24-Day Music Release Plan 🎶
Good for tight deadlines and busy artists
As an indie artist, releasing your new music can be exciting yet overwhelming. To make sure that your release is a success, it’s important to have a plan. Especially if you’re short on time! Our 1-Month Release Plan for Indie Artists in 2023 will go through a step-by-step guide for a 24-day music release plan. Each step (1-24) represents 24 days of action goals you can take to establish a quick but successful integrated release campaign.
💫 If you’re an indie artist preparing to release new music soon, we’ve got a step-by-step guide for you! 📖 Follow this simple but effective 24-day plan to ensure your release is a success (especially if you’re short on time) ⏰
Before We Begin: Set Your Release Date
Before diving in, this is crucial. For best results, your official music release date should be on a Friday approximately 4 weeks AFTER you have received the final mix/master and any possible promotional assets of your upcoming release (including cover art, teaser videos, music videos, etc.). Once you have at least the music file ready to go, you can start with Day 1!
Day 1: Setup / Administrative Day:
Join a Performing Rights Organization such as #ASCAP #BMI or #SESAC to ensure you earn future performance royalties. If you are a songwriter, or co-writer, or belong to a record label, you should also consider joining Songtrust. Songtrust is a global digital rights management platform that allows songwriters and artists to manage their music publishing and related rights.
Songtrust acts as your global publishing administrator — a complementary role to your existing affiliation with such Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and SOCAN
Songtrust
Day 2: Setup Music & Assets:
Upload the final master track and final cover art into your Distributor’s pipeline to ensure your release and its data publishes properly! It takes some time, often a couple of weeks, for your music to be approved in distribution channels. The sooner the better – the sooner you can upload your music into your distributor’s pipeline, the more monetization opportunities and offers you can receive for ads and playlists on Spotify and other platforms.
Day 3: Setup Socials:
If it suits your audience, go for the gold and prepare yourself to make LOTS of video content via Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts to bring awareness! Also, update your LinkTree or EPK! Don’t have one? Intercept Music can make one for you! As a member, you’ll receive a custom SMART link for every release. If you’re looking for low-commitment options, we can design an entire EPK package for you!
Note: This campaign works best if you publish pre-created content each day. The goal is for you to post on social media at least once a day in this rollout period to increase the growth and awareness of your release campaign. Don’t worry! To make this feel less overwhelming, we’ve scheduled days specifically dedicated to making batches of content to prepare for posting! To find the best channels to post on for you personally, and what days and times are best for posting, access our social marketing integration app by becoming a member at Intercept Music! Through our platform, you can schedule posts and receive automated weekly and monthly performance reports on all of your social media channels!
Day 4: Budget Day:
How much can you set aside for promotion / this release campaign? Take a budget day! Need help deciding on a budget, or where to divide your budget? Visit our Why You Should Make a Marketing Budget for Your Next Music Release guide to learn more!
Day 5: Batch Content
Bulk-create content (roughly 10-20 pieces of content) to promote your release! Need help putting together creative content ideas to engage your audience, check out our Successful Marketing Guide for Indie Artists!
Day 6: Promotion Day:
Gather all data, material, and release assets that you need to start pitching and promoting your upcoming music digitally and physically! Decide on what mediums you want to promote your music. For example, if your song isn’t commercially appealing (meaning you can picture it playing on secular radio), OR if your fanbase isn’t as strong on streaming platforms yet, then placing the majority of your budget into Playlist campaigns may not deliver you the optimal return on investment. Focus on direct marketing!
Day 7: Playlist Pitch Day:
Today’s the day you gather contact info for playlist curators to pitch your music to via Spotify Playlists, YouTube, and related. Or consider choosing YouTube promotion. Manually sitting down to dig for contacts is a lot of unnecessary work – save yourself all of the hours and sweat by letting us do the hard work for you!
You may also want to consider beginning a pre-save campaign at this time as well!
Day 8: Ads Day:
Boost a TikTok or Instagram post! You can also try Facebook Ads and Google Ads.
Tip: Direct marketing; such as having a professional design a customized ad-campaign can really generate long-term growth and loyal fans.
Day 9: Press Release Day:
Today is the day you have a publicist write and publish a press release to the media to generate an industry buzz about your new, upcoming music! We can write and distribute a press release for you!
Day 10: Media Pitch Day / Update EPK:
With your final master, cover art, and press release going, now is the time to pitch to more digital media! Consider pitching your music to magazines, more playlists, and curators.
Day 11: Release Art Work:
Drop your cover art for your release on social media! If you need custom artwork or cover illustrations, we can design them for you!
Day 12: Radio Pitch Day:
If you don’t already have industry contacts, we can pitch your music to over 200 terrestrial radio stations including SiriusXM & Music Choice!
Day 13: Blog Day:
Pitch your release to journalists, music blogs and press agencies to get picked up in the media! You can find many media outlets, digital blogs and magazines, and indie artist communities on Instagram! Also, research where your music friends or niche indie artists have been featured and reach out to them via email!
Tip: Smaller or local media publications are more likely to consider reviewing indie artists
Day 14: Merch Drop:
Post your new merch on social media! If you need a creative hand, we dedicate new custom merch for every release with your own store!
Day 15: Live Version Day:
Film a live version of your song on your page or schedule one with a media representative or agency in your niche. Remember to promote this on your social media channels in advance.
Tip: When announcing your LIVE event, make an engaging feed post via promotional flyer or video containing the LIVE date and time. Be sure to get creative and add both popular and niche hashtags. Most importantly, create an accompanying countdown in your social stories with a CTA asking people to join the countdown! That way, a notification will be sent to their phone when you go live!
Day 16: Create Content Day:
Bulk-create more content to build anticipating your release!
Day 17: Update / Check Metadata:
Make sure all assets are optimized and correct: (the right sizing and file format) and check your music metadata one last time before your big day tomorrow!
Day 18: Release Day!
Update assets and update your social media profile photos, banners, and bios! Ensure that all assets were published on time and correctly!
Day 19: Contest Day!
Host a contest! Something like:
“If you post a video with my new song, you’ll be entered to win exclusive merch!”
Be sure to follow contest rules and regulations according to the platform you plan to promote your contest.
Day 20: Social LIVE Day!
Do a LIVE on social media! (Tip: talk about merch contest on LIVE!) Be sure to make an announcement about the live in advance.
Tip: “Want to go live on multiple platforms at once to extend the reach of your audiences? I personally recommend Restream. Restream is a platform that allows you to live stream to all your favorite social channels simultaneously. It’s a great tool to multiply your views and reach a wider audience by streaming to multiple platforms at the same time!”
– Meraleigh, Social Media & Communications Manager at Intercept Music
Day 21: Content Creation Day
Create more content to post-promote the release and create another contest or challenge that speaks to your personality, and brand that brings awareness to your new music.
Day 22: Collab Day!
Collaborate with another artist or influencer in your niche! Write a song, do a social media takeover, partake in an influencer campaign, or host a live-together on social media! Consider linking up with your producer even to discuss the making of your new music!
Day 23: Content Creation Day
Batch creates more content! (10-15 more content pieces)
Day 24: First Week Analysis
Review your 24-day campaign and decide what worked well and what didn’t reflect and apply your findings! Take a look at all of the results from your media pitches, ads, pre-save campaign, merchandise sales, content interactions, and more.
Whatcha think?! 💬 Save this post in your web browser when planning your next drop! 🔥 What does your plan look like? Make sure to follow each day’s tasks to ensure your music release is successful! 🚀