for FB/IG
- YOUR RELEASE FOR FRIDAY STARTS THURSDAY AT MIDNIGHT - you should be up working Europe as it rolls out and as the Youtube video goes live.
- Then at midnight ET, be on YouTube for the Premiere - do a live chat
- Ideally your core fans should be streaming on their platform that night (use loop)
But even if they aren’t you should be.
- Hint for starting out. - setup different browsers and differs devices TV, phone,
When your song drops at least 5 people need to be listening.
It should be done by your fans but if not YOU need to be there too.
