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Written by Jaron Lewis
After all the work that goes into producing an album, countless hours writing and recording and then re-recording, the worst thing that can happen would be for it not to sell. It takes a lot of money to record songs so wouldn’t it be nice to see a return on that investment. Congratulations! Your band was able to throw an album together, but the hard parts not over yet. Wouldn’t it be nice if people told you how to release an album as independent artists?
You have to make people give a damn about your music enough to buy it, or at least stream it. Try this releasing an album checklist to increase the sales for that child of love and labor you produced in the studio.
Build the anticipation for the album, get a following going, and let people know you have big stuff in the works. This way when it is first released people are far more likely to give a damn about it. There are tons of ways to let people know that you have an album being created, either through blogs or social media or your own website. Just get the word out there, man.
No one releases full albums all in one go these days. They just don’t sell like they used to. Release a few songs before the whole album to increase anticipation for the album. That would be how to release your first album – chunks at a time before hand.
This grows an interest in your music and especially for what is unknown on the album. Even very successful professional artists like Ed Sheeran release a few singles before an actual album. It’s just the smart business move to make.
If you’re releasing music on your own publishing company, definitely line up a music video shoot. This will not only boost and spread awareness about your music and promote your new album, but also your company. When making that sweet video that hopefully is going to rake in the money, consider going professional or at least work with a friend who has experience with a video camera.
This way you avoid the minutia of being amateur producers that don’t really know what’s going on with the programs and the angles and the lighting.
This is a big one. The worst thing that can happen for your sales is the CDs or Vinyl show up at your doorstep and you are just sitting there holding them with no plan on how to get them out to the public. Talk to music stores, get bids online, something.
Just don’t be stuck with 10 boxes of CDs in your garage as you wait for them to sell. Get those works of gold of to distributors so that they can be in-stock on store shelves and making you money.
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