How to promote your album

This is a great post (and free pdf) from the CD Baby's DIY Musician blog.

It sets out a timeline for what you need to do to promote your forthcoming album from 12 months before release (or 4 months as a minimum!).

Although I am not set on the idea that every DIY musician should be setting up to release an album (building a real fanbase by releasing singles or solo tracks, gigging and spreading the word online comes first) until they are ready, when you do, this is a very valuable reference tool.

Releasing a new album takes more than just duplicating discs and throwing a party. You’ve got to get the word out if you want your music to sell. But with so many methods of promotion and so many outlets for music discovery, it can be difficult to know where to focus your efforts. Stay calm! This promotion timeline will guide you through, step by step, breaking it all down into bite-sized chunks so you can get out there and start generating press and buzz.

Get it here.

 

10 things to nail down for your album release party

This is a great post from a great blog - Brian Franke's 'Thinking Aloud'

Brian is a working musician in Washington DC who writes from his personal experience - so he knows what's worked and failed for him! There are great posts all over the site to help the DIY musician and it's well worth digging around for some gems. He also goes out of his way to provide a hub for the DC scene.

This post covers all of those things, talking as it does from his own experience in setting up an album release show.

You just left the studio and recorded the final notes for your album.  There’s the mixing and mastering process for your producer to take care of and the artwork for your album and any merchandise to do–but the real deal is when all of this comes together and you officially release your album at a CD release party.  A lot goes into making a CD release party a successful one and it rests entirely on how well you prepare.

There are many key areas that make it successful that I will discuss below, but to keep it short and sweet I would say the most important things are: be in tip-top shape and form musically when you perform, give lots of lead time to get it ready, have your album ready in CD and digital form on the day of your show, and ask for help when you need it.

I most recently went through this process and while some things were tedious, when my big night finally came, it turned out to be everything I wanted it to be for my fans.  I spent a good three months putting my CD release party together.  That’s not to say yours will take as long.  Depending on what you want to do may shorten or lengthen how long it can take.

But looking back on those three months, these are the 10 key things to do to have a successful CD release party.

Read the 10 key things to nail down here.