How to Release Music Independently?

To make the music heard and receive streams on any platform, you have to present it to the audience. Self-releasing may sound scary for beginners, especially if they haven't dealt with streaming platforms at all. Dozens of artists work with distributors to speed up the process and make their content public ASAP. Meanwhile, some independent artists prefer a DIY approach, as they prepare every new release themselves. How is that possible? An average independent musician won't succeed without a record label, a producer, and a solid budget behind them, right? A few years ago, it may be true. You had to hire a team and save resources to release and promote your music effectively. 

Today, in the era of digital music business, artists prefer independent music releases for several reasons. In our article, we will discuss how to release music as an independent artist and succeed. 

What Does Independent Publishing Mean?

When musicians release a song themselves, they become publishers as well, making them the right holders of their intellectual property. It's important because when you work with music distribution companies or record labels, they take part in your rights and receive royalties that come from streams and music sharing. Self-publishing makes you the only one receiving funds for your tracks, but also makes you the only one responsible for successful sharing. You have to think of:

• When to upload your music?
• How to promote them (paid or free promotion)?
• What platforms to prioritize for music sharing?
• Whether to release music videos or not?

All these points are extremely important, as your music career directly depends on how effectively you implement them. For example, a simple purchase of the music promotion won't give you the needed advantage unless you understand how to combine it with other actions. It means you have to come up with an individual music release plan that includes previews, social media promotion, and maximum audience engagement.

Independent publishing is also a step towards building your music brand. You build connections with your fans, show unique features that come with every single release, and create an eye-catching profile that will become recognizable immediately. 

Set Realistic Goals Before Releasing Your Music

Music releases won't make a difference if you will do it without specific goals. When people share their tracks on platforms like Spotify, they do it to get a higher stream count, boost revenue, or get their content in major Spotify playlists. When your music appears on Release Radar or Discover Weekly, it proves that your songs are high-demanded. For example, if you are at the beginning of your path, your goal is to keep growing and post more music on Spotify, so the profile will look alive, and more people would like to engage with it.

Once you decide to release albums on Spotify, you should do it according to the plan to avoid major obstacles and achieve maximum engagement on the platform. Check this video to understand how to release an album within six months.

When setting goals for music releases, think of how the release will go. Will it be just an online version, or do you want to release a physical copy as well? Sometimes, artists make merch releases along with music releases to get more profit and succeed for sure. For example, if people purchase jerseys while purchasing albums on iTunes, it will be a solid advantage for musicians.

Do a Pro Registration

Once you are registered with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO), you will be able to receive all the royalties. Whether it's an ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or any other organization, all you have to do is fill out the form. In the application, you provide the following information:

• Legal name
• E-mail
• Mailing address
• SSN/ITIN

Also, a potential member should be 18 or older to apply for a PRO registration. After receiving the following information, the system will proceed to the next steps, providing you with information about royalties, and documents, and performing an account registration.

Get the MLC

Another important step to take is to sign up with the Mechanical Licensing Collective. It's one of the world's largest databases with copyrights and their owners. They gather royalties from the songs among all the streaming services and send them directly to the right holders. With this move, song authors won't lose engagement and royalties just because someone decides to publish your song on their profile. To make it happen, you have to complete the "Connect to Collect" operation.

Establish Presence on Multiple Platforms

Effective music distribution is not only about the right release day and time. It's also about global online presence. You have to make sure your music is heard by as many listeners as possible. Platforms like Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Music, Deezer, and others have different audiences that would like to listen to your music. Why not force them to come to one platform? Well, some may not like such a switch and prefer to stay where they are right now. Moreover, each platform has a different set of tools and you can use them to your advantage.

• Spotify has a large user database and the biggest genre presence. You can use it to find your target audience and release new music for fans of your genre.
• SoundCloud is a good option for beginning artists. Still, you have to subscribe to SoundCloud Next Pro to monetize your content and receive royalties for all tracks.
• Apple Music has one of the highest per-stream payments. Once you build your small community and start getting solid engagement, you can get solid royalties from Apple Music streaming.

Musicians and listeners keep arguing about the best music streaming platform: SoundCloud or Spotify, Spotify or Apple Music, SoundCloud or Mixcloud. Each of them is unique, and you won't find a perfect option to get your music released. That's why musicians focus on releasing songs and albums everywhere, even on YouTube. Optimize profiles, create engaging descriptions, and develop a posting schedule to match your audience's activity. It's extremely important for future release strategies because the more people see your content on time, the more streams you get.

Develop a Marketing Plan

Successful music production may sound unrealistic if you are unprepared for it. An Independent music career should be based on a strong marketing plan where you consider everything, including music recording, editing, sharing, and promoting. At the beginning, consider going through a detailed music marketing course and learn more about how to get your music heard.

Later, add social media marketing (SMM) courses and learn more about email marketing to effectively use social media and market your music. Later, you can invest in advanced promotion on Facebook and Instagram to share reels and music videos among your followers.

Work on Proper Promotion for Your Music

Simply adding a song to your artist profile may be ineffective because people may miss the release date. You won't receive the desired engagement, and your track will be left without attention. The easiest way to prepare people for the song release is to use Instagram for promotion. Start a promo campaign at least 7 days before release to make sure everyone sees it. 

If you have a YouTube channel, use it to announce your new song or an album. Share a teaser or make a video for YouTube shorts, selecting proper hashtags for better visibility. 

Eminem sets a release time for his new song, so the fans can turn on a notification, and they won't miss a premier.

Promotion does not end with social media or video platforms. If you want to effectively distribute your music as an independent artist, you have to invest in paid promotion. By getting organic engagement from real listeners, you will be able to expand your audience and surpass other artists on any platform. Organic Spotify promotion from Artist Push gives a solid advantage, so you will get more than you expected.

The process of releasing your music may not be easy, but it allows you to control everything on your own. When you learn all the aspects of distributing your music on your own, you can achieve maximum efficiency and have a long music journey.