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THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM
Tony van Veen, Randy Chertkow, Jason Feehan, and Andre Calilhanna
From the recording studio to production, promotion, and sales
Tony van Veen, Randy Chertkow, Jason Feehan, and Andre Calilhanna
Includes a 90-day calendar
of daily activities!
P R E S E N T S
ALBUM RELEASE 90-DAYTHE
PLANNER
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Plan the work, then work the plan.”
Well, that’s what we’re proposing in this guide, and while planning an album release
is not exactly rocket science, there is a lot to get done if you want a product you’ll be
proud of, a distribution plan that works, and a promotional strategy that will spread
the word and sell your album. You’ll want to spend time in advance to design a plan
and figure out how you’re going to get this done. How much time can you spend on
it? How much money can you invest? How are you going to promote yourself and your
new release to achieve success? What constitutes success for you?
There are also practical issues to consider—from clearing the rights for your cover
songs to converting your album art to the right format—and there are plenty of things
that can trip you up or cause the album to take a lot longer than you’d expect.
This guide is designed to help you plan and organize all the events and decisions that
go into making an album—from day one in the studio to your continuing sales and
promotion effort—so you can move forward with confidence and avoid pitfalls and
surprises. Planning ahead will not only help you make the album as good as it can be, it
will let you focus on promoting your release to maximize your sales.
You may not need to do everything that’s included here, but the goal with this guide
is to list everything you may want to do, so you’re reminded of what you should tackle
and when—and get it all done in 90 days!
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THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM
Make it specialIf you want people to buy your album, make it special enough that they will want to
buy it. Can you create special deluxe packaging that allows you to sell it at a premium
price? Or what about vinyl LPs? Vinyl takes longer to manufacture, so if that’s a part of
your release plans, you need to adjust for that accordingly.
Then, there’s exclusivity. Do you want to go narrow (physical only) or broad (physical
plus digital and streaming)? The advantage of a physical-only release is that the only
way a fan can get your music is by buying it from you. A physical-only release also
allows you to tell a different story: How this is a special product just for dedicated fans
and how it goes to support you directly.
That said, going broad with physical and digital distribution has its advantages. It gets
your music in front of more fans more easily, which can help broaden your fanbase.
Or, you can go hybrid: Before your album comes out, release one or two digital-only
singles to get your fans excited and follow up with a physical-only album that can only
be bought from you. The choice is yours, but be clear about your distribution strategy
before you start this journey.
So how long does this whole process take and how much work is involved? The release
calendar we created is ambitious but doable and includes recording, manufacturing,
distribution, and initial promotion in about 60 days (with an extra week or so built
in for potential delays), with several weeks left for promotion to drive sales. But, you
need to be on your game, approve every proof promptly, and make sure you take the
necessary steps to get your distribution, sales, and promotion all set up in advance.
There’s not a lot of downtime built in and there are plenty of tasks to go around.
Does following all these steps guarantee success? Of course not. But we can guarantee
that, if you follow all these steps, your release will be significantly more successful than
if you just launch it into the wild without a plan.
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Watch Disc Makers CEO Tony van Veen’s video presentation: 90 days to a Successful Album Release
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 4
Calendar of activities for a successful 90-day album release
MONTH 1
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Calendar of activities for a successful 90-day album release
MONTH 2
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Calendar of activities for a successful 90-day album release
MONTH 3
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Chapter 1 Recording (and Preparing) Your Material
If you’re embarking on an album project, it should go without saying you already have
a selection of strong compositions to pick from. Carefully curate the songs you’ll be
recording to feature your strongest material, which could include testing and honing
the songs in live performances and communicating with your fans and social media
following for input on which songs they like best.
The 90-day release calendar assumes a two-month window from the start of the
recording to the record being ready for release, and you should plan to be in the studio
for about three to four weeks.
Work on more than just recording while in the studioOne critical component to hitting your
90-day timeline: While in the studio, get
your band and other photos taken and
compiled and write all your credits and liner
notes. There is ample downtime during the
recording process to compose and gather
all your notes, credits, and lyrics (if you want
those in your CD booklet). Schedule a day for a photo session at an interesting
location and snap photos and videos while you’re in the studio.
Week 1: Recording and mixing (and promoting)Week 1 starts with you going into the studio of your choice to record and mix. But
before you start setting up microphones, you need to set your budget for recording,
manufacturing, and promotion.
In fact, the most important part of the 90-day calendar arguably has little to do with
recording. It is critical to your album’s success that you start your promotional and
marketing activities from day one, as soon as you enter the studio. Messaging your
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 8
fans before you go into the studio is recommended. Let them know you’re about to
record an album; tease them with your great new material. Let them know how excited
you are to be going into the studio to record your album.
BudgetHow much should you budget for promotion? Some would suggest you budget as
much for promotion as you do for the recording, mastering, design, manufacturing,
and distribution of your album. In other words, 50 percent of your total budget could go
toward promotion. Of course, that can add up to a lot, and you may not have that kind
of money to spend, so the minimum you should be prepared to spend on marketing
and promotion should probably be somewhere between $500–$1,000.
Can you do it for less? Possibly, but the less you spend on marketing, the smaller your
chances of success. That said, there’s also a TON you can do that is free, but you’ll have
to be clever and really work at it.
Record at home or in a professional studio?Professional studios cost money, but they have the equipment, acoustics, and know-
how to make your recordings sound “radio-quality” from the ground up. However, time
is a factor, since studios typically charge by the hour. Recording at home costs money
up front but pays off over time the more you record. Of course, one of the hidden
dangers of recording at home is you can spend months or years “perfecting” just
one song!
Disc Makers’ Home Studio Handbook is a great resource
to get recording tips for the studio or building a home studio
of your own.
RehearseMake sure your songs are well-rehearsed so you don’t waste time in the studio. Even
more important, you need a batch of great songs that are ready to record.
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM
Whether you choose to record in a professional studio, a home environment, or a
combination of both, save time and money by rehearsing and arranging the songs
before you begin to record. Some musicians write out parts using sheet music, others
record their practices or make preproduction demos as reference guides they can turn
to while in the studio. Use the method that works best for you, but be prepared before
you start the recording process.
Fine-tune your gear and instrumentsWhenever you record, make sure your gear is up to the task. You don’t want to use
instruments or cables that crackle or cut out or amps and speakers that play right
“most of the time.”
If you play drums, make sure you have fresh heads. Put new strings on your guitar or
bass a few days before the session. In fact, you should change your strings for every
24 hours of play time, especially if you’re recording. If you’re recording in a pro studio,
bring extras of everything and always have fresh batteries on hand! The meter will be
running while you’re out at the store buying supplies, so prepare for all contingencies
ahead of time.
Licenses and copyrightsA cover song is any song you or your band members did not write. For instance, if
you decide to record and release your own version of “Uptown Funk,” you need to
get permission from the copyright owner and pay a license fee to duplicate it—AKA a
mechanical license. All CD manufacturers will ask you to guarantee that you’ve done
this before printing any copies of your disc. This is true even if you have no intention
of selling your version of the cover song or whether you release it as an album track,
single, or download. It’s the duplication of it that makes it a “copy” under the law, not
selling it.
Also, if your audio master contains any loops or samples of previously recorded work,
you are required to purchase a Master Use License. One way around this is to use
samples and loops that are already pre-cleared and royalty-free. Most sample libraries
or discs sold via retail are royalty-free. Also, some musicians create and release
their own pre-cleared and royalty-free samples and loops licensed under Creative Commons (ccmixter is one such resource).
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Mechanical licenseCopyright Law requires that artists and labels obtain a mechanical license before
distributing a recording containing any song or composition you didn’t write. Any
time you reproduce and distribute a recording of a composition you do not control—
through both physical and digital means—you need a mechanical license. Mechanical
licenses are issued by the owner or controller of the composition. Typically, these are
publishers acting on behalf of songwriters or composers.
How do mechanical licenses work for physical CDs?The publishing royalty is a statutory rate set by law at 9.1¢ per unit for all recordings up
to five minutes, and 1.75¢ per minute if a track is over five minutes in length. For each
physical CD manufactured that includes the cover song material, the royalties owed
correspond to the statutory rate of 9.1¢ per pressing, per song. For instance, if you
were to manufacture 1,000 CDs of an album containing two cover songs, the royalties
owed would be $182 (1,000 CDs x 2 songs x 9.1¢ per song). Easy Song Licensing is a
one-stop online tool that allows you to clear cover songs quickly and easily.
How do mechanical licenses work for digital distribution?The same statutory rate applies to digital downloads. For digital downloads, the
royalties are calculated on the actual amount of downloads. For instance, if your album
includes one cover song and is downloaded 500 times, the royalties owed are $45.50
(500 album downloads x 1 song x 9.1¢ per song). Additionally, if your cover songs are
available as singles, the same rate applies to all downloaded single tracks of the song.
Streaming platforms have mechanical rates that vary from around 4 percent to 6.75
percent of revenue.
What is public domain?Songs that are in the public domain do not require a license for you to record and
distribute them. The public domain generally includes works that are ineligible for
copyright protection or whose copyrights have expired, including songs or musical
works first published in 1925 or earlier. PD Info is a good starting point to determine if
a song falls into the public domain. One thing to keep in mind, even if a song is in the
public domain, specific arrangements of songs can be copyrighted.
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Get permission for guest musiciansEver see a sentence in a CD’s liner notes that reads: “So-and-so guest musician appears
courtesy of so-and-so label?” This is usually due to exclusivity clauses in the label’s
contract that bind the musician to the label. To the extent you collaborate or work with
a musician signed to a label, you’ll need the label’s permission for them to participate.
You’ll want to ask the guest musician if this is something that needs to be done.
For help and for all the forms you’ll need, including an IPR (Intellectual Property
Rights) form and design forms, check out the Disc Makers website. Note: If you
are ordering online through our Project Center, the form and information are
integrated into the check-out process.
Are you making an EP, an album, or an album series?When it comes to increasing sales of your music, the formula turns on quantity. It takes
a lot of time and energy converting one person into a fan who is willing to purchase
your music. It takes less time and energy getting a fan who has already purchased
some of your music to purchase swag and additional music from you. This is where
having a back catalog of music and merch to sell comes in.
“The number one mistake I’ve seen artists make is not having enough product to
sell. Whether at a show or selling through the web, the easiest sale you can make is
to a person who has already bought from you in the past. Think about it. You’re at a
gig, you have a captive audience excited about your performance. If you’ve only got
your one, sole album there, and they already own it, what else can you sell them?
You’ve got the opportunity to drive incremental revenue from these customers,
but nothing else to sell. That’s a place where artists just leave money on the table.”
—Tony van Veen, CEO of Disc Makers
Rather than focusing all your time, money, and energy on one album, consider your
recording project as a collection that can be packaged and released multiple times. For
instance, set out to make one main album and a series of additional albums or EPs with
material based on the songs of the main album. That way, while you’ll focus publicity
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM
efforts on creating awareness of the main album, you can also build your discography
and back catalog with a series of EPs such as:
• Songs that didn’t make the cut (outtakes and B-sides)
• Live versions of some of the songs found on the main album
• Original demos of the songs found on the album
• Acoustic versions of some of the songs on the album
• Remixes of some of the songs on the main album
• A “commentary” album where you talk about the music much like a director talks
over the movie on a DVD
These extras are not only ideal for increasing your product line to boost sales, they’re
also perfect rewards to incorporate into crowdfunding campaigns. Generating
revenue and getting backers to pledge additional funds often turns on the rewards
you offer. Having acoustic or alternate versions of your songs as special rewards can
maximize the amount of funding you receive and make the difference between an
unfunded and funded goal.
Choose your songsIt should go without saying that your album should contain your very best music. This
is where the concept of producing an album series becomes helpful—it’s easier to cut
the songs that aren’t the “best” but still give them a home on another release that’s a
part of the series (outtakes and B-sides).
Focusing on honing your songwriting skills should be a part of this process, and it’s
one of the most difficult things to include on a checklist. As John Ondrasik says in Disc
Makers’ Songwriters on Songwriting Guide, “Songwriting is an exercise in failure. For
every good song you write, there will be dozens of ideas, pieces, attempts that never
make the cut.”
Make mixes, listen, and get feedbackRecord your parts, listen, get ideas, and make decisions on what to change, add, or re-
record. When filming movies, directors get copies of what was filmed that day (called
“dailies”). You’ll want to get mixes of what you recorded so you can get feedback, get
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new ideas, make any necessary changes, and make sure you’re on track. Get others to
listen to your tracks and solicit feedback.
Whatever your method, before you leave the studio, make sure you’re absolutely
thrilled with your final mix. If you’re not happy, don’t leave the studio and think it can
be fixed in mastering! A great recording is what you’re paying the studio for. If worse
comes to worst, you’re better off spending an extra week in the studio and finishing
a great album in 90 days plus one week than having a not-so-great album done in
90 days.
PromotionAt this stage, your social posts should mostly be about your work in the studio. Let
your fans see you, tell them about your studio adventures, let them hear rough mix
snippets. It’s critical to build fan engagement now, right from the start of your album
recording process. The better you do early on, the more successful your album release
will be.
Involve your street team, aka your most die-hard fans. Let them get behind the scenes
on early mixes and get their feedback on your music. They’ll identify the “best” songs
and maybe even suggest running orders and album titles. Not only will this continue
to develop the relationship between you and your fans, it will generate buzz as to what
you’re working on and start the promotion ball rolling.
Consider releasing some of these early mixes as part of your album series to generate
buzz within your fanbase. Also, if you’re crowdfunding, providing early mixes and
behind-the-scenes access to the process makes great rewards that can boost pledges
from backers.
Chapter 2 CD and Vinyl Production Checklist
Of all the components of a successful album release, manufacturing is the simplest—
just call Disc Makers at 800-468-9353. Of course, there are several decisions you’ll need
to make and lots of content to prepare to ensure a smooth and successful production
run. The best way to ensure a stress-free manufacturing process and a flawless finished
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product is to make sure all the elements of your project are in perfect shape when
they arrive at our plant. The extra care and time you take in preparing your materials
before production will be rewarded with meeting deadlines and lots of happy fans
and bandmates.
Will your project be mastered by a professional? (Note: the answer should always be
an enthusiastic, “Yes!”) Every professional release is mastered to optimize the sound
for commercial use, and so should yours. There’s a cost to this (you can get an instant online quote here), and more importantly, it takes time—especially if, for some
reason, it takes multiple rounds of corrections.
Who will design your album cover? Disc Makers offers fast, professional album cover design, but many of our clients choose to work with an independent designer.
Whoever you choose, make sure they can work within your timeframe.
Plan your manufacturing turn time carefully. Working with Disc Makers simplifies
the process, and because we are professionals who cater to independent artists, our
turn times tend to be the fastest. But note that if the mixing, album design, and/or
mastering processes get delayed or extended, we generally cannot make up time
in manufacturing.
Disc Makers offers three turn times: Priority, Standard, and Economy. While our
Economy turn times are the most affordable, they take the longest and we cannot offer
a firm due date because we make your product when we have capacity after the Priority
and Standard turn projects are completed. Therefore, when working on a release with
a tight time window, opt for our Standard or Priority turn times.
Preparing Your Master
Decide the track order for the albumThis can be one of the hardest parts of the creative process—especially if you’re in a
band, as everyone has an opinion—and there’s an art to organizing your songs to tell
a story and set the pacing and flow. As described in “How to sequence an album for best results” on the Disc Makers Blog, “perfecting your song order when you sequence
an album can mean the difference between a great artistic statement and a nice
mixtape.” Give this important task the consideration it deserves.
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Also note that if you are planning a release on vinyl, there are additional time constraints
to factor in to ensure sides one and two are relatively similar in length. Download Disc
Makers guide, The Musician’s Guide to Vinyl, for more on vinyl manufacturing.
Decide on the amount of space between songsA mastering house usually assists with this as, in addition to the order of your songs,
the space between your tracks helps set the pace of the album. Sometimes you’ll want
the next tune to kick in immediately, other times you’ll need to give a song time to
breathe before launching into the next track.
Mastering and post-production stepsWriting about mastering is like dancing about cooking: it needs to be heard to be
understood. Incorrectly, it’s sometimes seen as an extra step that’s not necessary in
the recording/release process.
This misconception can be easily dispelled when you hear what a mastering studio can do for your music. Getting your album mastered will (among other things) equalize
the entire album, edit minor flaws, eliminate hum and hiss, apply noise reduction,
adjust stereo width, adjust volumes, and add dynamic expansion and compression.
Mastering can also be a factor when it comes to licensing and placing your songs in TV,
movies, and commercials, and it can get your album noticed and played on radio and
other media outlets where the quality of the sound is important.
With more and more musicians recording at home, professional mastering can make
even more of an impact. As Brian Lipski, senior mastering engineer at The SoundLAB™ at Disc Makers, says, “If you’re recording and mixing in a small project studio, with
less-than-ideal acoustics and only a small set of near field monitors, certain frequency
ranges (particularly the low end) may not be reproduced accurately. Over the course
of many days or weeks working in this environment, your ears will become used to this
inaccurate sound and you will tend to over-mix or EQ those frequencies to compensate.
The result may be a mix that sounds severely unbalanced when played back on systems
outside of your studio.”
Given the tools and experience mastering engineers have, they can identify the problem
areas of a mix and fix them to help you achieve a balanced mix—one that sounds great
regardless of the system it’s playing on.
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Choose a mastering houseAlthough you probably need to record somewhere local to you, you are not tied to
home for mastering. Mastering houses are only as good as the specialists they employ
and the rooms they inhabit. When looking for a quality mastering house, you’ll want to
hear examples of their work and determine if it’s the right sound for you.
There’s also automated, online mastering—and most DAW programs offer mastering
capabilities as well—but there’s a reason why most professional releases, even after
being recorded in top-level A studios, take the project to a specialized facility for
mastering. An engineer with a fresh set of ears mastering in a studio designed for the
job makes a huge difference in the final sound of your album.
Hear the difference!You can hear before-and-after samples from
The SoundLAB™, Disc Makers’ mastering
house, online on The SoundLAB’s website.
Better yet, you can request a free CD sampler
comparing before-and-after samples so you
can hear it on your home sound system.
But don’t just listen to the CD on your best
system—challenge it. Compare the before-and-after sound quality in your car,
through your TV, on a boom box, and with headphones. Put it through the test.
You’ll hear the difference in each of these settings and come away with a better
understanding of what mastering is and how it can really put the polish on
your music.
Prepare the right formatConfirm with the mastering house which format they require for your music. The
SoundLAB accepts masters on audio CD; audio files (.wav, .aiff, .flac, etc.) on CD-R,
DVD-R, flash drive, or via upload; Digital Audio Tape (DAT); DDP file set (on CD, DVD-R,
flash drive, or via upload); or 1/2” or 1/4” analog tape.
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM
Most musicians think mastering houses only work with your final mix. However, some
will ask you to prepare two separate mixes—one with a mix of just the music and
another with just the vocals. This allows mastering engineers to adjust the vocals in
the mix so they’re not too loud or buried in the mix. It also allows them to make “radio
edits” by dropping obscenities so radio can play the song over the airwaves.
Your audio masterWhen you’re ready to place your CD or vinyl order, make sure your audio master (the
disc you’re sending of your finished recording, or the file you are uploading) sounds and
functions exactly the way you want it to. The finished discs you get back will be an exact
match of the master you send (unless you’re ordering post-production mastering), so
it’s important that your master sounds just right, with all of the tracks in the correct
order and the right amount of spacing between songs. Always make a safety copy of
your master before you ship or deliver it anywhere.
At Disc Makers, you don’t need to send us a master disc if you opt to upload your audio files online. For audio CD orders, we accept replication-ready DDP files, but we
also can accept and prepare individual audio files such as .wav and .aiff for replication.
Intellectual Property Rights and mechanical licensesRemember, before you can ask Disc Makers to mass-produce copies of your disc, there
are a few legal issues to clear first. You are required to sign an Intellectual Property Rights Declaration (IPR form) declaring that all the music on your album is original
and “owned” by you. If all your music is original, you’ll check that box and move on.
However, if you record any cover songs or incorporate any copyrighted samples or
loops, you have to provide proof that you received the proper permissions. That’s
where the next steps come in.
Document who owns the songs and sound recordingsIf you’re in a band or collaborating, co-writing, and co-recording your music with
another person, you should document who wrote what while you’re making it. Using a
split sheet when you’re recording is a great way to keep this information sorted early
in the process, and our friends Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan, who wrote Making Money With Music, have created split sheets you can download.
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Items you should document include:
• Who owns the copyright in the song and/or how writing is split among
the songwriters
• Who owns the sound recording(s)
CopyrightingAccording to the US Copyright office, your work is under copyright protection the
moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or
with the aid of a machine or device. That means, as soon as you have recorded your
song in some form—in writing, in tablature, an audio recording, a video recording—
your copyright is established. That said, registration is recommended for several
reasons, like providing third-party evidence that you claim you own the song or sound
recording and establishing a creation date. (Learn more about copyrights at the Disc Makers Blog).
The direct way to register your copyright is through the US Copyright Office. The
standard filing fee for electronic registration, as of June 2020, is $65 for basic claims.
However, the filing fee is $45 if you register one work, not made for hire, and you are
the only author and claimant.
Register with a Performance Rights OrganizationRegistering your original songs with a Performance Rights Organization such as ASCAP
or BMI will ensure they’ll know where to send the checks when your songs generate
performance royalties.
Clear the legal status of all the artworkJust like you need permission to use cover songs, you’ll need permission to use any
graphics or photographs you don’t own. One way around this is to use pre-cleared and
royalty-free artwork or artwork and photos you’ve taken or commissioned. In addition
to paid stock photo services, there are numerous “open source images” and “free
graphics” resources you can use by searching those keywords.
Clear the legal status of all the textIf you intend to print the lyrics to a cover song you got permission to record, this needs
a separate license. It’s one thing to get permission to record the cover song, it’s another
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to include the lyrics in your liner notes. Under the law, these are two different things
you’re copying. As a result, you’ll need to get permission to print and distribute the
lyrics to the liner notes of your album. If you don’t, it’s best to leave them off. And, yes,
technically you need permission from yourself to print the lyrics to your original songs!
Choose a name for the albumThink of how the album title will appear and sound, not only on the album but when
you refer to it on your website or through your social networks. Plus, you want to think
of how it will appear within music players like Apple Music, Spotify, and other platforms.
Get a UPC barcodeIf you want to sell your album through a retailer, you’ll need to have a unique Universal
Product Code (UPC), or barcode. In addition, the primary sales tracking authority, MRC
Data (formerly Nielsen SoundScan), only tracks albums with barcodes. If your release
becomes a big hit but doesn’t have a barcode, MRC Data won’t know about your sales.
The Billboard charts, as well as other charting authorities, base their rankings on these
same numbers.
Manufacturing CDsDepending on how many you order, how fast you need them done, the kind of package
and insert you need, and your shipping choice, your cost per CD could range anywhere
from under $1 to $4 or more. Once you know your cost and number of giveaways,
you can determine how many you need to sell to break even. See all of Disc Makers’ packaging options and get an instant quote.
Submitting your materialsYou need five things when you send Disc Makers your CD or vinyl order:
1. Your audio master ready to upload or mail in
2. Your design files ready to upload (via the Project Center) or mail in
3. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) documentation
4. A signed quote form (unless done online)
5. Payment
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Determine how many CDs to makeDo you want five CDs? 100? 1,000? 5,000? Essentially, it all turns on your goals. Are
you going to promote your release to the press? New media? Are you going to target
college radio? Are you going to focus on podcasts and music blogs? How many do you
expect to sell with your first run? Your answers will help you reach a decision on how
many CDs you’ll want to make.
To determine the size of the print run that makes the most economic sense, you should
do your best to estimate the number of copies you’ll need for:
• Your press campaign. Determine the number of press outlets, both new and
traditional media, you plan to send your CDs to.
• Your radio campaign. Determine the number of CDs you plan to send to
radio stations.
• Promotional copies. Estimate the number of CDs you’ll need for promotional
purposes such as giveaways, contests, fan thank-yous, etc.
• Free copies. Determine the number of CDs you’ll pass out to your fellow band
members, family, friends, street teams, etc.
• Copies for sale. Estimate the number you’ll want on-hand to sell for a profit. If you
have past sales figures of CD and digital sales of your music, you can use these to
project the number you expect to sell through shows, online, via consignment, and
through other physical CD distribution channels.
Decide on your packaging and insertsWhen it comes to physical packaging for your release, you have a host of options
to choose from. Disc Makers offers jewel cases, slim cases, eco-friendly Digipaks and
wallets, jackets, paper sleeves, 12” and 7” vinyl, flash drives, and more. When it comes
to booklets for your CDs, the options are vast.
Every CD package has a list of benefits and features that sets it apart. Digipaks offer
a great opportunity to integrate interesting cover art, and are a greener alternative
to jewel cases, the industry standard. Digipaks can have as many as eight panels,
and both packages can house printed booklets of up to 32 pages. Eco-wallets afford
plenty of design and booklet options, and the CD jacket is a lightweight recycled-stock
20
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM
slip sleeve that delivers a graphic punch. Of course, vinyl records take the potential
graphic punch of your album’s cover art to another level and are a cool addition to
your merch and music offerings.
What your plans are for the promotion and distribution of your release will help you
determine the packaging you choose. For example, CD libraries used by radio stations,
journalists, and reviewers are modeled around the size of a standard jewel case.
Take the time to pick the best package for your album, but if you want people to buy
your music, you need to make it special enough that they will want to buy it. Consider
premium packaging and ordering CDs without poly wrap so you can autograph every
CD. Or consider doing a limited-edition release to motivate fans to feel like they have to
have your new CD!
Artwork and designOne of the things that separates a CD from an MP3 or stream is the artwork, design,
and depth of information you can convey.
If you don’t have a qualified designer in your network, the Design Studio at Disc Makers
provides professional (and incredible) design services at prices that fit an indie artist’s
budget. How your project looks is incredibly important as press and media often judge
your work by how things look—not to mention potential fans who you’re asking to open
their wallets. Imagine what you’d think if you were a music critic and got a CD burned
from a computer with a band name scrawled in Sharpie or a music lover considering
purchasing a CD package that looks like it was designed by an amateur. Creating a
professionally designed disc sends the message that you’re serious about your music.
How much CD artwork you’ll need depends, in part, on your packaging, but you’ll
generally need to design:
• Cover art
• Tray card
• On-disc print
• Booklet/liner notes
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THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 22
Must-Haves
rAlbum title
rArtist/Band name
Copyright and publishing information/notices for: rMusic (original or covers)
rArtwork
rText
rPerformance Rights Organization
(if applicable)
rTrack listing
rYour website
rSocial networks
rContact information
Optional rWhere/when the album
was recorded
rWhere the album was mastered
rWho played what
rProducer/Engineer(s)
rRunning times for songs
rGuest musicians
rOther albums for sale
rSong notes
rLyrics
rThank yous
Liner Note Checklist
Our Design Studio can do more than just prepare album artwork. You can also
turn to us to create a logo for your website, t-shirts, merchandise, banner ads, and
more. Merchandise is such an important part of an indie musician’s income that it’s
worth taking the time to create a variety of brand-related images so you can make an
assortment of merchandise for your fans to choose from.
Get design templates and use qualified design servicesIf you or your graphic designer is designing your CD cover and art to submit to Disc
Makers, always use Disc Makers design templates for your artwork and supply the
art to the specifications of our printers. There is a lot you can do to ensure your finished
product looks great and your project moves along as smoothly as possible. If you don’t,
it may cost you time and money down the road to get it right (not to mention your own
grief and frustration).
1. Do not alter the size of the template page. When working with Disc Makers’
templates, place your art in the print area following the bleed, trim, and safety
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 23
guides as shown. Don’t copy the template elements into a new page of your
own, crop the page, or move any of the template elements around. The page size
and white space surrounding the template guides and crop marks are intentional.
When preparing your disc design, place your art into the square as shown, don’t
mask the art into a circle or punch out the center hole—we take care of that
during production.
2. Export your file as a PDF/X-4. This PDF export preset is a common industry
standard that’s available in the “File” menu of every professional layout program.
It yields a high-resolution, press-ready file for the best possible results on your
printed product. To learn more about how to prepare and export your files, go to
www.discmakers.com/templates.
3. Hide the guides. Before you export, make sure the “Template Guides” layer is
hidden or set to non-printing. If the template guides layer is left on, and printable,
the guides are going to show up on your finished product. You can verify you’ve
exported your PDF properly by opening the exported PDF file and taking a quick
look before you upload.
4. Use the optimal resolution. Make sure your images do not exceed 300 dpi at
100 percent output size and that complex transparency effects are flattened
before you export your PDF. If your file is taking a long time to upload, it may
be the result of unnecessarily high-resolution image files or complex,
un-flattened artwork.
5. Additional design items to be mindful of:
• Check (and recheck) your design for typos. It’s always a good idea to have
someone else give it a critical look before sending it in.
• Make sure all your images are 300 dpi. Remember, this is getting printed—high
resolution images only!
• Avoid gradients on your on-disc design. Discs are silk-screened, and gradients
don’t render well in the silkscreen process.
• Use a professional design program that allows you to design in CMYK.
• If you’re supplying graphics files on a CD-R, enclose a physical printout of what
the design will look like.
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 24
Proof your design filesDuring the mastering and design process, you will be getting design and audio proofs
and you can’t sleep on them. Always proof your artwork and have at least one person
not involved with the creation of the artwork proof it as well. Once approved, any
missed errors or misspellings are your responsibility. If you miss something, you’ll have
hundreds or thousands of copies printed with the same mistake. It’s a good idea to
proof a physical copy, not just an online PDF, as there’s something about holding a
physical proof in your hands that can help you spot problems better than checking
images on a computer monitor.
Read every word of your art proofs. Are all the elements there? No logos missing?
Grandma’s name spelled correctly? Thoroughness is important, but so is efficiency. If
your proofs are not approved promptly, or you start making corrections and changes
that require multiple rounds of proofs, you’ll run into delays. You need to be on
the ball and approve all proofs within 24 hours of receipt if you want to make your
90-day schedule.
Proof your audio masterThe same goes for the audio master (the disc you’re sending us—or the file you are
uploading—of your finished recording). Listen to it from start to finish to make sure it’s
flawless, meaning it sounds and functions exactly the way you want it to. The finished discs
you get back from us will be an exact match of the master you send us (unless you’re
ordering post-production mastering—then the finished discs will be an exact match of
the mastered version of your master), so it’s important that it sounds exactly the way
you want it to with all of the tracks in the correct order and the right amount of spacing
between songs. Always make a safety copy of your master before you ship or deliver
it anywhere!
If you get a mastering proof, listen to the entire album again, in a quiet room, to make
sure everything sounds good—including the silences between your songs.
Don’t hold up the productionYour order won’t be sent to print or replication until you have approved your proofs
and audio master. If you order a 10-day turnaround but take three days to approve
your proof, you’re adding time to the production process. Be thorough, pay attention to
detail, but get your work done quickly to ensure your production times aren’t delayed.
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 25
10-day (Economy) production time• 4 business days of pre-
approval time
• 10 business days of
production time after you
approve your proofs
• Total turn time is 14
business days
• Add time for shipping
5-day (Standard) production time• 3 days of pre-approval time
• 5 days of production time
• Total turn time is 8
business days
• Add time for shipping
3-day (Priority) production time• 2 days of pre-approval time
• 3 days of production time
• Total turn time is 5
business days
• Add time for shipping
About production timesOur turn times tell you how fast your job will get through our manufacturing plant
once it’s approved, but there are other steps you need to account for. There’s the pre-
approval process that includes prepping your art files and master (a process that can
range from two to seven days), the time it takes for you to approve your proofs, and
two-day shipping to your doorstep.
You can skip the pre-approval process entirely by uploading your prepared files using
our Project Center. When you order our most popular packages online, you instantly
get to see a PDF and 3D proof of the art you just uploaded. We call it NOWProof™.
Upload art, view your NOWProof in seconds, approve it online, and your project goes
straight into production.
Note: Turn times below are quoted are for CDs in jewel cases with two- to six-page
inserts, Digipaks with four or six panels, and four-panel wallets. To get an exact
deadline for your order (or if you want a different package), call a product specialist
today at 800-468-9353.
PromotionDuring manufacturing, continue to share info on social media about your music and
the production timeline. Share your design proofs. Continue to share band stories to
keep fans excited. Don’t stop communicating with your fans and keep finding ways to
maintain the excitement leading up to your release.
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 26
Chapter 3 Your Album Release
As you prepare to release your album, you should have some goals and ideas of your
plans for sales and distribution, including answering questions like:
• What are my goals for this album? How many streams? How many units sold?
• How much time can I spend on promoting my album?
• How much money can I invest in promotion? (Yes, if you want to have a
successful album you NEED to set aside a promotion budget.)
• How am I going to get the word out to make this album a success?
Preparing for the album release
Album releases are a great way to generate buzz for your music—including live events,
listening parties, and livestreams. This means you need to pick an official release date
far enough into the future to give you time to do all the necessary things to build
awareness about your album and grow publicity.
Even with this plan to record and release your album in 90 days, your official live event
may need to be held weeks or months later. (While we’re encouraging you to build a
90-day release plan, it’s good practice not to set your live release event until your CDs
are in your hand. You can back yourself into a corner and end up with no product on
hand for your big party if you schedule too aggressively. And remember, the 90-day
plan is for CDs. Vinyl LPs take weeks longer to manufacture.)
If you intend to publicize your album through traditional press or do a radio campaign,
you’ll want to set the official release date 8-12 weeks after you’ve received the copies
of your album—you need copies of the disc to mail out and lead time to get press and
properly promote. If you forgo the traditional publicity and radio route and focus more
on running a new media campaign (blogs, podcasts, etc.), then you can have a shorter
lead time.
Prepare for online salesOne of the big reasons you don’t want to get your albums back from Disc Makers and
simply release the album to the public is that it takes time to get it in the stores and
streaming services. You’ll want it available for purchase while you’re busy promoting
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 27
• Album title
• Artist or band name
• Album summary (a one-line
sentence about the album)
• Album description
• Genre
• Track names, order, and timings
• Songwriters and publishers
• Album cover art
• Your bio/artist description
• Your website URL
• Key social networks
• Your contact information
• Your logo
it to encourage sales. Otherwise, you’re wasting part of the benefit your hard-earned
publicity is generating.
Pick your CD/digital distributor and sign upYou want to make your album available everywhere. CD and digital distributors are
your ticket to worldwide sales. In exchange for their fee of the album or single sale,
they handle all the business transactions. CD Baby is the web’s biggest distributor of
independent music, and there are plenty of other outlets that sell physical CDs and
downloads and make your music available for streaming.
While you can sign up with as many stores as you’d like (these are usually non-exclusive
deals), there can’t be more than one distributor bringing the same album to the same
store (Apple Music, Amazon, etc.). CD Baby will make your music available via all the
major digital distributors, including Apple Music, Amazon, and Spotify.
Create your album’s profile and upload your album’s artworkMost distributors ask you to fill in the details about your album and songs on their
websites. Here’s what you should have available for the online stores:
Since your distributor will likely share whatever information you enter into their
database with other stores, getting this information right and thinking through what
you’re entering is important. A typo, misspelling, or half-thought-out description about
you and your music at this stage will be replicated across the web, and even if you fix it,
the search engines will keep the mistakes for quite some time afterward. Get someone
else to check it over!
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 28
Make it easy for fans to buy your music.Keep a spreadsheet with a list of the hyperlinks where your music is sold handy
(your Amazon page, your Apple Music page, etc.). These hyperlinks are the ones
you’ll be going back to again and again as you add them to your website, your
newsletters, email signature, press releases, etc. You’ll also want to add them to
other promotional items you create, including postcards, stickers, and posters. If
the hyperlink is too long or hard to remember, you can create a shortened URL
for it. Services like tinyurl and bit.ly will shorten lengthy URLs. Some will allow
you to come up with your own custom name.
Plan your album release show, listening party, and tour dates
If you play live, your CD release show will become an integral part of your
publicity campaign.
A live show to support your album release gives you an additional reason to contact the
press and media and keep them updated. If you don’t play live, throw a listening party.
Publicity is all about multiple impressions. To the extent you plan a tour in support of
the album, this gives you additional, targeted places to focus your publicity efforts.
If you are going to play live in support of your album, start cementing venues and dates
early. Not long ago, most musicians had to play locally or in concentric circles from
where they live to grow a following. Today, you can tour more effectively by playing
shows where your fans are. Try using Eventful.com’s free and powerful “Demand” tool.
With this tool, you can target (and budget) your tour based on where your fans are and
where they want you to go.
Get your album merchandise and promotional materialsYou’ll want album-related merchandise ready for sale by your release date. Since you’re
doing all of the publicity and marketing for your new album, you can get the most out
of your work by having merch and t-shirts created to sell along with your new album.
Merchly offers affordable custom t-shirts, hoodies, hats, and promo items for your
merch table.
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 29
Posters, postcards, stickers, flyersHaving posters and sending out postcards to advertise your new album and shows is
a tried and true way to generate promotion. Because they have much of your artwork,
Disc Makers makes it easy and affordable to print posters, postcards, and stickers for
you to help you promote your release.
Prepping for publicity
There’s way more to address here than this guide can cover, so rather than go into
detail about how or why you’ll want to do all the steps below, we’ve listed them out so
you don’t forget to do them.
Set up alerts with your new album name and song titlesKeep up-to-date with what people are saying about your new album and songs. This is
as easy as setting up a Google Alert with your band name and the name of your album.
Update your music résumé documentsYour “music résumé” contains the following important brand elements:
• Your bio
• Your fact sheets
• Your online press kit
• Your physical press kit
• Your tour schedule
• Other PR documents
with the new album
information
These are the documents that you’ll either send out (to the press, bloggers, music
reviewers, etc.) or update online for anyone seeking more information. Updating
these now will save you time and energy later when you start contacting press and
booking agents. Plus, by crafting the message, tone, and language for your release
and promotion here, you can repurpose the content as you update your website and
web presence.
The album release and post-releaseMost of the hard work will be behind you by this point, but there are still a few things
you need to do, namely, releasing the album for sale to the public. While your music
is at the heart of what you do, your identity, image, brand, website, web presence,
merchandise, and publicity is what you use to connect with your fans.
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 30
Add your CD to Gracenote MusicIDIf your fans are putting your CD into an Internet-enabled device (a computer using
Apple Music, for example), the computer is accessing an online database to match your
information to your CD. The information they see does NOT come from your actual CD.
There are a couple of major databases online, and Gracenote Music ID is the largest.
To ensure your CD’s song titles will be visible in Apple Music, Groove Music, Amazon
Music, and other players and services, you need to register your album with Gracenote
Music ID. Disc Makers does it for you when you purchase a Global Music Distribution Bundle with your CD order.
TiVo Corporation now provides music metadata and album information to AllMusic
and other online services. Read the “Product Submissions” page on AllMusic for
more information.
Update your website and web presencesWhen updating your website and web presences in promotion of your release, some of
the items you don’t want to forget include:
• Announcing the album is out and linking to all the places it can be bought.
• Promoting where you’re being played (podcasts, blogs, websites, radio, etc.).
• Posting any new positive album reviews.
• Thanking those people and fans who helped make the album a reality or helped
promote the album.
• Listing and thanking the blogs, podcasts, and websites that promoted you.
• Asking fans/street team to continue to spread the word and creating missions to
keep them organized and on task.
• Updating websites you maintain presences on to announce that the album is out
and where it can be bought.
• Thanking those who helped (and cross-promoting when possible).
• Asking fans to spread the word through their networks.
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 31
Pre-release promotionNowadays, albums are not just dropped into the world. Every album launch is preceded
by one, two, or sometimes three digital singles. Launching a single ahead of your album
is essential for a successful release.
A single is the first piece of actual commercial content you can promote to start to get
fans listening to your music in advance of the album. It gives fans something to get
excited about while they wait for your album. So during the manufacturing process,
somewhere in week five or six, choose your best song, upload it to CD Baby, and for
$10, you can launch it as a digital-only single.
This gives you great new content to hype on social media and in email. Now it’s not just
about your upcoming album—you actually have a single to promote!
So launch that single and start promoting it as “the first single from our
upcoming album.”
While your music is working its way through the CD Baby machinery, there’s some
more promo work to be done.
1. Keep posting album updates and other interesting content to keep your fans
engaged on social media.
2. Set up a pre-order campaign on Bandcamp and start promoting it. You can take
orders before your release date.
3. Try a Spotify pre-save campaign, where your fans can pre-save your album on
Spotify. As soon as your release is out, it will appear in their Spotify library. You
can set up a Spotify pre-save through CD Baby’s show.co marketing platform,
and it’s free to CD Baby clients.
4. Submit your tracks to Spotify for their “Release Radar” playlist of new tracks, and
to algorithmic playlists on Apple Music and other streaming sites that have them.
You can find information on CD Baby’s DIY Musician blog on how to do that, or
you can just do an online search.
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 32
Around week eight, choose a second single and set it up for digital distribution. If
single #2 comes out around week nine, your first single will have been out for three
weeks and your fans will be hungry for a new track. Again, it gives you something new
and exciting to talk about with your fans.
ISRC codeOne quick tip for your digital distribution strategy: Every digital track is identified by an
ISRC code, basically a unique digital ID number for your track. Here’s a tip: make sure
you use the same ISRC code for singles #1 and #2 for those tracks on your album.
What happens is that if single #1 got 10,000 streams, and single #2 got 8,000 streams,
those streams will be counted AGAIN as plays on your album when your album is
released, which gives you an ever-so-slightly-better shot at charting.
Somewhere around week 10, it’s time to start doing an email blast or two announcing
your album release in week 12. Make sure to give the exact release date and send fans
to your Bandcamp to pre-order the physical media.
Chapter 4 Promotion and Publicity
Of all the work needed to drive a successful album release, promotion is the most
nebulous. There is no magic formula that guarantees successful album promotion and
sales. However, for any chance of success, there are several components you MUST
execute.
Setting a budgetAs mentioned earlier, while you can do a lot without spending money, a successful
release should be supported by a promotion and marketing budget to be spent mostly
on paid social advertising and digital display ads. Luckily, these ads are so affordable
you can easily reach thousands of potential fans without spending a lot of money. For
a pretty simple way to do this kind of advertising, check out www.show.co.
Develop your message on social mediaOne thing many artists get wrong when they post on social media and email is
that their messages end up looking something like BUYMYRECORD! BUYMYRECORD!
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 33
• Photos and videos from the studio• Rehearsal pics and stories • Origin stories of how a song came to be written (or what inspired it)• Anecdotes from your daily life• Pictures of your dog (people love pet pics)• Touching stories• Funny stories• Sad stories• Exciting shots from your live performances• Video and pics of you interacting with fans• Cool pics fans send you, like when that fan tattooed your face all over their back…
• Speaking of fans, what about the MOST exciting thing for them: a selfie with you• Memes! People love memes • Behind the scenes shots during photo and video shoots• Video of the video shoot• Screengrabs• Throwback pics of you and your friends• Candid shots of you having fun with your friends and bandmates• When you’re out about town doing cool stuff• Any kind of sneak previews: album art, song snippets in the studio, etc.• Any social causes you feel strongly about
BUYMYRECORD! If you want to get your fans to tune you out, that’s a great way to do
it. If all you do is tell people to buy or stream your music, they’ll quickly unfollow you.
Instead, you need to think of yourself as a storyteller—your stories need to engage,
entertain, and interest your readers. How do you do that? Here are some ideas:
Create a custom ad campaign with Disc Makers’ Ads for Artists programLooking for a powerful way to build your fan
base, promote your act, and sell your music?
Disc Makers’ Ads for Artists program makes
promoting your new release on social media
easy. We’ll design your ad and create a target
audience of social media users most likely to be interested in your music.
We make your ad. You make your mark.
Learn more and get started at www.discmakers.com/ads-for-artists/
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 34
The trick for developing good, engaging social media content is to identify which of
your activities could be of interest to your fans. Then, break out the iPhone and take a
picture or video to document. Frankly, if you are your own authentic self, your fans will
engage. You can increase that fan engagement by engaging with them. Reply to their
comments. Retweet. Like. And do an occasional FB Live event or Q&As. You’ve got to
engage with your audience.
Of course, there is a time to sell on social media, including:
• Whenever you have a special offer for fans (discounts, bundles, specials)
• When you’ve got an engagement event happening, like a gig or listening party
• When you have new merch
• When you want to send a reminder that you STILL have merch
• When you have a concert or tour coming up
• When your new album is out!
One final suggestion: Since you’re looking to grow your fanbase, ask your fans to share
your posts and emails to help you expand your reach. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
In many of your posts, you can also link to your music, but it should almost come
across like an afterthought… except when your new music has just come out. Then it’s
OK—in fact, required—to do a big “new music out, buy it here” campaign for a couple
of weeks.
EmailNothing justifies a new newsletter or email campaign like announcing your upcoming
album and shows and following up with news of the promotion and press being
generated. Much of your marketing can be done for free (or virtually free) through
social media and email, which will be your two main channels to generate buzz and
excitement. To be successful you’ll need a steady stream of social content—stories,
pictures, videos, and as you get closer to your launch date, email content with offers
and links to your Bandcamp and streaming profiles. You’ll want to post online three to
five times a week with engaging content on the platforms your fans are most likely to
be on.
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 35
But while social media is the channel that people tend to think about when it comes
to promotion and communication, the channel musicians often have the most success
with when it comes to actually generating sales is email. While social is great for browsing,
email drives transactions, plain and simple. So use your email list to its best advantage.
Test special offers like exclusive email discount codes, BOGO (buy one, get one free), or
CD/t-shirt bundles to drive increased transactions.
When you do email marketing to your fan list, don’t forget to continue your storytelling,
even when you’re trying to get a sale. Email is a great medium to tell longer stories
and, since an email can easily contain multiple sections of content, you should always
include a call-to-action with links to where readers can buy or stream your music. After
all, getting fans to buy your music is the goal of all this effort you’re putting in. Make
sure you include links to your website and your Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and
other profiles.
LivestreamingIf you have new music coming out, it’s a great time to experiment with video livestreams.
Artist livestreams on platforms like Twitch, Facebook Live, and YouTube Live have
generated huge concurrent viewership—often MUCH greater than what an artist would
draw in a club. A platform like Twitch makes it possible to not just livestream your audio
and video, but it allows you to interact with your fans, sell merch, send them to your
streaming sites or website, and even charge for attendance.
There are two main kinds of livestreams you might consider for a new album release: 1)
a livestream listening party (possibly broadcast from the recording studio) that allows
fans a sneak preview of your new album, and 2) a livestream album release concert
where you play the album live (and get fans to buy it online). Just make sure you have
links to buy and stream your album set up and tested in advance, and make sure you’ve
practiced doing a successful livestream ahead of time. The Disc Makers Blog has plenty
of content on livestreams to help you source platforms and improve the quality of your
broadcasts.
You can do an album listening party several weeks before your release date. And, of
course, you can (no, you probably should) do an album release concert via livestream.
If you do it via Twitch, you can easily sell your album and merch during the livestream.
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 36
If you want to do this, you’ll need to start figuring out how to do it as soon as you go
into the studio.
Video strategyWhat’s the biggest music search engine in the world? YouTube. In fact, video is possibly
the only true viral media on the web. Beyond being an amazingly powerful medium for
generating awareness and sales of your music, it also can be monetized and generate
revenue for you. This is a topic that spans well beyond your release, but building a
series of video releases of performances and singles and generally building content
around your new music should be a big part of your promotional strategy.
PR campaignThis should be your overall strategy for the album and any live shows you do in support
of it. You can embark on a traditional media campaign (newspapers, magazines, radio),
a new media campaign (podcasts, music blogs, MP3s, entertainment blogs), or both,
but each takes planning and execution for it to yield results.
Keep in mind, publicity is not just compiling lists and following steps mechanically. It
can and should be fun and creative. At the planning stage, you should be channeling
the same creativity you put into your music to build excitement and buzz about your
upcoming album.
Here are some planning ideas to get you started:
• Hold a contest
• Make a video
• Let your fans remix a track
• Partner with a blog or podcast
Prepare a press releaseSending a press release is a simple way you can notify the media of your album and
CD release show. They’re not that difficult to write and there are free press wires that
will help you blast out your release to the media.
Compile your target PR listsIf you find a website, blog, radio station, or podcast that looks like it may play your
music but lacks details about submitting, reach out to the blogger, podcaster, or
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 37
website owner directly. Always obey the rules of submission. Don’t miss out on coverage
by making a reviewer’s life more difficult.
There are plenty of outlets within your arm’s reach that you can target to get your music
reviewed and heard:
• Album review press, magazines,
zines, and websites
• Traditional local and national press
• New media press
• Commercial, college, and public
radio stations
• Internet radio stations
• Music blogs
• Music podcasts
• Radio stations
• Non-music blogs covering topics in
your niche
• Non-music podcasts covering topics
in your niche
• Other websites
The media lists you’ve compiled are the people who should get your album in advance—
before the public. The goal is to generate reviews and build buzz about your album
before the official release date when the album goes on sale to the public.
To coordinate a publicity campaign, you’ll need to keep track of where you sent your
CDs and press packets and when you sent them. This can be as simple as a spreadsheet
that you complete as you send info packets or something more elaborate, like an off-
the-shelf customer/relationship management software system.
When you contact the people on your PR list, follow up a week or two afterward to
verify your content was received. Most musicians fail to follow up, but this gives you
an excuse to make a second impression and get your name in front of the reviewer,
blogger, radio manager, or podcaster.
As reviews come in, be sure to update your music résumé documents (bio, fact sheets,
press kits, etc.), future press releases, website, and web presences with any review
quotes and clippings.
Work with your street team and fansIt’s people, not technology, who make things happen. Your fan network is no exception.
Don’t be afraid to involve them and ask for their help. Keep your fan network up to date
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 38
about the upcoming album and give them exclusive cuts from the album as a reward to
whet their appetites.
Involve your fan network early so you can create missions and steer their enthusiasm
from random acts of buzz to a coordinated effort that’s in line with your overall strategy.
If you purchased album-related posters and flyers, start using them to spread the
message about your upcoming release. Enlist your street team for help in distributing
these materials. Be sure to allow them to keep a few for themselves as well.
Maintain your own websiteDon’t rely on a social network to act as your
website. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter
are important for promotional purposes, but
these are your “web presences.” Every musician
needs a home base—a site you control, with
your own domain, where you’re not competing
against advertising.
Chapter 5 Selling Product
Performing live and doing in-person appearances are obvious opportunities to sell your
music and merch, and you should develop strategies beyond just setting up a table and
hoping you’ll make sales. Beyond that, there are also many effective ways to get your
fans to buy your product online.
Bandcamp. Bandcamp is the biggest, most indie-friendly store on the web. It costs
nothing to set up, so make sure you have a Bandcamp site and that the content there is
up to date. Send your fans to your Bandcamp site to buy your music, and then do your
own fulfillment by mail. And, since you’re fulfilling your own orders, you can make it
special by including a personalized note in the package.
HearNow. CD Baby’s HearNow service is a customized eCommerce page for your
album. For $2.95 a month, you can set up a promo page where your fans can buy your
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 39
physical album or where you can direct them to any of the streaming services your
music is on.
Digital and physical distribution. While most physical albums are not sold in brick-
and-mortar stores any longer, Amazon and other online stores sell physical media.
There are many capable digital distributors, including CD Baby, which can distribute
physical product in addition to supplying your music digitally to all streaming sites.
Set your release scheduleIf you want to maximize your sales, your release schedule is critical. You can’t just
drop an album and expect it to be successful—there are just too many new releases dropping every Friday (the day most new music is released). You need to prime the
pump by releasing one or two digital-only singles before your album comes out. This
allows you to get your social followers excited about your new single and new album
coming out in the weeks to come.
One effective way to maximize sales is to set up a pre-order period for your physical
product on Bandcamp and direct your social and email subscribers to pre-order
your album. (You can promote your pre-orders with special incentives, like offering
to autograph CDs that were pre-ordered.) For streaming, CD Baby’s www.show.co
offers easy tools to set up a Spotify pre-save campaign that automatically adds your
album to every fan who pre-saves your album to their Spotify songs.
PromotionWhile your discs are being manufactured, you need to get serious about selling your
product. The manufacturing time is also the right time to set up your album profile on
CD Baby for distribution. Start filling out your credits and liner notes and when Disc
Makers is done manufacturing, we can transfer your music and album cover files to
CD Baby and ship copies of your CD for distribution through retail outlets like Amazon.
Finally, part of any successful album sales launch involves an email campaign to your
fan list. So this is a great time to go to Mailchimp or whoever your email provider is
and make sure your email list is cleaned up and good to go.
If you have all you need—album art, digital tracks, artist and songwriter information—
the digital distribution sign-up process is pretty straightforward. You’ll also have to
THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM 40
Choosing a distributor like CD Baby allows you to monetize all of these aspects of your
music in one place and monitor the results on one artist dashboard.
Tag and name MP3s correctlyIf you intend to promote your music through podcasts, blogs, Facebook, Twitter,
or anywhere, having ready-made MP3 versions of your music will save you time
and energy.
Once you send an MP3 of your music out in the world, you don’t know where it’ll wind
up. Fill out the ID3 tags and add the album art to the file so that anyone who ends up
with your MP3 on their phone or music player knows who you are and where to find
more of it. After all, your music is your greatest sales and fan generation tool.
The big day!Before you know it, your release date—roughly week 11 or 12 from the day you hit the
studio—will arrive. Congratulations, your album is out with a week or so to spare before
your 90 days are up.
If you’ve done your job right, you’ve set yourself up for a successful release. Your fans
will know your album is out and they’ll be ready, willing, and able to stream it or buy it.
But your work is not over! In today’s music market, it can take a while for an album to
catch fire. Now that your album is out, the hard work of selling just started.
provide information about how you will want to get paid by CD Baby (bank account or
Paypal info). As always, make sure to spell-check everything, and look carefully at every
proof page you need to approve. Once your title is live on all platforms, you don’t want
to discover any mistakes!
Many of today’s revenue streams from your recordings and compositions are
tiny. That’s why you want to make sure you monetize every possible aspect of your
music, including:
• Streaming royalties
• Physical product sales
• Live performances or livestreaming
• Publishing and YouTube royalties
• Synchronization licensing
41THE 90-DAY ALBUM RELEASE PLANNER | DISCMAKERS.COM
www.discmakers.com
You need to continue doing your online promotions and marketing, spending some of
your marketing budget on paid social advertising and creating opportunities to play,
support, promote, and sell your album.
About the authors
Tony van VeenTony van Veen is the CEO of DIY Media Group, the parent company of Disc Makers and BookBaby. As a college student, he played in indie bands, created
his own LPs, cassettes, and t-shirts, and sold them at shows. Today, he collects
CDs, vinyl LPs, and concert t-shirts to support the artists he loves.
Andre CalilhannaAndre Calilhanna is musician, writer, editor, and Disc Makers marketing manager
for 25 years. Andre manages the Disc Makers and BookBaby Blogs. Contact
him at andre@discmakers.com.
Randy Chertkow and Jason FeehanBillboard magazine called Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan “the ideal mentors
for aspiring indie musicians who want to navigate an ever-changing music
industry.” They are musicians, authors, columnists, professional speakers, and
consultants and are regular contributors to the Disc Makers Blog. They’ve
written four critically-acclaimed books, including their latest, Making Money With Music. Their band, Beatnik Turtle, released over 500 songs spanning 20 albums,
licensed music to Disney and Viacom, and wrote music for TV, films, and theater
including Chicago’s Second City. In 2007, they released a song every single day of
the year.
If you want to amp up your music-related income, pick up a
copy of their book Making Money With Music to create over 100
income streams for yourself with merch, gigging, music releases,
licensing, royalties, and more.
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