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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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

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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.

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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.