Case Study: Releasing “Evergreen” by Soccer Mommy
In this case study, we’re looking at the release timeline for the new Soccer Mommy album “Evergreen”. This time, we’re looking at just a single promotional channel (Spotify), in order to highlight some newer developments for promoting music in the streaming age.
This is a simplified version of this album’s promotional release cycle. At the same time that this album was releasing on Spotify, there were many other channels being used to promote the release taking place simultaneously, everything from Bandcamp releases to lyric videos on YouTube to local/regional press junkets to official music videos.
You might want to check out some of the lyric videos being released in support of this album: they’re very approachable from an indie perspective, and could be executed with minimal gear and editing. A few of these were released on YouTube a day or two before the full album dropped on Spotify.
For a more comprehensive promotional timeline case study that includes data across multiple promotional channels from an artist with over 100 million streams on some of their songs, check out my complete analysis of the release of the album “In the End It Always Does” by The Japanese House.
The build-up to the “Evergreen” album release
In the past, it’s been common to release singles off an album prior to a release one at a time.
In the very distant past, those singles might have been put out on something like a 45 rpm vinyl record, then followed up with the full length long-play record at 33 rpm.
The traditional method looks like this:
Single release: Song A
Single release: Song B
Single release: Song C
Full album release
One newer development we’re seeing lately is releasing what I’m calling double/triple/quad singles. Instead of releasing singles one song at a time, you combine different duplicated singles into stacked releases.
Basically, it’s a series of releases that serve as an evolving preview of what will eventually be the full album track list.
That looks like this:
Single release: Song A
Double single release: Song A + Song B
Triple single release: Song A + Song B + Song C
Quad single release: Song A + Song B + Song C + Song D
Full album release
The “Evergreen” album release buildup on Spotify
Here’s the details on how this was applied to the “Evergreen” album release on Spotify.
The “Lost” single: released June 6, 2024
This is the opening track of what we’ll eventually see as the full album tracklist, released as a single.
This features custom artwork that’s only loosely related to what we’ll eventually see is the studio album artwork.
Note: from the audiences perspective, they don’t know what’s coming next. So, if you’re a fan of Soccer Mommy, you’re not aware that a full album is in the works, you’re just seeing this as an isolated single track being released on its own.
The “Lost” single by Soccer Mommy
The “M” double single, released August 1, 2024 (+2 months approx.)
This release adds the new track “M” to the previously released track “Lost”
The original single release of “Lost” stays up and can be streamed independently.
This release features what the full album artwork will eventually be, but the audience doesn’t know that yet.
The “M” double single by Soccer Mommy
The “Driver” triple single, released Sept 10, 2024 (+1 month approx)
This release adds the new track “Driver” to the previously released tracks.
All the previous releases are up, and can be streamed independently.
Now we’re starting to tip our hand on the artwork: by duplicating the art from the soon-to-come full album for this release for a second time, we’re foreshadowing what’s to come.
The “Driver” triple single by Soccer Mommy
The “Abigail” quad single, released Oct 22, 2024 (+1 month approx.)
This release adds the new track “Abigail” to the previously released tracks.
All the previous releases are up, and can be streamed independently.
Same deal here with duplicating the artwork as foreshadowing.
This release increases anticipation for the full album by releasing just a few days before the complete album drops. On Spotify, there was a timer counting down to the full album drop visible in the app at this point.
The “Abigail” quad single by Soccer Mommy
The “Evergreen” full studio album, released October 25, 2024 (+3 days)
After all of this buildup and anticipation, we’ve finally reached the album release date, 4 months after we started! The complete 11 track album “Evergreen” released on Spotify on this date, three days after the previous quad single release.
The studio album “Evergreen” by Soccer Mommy
Post-release activity
Even though the album is now out, we’re not done yet, not by a long shot.
There are several press interviews that came out around this same time, some of which would be live interviews, some pre-recorded beforehand.
And, there’s still a tour to execute: a 5 month world tour runs from Jan 22-May 22, 2025.
It’s common for big, label-supported tours to start 2-4 months after the streaming release drops: that’s done to give fans sufficient time to find the album online, listen to it, tell their friends, and then get excited to see the live versions of the songs.
It also gives time for the artist to undertake more post-release activity (additional interviews and press) in order to build even more anticipation for the tour, before it starts.
Loose time elapsed for this promo snapshot, from the initial release of the “Lost” single to the last date of the world tour: just a week or two shy of 12 months.
Conclusions
This case study serves as an example of the amount of promotion, coordination, and work necessary to execute a modern streaming release at the mid-level indie tier of the music industry.
Note: Soccer Mommy is doing the opposite of just dumping the album onto the Internet and hoping people will randomly find it through some luck-of-the-draw viral blowup.
Instead, we’re taking planned steps to put our work in front of people in an intentional and creative manner. There’s always lots of room for creativity in how you choose to promote your work!
I’m including this as a case study because it’s an example of something that works. Soccer Mommy has the support of the midsize-ish indie label Loma Vista Recordings, and has tens of millions of streams on their songs.
Applications for smaller artists
Smaller artists might not have the same kinds of resources or the teams necessary to execute a massive world-tour undertaking like this.
But, there are lots of good ideas here that can be applied at a much smaller scale by a solo artist or small band:
You could experiment with structuring your album release buildup in a similar way, by taking a similar “stacked releases” approach to your singles.
Try giving yourself at least a 4-6 month structured and intentional buildup to properly promote your full length album. If you’ve never planned a release like that before, maybe give it a try.
For an even more detailed overview of how to strip down a release cycle in a way that makes sense for DIY and independent artists who are self-releasing, check out this case study that details an even bigger album release by The Japanese House, and includes data from multiple different promotional channels.
Our complete list of different case studies can be found here.
