This website is a simple guide on how to develop, design and distribute a musical album. This guide reaches out to artists of all levels. Whether the artist can sing like Mariah Carey in the nineties, rap like Lil Wayne over auto tune or rock out like Taylor Swift, this guide breaks down the fundamentals that are utilized everyday by record labels and independent artists. There are many steps to tackle and refine before the release date, distributions and sales. To make it simple, the team developed a complete checklist of things to do in order to successfully release an album.
Developmental aspect of the music is a critical step. Things such as pre-recording and planning, actual recording, post production and designs are key elements that differentiate an album to another. When preparing for an album release the artist must pick a release date, prepare for sales (online or promotional), release shows, promotional material and public relation campaigns. There are also legal aspects to creative production as well. Ownership of the song, permission to record and legal status of artwork are all considered before the release date is even selected. After the album release, the questions are how to generate sales and promotion. For example, get the music on the radio or online applications such as Pandora and Spotify are great for promotion and distribution purposes.
On an independent level, friends, family and a building fan base can help an artist succeed and form the foundation of their “skills”. The simple In order to create a bio that’s relatable and understandable, the artist must clearly define his or heraudience and genre. For example, if a country singer wants to release an album, questions that should be considered are which demographic would enjoy listening to the music or what type of events would the music fit into. As the demographic group expands, audience can become more specific such as higher social-economic status,“hipsters” or “party animals”. The developmental stage of releasing an album actually defines the artist and helps develop their style. Furthermore, prior to selecting a release date, the design aspect of the album is also very important. How the album looks directly relates to the artists’ ambition and stories. Things can get very interesting in this segment of releasing an album. There are no limitations on how the album should look. CD’s have been around for twenty years now and are slowly phasing out as digital copies of albums are increasing in sales. CD is slowly becoming the new vinyl and holds a classic value that digital copies just don’t offer. Big names such as the Beatles and the Wu-Tang Clan both creatively released some of the best album packages. Therefore, the creative element of how the album is packaged is vital and maybe the difference maker between selling one hundred to one thousand copies.
The final part of releasing an album is sales. The team categorized three important ways of how to make money off an album. Digital distribution, public relation and promotion, and publishing and licensing are all business objectives that would be discussed in this webpage. Because of the age of the internet, the utilization of digital distribution has increased dramatically since the vinyl and CD days. Online applications such as itunes and soundcloud are some examples of how an artist may get paid per listen or the application owners can buy the right to repeat playing song as many times as requested. Public relation and promotions includes tours, shows, interviews, radio and gigs that allow the artist to directly promote the album through mass media. Although this particular step doesn’t guarantee revenue, the publicity and promotional purpose are well worth the time. Lastly, publishing and licensing includes agencies, the right of ownership and copyright issues. This is an important topic because it’s a matter of legal issues that can permanently forbid a hit song from being released. Legalistic matters should be solved before a release date is even selected.
This information resource is a simple guide to how a musical artist of any level can utilize in order to help them promote their music better. It’s not an easy task to sell music, some either make it or don’t. Some may have the talent but don’t have the resources and vice versa. Releasing an album definitely sounds easy, but there are more to it than what is seen on the surface. Using this guide, the team hopes to provide assistant in the topic that will be discussed.
