Launch, Test, Iterate

Think about that.

The key takeaway for you as a music creator?

Stop trying to make everything perfect.

Your music, your content—these are just versions of your larger journey and brand.

Launching Means Shipping Your Product

Seth Godin coined the term ‘shipping’ as an analogy for getting your creative work out into the world. He compares launching your art with shipping a product to a customer.

The idea is simple: Get it out the door. 

Too often, music creators get paralyzed by overthinking, by the fear of releasing something that isn’t quite ‘perfect’. 

But the truth is, if you’re waiting for the perfect song, the perfect video, or the perfect release plan, you’re waiting too long.

Perfection is the enemy of progress. Ship your work!

Put it out into the world, imperfections and all. Why? Because each launch is a test. It’s a way for you to learn, grow, and iterate on your craft.

If you hold back waiting for a perfect version, you miss the real point: growth through action.

A Launch is a Test, Not an Approval Seeking Exercise

Every launch is simply an opportunity to learn.

Think of it as an experiment, just like a scientist would. What’s the hypothesis? Maybe it's that your new single will get more streams than your last.

Maybe you’ve spent countless hours refining your latest track, trying to make it flawless. Maybe you have been planning a social media content series, maybe you have been designing new merch… after a certain point, you need to test so that you know what to do next! 

Release it. And then observe the reaction.

The truth is, you can only plan so much and you’ll never really know what works until you launch it and see how people react.

The more you launch, the more feedback you get.

That feedback is gold—it tells you what’s working, what’s not, and where you should pivot or double down.

Just make sure that you actually put in the work to get your music in front of people.

Did you know?

That means that, by having any fans at all, you are already in the top 20% of the world’s creators!

If you have a song with over 100K streams, that song is in the top 5% of all songs released on the platform 🤯

Iteration: Crafting a Cycle of Growth

The goal here isn’t to create one perfect release that gets everyone’s approval.

It’s to launch, test, and iterate.

If the launch didn’t go as planned, great—you learned something. If it went better than expected, you also learned something.

This is how you create a feedback loop that continually pushes you forward.

With every new release, you’re not only putting out your music; you’re refining your brand, you’re understanding your audience better, and you’re getting clearer on what resonates and what doesn’t.

Think of launching each new song, content series, or merch line as a stepping stone toward mastering your craft, not just musically, but in how you connect with your audience and present your art.

Every time you launch, you get a little bit closer to achieving the kind of impact and reach you’re aiming for.

5 Practical Steps to Launch, Test, and Iterate

1. Set a Version Mindset for Everything You Do: Think about each release, each piece of content, and each marketing effort as a version. It’s a V1, V2, V3. You’re constantly improving, but you’re not aiming for perfection out of the gate. Your first goal is to launch.

2. Define What You’re Testing: What do you want to learn from this release? Is it about understanding how your audience responds to a new sound? Or maybe it’s about seeing how well you can build hype with your pre-release campaign. BE SPECIFIC! Get clear about what you’re testing and set SMARTER Goals to make sure you can measure results.

3. Gather Feedback and Observe Results: After the launch, don’t just move on—analyze. Did you hit your targets? Did you grow your audience? What did the engagement look like on social media? Read the comments, note the reactions, and don’t be scared to personally ask your fans what they think.

4. Iterate and Make Adjustments: Based on the feedback, adjust your approach for the next release. Was there a specific type of content that got shared a lot? Did a particular post flop? Use that insight to do better next time. The process is about small, continuous tweaks—not a complete overhaul every time.

5. Launch Again: This is the cycle: Launch, Test, Iterate, Repeat. Keep the feedback loop going, and soon enough, you’ll see major improvement—not just in your music, but in your ability to market it, engage your audience, and truly grow your fanbase.

Keep the Big Picture in Mind

The faster you learn, the clearer you become on where you want to go, and the more effective you’ll be at reaching those goals.

Over time, the small iterations compound.

• You become better at making music.

• You become more effective at marketing your work.

• Your audience grows, and so does your impact.

This is a long game.

You’re not just releasing music - you’re building a brand, a legacy, a career that evolves over time. 

It starts with shipping.

So, stop overthinking, get out of your own way, and launch something into the world.

It doesn’t have to be perfect.

It just has to be the next test, and you iterate from there.

Because at the end of the day, your success won’t be built by what you thought about doing—it will be built on what you did, what you shipped, and how you learned from it.

Launch, test, and iterate your way to success 🚀🧐🔁

P.S. We practice what we preach at HOME 💯 We have been cooking up a VERY SPECIAL new initiative for over a year, and we are now ready to launch, test and iterate on our exciting new A&R Program 👂🤩 Hit this link to get a sneak peek at the 9 incredible creators on the A&R Committee and join us November 20th at Analog for the official launch 👀🚀