What a major label release looks like! feat. a Time Square Billboard (BMN Exclusive)
I wanted to break down with a "major label" release looks like. Let me start with a disclaimer, as I'm not actually signed with a label, but I wanted to treat the release and the budget as if I was. . I'll start with the context, my best performing song that I've been working over the last 2 years was something I wanted to find a "reason" to push again, so I decided to repackage a bunch of tracks I've released and a few more filler tracks to make it a complete album. I know y'all might have very specific questions so feel free to ask away in the comments! RESULTS (after 10 days of release) : - Billboard in Time Square https://www.instagram.com/p/CnXqGMZDo8D/ - Charted #28 iTunes R&B album sales - 13 Spotify Editorials for lead song "Lucky" - Went from 60k to ~400k monthly listeners in 3 weeks - Approx. 3 millions streams in the last month There's going to be 4 main parts I'd cover: Asset Creation Pre-release strategy Release strategy Post-release (2 weeks after release) Asset Creation (Budget approx. $5k) - 12 songs, 1 "lead song", 3 other singles, 5-6 album songs ~$4k of recording equipment/studio time/misc. (but spread through 2-3 years) - Album artwork (Front, Back), Spotify Banner, Studio Rental ~1k Admittedly, this portion of the album can be significantly higher or lower, the $4k budget realistically is me doing 85% things "in house" (mixing, production etc.) and the rest is paying features/booking time when my own setup wouldn't cut it. Pre-release strategy (Approx. <$200) I'm not a big believer in big pre-release strategies as I don't think you need them to have a successful campaign. Admittedly, I find it challenging to time things/build momentum by announcing a project so far ahead in advance from the release date. Instagram Conversion Ads from pixeled Instagram users (mostly as a test to see how it would do) $200 I announced a pre-save campaign on Jan 2. 2023, and had the album was to be released in Jan 13th. It led to a toneden link I created that was basically a hyperfollow from distrokid to "save" the album.