Your Non-Clickbait, No BS Guide to Releasing Music as an Indie Artist.

When we released Billie Eilish’s Ocean Eyes in 2016, the label I worked for was brand new. We had no team, no major budget, nothing fancy. Back then, songs from new artists actually had a shot at reaching playlist editors because the submission volume wasn’t as crazy as it is now.

So when the Spotify team heard Ocean Eyes, they got in touch with us - desperate to know who this young artist was. When Apple Music editors around the world heard it, they were immediately lining up offers of platform and Beats1 (as it was called back then) radio support. We were then able to bring on a publicist and a radio plugger - because we knew we needed to add fuel to this fire.

It was the perfect example of the power of an undeniable song, an undeniable voice, and an undeniable story - she was just 14 years old.

Fast-forward to now, and social media is flooded with music industry “experts” telling artists how to release music:
Focus on the story.
Focus on the brand.
This is how you run playlist conversion campaigns.
This is how you create superfans.
Bedroom producers selling e-books on their “guaranteed” path to millions of streams. Some will tell you to drop a song every month, while others swear by every three months.

A lot of this is genuinely helpful, as we can now learn major label marketing strategies in a 60 second video. But let’s be honest, it can be overwhelming for artists who don’t have teams around them to figure out what their focus should be on when releasing new music.

So while I stay up-to-date with new marketing trends, I can’t help but think - the same rules really do still apply.

The honest truth is - only a very small number of artists are going to reach the mainstream per year and that’s a wild combination of incredible music, uniqueness, relentless work ethic, branding and visuals, a solid team around them and then a really healthy dose of luck and timing.

Take Myles Smith - to the casual listener he may seem like an “overnight success” but he’s been absolutely grinding for about a decade. When I spoke to him two years ago he was unmanaged and releasing through Distrokid - just a bedroom artist with a smart strategy and a loyal corner of the internet that he focused on relentlessly. He doubled down on what was working, giving his audience what they wanted, and now he’s playing stadiums around the world with his best mates.

But is what worked for him going to work for you? Likely not.

I started my label goodtwin back in January of this year and I’ve decided to share our release process. There are no secrets or cheat codes. You likely won’t learn anything new. But following this guide will hopefully free you up to focus on the magic that does make a difference - like making incredible music and incredible content.

Step 1: Deep-dive strategy session (up to 3 hours)

Timeline, goals, identity, storytelling, vision. (I wrote about this here and gave you a checklist here.)

Step 2: Create a visual pitch deck

Create a visual world that you’re inviting others into: press shots, mood boards, colour palettes, branding cues, bio. You send this to everyone. (I gave you a template here.)

Step 3: Give yourself a runway to release - suggest at least 4 weeks.

Deliver to DSPs, draft your press release, marketing plan, pitching hook, social content calendar, and outreach list.

For long-form content (on YouTube), aim for:

• Release-day visualiser

• Official video (two weeks later)

• High-quality live performance video (shot in a studio ideally) (one week after official video)

• Lyric video (one week after live video)

• Optional BTS/candid short video (one week after lyric video)

Are you marketing without much budget? Think “touch points”- that’s everywhere people might stumble upon you: short-form content, blogs, podcasts, posters, YouTube long-form videos, in-person moments, community building. (I recently gave you 10 ways to market your music, how to get on Spotify and Apple Music playlists, getting your digital house in order and 6 marketing IG accounts that are actually helpful.)

Step 4: Release goes live

Your track is now live - so it’s time to create these magic “touch points”. Show up everywhere, find, nurture and convert your fans (I wrote about that here), rollout a social content strategy that feeds into your YouTube strategy as above. Pitch yourself for live show opportunities and - never ever stop the hustle (or “teckers”, as described by PinkPantheress in a recent interview with Zane Lowe).

The bottom line is - trends will change, platform popularity will come and go, but an incredible song will always cut through the noise. Build your release plan so you have the space to focus on crafting the most compelling music, then focus on the elements that you can control (and leave luck and timing to the music gods).