HOW TO RELEASE AN EP: Your Step-By-Step Guide (Part.I)

Looking to share your songs with the world? Releasing an EP is a great way to get your name out there. But you won’t get the response you’re looking for if you don’t follow certain steps. This genuine guide will eventually inspire you to get the most out of your EP release.

Matthias & I thought about sharing some insights of our process with you guys. This is not to tell you how to manage your release plan, but more an invitation to get inspired and eventually point what we could have done better and help us improve our strategy for next time.

1 - Get organized.

We started the whole process by creating a collaborative file in Google Drive to keep ourselves focused on what mattered the most step-by-step and regroup all our files (press pics, pitch letter templates, artworks, songs, contacts…) all gathered in one place.
You can have a look for yourself: HERE.

2 - EPK.

We focused on our Online EPK and story behind this upcoming release:
-> https://atlas-castle.com/epkgaragenep

As an independent artist you want to deliver your story and present yourself in the best way possible. Looking good and sharp with a solid story or concept to share with the world is the key to get people to listen to your music.

3 - Gather your contacts.

We took ourselves together and started to work! Hours of research, gathering direct contacts to relevant playlist curators, blogs and websites. - There’s no secrets, you need to settle some time aside to sit down some hours in front of your computer and do your research (of course relevant to your own genre).

4 - Keep your Website updated.

We both polished our Websites to make ourselves look as good, professional and established as possible. This is your visit card where all your informations are gathered. You want people to explore your website and get curious about you and your music.

Musicians need a dedicated website, and here's why:

#1 Industry and media expect to find your website.
#2 You own the address.
#3 Everything is in one place. You own the experience.
#4 You can sell direct to fans.
#5 You can link your Social Media to it.

Having your own site shows that you're taking your music career seriously.

www.atlas-castle.com - www.59perlen.com 

5 - Pitch Letters.

We prepared our Pitching Letters Templates for both Blogs & Spotify Playlists curators to save some time ahead.

These email templates are generaly short and simple, and yours should be too. No matter who you're emailing, keep these basic rules in mind: You want to stay on point, and get your information across clearly and concisely.

6 - Trooper Mode ON.

Whenever you release new music, you have a chance to get some press. Tons of blogs and playlists are looking for new music to show off. Here came the day to send all those mails around. We sent over 100 mails one month prior release day asking for Reviews, Placements, Social Media support of any kind with a direct link to the EPK. (Epk hosted on our websites).

Major blogs and webzines are generally asking about your budget for advertising and placement if they are interested in your upcoming release - If you have a budget, placement on Major Blogs and Webzines are definitely to consider.

Reaching out to sources like these should be a regular practice both before and after your release if you want more exposure.

7 - SubmithHub.com?

This part is not always seen as the best part of the process by the independent community. We always complain and eventually cry a little bit at the end of the day getting rejections after rejections - But we can’t help it. We always need to try one last time, every time…

We used a budget on SubmitHub some weeks prior release and got lucky this time. We got more playlists placements and blogs/reviews secured as well.

And we got tons of rejections! Here’s what they are saying most of the time:

Here’s all the rejections we got. There’s definitely pros and cons using this platform to pitch your music. SubmitHub is good for particularly commercial sounds or music that very closely matches a specific genre (well produced pop music, club-ready techno tracks, progressive house music, etc). Using submithub is a very good primer to getting into the real world of releasing music… For some independent artists like us, a little more “underground” this process is not always worth it.

Just remember that you can do the work and send directly mails around as well.

This time we managed to get 10 approvals: Diverse reviews, Soundcloud repost, Spotify playlists placements... Was it worth the money invested? Well it’s certainly discutable, but we were still in our budget.

8 - Define your PR Plan ahead of time.

We defined a well planed PR plan for our release on socials. We created stock of content for before/after release to keep the traction coming all along.

Our PR plan here was focused on:
- Our first single release.
- EP Release.
- Live Streaming (after release).
- Free Sample Pack (after release).

We had our Social Media posts scheduled and ready to be published from January 12th till February 5th. Which means that while you were watching our teasers and stories, we were already focusing on our next move…

Thinking ahead is a big part of being an independent. A plan isn’t just essential, it is literally the answer to effective time management. I know, most of us probably didn’t get in to music to write PR plans, but if you’re really serious about making a living off your art, it’s an invaluable quality that will help you succeed in the long run.

Think about all those choices you face everyday. - If you have a plan in place that states where you are, what you’re focusing on, and what should be your next move, the whole process becomes a lot simpler.

9 - ADS

We established a budget and strategy for our ads on Instagram. Using ads at least twice a week on relevant posts. It’s like a mechanical process. The motor needs to get warm. The algorithm need to remember you and your targeting. It needs to remember your datas and what you are boosting out there. It took us a couple of weeks of adjustment and re-targeting to finally get more exposure. - Ads needs consistency as well.

Here we used Ads running prior release day to generate traffic and target our audience.
There’s going to be ads running after the release for at least a month around 8 dollars per week. (Being independent on a budget isn’t the easiest thing, but you can still manage to make the best out of it).

Here’s some insights of the first Ad we settled. We used 8 Dollars for a 6 days campaign.

10 - Work your presence on socials. Consistency is one of the key.

During this whole process we  stayed organically active and consistant our social media game (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Youtube).

For this - Later App is my main tool. You can plan your content, publish on Social Media, engage With your audience & analyze the whole process directly from one platform

Social Media are not anymore about quantity but about quality. Take time to polish your content and image out there. It’s here to stay and to tell a story. Your story. 

There’s traction to get by staying organically consistent on your socials. If you’re there, people are watching. If not, people sadly don’t consider you much, you eventually become “the one time release guy here and there”.

Let people know that you are human. It shouldn’t be just about your upcoming release. It’s not enough to just promote your music. You need to share content that is interesting and valuable to your fans. People want to feel that they are apart of your movement.

Remember the 80/20 rule when posting content:
80 percent of the time share useful content, 20 percent of the time share promotional content. Most musicians only share promotional content and wonder why they don’t have the fan base that they need to get to the next level. Please don’t be that person.

Establish your personal organic brand and style by showcasing yourself, by yourself. Be your own manager. Invest on you to be able to cary your project up. It free and it’s all about investing your time and strength on You, showcasing your passion.

THANK YOU!…

If you made it until the end, I just would like to thank you. Here’s a little reminder that this article is not made to tell you how to manage your release plan, but more an invitation to get inspired and eventually point what we could have done better and help us improve our strategy for next time.