Singles vs. Albums: The Best Release Strategy For New Artists
Singles Vs. Albums: The Best Release Strategy For New Artists
One of the biggest challenges that new artists face is choosing the right music release strategy. Is it better to start off with a series of singles? An EP? Or to promote all of your music at once with a full-blown album?
Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all music release strategy for indie artists; when choosing between singles vs. albums, every musician will have to decide which tactics will work best for their own brands. But in an era where Americans stream more than 1 trillion songs each year, there is a lot of market data to support the conclusion that singles are the best choice for emerging artists in 2020.
Singles vs. Albums: The Best Release Strategy For New Artists
For decades, full-length albums have been the hallmark of professional recording artists. Independent musicians and up-and-coming bands would release an album and profit off of record sales, live events, and promotional merchandise for years; then, once the excitement had died down, they would work on their next project.
But the rules have changed in 2020: streaming makes up approximately 80% of the music industry’s overall revenue, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. That makes Spotify, the world’s largest music streaming platform, a gold mine for artists who know how to use it.
If you are a new artist, you need to get your music on Spotify playlists in order to get more streams, increase your royalty payments, and get discovered by music labels. Unfortunately, Spotify’s playlist submission tool will only let you submit one track from each release – a huge roadblock for indie artists who want to promote an entire album.
If you are working with a great music marketing agency like Playlist Streams, your marketing partners will help you choose the best tracks for their audience. But in the meantime, you still need to decide how much music to write, produce, and record at one time.
If you have to make a choice between singles vs. albums, create a marketing plan that launches your career with a series of singles. That way, you can capitalize on Spotify’s playlist marketing system and release a full-length album with all of your tracks later on.
When To Choose Singles vs. Albums
| Singles | Albums | |
| Is this the first time that you will release music on Spotify? | X | |
| Are you a new artist who wants to create an effective music release strategy? | X | |
| Have you already released songs/albums on Spotify? | X | X |
| Are you ready to grow your audience by getting more music on Spotify playlists? | X | X |
Get Your Music On Spotify Playlists
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a new artist or a label executive:
Playlist Streams can help you get more Spotify streams with organic marketing.
Apply now to start making money from Spotify playlists!
