The Music Production Workflow, continued
It’s always good to keep the bigger picture in mind when it comes to music production. Today, we’re digging deeper: the intro post on this topic can be found here.
To recap: here’s what the complete music production workflow looks like:
Digging deeper into music promotion and release
Let’s look into the most artistically controversial part of this whole process: the release section there at the very end.
You’ll notice that the musical creation process isn’t finished when the actual production of the music is complete. This is the world we live in: you’re not done when you get those finished masters in your hands.
Shortchanging the promotional/release side increases the likelihood of a failed release. That’s super frustrating, for all involved. And, we definitely don’t want to fall into a negative feedback loop, where an ongoing distaste for doing any promotional work at all leads to a cycle of repeated failed releases.
So, let’s talk about a few different ways you might jump past the promotional hurdle, depending on where you’re currently at with your finished piece of work.
We’ll view this through the lens of what many artists might prefer to do: simply avoid any and all promotional activities in the first place. There are several ways you could do this, and all have different sets of pros and cons.
How to avoid promotion: don’t release
One way you could avoid the promotional game: don’t release your music publicly at all. Just enjoy the making of it, and leave it there.
If this is you, great! Make your stuff, have fun with it, and just leave those songs on your hard drive. I know a few artists that do this, and big respect. A very purist approach to being creative.
But, now we’re in a chicken vs. egg scenario. If you write the best song in the world, but nobody ever hears it, how much impact can it really have?
My personal opinion: creativity is a shared experience. If you agree with me on that, then you don’t have much choice than to release your work so others can hear it. And, anytime we’re talking about a release, promotional activities of some kind could be necessary.
But, not always. Also consider our next scenario.
How to avoid promotion: the random drop
Here’s another way to avoid promotion. Just don’t worry about it at all, and release that album right now. Drop it at random, today, with no lead-up or official release or anything.
I usually recommend this approach if you’re stuck with a finished piece of work that’s been sitting on the shelf for a long time. You’ve fully lost your momentum, and it’s better to just get it out there than to hold it back for even longer just to try to “do a good job with promotion”.
But, manage those expectations, too. The only artists who can successfully get away with a surprise drop that blows up are artists who are already super well-established. Unless you’re already touring nationally and performing for tens of thousands of people at every show regularly, that is probably not you. So, it’s not wise to expect to get those same results.
If you do a surprise album drop as a small unknown indie artist, the most likely outcome will be that not many people will hear your work.
As long as you’re cool with that, go for it! Not every release has to be some big thing.
Sometimes, it’s better to just put it out there, and move on. After all, we’re building a body of work here, and it’s not always about just one isolated release.
We only get into dissatisfaction with our releases when our expectations don’t match reality.
How to avoid promotion: the contractor
Here’s yet another way to avoid promotion. If you don’t want to do any of this stuff yourself, that’s where a label or promotional contractor could help out. But, be really careful hiring this service.
Promotional agencies (and some record labels, for that matter) are often either extremely expensive and awesome at what they do, or cheaper but not really worth any money at all. It’s super hard to find people on the promotional side who charge prices affordable for indies, yet also do an amazing job that’s worth the money.
Merge Records is the only one that comes to mind, for me, on the DIY record label side of things.
That’s why I recommend learning at least the basics of effectively promoting your work on your own, before you hire any help.
This will take some experimentation and time, but it should be fun time, assuming you’re proud of the work you do and excited to show it to people.
Nowadays, with current tech and some time well spent learning from the right people, you can do as good a job yourself as a smaller ad agency. And, for way less money, without sacrificing any creative control.
Plus, when you make it big and get a label helping you out with this stuff, it’ll work out much better. You’ll be coming into the label relationship with a clear view of what you want your promotion to look and feel like for your music.
That’s important, because cookie-cutter, corporate style promotion doesn’t work very well for indies. Think of the Gap trying to do TikTok, blech. But, interesting and unique promotion written in your genuine and honest voice does.
That’s part of the beauty of content marketing. It allows the little guy and the big brands to compete on an equal footing.
One big mistake I see: artists hiring out their promotion way too early, before they’ve had the chance to experiment and develop their own unique voice themselves.
Then, there’s confusion when all of this corporate-styled promo work with their name on it doesn’t get the traction they were expecting when they joined that label or hired that agency.
It’s a real shame, because all of this is super fixable. Just don’t give someone the keys to the kingdom too early, before you’ve developed your own opinions.
How you present your work matters. So, it’s important that you’re involved in that part of the process too, just as much as when you’re in the recording studio laying down the tracks.
