Album launch starter pack
Here is your album launch starter pack…
Find a label to release your music. Though, many artists aren’t signed to the big labels and choose to self release. Interestingly, in either scenario, the artist is often left to do most of the promotion because record labels don’t have the budgets to create extensive marketing campaigns for each album that you might expect. However, it’s nice when the preliminary work is done for you when working with a label, meaning that your music gets released on streaming services and at least the basic artwork and packaging for physical CDs are handled.
Regardless of a label releasing or you self-releasing, you’ll need to promote the album extensively. Artists typically work with PR agencies to accomplish this, although the biggest problem I see all the time is these agencies really only focus on press. Unless you’re living under a rock in the USA, we don’t have arts coverage here for albums. Yes, the New York Times may publish a roundup sporadically of new releases they recommend, but no one should bank on that happening for their project.
Of course there are blogs devoted to album reviews, but again, from my experience, it’s really hit or miss depending on the project.
So the better course of action to ensure your album is successfully released is to triple down on building your audience on social and email, then promoting your album using those channels you control.