Promoting my songs

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mottotom27
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Promoting my songs

Post by mottotom27 » Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:22 pm

Hi,

So I have three songs and they're sounding pretty good. I've shown them to my mates and they think they're cool. But I think if I was to spend a few more weeks working on the production I reckon I could potentially get the songs sounding from good to great. I also plan to make low-budget music videos for the songs.

So I have a few options:

1) Release the songs now as they are, and let people know that these are preliminary versions and I will be making better versions later.

2) Wait until the songs sound great, and then release the audio-only version, and make the videos later.

3) Wait until both the audio and the video is sorted and then release them.

Also, should I release them one at a time, or all at the same time? I'm thinking one at a time would be better to give people time to "digest" each song. Would appreciate some advice as to what you guys think my best option is for how to publicise myself. Also, what other platforms other than fb and youtube should I consider to get my music noticed?

Cheers,
Tom

Tarekith
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Re: Promoting my songs

Post by Tarekith » Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:50 pm

Most people won't listen twice, so I think you should always wait until your good and ready to release the final product before you do anything. Unless you have a huge following, no one is really going to care if you say something like option 1.
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jonbenderr
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Re: Promoting my songs

Post by jonbenderr » Thu Jun 09, 2016 4:38 pm

Not to be a debbie downer, but a lot of people might not even listen once.

So yes, first impressions are very important for those who do listen.

Something to keep in mind as well is that it might never feel like a track is finished, and it's easy to fall in the trap of endlessly editing and tweaking. All the while losing sight of what the tune was originally about or the feeling you had when you first started making it.

beats me
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Re: Promoting my songs

Post by beats me » Fri Jun 10, 2016 9:26 pm

Tarekith wrote:Most people won't listen twice, so I think you should always wait until your good and ready to release the final product before you do anything. Unless you have a huge following, no one is really going to care if you say something like option 1.

A good rule of thumb is to think about how you would receive a track to listen to. Took me a while to realize that if I don’t need or want to hear a revision with a slight EQ and kick level adjustment of somebody else’s track I don’t know why anybody else would want to hear the same from me. Always assume that whatever you are sharing is going to be the only version the vast majority of people are going to listen to.

Tarekith
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Re: Promoting my songs

Post by Tarekith » Sat Jun 11, 2016 6:44 am

Good point. Goes right along with my main pet peeve when people post their tracks, and that's spending half the post tell us all the things they don't like about it. If you don't like it or think it's incomplete, why should we bother to listen?
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Quez
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Re: Promoting my songs

Post by Quez » Tue Jun 28, 2016 1:40 am

Work on it until you're satisfied.
When I started making music, I figured, if I like a track I've made, someone else may like it too.

To have the biggest impact, I'd go with option 3.

yur2die4
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Re: Promoting my songs

Post by yur2die4 » Tue Jun 28, 2016 7:16 am

If you've got gold material, get your tracks 'out' there. Make sure to establish some kind of base and let them know you are actively working on new things.

If it is dj material, have if heard on nice sound systems or at gatherings. It might be super embarrassing, but people will realize you're trying to do something. They'll at least ask about it again. Plus, you'll hopefully be able to hear how it sounds in locations, and see how people react. Then you can update it if it's not the final version, or use your lessons for the next one.

If it is singer songwriter stuff, get people hearing you perform it. Create those ear worms. Open mics are great for that. You go every week or whatever, and then people will start grasping the particularities of your own pieces so that they'll be humming them later. If they do that and the track is on an album released later, they'll enjoy the familiarity blended with new material and maybe even share with friends.

If you have a lot of material, then try to book shows with similar artists.

These might not be super obvious ways to share but like others said, it's hard to get people to listen.. and if they do listen you want them to be interested.

Oh, another option which is so-so is the mixtape. If you're able to sneak your material in with compilations of other artists, you can just hope people will listen for the other stuff and then notice that some of the tracks were you.

On the other end of things. Careful not to over saturate your presence. You don't want people taking your existence for granted. You don't want to be the person who's super talented but ppl know that if they miss one of your shows, they can always see another of you in a couple days. Or they don't want to feel like you're releasing almost the same song 20 times within 3 months.

sporkles
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Re: Promoting my songs

Post by sporkles » Tue Jun 28, 2016 5:29 pm

Tarekith wrote:Good point. Goes right along with my main pet peeve when people post their tracks, and that's spending half the post tell us all the things they don't like about it. If you don't like it or think it's incomplete, why should we bother to listen?
Not too many years ago, we'd actually take the time - musician to musician - to give thorough and constructive feedback when someone posted a track. Both here and on mailing lists and other forums. I guess there's just so much stuff out there now, that it's not even possible for anyone to find the time for it. Maybe, if you are bored and figure "what the hell, you've got my attention; I'll listen to your track", and actually kinda like what you hear, you find it in your heart to write "cool track, bro", but I guess even that is rare nowadays.

beats me
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Re: Promoting my songs

Post by beats me » Tue Jun 28, 2016 5:45 pm

sporkles wrote:mailing lists
Saw a recent vid saying this is a great often under-utilized method of promotion. It’s more personal than just sharing in the pile of noise that is social media. I’m on a few artist’s emailing lists and I usually at least skim what they send. They can provide a lot more information and they are free from the other distractions on social media.

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