Most independent release plans fail in the same way: everything happens on release day and nothing before it. Platforms, press and DJs all work on lead times, and a record announced the morning it comes out has already missed every one of them.
This is a six week shape that works without a budget. Adjust the dates, keep the order.
Six weeks out: get the assets finished
Master, artwork, press photo, a one page release document and a private stream link. Nothing else can start until these exist, and every campaign that runs late runs late here.
Deliver the release to your distributor now. Platform lead times are the hard constraint in the whole plan.
Four weeks out: promos and playlists
Send private links to DJs, radio shows and writers who plausibly care. Twenty relevant recipients with a personal line each is worth more than four hundred addresses pasted into one field.
If you use a distributor with editorial pitching, submit now. A Spotify editorial pitch has to happen before the release date, because once a track is live it is no longer eligible to be pitched through Spotify for Artists.
Three weeks out: announce
Artwork, title, date, and where to pre-save or pre-order. This is also the moment the release page on your own site should go live, so every link you post from here points at something permanent rather than at a story that expires.
Two weeks out: give people something to hear
A clip, a rip from a set, a studio video shot on a phone. It does not need production value, it needs to be audible and specific.
A short video of the track playing on a system in a room outperforms a still image reliably, because it gives people something to react to.
Release week
- Post the link where your audience already is, not everywhere at once.
- Thank the people who supported the promo, publicly and by name.
- Ask the DJs who played it for a clip you can repost.
- Update your own site so the new record is the first thing on it.
After release, which is where most plans stop
The two weeks after release are the ones nearly everyone wastes. Keep posting the track. Send it to the shows that did not reply the first time, now that it is out and easier to say yes to. Add it to your live set and post that.
A record has a life measured in months, not in one Friday.
What is worth paying for
Mastering, almost always. Photography, if what you have is bad, because it limits every other asset. PR, only once you have something a writer can hang a story on.
What to avoid is anything guaranteeing streams or playlist placement in exchange for payment, which platforms do act against. Advertising, PR, DJ and media promotion are a different thing and can be worth paying for once there is something to promote.
Common questions
- How far ahead should I deliver to a distributor?
- Four weeks is the usual minimum for editorial consideration, and more is safer. Check your distributor’s stated deadline rather than guessing.
- Are pre-saves worth it?
- They concentrate early listening and give a campaign one clear call to action, which is useful. Treat them as a convenience for fans rather than an algorithm hack, and do not build the whole campaign around them.
- How many DJs should I send promos to?
- As many as genuinely play this kind of record, which for most independent releases is between twenty and fifty. Relevance beats volume every time.