A question that has come
up a lot recently from my clients is whether it is better to release an album
all at once or release multiple singles over time. It has been coming up so
much recently, that I felt it would be valuable to share some of my insights on
the subject.
While most of us have
grown up listening to albums and still want to release our music in that
format, it's proving not to be very practical in today’s market. The
reasons for this are because of the way we all listen to music now, how much
social media has affected our lives, and the way these two things have changed
the way the entire music industry operates. To be clear, when I say “album",
I refer to a bunch of songs packaged together, either physically (CD etc) or
digitally.
Twenty years ago, recorded
music was sold as a physical product. There was a cost to create this product
and deliver it to the consumer. It made sense to package multiple
songs onto it in order to be able to charge enough to make money while ensuring
that people were feeling that they were getting value for the cost. This
climate created releases that comprised of a few songs that were throwaways,
some that were more interesting and inventive for the hardcore fan and then
the1-3 songs that would sell the whole project. Obviously I'm
generalizing here but I feel that’s an apt description for the average album
release.
Fast forward to today and
the world of streaming music. Whether it be YouTube, which is the largest streamer of
music or Spotify, people no longer need to own a copy
of a song when it's available at any time through a streaming service. With
this new medium however, albums are only for the most diehard fan. When you can
access the whole history of music with the touch of a button, the average
person is only interested in the best of the best. In this climate, it's
more important to focus on truly great songs that will cut through the noise
over subpar material that would have been considered "album filler"
back in the day. I don't even mean hit singles (although you'll need
those!), but your songs definitely have to be able to stand out on their own
rather than just being a part of a bigger work like an album.
After your project is
recorded, a promotion plan is necessary. Again, you’ll find that promoting a
single can have many benefits. The reason single releases work, especially for
the indie musician, is because of the way we promote music today. Social
media is great, but it's fleeting... like really fleeting. You post a
song up that took you hours and hours and lots of money to create and it's gone
in a flash; lost in a sea of cat memes and time wasting top 10 lists. The
truth is it's very hard to get people to pay attention to one song, let alone a
whole album of songs, when you're an independent musician. Best to split
up the promo into individual songs every month and always promote something
new, rather than repetitively promoting an album for a year and getting tuned
out. What I find works for my clients is releasing a song every month or
two. At the same time as continuing to work on new material for the next
release, try and get the most out of the single you’ve just put out. Submit
it to blogs, podcasts and music supervisors for sync licensing. Find new ways
to make the release exciting over the month you’re promoting it. Create a
video for it, promote any use of the song (radio play, sync license, etc) while
still promoting the song as well. Basically try and find as many ways of
telling people, “here’s my song” without it just being strictly about the song
itself during the promotion period.
Once you have a good batch
of material (between 5-12 songs) that you’ve released in this way, package them
all together along with one new song as a way to launch an album or EP from
that group of material. That way you're always releasing something new and you’ll
have albums or EPs for those who really want them.
As you’ve read, there's a
lot of good reasons to release singles consistently over time rather than
releasing albums. It’s especially good for the independent musician who
may have more limits on their time and financial resources. Having said
that, there are still reasons to release albums and if that's what you have
your heart set on, then go for it. Just keep in mind there will be more
challenges with promotion when you’re releasing an album, unless you have a huge
promotion budget. It’s a new world for the modern independent musician.
The more you try to adapt to the current market the more success you will
experience. Good luck with your releases!
Feel free to add some comments below on what your
experience has been with your projects! Also if you need help with your
songs or recordings feel free to email me.
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