Single Release Day: A step-by-step guide by David Abakan

Once you have completed your first promotion phase and the teasing period, the big day arrives. This is a crucial and decisive moment that should not be missed. This is what a typical single release day looks like for David Abakan!

🖊 This article was translated from an article in French by David Abakan, whose blog Spread The Word is highly recommended. Thanks, David, for your insights!

1. Submit the track on Spotify for Artists

Single release day: as soon as your track is available in your artist space on Spotify, you’ll need to submit it in order to get it into editorial playlists directly from Spotify. The pitch is a summary of your track which may allow Spotify to integrate it into themed playlists. Usually, I do this well in advance of the release date but sometimes, depending on your distributor, it may only appear in your account on the day of release.

See as well: HOW TO USE SPOTIFY FOR ARTISTS TO DEVELOP YOUR STREAMING AUDIENCE

2. Update my Press Kit and website

Although there are many ways to listen to or see your music (Youtube, Streaming, social media, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, etc.) your site remains the cornerstone of your communication. Indeed, many people have the reflex to search for an artist directly on google through his or her website. It is important that your website reflects your most recent news. It is therefore necessary to add the news of the new single on your press kit and integrate the video of the clip on the site- on the home page if possible.

3. Send a reminder email to influencers

Part of the promotion can be done in advance, about 1 month before the official single release day of the single, notably through Groover. Therefore, on release day, it is important to send a reminder email to those who have expressed their desire to share the track.

In this email I include :

• The link to my youtube video
• My press kit
• The link to streaming platforms

Of course, this media canvassing phase also continues once the song is released.

4. Personalize my social media

It’s important to standardize your social media and customize your profile and cover photos. When it’s single release day, I change the ones on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. You can change Youtube, Bandcamp, and Spotify, if you want to as well.

See as well: HOW TO MANAGE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS AS MUSICIANS AND STAND OUT

5. Finish my YouTube description

The description of your YouTube video is one of the key elements for referencing your video on YouTube. Here are the elements that I systematically add :

• Credits (author, composer, musicians, video, photos, mix, mastering etc.)
• The link to streaming platforms (smart link)
• The link to subscribe to my channel
• Legal notices (producer, label, distributor etc)
• The lyrics of the song
• Tags

6. Make the YouTube video public

This action clearly announces the single release day of your song because each of your subscribers will receive instant notification. In my case, the video of my single is used to propose the track to influencers on Groover for example, therefore it has already been uploaded on Youtube for almost a month but put in “unlisted” so that Youtube doesn’t index it. So I just have to change its status to “Public” to make it accessible to everyone.

7. Advertise the single on Facebook/Twitter/Linkedin

There is no one method in advertising the release; some will want to open up at length and tell in detail the creative process up to the release, and others will play it more soberly. On a personal note, I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who helped me to bring my songs to life. This announcement should be posted on your Fan page, even if your page is as animated as a pharmacy! You will then be able to share the publication on your personal account. (*With my Facebook account linked to my Twitter, I don’t need to repeat this action)

8. Sharing with friends

I must admit that for this stage I force myself, because if I had to listen to my own music I wouldn’t bother anyone! But there is no choice! Indeed, the organic reach of Facebook has fallen in recent years and having subscribers no longer means that they will see all your publications. The ratio would be around 6.5%. In practice if you have 10,000 fans, only 650 would see your posts. Since 2018, it is the subscriber who has to make the effort not to miss any publication by one page.

Moreover, one might think that they can rely on paid sponsorship, but it is strongly advised to wait until your publication has reached its organic peak before sponsoring it. Sponsorship should complement what can be achieved organically. If you sponsor too early, you do not give the publication time to reach its organic peak. You must therefore try to have, in a first step, as much sharing or interaction as possible by yourself.

9. Send an email to my mailing list

Emailing is one of the tools at our disposal to communicate with our fan base. For this step, I try to be concise because I know that people have little patience these days. So I focus mainly on the YouTube video with a light explanatory text for those who are really interested. Of course I make sure that an unsubscribe link is visible and easy to access.

10. Update my signatures

There is no small profit when it comes to making your music known. You can add the link of your last single in your email signature or in the bio of your Instagram account.

11. Add the track to “Radio Airplay”

Having a monthly subscription on Radio Airplay, I add my last title and transfer the current credits to it.

12. Add the track on Soundcloud

Although I have long since left Soundcloud, I always put my new releases on it. I have a few followers but it’s mainly because Hype Machine uses Soundcloud to stream tracks on its player.

13. Create an Instagram story and sponsor it

Beyond the fact that I much prefer Instagram to Facebook, which I find much less anxiety-provoking, the stories there work much better and it is also possible to sponsor them. However, it is important to remember to designate an image or a video in the right format (1080px × 1920px).

14. Sponsor the post

Depending on how step 8 (sharing with friends) goes, I sponsor the Facebook post the same day or within the days following. By sponsoring, you can then decide to reach your subscribers, friends of your subscribers, or an audience that you will have defined beforehand, if you want to target a particular audience.

To take your single further like Abakan, contact the media, radios & labels of your choice on Groover, feedback guaranteed!

More info about Abakan: “After a long self-taught journey where I acquired some skills (mixing, video editing, color correcting, web development, web design) I decided to learn how to promote my own music- a complex but essential step in my job as an artist. Starting from the principle that in giving, one can receive, it’s through Spread The Word that I recently decided to share, in all transparency, the tools and solutions that worked during my releases.”