So you’ve recorded a new album and are ready to release it into the world. First of all, congratulations! Being an artist in 2021 is no easy task and putting out your art for public consumption is always a commendable act, so kudos to you. Here are a few things to do before you release your music in order to have the greatest chance of being heard.

1. Pick a Release Date
Friday is the industry-wide release day, but thanks to the plethora of self-distribution platforms at your disposal, don’t feel beholden to any particular release schedule. Whatever date you choose, give yourself about 6-8 weeks lead time.

2. Format and Title Your Music Properly
Almost all streaming platforms require CD quality .wav files and have various file and image size requirements when it comes to cover art, so make sure you prepare all your files. Also, look over the titles to make sure there are no errors and the track listing is correct.

3. Figure Out Distribution
You’ll want your music to hit every streaming platform at the same time on release day. You can upload it to each service individually yourself, but there are also distribution services such as Distrokid or Tunecore that will release it to all of them on your behalf.

4. Get Your Press Materials Ready
An electronic press kit (EPK) is an efficient way to collect all the important info about your music into one place. Include a short artist bio, a photo, and some information about the song or record you are releasing to send over to press people or music writers you’d like to have listen to it.

5. Devise a Marketing Strategy
You can go as big or small as you want with marketing. If you have a budget, consider hiring a PR company to pitch your song to music blogs. They can be a lot more affordable than you think! Or you can opt to do all the marketing yourself, using resources like www.muckrack.com to make a list of writers and editors you think would enjoy your music. Marketing is often the least fun part of releasing new music, but sometimes if you can find the perfect person to connect with your music, many doors will open to you.

6. Hype Yourself
Once you have all of the above sorted out, get ready to hype yourself up. Have fun with it! Try out different social media networks and figure out different strategies to get people excited to hear your music. Some people enjoy making short music videos or releasing clips of music on the days leading up to release. Other prefer engaging with fans directly via tools like Instagram Live. The possibilities are endless and limited only to your imagination and time.