So are there any people out there that actually listen to full albums anymore? The society has become a single driven according to Janelle Rogers in her article, “How to Successfully Release Your Next Single.” I thought this was a great article but since managing a artist there are a few more thing to consider that was not mentioned. Check out Janelle’s first five steps below and check out my addition after hers. My consideration maybe a little out of order but you will get the point.
1. Make sure your genre is conducive to singles
Take a listen to the bands charting on Hype Machine. Would your genre fit into that? As a general rule, avoid releasing a single on its own if you’re an instrumental outfit, because it’s too much of a niche and you won’t get enough of a stronghold with a single to really take off.
2. Write a few catchy hooks
Your songs need to stick in a person’s head and stay there. Your listeners should wake up with it in the morning and find themselves humming it without thinking about it. You might have a great song, but if it doesn’t have a great hook, it shouldn’t be released as a single on its own.
3. Allow blogs first access to your single
Offer a big outlet a song premiere even before you offer the single to fans through your social networks. Press coverage is really a follow-the-leader game. If a big blog or media outlet comes on board, it won’t be long before its peers follow closely behind.
4. Make it available on SoundCloud – and tag it properly
Most blogs utilize SoundCloud widgets for their posts because they’re ranked higher on Hype Machine when they do. Increase the chances of your single being found by tagging it properly with your band name, genres, hometown, and possible listening moods. (Check out Stereomood for mood ideas.)
5. Be ready with follow-up tracks
Build on your momentum. Have other songs ready to go when the hype around your first single starts to die down in order to build upon your previous success. Even better – if you do have a budget, plan to connect it with an EP or album release for more exposure opportunities.
6. Get tons of feedback before selecting a song.
Before you release a song take some time to get feedback from honest none friends and take the feedback to heart and figure out what is best.
7. Create a creative marketing campaign
Before you record the single make sure that you have a plan on how to put it out to the world. Think creativity, read and research different marketing.
8. Put money to the side for Marketing
Many artist have this big idea for their single to spend money on recording, feature and music video but leave nothing for marketing. Think, how many people uploaded videos to YouTube daily, why would someone just look you up?
9. Find out why other singles succeed
Research all successful singles that came out of nowhere and do what they did.
Have you had a successful single? Tell us what you did!!