10 Strategies to Guarantee Your Tracks Get Noticed Pre-Release

Have you ever wondered how to get your music noticed before you've even released it!?

Promoting yourself and your music is probably one of the most challenging parts of being an artist.

It's a dilemma all new music artists' have faced, so if it's the first time you're putting yourself and your work out there...

Just remember that you're not alone!

Everyone's gotta start somewhere!

And with each new release, it will get easier and hopefully, things will improve in terms of success!

Another thing that might be happening if this is your first ever song release is that you might feel like there's a lot riding on it and you'd be right!

You're being brave enough to chase a dream but try not to put too much pressure on yourself!

We're gonna help you out by sharing a few top tips on how you can get prepared for your next music release.

What you put into the song pre-release is just as important as what you put into your music itself...

And you will want to generate some buzz around your music pre-release to give yourself the best chance of success!

So whether it's a single track release, a mixtape release, an album release or even a collaboration, pay close attention because here are ten top tips to get your next music project noticed:

1. Get a Spotify-approved distributor:

Check out DistroKid, CD Baby and The Orchard who take care of the licensing and distribution to Spotify for you.

2. Share a Pre-Save Link:

This is a big deal on Spotify. Provide your fanbase with a link that will automatically download your next release the moment it becomes available.

Click here to learn how EmuBand set up their Pre-save on Spotify or you can watch the video below to learn more...

3. Submit your track via Spotify For Artists’:

Claim your page, create a kickass profile and follow your release as it grows. You could end up getting featured on the Release Radar playlist.
To learn more about playlists on Spotify click here.

4. Stay Social & Connected:

It’s important to keep your social channels updated with your latest release dates and images.

Spend a short time each day making sure you have a stand-out presence on your social media platforms to engage with your followers and attract new fans.

5. Announce everything:

Use images, videos, and any content that adds value to your socials and keeps your fan base engaged.

Tell them what you are up to, share images or video snippets from whenever you're in the studio or on a shoot… get them excited about what’s happening next on your musical journey.

If you have a marketing budget – use some of it to create a tailored social media advert to draw in new fans.

6. Know your goals:

A finger’s crossed approach just won’t work.

After all, if you don’t understand what you want to achieve from the next release, how can you measure it?

Be smart, map it out, take pen to paper, and set an objective.

It might be the number of streams your new track gets, or how many followers you gain but get the numbers in your head and understand your goal.

7. Work to a timeline:

Once you’ve set your goal, you must work to a timeline.

We suggest a two-month timescale as a good starting point.

Use the first month to work on the hype-building, the promotion, the photos, and the pre-release teasers.

Then after you release your track, work hard on building those streaming numbers, gaining traction and engagement from your fans.

8. It’s all about your brand:

One area where you should choose to splash the cash is photography and getting yourself some decent images.

Invest in some professional photos of yourself and then use the images on your socials.

Your look is your brand, make sure the photos are representative of your style and your genre.

Unfortunately, as shallow as it sounds the truth is when it comes to people booking shows, radio stations, and bloggers wanting to write about you...if they don’t think you’ve got the right image, they won’t even give you the time of day let alone give your track a listen to, so take a moment to think about your image.

Check out Ditto's Guide to music branding for some direction.

9. Make friends with some bloggers:

Getting your track in front of bloggers and influencers is a must.

By sending them your track pre-release it gives you a better chance of it getting listened to and scheduled into their blog posts and reviews.

Check out the blog services we've got listed here on Indiy.

And also upload your SoundCloud link to Submithub, which is a great way to get your music out there to curators.

10. Get ready for radio play:

Don’t think you shouldn’t share your track before release; lots of radio stations listen to pre-release tracks for emerging artists, so get your press release written, use all the platforms you have at your disposal and create your own hype to get the radio stations interested!

Take a look at Burstimo's YouTube video below to gather some ideas on how you could make it onto National radio with one of your songs.

Be sure to follow all of these 10 strategies!

And you'll give yourself a good headstart before the release day.

You don't want to make the mistake of launching without garnering an audience base first.

Read our article on 'How to become a successful music artist' for some networking tips!

Remember if you’re staying at the forefront of people’s minds and giving them more opportunities to engage, share, and purchase your music, you'll be more likely to gain traction, continue growing, and reaching more fans.

It's okay if you want to release a single track, to begin with, and in the meantime, you could be working on your album or something behind the scenes but essentially grow your list of songs and get your music archive backed up.

It’s pretty common for those already established artists to release a single as a preview to the album before the official release date.

So finally, it might be a good idea to build up your music catalogue first so when you are ready to launch, you can be constantly releasing music.

If you want to continue learning about pre-release strategies, check out DIY Musician's website for their 10 top tips on releasing a single song in 2020.

Thanks for reading and good luck on your music journey! ✌️