What Age Do You Have To Be To Upload A Song On Soundcloud

How to plan your next single release: promotion and distribution tips for a standalone track.

It all starts with a song.

You write a song, or y'all find a song; the song moves you lot and you desire it to move the world. So you record and distribute that vocal as a single to platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.

Once the song is available, anything could happen. The music could alter the world, information technology could wow a few people, or information technology could become completely ignored. Of course chance e'er plays a part, but the issue is partially in your own hands.

The benefits and challenges of releasing singles

The expert news: We're living in an age of singles, and in that location are tons of ways to put 1 vocal to work.

The bad news: Every other artist has a new unmarried to promote besides, so you lot can't just drop a song into the world and expect it to reach people without some endeavor and accelerate planning.

All this to say, there'southward a lot more than to releasing a unmarried than just throwing it up on SoundCloud or Bandcamp. In that location'due south a lot more to it than distributing your single worldwide via CD Babe too.

You demand to outset consider the strategy behind the release of your single

Yous'll want to tackle each of these questions – and probably some more – when you're formulating your release strategy.

How are you going to attract listeners, encourage streams, and bulldoze downloads?
How is the launch of this single going to enhance your relationship with your audience?
How will this song help you get to the next level in your music career?
How does a single help yous tell a little bit more of your artist story?
How do you position your single to capitalize on streaming tools and algorithmic traction?

You should also weigh the pros and cons of releasing standalone songs.

As artists, we're dealing in "attending economic science." Gone are the days when you could disappear for three years to make your next album and expect fans to stay loyal. In our world of short attention spans, releasing music more frequently can play a significant gene in your success.

Platforms like Spotify and YouTube even advantage artists who put out songs and videos on a regular ground . Obviously you lot tin't (and shouldn't) bang out a full album every 2 or 3 months, so instead: singles!

The upsides of releasing a digital single:

It costs less to produce one vocal (compared to a whole album)
You lot can release music more ofttimes, which drives algorithmic streaming activeness
You don't take to manufacture CDs or vinyl
Modern listeners often favor singles/playlists
Concentrating on ane vocal at a time helps you focus your marketing, video production, etc., so yo u have the opportunity to plough each single into an effect
It's a moment to reconnect with or grow your audience
Information technology's a low-risk chance to experiment with promotion strategies and acquire what works (and doesn't)
And best of all, putting out singles is fun

Merely in that location's even so more PR ability in releasing albums. And then singles do have their drawbacks.

The downsides of releasing a digital single:

It'southward harder to get printing and industry attention with a single
Albums show the world you're serious; singles don't
Albums can convey more about your story and brand; singles say less
Your fans can grow numb to "new single" announcements if you release music too often
Information technology's harder to merchandise a digital unmarried

And so let's dig into the best-practices for releasing singles. I'grand not sure if they all count equally "strategies," but they're certainly all of import considerations.

1. You MUST release a unmarried Starting time

In nearly cases, I'd give this advice: You should absolutely release a single First if you've never put out music under your electric current creative person proper noun! Why?

Most streaming services don't permit yous claim your artist contour or apply their various promotional tools until you really accept music on their platforms. Since those tools tin be pretty powerful, you don't want to MISS the chance to utilize them for your priority releases (similar an EP or LP).

So put out a single beginning. Plant your flag. Merits your accounts. And be ready to go total-force on the follow-up release.

Go HERE to find out how Spotify and Apple Music define what a single even is, based on track count and duration.

2. Social media videos are all the rage, so the Right song might just mean the right 15 seconds

None of your plans will matter if the vocal sucks. Obvs. So don't release singles purely to feed an algorithm. The music still needs to be compelling! That tin can mean it'due south a catchy hit single to please new fans or a demanding artistic odyssey to delight your diehards. But SOMEONE needs to exist pleased.

However, just as a song tin stand up autonomously from an album, a musical MOMENT can stand apart from the vocal.

What does that mean? Well, we're living in a short-form video age.

There's no such matter as as well much content, and with the huge popularity of TikTok, IG Stories, IGTV, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, and other platforms where users are hungry for quick videos, you don't have to make all your videos the length of the whole runway.

Non every music video needs to be a fully produced music video.

Find the BEST moment in your song, and so ask:

1. - How can this moment inspire listeners to make videos of their own (such as TikTok challenges, dance contests, caption contests, duets, response videos, and other hashtag-driven community engagement)?
  - Tin can I shoot a curt original video to this 15 seconds of music?
  - Can I find expert royalty-free or pubic domain footage to add to this 15 seconds of music?
  - Can I post a agglomeration of DIFFERENT video content for the same fifteen seconds, reenforcing the hook?
  - What will get people on Instagram Stories to answer questions or engage with a poll?

Once you lot dig into this, you might realize at that place'south a difference between the song that'south perfect for your existing fans, and a moment that's perfect for viral attention. In either case, the single shouldn't suck. But not every song needs to exist a fully-produced masterpiece either. We'll talk more about this below.

iii. Time your singles strategically before and later EP and LP releases

Unless you're an EDM or pop creative person, I nevertheless recommend you focus on making EPs or LPs (for the reasons mentioned above); then release your singles strategically before and after the bigger release.

The pb-up singles create fan excitement and algorithmic energy for the anthology, and then the follow-up singles, or the songs that come out between larger projects, continue you from falling into "out of sight, out of mind" territory with fans.

4. Stockpile diverse kinds of recordings for later use, in improver to releasing traditional "singles" from an upcoming album

At that place are a number of different kinds of tracks you can release as singles:

- - The pb single — This is the showtime song y'all release from an upcoming EP or LP. It sets the stage for what's to come up and prompts your fans to await more than in the coming months.
  - The deeper dive — This follow-up unmarried comes out between the lead single and the anthology, and it provides further context for your new music.
  - The B-side — Once your album has been out for a few months, yous can put out singles from the same recording session that didn't make it onto the anthology.
  - The bonus content — Later on the big album splash, you desire to maintain momentum on streaming platforms. In the year following your album release, information technology's good to put out several "bonus" tracks, such as remixes, alternate mixes, demos, or acoustic takes. Remixes in item let you breathe new life into a song that'southward waning in popularity, and give you a take a chance to collaborate with artists who might piece of work in different genres. Both of you lot benefit from all the cross-promotion that ensues.
  - The collaboration — This is a single that is credited to two or more than artist names. Similar to remixes, an original collaboration gives you a great way to take creative chances and reach beyond your existing audience (because the same track will reach the other artists' fans as well).
  - The featured creative person track — You could exercise a invitee appearance on someone else'due south rail, or they could appear on ane of your songs. Either fashion, it helps you get some extra attention.
  - The building-blocks single(s) — One practice that's become more than common is for an artist to prepare a release schedule (for instance: putting out one new vocal a month for a year) so permit fans vote on which ten tunes volition comprise the side by side album. Obviously you don't need to make your art a democracy, and so you could merely option which songs yous want to compile into an anthology yourself. Billie Eilish dropped a number of singles before her huge debut LP came out, so clearly the strategy can work.
  - The live cut — Not every song you release has to be a studio-quality jewel. Got a live recording with a skilful vibe? Put it out!
  - The cover song — Covering existing songs has e'er been a smart way to concenter new listeners. You lot take a proven song and add your ain spin to it.
  - The "Didn't this song already come out?" single — Yous might've noticed artists like Taylor Swift releasing "singles" of songs that accept already appeared on albums. It's a play a trick on to become more than attention for a particular vocal, and hey, zero wrong with tricks! We all want attention, right?

5. Make your music more than playlist-friendly

The manufacture is focused on playlists these days, and that's fine; playlists tin generate a ton of streaming activity.

Not all playlist action leads to real fan engagement though, and so instead of artists jumping through a bunch of hoops to game the playlist system du jour, I'd nonetheless suggest yous — to a higher place all — to make the music You lot WANT to make and try to reach fans the usual ways (playing shows, making absurd videos, running social ads, etc.).

That being said, the dominant format of the mean solar day has always shaped music, and streaming is changing the sound of popular music. I f you practise want to make your singles more likely to get playlisted, you should be enlightened of these music trends:

- - - No long intros and outros
      
      People are impatient and tin can skip songs very easily. Don't tempt them. Get to the appurtenances.
    - Consider putting your hook right at the beginning
      
      Speaking of getting to the goods, you could lead with the hook or chorus. The Beatles did information technology half a century ago, and Bruno Mars is doing it today.
    - Continue your songs under 4 minutes
      
      Unless you're making ambient, classical, jazz, or something, it's all-time to keep your songs between 2-4 minutes long. Under 3 minutes would be the goal for maximum playlist-ability.
    - Lookout man the expletives
      
      Explicit linguistic communication doesn't necessarily doom your song, just it certainly tin limit the kinds of playlists you could appear on.

6. Choose the correct distributor

When you sign upwardly your single for distribution to Spotify, Apple tree Music, Amazon, and other digital music platforms, you should know that good distribution is almost much more than pushing digital files from one place to some other.

CD Infant has been paying artists weekly for more than than twenty years. We don't charge annual fees, so you lot never take to worry about a growing annual neb just to keep your music bachelor online. And nosotros offer a number of OTHER monetization solutions for you music likewise.

- With CD Infant, your unmarried can earn coin through:
  - Streaming
  - Downloads
  - Global music publishing acquirement
  - Content ID on YouTube
  - Social video monetization on Facebook, Instagram, and Oculus
  - Sync Licensing
  - And more
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7. Create a Spotify pre-save

- No point in talking almost your new music if no i can Do anything with it, right? Set a release date at to the lowest degree a month in advance and use that fourth dimension to generate energy for your song!You can do this FOR Costless via Show.co, CD Baby'southward marketing platform.Hither'south how to create a Spotify pre-salve campaign.

8. Become your guaranteed Release Radar playlist placements!

Submit the song for Spotify playlist consideration.

As long every bit y'all follow the guidelines as they're listed in the article linked above, your single will ALSO go guaranteed placement in ALL your Spotify followers' Release Radar playlists.

9. PROMOTE your unmarried, ahead of time AND after it'south released

Okay. At present for promotion. There's a lot to discuss here.

The central to promoting your newest single

Ready a timeline and exist patient

Yes, part of the benefit of singles is that they're low pressure and yous can drop them quickly. But don't exist in Besides much of a blitz. Plan ahead. Exercise it right. You won't exist able to launch this vocal again.

Depending on the scope of your campaign, you might fifty-fifty need 1-three months of preparation.

Here are just some of the things you lot could practise to promote your single, if you have enough fourth dimension:

Global distribution
Spotify pre-saves
Music video and lyric video production
Song premiere
Video premieres
Printing
Cover artwork
Communicating with reps from your distributor, licensing bureau, etc.
A Show.co folio to feature your video
Playlist and radio promotion

Don't promote until your fans can have action

There's no signal in sharing a picture of your cover artwork a month before the single is available if no one can click to admission, save, buy, or share the tune. Earlier you go crazy trying to create anticipation, set upwardly your pre-saves or pre-orders! Become the link, and so share that link when you mail service updates about the release alee of its drop date.

Find the hook and brand everything swirl around it

Information technology takes a lot to get u.s.a. to pay attending online, so repeated messaging is crucial. And equally y'all're blasting us with news about your latest single, your message will be amplified when there's a claw across just "new song coming before long."

What's the story? The hook? The affair that makes people say "I GOTTA Check THIS OUT!?" If you have that, the rest of your promotion volition fall into identify.

For my song "Irretrievable Beauty" (which was released a few years ago, but the point still holds) in that location was a loose connection between the lyrics and Climatic change. I constitute a Public Domain epitome of an iceberg that intrigued me, and I decided that epitome would stand up at the cadre of all my marketing for the song.

How to release a single

It would become the cover artwork, the background of my lyric video, and an important element in more than a dozen Instagram posts. The image was one of the showtime instances of supernatural photography, purporting to capture an iceberg in 1905 where a crystalline Virgin Mary rose from the water.

The mystery of that image and how it was doctored to propel a hoax all seemed to speak to the song title "Irretrievable Beauty," every bit did the very nature of both icebergs and photography. So,… there was the kernel of my marketing. From there it was simply a matter of expressing it in soundbites.

Find unlike ways to repeat the message

Yous've got your claw; now how are you going to cast it into the aforementioned waters over and over again without the fish getting bored of that same bobbing lure?

Switch the tone. You tin can communicate through:

hints and teases
direct requests ("Please heed on Spotify")
images
videos
facts and backstory about the song
and more

The first thing I did was set up my Spotify pre-save campaign . In one case I had the link, I started to slowly tease the cover artwork by splitting it upwardly into nine smaller images for Instagram . When a viewer looked at my contour at the cease of the week, all nine of the smaller images formed a grid revealing the total artwork. Every fourth dimension I posted I would share the pre-salvage link.

Splitting pictures to create Instagram grids

I then shifted to a more directly approach for the pre-save entrada, but with a focus on an emotional appeal…

The pre-save campaign for "Irretrievable Beauty"

Once the song was released I put out a lyric video (on YouTube and Facebook) with tons of buried text — posing as a letter of the alphabet from the 22nd-Century — referring back to the origins of the photograph:

I then placed it inside a Show.co video characteristic page to drive conversions exterior of YouTube:

Feature your video and drive conversions with Show.co

I besides repeated that niggling hook "In 1905, the people saw something so mysterious you might say that information technology almost wasn't at that place…" in a number of ways throughout the entrada: emails, tweets, etc.

Then I did the obvious things, like adding a Spotify player to my website proclamation bar nearly the song.

The next thing I did was to have a agglomeration of phrases from the letter portion of the lyric video and place them over the encompass art for more than Instagram posts.

Lastly, I posted the complete text of the letter on Facebook.

In addition to changing up the tone of the message, it's of import to think that you have many channels through which to communicate: social, website, email, alive shows, etc.

At that place'due south also print and online music media, blog premieres for your song or video, reviews, playlist placements, and more than out-of-the-box options such every bit publicizing your music to any relevant corporations, non-turn a profit organizations, or hobby groups that might resonate with your music or the topic of the song.

Get all your ducks in a row earlier the release

Once again, there's a lot of options for creatively communicating the message that yous have a new vocal out. Simply it always amazes me how long it takes to compose an email newsletter or write a Facebook post. I think, oh, that's just a couple minutes, and then of a sudden an hr has gone by. For that reason, you'll want to fix all avails well alee of the launch date and so yous can focus on promotion one time the vocal is out (not worrying about video editing, Photoshop, copy-writing, etc.).

And as I mentioned to a higher place, be sure to notify your distributor, publicist, any manufacture contacts, licensing experts, then forth, manner in advance.

This also ways you'll need to have an easy way to share a private link to your single: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, etc.

Consider another angle to entice beyond the main hook

The vocal might exist enough. The story and hook might be plenty. But there could be some coincidental fans who won't make the bound and check out your song unless there's some additional do good (like a prize, a gratis t-shirt, etc.).

When I ran my Spotify pre-salvage campaign, I made information technology a contest too. I would choose two winners at random from the list of people who pre-saved the song and send them a t-shirt. In addition to sending this out through the usual means, I as well ran a Facebook ad to a targeted group of people who similar similar artists as me.

Remember of what extras might make someone push the save, buy, or play button.

Exist gear up to do the grunt work

We dream of piece of cake solutions — the service that will handle everything for you, the dream manager who volition do all the piece of work, the industry contact who holds the keys to your success — merely in that location's often no substitute for excavation in, doing research, writing a trillion emails, bracing for rejection, and building upon the small relative percentage of wins we go.

This applies when you're doing your own PR, radio promotion, or launching singles. It's work. Staying up until 3am to promote a unmarried might non be why you lot got into music, but it's piece of work that will lead some listeners TO your music — which IS the reason yous got into this crazy game in the first place.

Should you release the runway or the video first?

This is a common question virtually promoting singles, and I don't think there'due south a right respond. But I lean towards saying y'all should put the vocal out kickoff, and THEN put out the video afterwards.

If someone watches the video, they've consumed the visuals AND the music at one time. At that place's less of a demand to go and stream or download the rails.

Just if the song comes out first, they'll listen, and however be interested to encounter the video when it's launched.

And think, with CD Baby, your single will be available as an art track on YouTube.

Video, of grade, is one of the almost sharable forms of online content, and so if both the song and video are great, information technology might make sense to release them both simultaneously IF y'all can go a notable web log to premiere the video for you (pregnant y'all give them a limited-time exclusive to debut the video on their site), though premieres take gotten harder to come past as the number of relevant blogs shrinks every twelvemonth.

Exist certain to upload the video directly to Facebook too (in one case the exclusive weblog premiere is over), since Facebook favors video that is native to the platform. You can run that video as an ad on Facebook to generate interest in your music.

Should yous worry about radio promotion?

Effective radio promotion can be pretty expensive, and your average DJ is going to exist more interested in an ALBUM release, simply if the vocal is right and the promoter has a record of success, it might exist worth the toll.

When you release a radio single (think "hit song" usually betwixt 2.v — 4 minutes long), the idea is to create sustained exposure over a short catamenia of fourth dimension. That's what information technology takes to get a critical mass of people to take find: repeated listens in multiple markets. Even if it's a great song, it's not gonna become anywhere if it doesn't get sustained plays.

Don't take the budget for a radio promoter? You tin however make a dent going the DIY road to customs and college radio, as well as locally focused shows on big stations.

Is the radio route still feeling like a piping dream? If and so, concentrate on getting your single added to equally many Spotify playlists as possible . The biggest indicator of a song'south success on Spotify is the number of times it's been added to playlists on the platform. In some cases, a song placement on a prominent Spotify playlist can internet you more than listeners than a whole radio promotion campaign.

ten. Use singles in CONJUNCTION with an album release

Hither are 3 ways to use a single DURING the process of releasing an album:

Release your unmarried as the pre-add together on Apple Music

Did you lot know you tin run a pre-addfor a month before your album comes out? So think about what song will exist nearly enticing. The playlist-friendly single? A deeper cutting?

Release a bonus track with your total album

Whether you offer bonus tracks digitally, or exclusively on CD and vinyl, this gives you a great hazard to feature some extra content and bulldoze sales and streaming activity. Live track? Alternating mix? Demo? An unreleased track? Acoustic version of a favorite vocal from your previous album? The bonus rail will appeal to fans who want to collect the whole catalog.

Release a new song on a compilation

If the song but comes out on a compilation , I suppose information technology's non technically a single — Simply information technology might exist a smart way to put a new track to work for you. Y'all'll do good from the song being featured alongside tunes by a bunch of other artists, and you can ever use it again afterward on your own album.

That's a lot of info about planning, releasing, and promoting singles. Only in that location'southward enough more to attempt! If you've had luck promoting a single in an interesting way, I'd love to hear nearly it. Delight comment below.

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