Releasing a single is the quickest and easiest way to start your journey as an artist, get your music heard and pave your first steps in the music world.
But as we all know, the music industry has changed - drastically - and is continuing to evolve. Which means for new artists entering the playing field, there’s now a number of things worth considering before releasing a single in 2024.
Releasing a single is not only the quickest way to start making your mark as an artist but as well as that, the more singles you put out, the more experience you’ll build releasing and promoting your own music, which will in turn garner you a bigger advantage when it comes to releasing bigger projects, such as an album or EP.
In the modern fast-paced world of the music industry, and in response to the big changes that digital streaming has brought about, newer artists need to release music more regularly in order to keep their audience engaged and interested.
This is what’s commonly referred to as the ‘Waterfall Strategy’.
And it’s a good one to be aware of when it comes to marking out your overall music release strategy.
To put it short - the music industry has changed. MASSIVELY. With the rise of digital streaming, the average listener’s attention span has reduced and as a response, albums are becoming shorter and shorter, with EP’s now becoming the most popular end goal.
Cue the waterfall strategy.
The waterfall strategy centres around an artist releasing a new single every 3 - 4 weeks, just as the previous single is at its peak or just starting to decline, in a bid to stay relevant, build an audience & create an eventual EP or album over time.
But how does it work?
When you release your music with Ditto Music, we’ll distribute your track to all the biggest online streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music & more, plus a load of other online platforms and stores, such as TikTok, YouTube & Instagram.
You’ll also receive 100% of all the money you make from streaming royalties and get access to promo tools like pre-save links, chart registration and more.
We handle music distribution for over 500k artists worldwide. Sign up for your free trial today!
Releasing a single doesn't require as much pre-planning as releasing an album, but you’ll still need to give yourself enough time for planning and preparation.
Deciding on a release date is really important early on. You can develop your timeline for the rest of your release plan based on this date, and set deadlines for tasks that need to be completed in the lead up to and after your release date.
In terms of the actual marketing and release strategy, you’ll want to start thinking and making decisions about this roughly around 1 - 2 months in advance.
Define the different stages and sketch out a promotional plan. Create a timeline and make sure you stick to it. Make notes on how you’re going to introduce your single, create hype, boost the potential for earnings & keep the momentum going (read on for more tips on this!).
Your promotion plan will ultimately dictate the overall success of your single release. Investing time in promotional assets and steps will help you enhance your relationship with your fans and increase your gains from a single release.
But the singles that stand out are the ones that have their own individual hook i.e. a creative, unique or interesting feature, whether that’s musical, conceptual, visual, or something else.
Once you’ve defined yours, make sure to rotate the rest of your promotional efforts around it. Highlight and reiterate the hook in your visual assets, music video, press release, track description bio, hints and teases & everything in between.
You may even want to consider another angle beyond the primary hook. For casual fans, the song on its own may not be enough to entice their attention. Encourage fans to take a leap of faith and check out your song by offering some sort of additional benefit, such as a free piece of merch, free gig tickets to see you perform, or other extras that might encourage a listener to push play or hit download.
Because streaming has changed how we consume new music, it’s also changed how we perceive new artists. This means digital artwork and imagery to accompany new music is now one of the major shapers of listeners’ opinions.
Create artwork, album imagery, cover banners and anything else you need for assets well in advance, so you have them at the ready and can focus on promoting your single when it’s out.
Your single should have a visually catchy and captivating thumbnail that you can post and repurpose in other creative ways, such as across social media and posters, and in your music or lyric video.
Taking the time to create a clean version of your track is also worth its weight in gold - especially if you’re aiming to get your track on the radio. Radio hosts & DJs won’t turn a blind eye to expletives, so keep it PG and have a clean version ready to go.
Creating a pre-save campaign allows fans to take action and pre-save your track before it lands officially. Building up pre-saves on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal can give your track or album the huge boost it needs to go viral on release day.
Racking up pre-saves on Spotify for example, guarantees that all your fans and followers will see it in their music library from day one, which can help you generate a high stream count and build that early momentum.
When you sign up to release music with Ditto, you’ll also get a free Ditto SmartLink which you can use to direct followers straight from your socials or website to pre-save your song on Spotify & any other major platforms you’re releasing to.
