1. Distribution and registrations

• Getting your music, artwork, credits, and lyrics delivered to all streaming platforms
• Registering your music correctly for royalties

2. Online Profiles

• Claiming and setting up your official artist accounts for Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube
• Setting up or claiming social media profiles
• Pitching your music to Spotify editorial playlists and uploading a canvas

3. Run a Spotify pre-save campaign

4. Create a smart link

5. Release at least 3 promotional videos around the release

1.) Figuring out your “brand”

• What makes you unique?
• Who’s your audience?
• What’s your vibe/message/story?

2.) Social media strategy

• Posts that encourage interactions, shares, likes, etc with your intended audience
• Videos: music videos, lyric videos, performances, covers, etc
• Photos: candid and professional

3.) Check Your Metrics

1.) PR Campaigns

2.) Playlisting Companies

3.) Paid Ads

• Mastered final version of your song(s)
• Album Art (3000 x 3000 pixels)
• Songwriting splits

You can’t upload directly to places like Spotify or Apple Music. You have to use a middleman, a “distributor.” There are many options out there and you’re welcome to do your research and pick any distributor you feel is a good fit for you. But my recommendation is CD Baby.

1. Sign up for an account

2. Upload your master and album artwork

3. Pick a release date way in advance (I recommend 6 weeks) so you have time to get your release plan in order and do all the things on this list!

In order to collect all your royalties, you'll need to create accounts and register your music in 4 places:

1.) A distributor: CD Baby or someone else (recording revenue royalties) Most of your streaming income is the recording royalties, and that will be collected by your distributor. Simply getting your stuff uploaded and released via CD Baby takes care of this step. Done!

2.) BMI or ASCAP (public performance royalties - writer's side) Simply create a "Writer" account with one of these organizations. 

3.) SongTrust (publishing side of public performance royalties and mechanical royalties) There is a one-time $100 sign-up fee for their collection and administration services. You can also use them for YouTube monetization.

4.) SoundExchange (digital public performance royalties) Free to sign up.

• You'll need to create an account with SongTrust if you decide not to use CD Baby's "Boost" option. (If you have used CD Baby's "Boost" they are essentially covering part of what SongTrust collects for you for that extra $40 each release - they actually partner with SongTrust to do it). So I recommend going straight to SongTrust yourself so you save that $40 with every release. Plus, you'll get international registrations and collection services by going directly to SongTrust.

There is a one-time fee of $100 to become a member with SongTrust, and then they will be your "publishing administrator" and collect publishing royalties and "micro-syncs" on your behalf. In order to do this, they will register your songs with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO for short), which in the United States is either ASCAP or BMI. If you've never previously signed up with either ASCAP or BMI, you need to do that first. I recommend BMI. If you're already a member of a PRO, you'll connect that information to your SongTrust account.

At the same time, SongTrust will also register your music with the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) here in the United States, and with other international organizations that are responsible for collecting mechanical royalties generated from streaming. These royalties will also be paid to you via SongTrust as part of their collection duties. 

After becoming a member of SongTrust and creating a writer's account with either ASCAP or BMI, you can simply register your song(s) with SongTrust whenever you have a new release.  You can also use SongTrust to collect YouTube revenue and register your live set for additional royalties if you are performing live. Each time you release something, you can ignore CD Baby's "Boost" option and then follow up by logging into your SongTrust account and registering your song's information. FYI: It's super easy if you wait until after the song is released on Spotify. If you register before the song is released, you'll need to manually enter an ISRC code. This is a unique identifier of the recording. You can find this code in your CD Baby account, with all the release's other details, like the UPC code. 

This is a full walkthrough of getting set up with your SongTrust account, registering your song(s), and more. 

Important note: Public performance royalties are split into 2 halves, and SongTrust collects only one of those halves - the "Publisher's" share. The other half is called the "Writer's" share, and that will be paid directly to you in your new account (with BMI or ASCAP), so make sure you link up your banking info and keep your login info. 

Keep in mind that the majority of the royalties most new artists will be earning are simply the "recording revenue" royalty, and that's paid right through your distributor (CD Baby). 

SoundExchange is responsible for collecting digital performance royalties which includes internet radio (Pandora, iHeart Radio) and satellite radio (SiriusXM). These royalties are paid to 1.) Rights Holders and 2.) Artists. We're not dealing with songwriting splits anymore, that is covered by your PRO above. With SoundExchange we're concerned with who own's the recording, the "Master," and who makes up the "Artist" that performed on it.

First, make sure your song has been released through your distributor and has been fully registered with SongTrust. That may take a bit longer if it was your first time signing up and SongTrust created a PRO account for you. Once that's done, create an account with SoundExchange Direct. When signing up, you have the option of signing up as a "Performer," or a "Sound Recording Copyright Owner," or "BOTH." If you're a DIY solo artist, you want to sign up as BOTH. If you're in a band with all members splitting the master and everyone being considered equal performers, then each member could create accounts as "BOTH" and claim their respective shares as a "Rights Owner" and their respective shares as a performer for the "Artist" claim.

Use this guide for claiming your work(s) as a "Rights Owner."

Use this guide for claiming your work(s) as a performer-based "Artist."

Disclaimer: There is more than one way to claim all your royalties. This is my personal recommendation based on a combination of affordability and convenience. 

MusixMatch is the place to get your lyrics up on Spotify, Apple Music, Instagram, etc. Create a free account, setup your profile and add your artist. It can take a little bit to get verified, but once you are, you can start adding lyrics and syncing them. There is fairly strict formatting guidelines, but they have very clear tutorials for how to do it properly. It’s not super quick, but worth it! Plus it gets easier each time you do this. 

-> You can only do this after your artist profile is created and your song is out on streaming services. Circle back to this a week or two after release.

Spotify for Artists

1. Add your banner photo and more artist photos

2. Pitch your song to Spotify’s editorial team for playlists (you can’t do this on your first song, but every other release you should)

3. Upload a canvas for each song

4. Create your own playlist → This link has general tips on setting up all this stuff

5. Write a good bio. You can keep it short and sweet and circle back to this in stage 2 if you’re short on time. Read what Spotify says about this, too. 

Apple Music for Artists

1. Update profile (photos, links, bios, etc)

Amazon Music for Artists

1. Update profile (photos, links, bios, etc)

Official Artist Channel on YouTube

1. Update channel (banners, links, info, etc)

Create a Spotify Pre-Save campaign 

(First verify that your song has been delivered to all the distributors in your CD Baby Dashboard, usually about 2 weeks after you finished your upload) 

CD Baby has a suite of marketing tools through its partner Show.co. You can create an account with them and set this tool up for free. Click here for a walkthrough.

Create a smart link 

CD Baby makes this easy with HearNow. Linktree is great too. A smart link is like a directory for all your relevant links. It looks nice and will direct fans to their preferred streaming service. This way you can share one link that has every important platform and link inside. There are many companies that offer this, and if you pay a little bit you get more options and customizations. You can probably just start with the free one and upgrade if you need to.

Post, post, post!

1. This is when I recommend updating your profile pictures so you get extra algorithmic love.
2. Update your links, including your new smartlink via HearNow, Linktree, or someone else. Update bio’s as needed.
3. Release at least 3 promotional videos around the release. Something to tease the upcoming song and something that announces that it’s out. 
4. Send out an email or text blast. If you’ve got people waiting on this, don’t be shy and tell them! Remember, not even everyone following you online will see your posts.

Time to circle back to your lyrics distribution. Head over to MusixMatch and get them synced up!

You need to think about your brand and then act accordingly. If you don’t, it doesn’t mean you won’t have a brand; it just means that your brand is likely to fall into the “boring” musician category just posting news announcements like “streaming now!” or “keep your eyes open for…” That’s not worthy of attention. We have enough of these basic news announcements shoved in front of us every day. 

We are interested in stories, in learning, in belonging. We want to be inspired, turned on, shocked, humored, challenged, etc. The question is, how can your content be framed in a way that tells a story about you and/or why you’re doing this at all? What makes you unique as a human and an artist? 

Whatever your answer(s), authenticity is priority number 1. It builds trust, community, and it’s sustainable over the long haul.

1. What makes you unique? And/Or: What do you care about/value?

•  If it’s not super obvious → look at the small things. What little differences set you apart?

2. Who’s your audience?

• Who would be an ideal band to open for?
• What Spotify playlist would be a perfect fit?
• What 2 bands do you fit between?

3. What “big picture” category do you want to base your brand around? (It can also be a combination)

• Your own personality?
• An invented persona?
• A theme or genre?

4. List 2-3 artists that you listen to, follow, and generally support. 

(You’ve gone to shows, follow them closely online, bought merch, shared their music, etc.)

• Besides their enjoyable music, what do you like about them? Think about how you feel about them, why you like them, and how you came to these decisions. Use this for inspiration!

5. What message, story, or vibe do you want to express?

• Who do you represent? (Or, who would you like to be a leader for?)
• What emotions do you convey? It can be anything. How do those emotions fit into your message, story, or vibe? People need to connect with some emotional element to join your following and see you as a leader.
• What would turn your followers off? (this could be a look, sound, or message…)

1. The absolute most important thing: Be consistent. You have to be in the game to win. Most people fall off at some point. You have to stay active and connect with your audience. 

2. Stand out by being authentic and having a clear brand. Authenticity cannot be overstated. No one can copy your personality. If you’re using a persona or theme instead of your own personality, make sure you clearly define and establish your brand identity so it’s consistent and authentic to your audience.

3. Don’t be afraid to try new ideas. Do research, pay attention to other creators, and get out of your comfort zone if needed. What’s easy and convenient may not convert anyone to actual fans. You need to figure out what your audience wants to consume (besides your music) because links to your music alone are not enough.

4. Platforms: Choose where you’ll be most active. Unless you have a team or a lot of time, you probably can’t do it all. Where are your fans most active? TikTok? Instagram? Facebook? Pick the top 1 or 2 platforms and put your energy there.

1. Plan a photo shoot.

2. Start creating videos: “official” music video, lyric, performance, animated, etc etc

3. Create new banners where applicable to aid in promotion (one with the release date and one that says “out now”)

4. Look to other creators you follow and admire and get creative! No shame in copying ideas, as long as they work for you.

5. Offer secret content, do giveaways, or run contests to drive more interactions. Pay attention to what gets people interacting with your content the most.

6. Don’t be afraid to re-use and re-purpose things. Remember, after a day or two, whatever you posted is more or less dead to the world and gone. Sure it might be on your page/profile, but most people only see your content when it hits their timeline and then never again. Plus not all of your followers and fans are even seeing your posts. If the choice is between being redundant or being absent, dare to be redundant! We often will be way more critical of this than our followers.

Time to look at the numbers and review: For each piece of content, look at your streams, followers, likes, comments, shares, everything. What did well and what didn’t? Who’s actually interacting? What does your fan demographic look like? 

It’s important to actually look at these numbers and see what works and what doesn’t so you can lean into methods that are working or make adjustments and/or cut what isn’t. If you do this, you will likely improve your metrics and your effectiveness with every release.

Getting album reviews, magazine features, playlist adds, and other features or mentions can be exhilerating and hugely important to creating buzz around your music and expanding your fanbase. But they don’t come easy. It takes a lot of preparation, careful planning, tons of effort, and often times, failed experiences to pull this off. If you don’t know what you’re doing, this can be a lot of work for very little results. You absolutely need to have these things established before pursuing a large scale press campaign:

1. A solid social media presence

• It’s common for bloggers, playlisters, and other outlets to check out your social media presence and activity before deciding to feature you. If you’re not posting often and/or don’t have an active fanbase, it’s usually not worth it for them to promote you.

2. A professionally written bio

• Writers will often use your bio to create their own content, so having a compelling and interesting bio is a huge asset to your campaign hopes. It needs to be authentic and unique. You can write this yourself, but it may be worth it to hire a professional.

3. Great, high-quality photos and artwork

• You should invest in professional, high quality photos and graphic art. This is the clickable stuff - if it looks unprofessional, you’ll be ignored in this world.

4. A carefully defined audience. Know your niche.

• You have to be specific about who you’re targeting in order to maximize your efforts. This is perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle.

Once you have those 4 areas locked down, you’ll need to create a press release and research all the media outlets, blogs, radio stations, and playlists you’d like to submit to. You can hire a music management firm to handle the contacts and pitching or you can try to do this on your own. There are also music educational memberships that offer pre-made databases with contacts and emails.  

I recommend understanding what it takes to do it yourself first, so you know what you’re paying for later on. Try to get one or two small publications to take notice and you’ll learn a lot about what you still need to work on!

You can use paid services like SubmitHub or Playlist Push to try to get on independent playlists and blogs. Do your research and take it slow. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. These services have a learning curve and you will need multiple tries to figure out what works for you and your music: like how to choose who to pitch to, how to pitch your song, and how much to spend to be effective, etc.

You have to be educated on this to make this ad spend effective. You can get help and learn more about this area (and much more) with one of these companies:

1. Damian Keyes Music Business Academy

2. Two Story Media

3. Indepreneur

4. Show.co