5 Record Release Strategies We've NEVER Tried–Until Now...😳

Vox Henderson
Aug 5, 2020
5 min read

Updated: Aug 17, 2022

5 Record Release Strategies We've Never Tried Until Now --Blooming Prejippie

This post very loosely follows a recent discussion from

Gab & Jam Episode 136

(video: https://bit.ly/Ep136recrelstratsvid and podcast: https://bit.ly/Ep136recrelstratspod )

What?!

As you probably already know, we are releasing a funk album (due out at the end of September). We thought we might share as much of the process as we can along the way, as this has truly been a learning experience for us.

Please follow our band on Spotify.

Thanks in advance!

Backstory...

As we mentioned before, though we have produced music and released it for decades now, we have never tried to be ultra-strategic about it; we would simply put it out, send out a few copies, and call it done. We are ARTISTS first, after all, and weren’t terribly dialed into the distribution and marketing parts of this business of music.

5 Secret Weapons of the D.I.Y. Rock Star --Blooming Prejippie

Well, since we have learned that even old dogs can learn new tricks, we have decided to be very intentional about what we do, so that we can actually reach more people and really gather our tribe, which is one of the main reasons for releasing music in the first place. That’s why we’re doing this post [which very loosely follows a recent discussion from Gab & Jam Episode 136 (video: https://bit.ly/Ep136recrelstratsvid and podcast: https://bit.ly/Ep136recrelstratspod ) ].

5 Record Release Strategies that we've NEVER tried before --Blooming Prejippie Zine

We look at it this way: We didn’t know ANYTHING about blogging, podcasting, and YouTubing nearly 4 years ago; and we have just jumped in and tried to learn all we can and are making progress in those things. That's why we KNOW that if we do some research about what marketing methods might work for our particular music, how much more we could accomplish.

Ariel Hyatt Record Release Strategies ---Blooming Prejippie

It Takes a Village....

Needless to say, we are consuming content from EVERYWHERE, trying to learn as much as we can. As you might already know, we are paying attention to some of Ariel Hyatt’s tips (see THIS post: 22 Take-Aways from Ariel Hyatt’s Record Release Strategies (for the D.I.Y. Rock Star) https://bit.ly/arielhyatttakesblog ), as well as reading Ari Herstand’s book ( https://aristake.com/ ) chapter on this, listening to The Creative Juice podcast ( https://indepreneur.io/podcast/ ), and the big one is the course that we invested in called “Rock Your Next Release” from Bree Noble. ( https://www.youtube.com/breenoble ).

D.I.Y. Rock Star Mindset --Blooming Prejippie Zine

So, we’re not going to detail the entire plan in the process right in this post, because we are putting the last pieces together and the plan is not complete yet, but we do want to share with you 5 strategies that we plan to implement to make sure our record release reaches more people:

See/hear the entire episode for more

(video: https://bit.ly/Ep136recrelstratsvid and

podcast: https://bit.ly/Ep136recrelstratspod )

Getting Sh*t Done Planner --Blooming Prejippie

5 Record Release Strategies that we never tried before:

1. We are going to set a schedule of activities.

As mentioned earlier, we have just been “winging” it for most of the last 29 years of releases. (To see MANY of them, go here: https://bourgeoisiepaperjam.bandcamp.com/ )

–We NOW know that this is the “crazy town” approach and that we would have gotten so much more traction had we tried to have a plan supported by a schedule….. That is PRECISELY why we are taking a more structured approach this time.

2. We are going to try to spike the Spotify algorithm.

No, Spotify has NEVER been a part of our record release plan. What can we say? We’re dinosaurs. But dinosaurs can learn new tricks too! Therefore, taking advice from all the “experts” leads us to believe that we should try to include some kind of Spotify strategy in our plans. We will be trying to “spike” the algorithm by having listeners tune in at the same time on the day our album is set to release. This is supposed to make it where Spotify sees that folks care about it and makes Spotify share it with more listeners. We want that, so we’re making that one of the parts of our overall plan.

3. We are going to do more live streams.

Even though we do TONS of videos (see http://bit.ly/youtubesubprejippie ), we have been reluctant to do many on-the-fly, live videos. Again, the “experts” tell us that social media platforms favor content that keeps people in its ecosystem, so we want more people to know our funk album, “Sugar Fit,” exists, so we’re going to use this knowledge to our advantage by doing more sharing through the live streaming functions.

Tips for Better Band Photos --Blooming Prejippie Zine

4. We are doing what some “wiser in the ways of releases” called “The Russian Doll” release plan (where we release one single at a time for a couple of months and then release the album).

This is supposed to allow each of those first singles to be considered entities within their own right, so that they receive their own individual consideration for distribution by Spotify BEFORE rolling them into the album (where it receives yet another shot at being circulated). We don’t KNOW if it works, but we’re willing to try it. We’ll let you know how well it works.

5. We are going to do giveaways to help the hype in our album.

We USED to do some awesome giveaways—when our blog and YouTube channel first started (see http://bit.ly/youtubesubprejippie )—but it’s been quite a while since we’ve had one. We’re going to get merch created that we hope will get folks excited about the album and, yep, give it away to help spread that excitement.

Well, that’s it. We’ve decided to keep it simple, but to try to extend the range and impact of the album by implementing these 5 critical record release strategies that we have NEVER tried before—until NOW.....

As always, we are going to bring you along for the ride, so stay tuned.