Rough to Release

 As a follow on to Part 17 - Distribution Strategies I have started to experiment with some of the approaches. First on my list to throw money at was Playlisting, and to test this I put $50 into the pot with SubmitHub , which is I think the largest of the third party playlisters . Step 1 was researching playlisters and trying to find ones who had a good overlap with my music, then working out which songs to pitch to which lists. Step 2 was throwing that all in the bin because SubmitHub had a very different view of my genres than I did and very few of the playlisters I was interested in came up as options. Nevertheless, I persisted… Week 1 So I picked 4 songs as starters and sent them through to 4 playlisters . I initially picked a few with fairly high rejection rates because, 1) if you don't believe in your stuff then who will? And 2) start high then taper down is an easier way to navigate the system. Four rejections later… Two rejections were basically long winded ways of sayin...

So you've 'finished' your song up to a standard and loudness that you're happy with, now you just lob it up on your website and let it go viral right? Depending on your definition of 'finished' then potentially, yes. If our objective is to get something written, recorded and released then our job is done and we can give ourselves a pat on the back and move on. Seriously, that's a piece of art that is out in the world that didn't exist until you turned your hand to it. You created something from nothing, and that's a kind of magic.  But if we're hoping to attract a few more listeners, and we don't have the same levels of 'brand recognition' as Taylor Swift, then we're going to need to put in a bit of work. This work is 'marketing'. It's a dirty word, and a dirtier business, but at some point you're going to have to face into it.  Well, it's not really. Basically marketing is just letting potential customers (you...

 Welcome to either the half-way point of this blog, or the end of the blog, depending on your perspective... This series is titled 'rough to release' because for me, the release is the end* of the process. It's the point beyond which there are no more re-writes, re-arrangements or just general tweakery. In releasing it to the public it is committed to the record. But not all of you will work to this definition of 'finished'. For some it is enough to have a set of lyrics written down, a structure established, and a chord progression or tune notated. And if that's you then you might be pleased to know that your work here is all but done. After this blog we'll be moving onto the 'release' part of the series. So before we take that step, let's have a quick refresher on what we've covered so far. In part one we set the scene but didn't really broach any finishing techniques, so let's go straight onto... Part Two - Space and Permission. Th...