Your music release checklist for 2020

Are you planning to release music in 2020?

Being an independent musician or running a small label is sometimes an exercise in wearing as many hats as you can. Although we consider ourselves specialists, we often have to take on so many responsibilities ourselves.

If you’re releasing music for the first time, or just need to brush-up on process, this checklist will make sure you’re on track to get the most from your release.

Release Date

6 weeks lead time

These days you can get a release out within a week if you really want to push your luck. But a priority release requires lead time. It’s important that your music is in the systems prior to release if the store curators are going to have a chance of hearing it.

It also gives you time to make urgent changes before release date, if something goes wrong. Once your distributor has delivered your release you’ll be able to check the iTunes pre-order to make sure it all looks right. You should then be able to pitch your tune to Spotify Editorial playlists via your artist login (which is covered below). 6 weeks is a safe lead time for the above. 

Audio Assets

16-Bit 44.1khz .wav files numbered and titled
15, 30 & 60 second cuts for social posts and/or ads

Most aggregators will want CD quality .wav files for the delivery. The .wav format does not have metadata or ID3 tags, so the way the file is titled will not affect the way the music appears on stores. We recommend numbering and titling the tracks in the following format to help them stay organised for delivery and for your own records:

01_track1title.com, 02_track2title.com, 02_track2title.com, etc.We also recommend you snip your master into 15, 30 & 60 second previews which can be used for making video assets for promotion.

Art Assets

Cover Art: 3000x 3000 RGB .jpg
Press Shots
Artist or Label Logo 

The highest resolution requirement is currently Apple Music at 3000×3000, so this is the resolution you should provide the artwork at. It is imperative that the art is 100% square or your release will get rejected at delivery, no spare pixels on height or width.

It’s also very wise to have press shots for your artist on hand in case of media coverage and a logo for the artist and label is a good idea too. In fact, if you are a dance music artist or label, a label logo is necessary for Beatport to make your label page and host your release. Clarify with your digital distributor the process for creating your Beatport label page. 

Credits

Composer Names
Publishers Names
Collaborator and Engineers Names

The metadata form that your digital music distributor provides will ask for composer and publisher credits. If you are collaborating, make sure you have all of this information before submitting your release. Spotify is now showing producer credits, so if you’ve used a producer or engineer ask them how they’d like to be credited. 

Written Assets

Longer form artist biography 100-500 words
Short form track write up 50-100 words

If someone has no idea who you are, why should they listen to you? This is the essence of what you are trying to portray in both the artist bio and the track write up. The artist bio can be for your profiles and can speak generally about who you are, what you sound like and what are your substantial achievements.

Your track write up is the ‘elevator pitch’, it doesn’t need to go into your artistic influences or too much detail about yourself, but try to capture something interesting about this song or release in a way that will make people want to hit play.

Up to date profiles

Spotify for Artists
Apple Music for Artists
Beatport artist profile
triple j Unearthed

When someone clicks your name give them something in return. A complete artist profile on the digital music platforms is essential for building your following. Access a quick guide on the Noisehive site here.

Social Pages

Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube

It’s likely that fans will engage with you across multiple platforms. Your social pages can be used to connect with your fans and promote upcoming releases. People don’t use all platforms easily, so you’ll find you connect with different people on different services. Get across the big four and begin discussion. Connect with your followers and share interesting stuff. This will help engagement when you want to talk about your music.

Clever Links

Smart URL
Sound Click or Linkfire
Linktr.ee

Make things easy for your fans! Melbourne start-up linktr.ee provide a great way to get all your pages into one link. On release date, we suggest making a linkfire or soundclick link so that fans can follow through to their chosen music service from any post you make.

Prior to release date you can also make pre-save links on both Apple Music and Spotify. Hit up your aggregator for the pre-release links which can be used to generate these. Pre-saving allows fans to ensure your track appears in their saved tunes on release date.

Contacts Lists

Blogs and Publications
DJs Radio Presenters
Friend Fans

Who has supported you before?  If you have had previous radio play, music reviews, blog posts or DJ support, consolidate those into a spreadsheet, with the name of the outlet, your contact, their email, the date you last contacted them and the date your last received their support. Reach out to these people personally, thanking them for previous support and letting them know about your upcoming release.

It’s also a great idea to make a list of your friends that support you and your music. On release date, you could message them directly and let them know your release is out. Spending a bit of time  and directly reaching out to people makes a difference and lets you show them your appreciation.

Social Assets

Coming Soon
Release Date Announcement
Out Now

Remember the little 15, 30 & 60 second clips you cut? Well you can use these to generate short videos for your social media. The 15 second videos should be portrait format for Instagram and Facebook stories. The 30 or 60 second ones are for feature posts on your socials. These videos can feature the artwork or press shots, but should be low on action to draw attention to the audio.

We recommend at least three different assets for each release: ‘Coming Soon’ which can be posted 2-4 weeks out from release date. ‘Release Date Announcement’ no more than 1 or 2 weeks before release date. ‘Out Now’ can be posted on release date and up to a week or two after.

Sub-catalogue

Live Event
Concert Clip
Cover Version
Music or Lyric Video

This is a piece of content that is smaller than an official release, but bigger than a social media post. Think of a video of yourself covering a favourite tune in your studio or out in a park. Do you have footage from a gig you can make into a clip? Perhaps you can go live on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube and play a whole set.

It’s great to host these a couple of weeks after release date to continue interest around your new tune and to have something fresh to post about.

Arlo Enemark has spent 10 years as a music industry professional, working on content strategy, A&R and digital distribution for labels and artists with Xelon Entertainment as well as being label manager for dominant Aussie club label Medium Rare Recordings. Arlo now heads up noisehive.com –Xelon’s distribution platform for independent artists.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.