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- Successful Music Release | Part 5 | Two Weeks Out
Successful Music Release | Part 5 | Two Weeks Out
Become a playlist ninja and learn the secret weapon of the world's top marketers.
Logan Crowell
October 13, 2024
If you're just joining this series, take a moment to catch up on Parts 1-4.
Now we’re two weeks out from release day, diving into the final prep work. Weeks 5 and 6 on the 12-week roadmap bring us to some of the final, but immensely powerful strategies that will make sure your release doesn’t go unnoticed.
Two Weeks Out: Lock in the Details
This is where you put the puzzle together. These last two weeks before release day are crucial. You need to secure playlist placements, prepare your fan announcements, prep to start running ads, and get your fans ready to help amplify your music far and wide.
Here’s the GANTT chart again for you:
If you are an active HOME Member, don't forget you have access to the full Music Release Planning Guide spreadsheet with over 65 action items ✅
Keep in mind, at this point in the release process you are already spending an average of 1-2 hours per day creating and posting content on socials. Here’s what else you need to focus on during those crucial two weeks leading up to your release announcement 👇
1. Third-Party Playlisting (10+ hr)
Third-party playlisting means getting your music on playlists curated by music enthusiasts or playlist curators—not Spotify’s official editorial playlists or algorithmic playlists.
This is the hustle side of playlisting, reaching out to people who have created their own public playlists on Spotify.
But here's the truth: not all playlists are created equal.
Buying your way onto playlists is a common practice, but it can also damage your brand. If the playlists are using fake accounts/bots and they get caught, it can make it look like you were intentionally buying streams and Spotify could take action against your artist profile.
Do not do pay for fake streams! You can’t buy true fans.
How to Find Quality Playlists
Spotify App Search: Use the Spotify Mac app to find the 'Discovered On' section, which can help identify who curates a particular playlist. (Note: This feature may not be available on mobile devices.)
Submit Your Music Properly: If a playlist accepts submissions, refer back to the Artist Branding Playbook to craft a compelling pitch email. A well-presented submission can make a significant difference.
SubmitHub: One effective tool is SubmitHub, where you can submit to nearly 2,000 playlists and blogs at minimal cost. They even have a free playlist checker to help you figure out whether a playlist is genuine or just filled with bots. I’ve seen artists get 10+ playlist placements with a $50 spend!
Create Your Own: Another strategy is to create your own playlists and figure out how to get people listening! You could title it with ‘SEO’ in mind (search engine optimization), which means people find it when searching for a certain topic (like workout music). You can also run ads to people who would like the playlist (like gym enthusiasts and athletes).
You Become the Curator: If the playlist takes off you have a valuable tool! You can put your own music on the playlist and also take submissions from people who want to get on it, growing your network and influence.
Playlists are NOT a marketing strategy.
Remember, getting onto playlists is great, but it’s not a magic wand. They are part of the strategy—not the strategy itself.
Playlists will mostly bring you passive listeners.
That means that the people listening to the playlists are usually not actively engaged with the artists. It’s mostly background music.
However, getting on third-party playlists can help trigger the Spotify algorithm, getting you into playlists like Discover Weekly, which is where you’ll find more engaged listeners, bigger audience numbers, and more income from your streams.
When you’re submitting directly and building relationships with curators, start at least two weeks before the release, and make sure you have crafted your pitch!
Remember, these curators want to discover dope new artists!
It’s about how you can add value to their playlist, not about what you can get from them. Be ready for them to ask you to follow up after release day so that they have the link.
Curators typically prefer adding new releases but are still open to older tracks that fit their list. Timing matters, but don’t be afraid to try to get onto playlists with older material as well. If you have an older song that didn’t gain traction, consider re-releasing it to give it a fresh chance at discovery.
If the music is hot you gotta make sure people hear it 🔥
Do you want a cheat code for finding playlists that you can easily submit your music to?
Check out this short video I shared in the HOME for Music online community 👀
2. Prep Your Release Day Announcement (10+ hr)
When your release finally drops, you need to hit up all your channels—email, social media, texts. Don’t forget about those phone numbers and emails you’ve been collecting throughout the pre-release campaign. Now is the time to leverage them.
Direct messaging cuts through social media clutter, ensuring your fans know your music is ready for them.
Practical Tips for Your Announcement
Personalize Your Message: Tailor your announcement to resonate with different segments of your audience. What you say on a TikTok reel will be different than the texts you send out or your message to your exclusive fan community.
Use Eye-Catching Visuals: Incorporate engaging graphics or videos that capture attention within the first few seconds.
Make it Easy: Include a link that makes it easy to stream the song on their platform of choice. Landing pages like LinkTree are good for that, or if you have a nice website you’ll want to send people there.
Include a Strong Call to Action: Encourage your fans to not just listen but also to share the release with their networks. Phrases like "share with a friend who needs to hear this" can motivate action.
Leverage Multiple Formats: Utilize various content formats such as stories, reels, posts, and live streams to reach different parts of your audience.
Overcoming the Scroll Challenge
The biggest challenge on release day is getting people to stop scrolling on their social feeds and pay attention to you. To ensure your announcement stands out and captures attention, focus on creating scroll-stopping post intros. Consider these strategies:
Interactive Elements: Use polls, quizzes, or challenges related to your release to engage viewers actively.
Unique Content Styles: Experiment with different content styles like stop-motion, animations, or time-lapse videos to differentiate your posts.
Collaborations: Partner with influencers or other artists to co-create content that can tap into their follower base and increase your reach.
Consistency in Branding: Ensure that all your announcement materials reflect your brand’s aesthetic and message, creating a cohesive and recognizable presence. People will stop when they recognize a brand they love!
Success Story: Boosting IG Engagement
One HOME Member recently experienced a big jump in engagement when we used email to drive his fanbase back to social media to support the new content he was creating. He’d put all the work into creating content, but IG was not making it visible to his following.
So I told him to send an email out to all of his fans linking back to his new content and asking them to adjust their settings to prioritize seeing his posts. It worked like a charm!
You cannot depend on social platforms alone—they’ll only show your posts to a fraction of your audience unless you pay them to boost.
Organic reach is limited by the social platforms, which is why the world’s top marketers use social media ads.
Social media advertising is a great way to get your music to a wider audience. Don’t leave your success to chance—take control and leverage the platforms that make it easy to target your potential superfans. This can be your secret weapon ⚔️
Think of ads as an investment, not an expense.
You've put time and heart into your music—ensure it gets heard by investing in ads. Treat it just like you are investing in the stock market… keep putting in and putting in long enough for compounding growth to occur.
Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world.
Tips to Help You Invest Wisely
Use Meta Business Manager: Stop wasting money boosting posts on the Instagram mobile app. Meta Business Manager offers better targeting and saves you from the extra 40% fee that the Apple App Store gets when you boost through the IG app. Get more bang for your buck!
Educate Yourself: Dive into platform guides and YouTube tutorials. Master the ad tools that have been developed by the world’s top companies to help you connect with the right audience.
Don’t Give Up: You get the results that other people don’t get by doing the things other people won’t do. In other words, you keep going long after most people quit because you understand what it takes to be a high performer.
Don’t make this mistake!
Check out some success stories of Homies in our network who have grown massive audiences through ads.
Both artists are extremely good at their craft. But another key factor in their growth is that invested time and money into ads, gaining control and building profitable careers.
Quick Tips for Killer Ads
Define Your Audience: Know who your fans are. Target by location, interests, age and behaviors.
Create Compelling Content: I’ll say it again, high-quality visuals and catchy clips grab attention.
Set Clear Goals: Whether it’s streams, followers, or engagement—know what you want. Revisit Successful Music Release | Part 1 | A Clear Objective if you need help figuring out what result you want.
Monitor & Adjust: Keep an eye on performance. Tweak what’s not working.
A/B Test: Experiment with different combinations of headlines or hooks to see what clicks.
Use Retargeting: Re-engage listeners who’ve interacted with your content before. THIS IS A PRO TACTIC 💯
Remember don’t just release music—make a statement.
Each release is a fresh opportunity to make a compelling brand statement and redefine who you are in the marketplace.
The most impactful thing you can do for your audience growth is to get your fans to do the talking for you.
If your fans are sharing your content without being asked, that’s the best indicator that your work resonates with them.
But don’t be afraid to ask.
Have a core group of superfans ready to share, like, and comment on your posts right as they drop. This helps build momentum in the algorithm, signaling to social platforms that your content is valuable and should be shown to more people.
Use Emotions: People share content that makes them feel something, whether it's joy, nostalgia, or inspiration. Connect with your audience emotionally to boost shareability.
Listen to the HOMIE Podcast with Taylor Bickett where she breaks down how her song ‘Quarter Life Crisis’ went viral because of nostalgic fan participation, which helped her rack up over 30 MILLION streams 📈
Make Sharing Easy: Provide graphics, quotes, or snippets that are easy for your fans to repost on social media.
Community Engagement: Build a community through platforms like Telegram or Discord where your superfans can get direct communication from you. This is where you share your upcoming release, ask for support, and get real, immediate feedback from the people that love your music the most.
The vast majority of big influencers don’t rely solely on luck—they are in engagement groups where participants all engage on each other’s content.
Be proactive about engineering those shares!
MARKETING = MONEY
If you want your music to generate revenue, you need to get it in front of as many ears as possible. That’s what marketing does.
It’s the price you pay to get your music out there.
If you believe in the value of what you’ve created, then step up and put in the work to make sure people hear it. You owe it to yourself, to your art, and to your future fans.