So, you're finally ready to take the next step with your music and start releasing it on sites like Spotify, Apple Music, and more for all the world to hear. But where do you even begin? In this guide, I will go over how to release your music on Spotify, Apple Music, and all the other major streaming platforms to help get your music out into the world where it belongs.
How Do You Release Music on Spotify?
Although it can seem daunting and confusing, distributing your music to all major streaming platforms is easier than it's ever been. In the guide below, I broke down the process into 5 simple steps:
If you follow all these steps you'll quickly be on your way to dropping singles, albums, and much more! With all that said, let's dive into our guide on how to release your music.
1. Finish your track/project
This step might seem obvious, but there's some nuance that goes into making your tracks "Spotify-ready". Once you're happy with the general composition of your song, your focus should turn to making sure the master .wav file is an appropriate volume and formatted correctly for streaming services.
When it comes to volume, make sure the loudest parts of your track are not exceeding 0 dB. If any parts of your song do exceed 0 dB, this will lead to unwanted clipping/distortion which will turn off many potential listeners. An easy way to achieve this is to put a limiter on your master channel in your DAW (most DAWs come with a stock limiter plugin).
You'll also want to make sure your track is within the recommended LUFS (a measure of how loud a track sounds) range. Spotify normalizes all tracks uploaded to its service to about -14 LUFS, so many mastering engineers recommend shooting for a range of -14 LUFS to -9 LUFS for your final master.
Lastly, make sure your track is formatted as a 16 bit, 44.1kHz .wav file as this is the format Spotify uses for the tracks on its platform. You should be able to find bit depth and kHz export options when you're bouncing your final .wav file in your DAW.
So now that your track is mastered and ready to go, let's move on to the next step: creating the perfect album cover.
2. Create album artwork
Creating your own album art used to be a difficult task. Now, with sites like Canva that make graphic design much more user-friendly, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can make high-quality artwork for free.
Canva has loads of album cover templates that you can use as a jumping off point and customize to include your song's title, your artist name, etc. Sites like Unsplash and Pexels are also amazing resources that offer royalty-free images that you can incorporate into your album covers without worrying about any copyright issues.
You also always have the option of commissioning an artist to create custom album art for you, although this option is obviously much more expensive and time consuming if you choose to pursue it.
In terms of formatting, make sure the final artwork is between 1600x1600 and 3000x3000 pixels (1:1 aspect ratio) and formatted as a JPG (recommended), PNG, or TIFF.
Now that you have the artwork figured out, let's move on to sending your music off for distribution.
3. Sign up with a distributor
In order to get your music onto Spotify and all the other major streaming platforms, you'll need to sign up with a distributor. There are lots of options out there such as CD Baby, Tunecore, and Amuse - but my recommendation for new independent artists is Distrokid.
Distrokid offers a yearly pricing model starting at $19.99/year, however you'll need to go with the $35.99/year plan if you want to choose custom release dates (which is very important). I prefer the yearly pricing model compared to other distributors that charge per release or take a percentage of your royalties for every release.
With Distrokid you have unlimited releases, so you're encouraged to release as much music as possible without worrying about having to pay extra. They'll distribute your music to Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok, Amazon Music, and many more. You also get to keep all of your earnings and will get paid directly by Distrokid via bank transfer, PayPal, or physical checks.
The upload process on Distrokid is simple and user-friendly and they also help you get instant access to your Spotify for Artists profile, which is definitely a perk for new artists.
Now that you've decided on a distributor and signed up, let's move on to picking the best release date for your new track.
4. Choose a release date
Most distributor plans will allow you to select whatever future release date you want. However, there are strategic implications for the release date you choose.
It's recommended to schedule your release at least a month out from the date you upload it for distribution. This is recommended because it takes some time for the streaming platforms to screen and ingest all the tracks sent off for distribution, especially if this is your first ever release.
If this is your first release, you'll also want to allow yourself enough time to claim your Spotify for Artists profile. Spotify for Artists is a portal provided by Spotify where you can see all the stats about how your release is performing on Spotify. This is also where you'll be able to pitch your track to the Spotify editors for playlist consideration. If the editors like your track, you can potentially have it placed on official Spotify playlists in your genre, which typically garner a lot of streams.
You'll want to submit the pitch 2-4 weeks prior to the release date so the editors have enough time to get to your song, which is another reason for scheduling out your releases at least a month in advance.
Now that your song is ready to be released, let's move on to the final step: getting your music heard.
5. Promote your track once it releases
I'm sure the reason you're looking to release your music is because you want people to hear it, right? For that reason, it's important to have a promotion plan for your track.
Before your track even drops, I'd recommend announcing the upcoming release via social media and encouraging friends/family/fans to pre-save your track (if someone pre-saves your track, it will automatically get added to their library upon the track's release).
After that, my go-to strategy for getting music heard is submitting to user playlists on Spotify. There are sites like SubmitHub, Daily Playlists, Groover, and more that allow you to submit to curators who curate playlists on Spotify in a wide variety of genres.
While these aren't the same as the official Spotify editorial playlists, there are still a ton of user-created playlists that are extremely popular and have dedicated listener bases, so it's definitely valuable to get placed on one.
Aside from pitching to playlists, you can also create short vertical videos to post on TikTok and Instagram using your new track in the background, showing how you made the track, you performing the track, or any other creative idea you can come up with. If you're serious about investing in the promotion of your track, you can also test some low budget Instagram and/or TikTok ads.
I hope this guide helps you understand the process of getting your music distributed to Spotify and other streaming platforms! Enjoyed this guide? Make sure to check out our Bedroom Producer Essentials Guide or some of our reviews/buyer's guides.
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