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Album Or Ep?


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I'm getting ready to have my first proper recording session in a little over a week. I'm recording with a friend of mine who has a lot of equipment and is relatively experienced with music recording, although he's no professional. I play guitar and sing and I'll be putting a little bit of piano and drums in there too.

I've been writing music for a little over a year now and I've built up a decent collection of songs which I think are suitable enough to record. I've got about 16 songs.

Now... the question is, should I just go straight for recording an album or should I start with something a little shorter, an EP?

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Go for recording a single.

Go for a second single

Then go for an EP

Then the album.

Think about when a mainstream band is being launched. Singles are always the first thing available. They may or may not skip the EP, but if they do they will do 3 or 4 singles as opposed to 2.

There is good reason for this. Single song sales outstrip album sales, especially for new bands, even more so if they are releasing into a cold (unprepared) market.

The idea is that you warm the market up by releasing singles. The only purposes for these singles is to build your fan list and to build anticipation.

With every single release, including your first you should be building anticipation pre-release. Letting your fans know something is happening, that on a specified date a song will be available. Let music press know what is happening. So that means press releases as a minimum. Additionally each song should be made available for radio airplay 1 - 2 weeks before the release date.

When you release an album straight off you will get far less return, far less eventual fans, far less coverage than you would following the method above.

Ideally you would also make money from each release... which all goes into your next recording and release.

Be prepared to spend money on marketing and promotion and you will see far better sales. Better reach (how many people are exposed to your music) too.

Last thing.... select perhaps 10 - 12 of your best songs for your album. 16 is a lot of tracks for a first album. It adds to your recording and mastering costs. By selecting only 10 - 12 you ensure only your best tracks are on the album. That also means you have 4 - 6 songs in the bank towards your next album, or even to re-release the album with some bonus tracks.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

John

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what John said. I agree a million percent. I think that by giving samples, you're drawing people in. Good marketing technique. If you give them the whole thing right off the bat, it all gets lost in the whirlpool of new stuff. Think viral. rope em in with one or two, then you'll have more people to grab when you release new stuff. People are always raving about the newest thing, so if there's something to look forward to, people will continue to talk during the down times. :) Good luck!

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John, thanks so much for the advice. That's a really solid line of thought. I definitely hadn't considered things that way.

Also, I think that by recording the songs individually I'll learn much more about the recording, mastering and releasing process and be able to improve with each one. It'd be a pity to put together an album which is marred with recording issues and then poorly distributed. Knocking out a couple of singles first will help me get the experience to eventually put together a much more polished album.

Man I have so much to learn when it comes to the marketing and distribution side of things. Definitely going to be a great experience to start exploring this!

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I would agree with that 100% as well... I made the mistake of writing a dozen songs and releasing all my songs at once... I got a bit of radio airplay, a small amount of royalites on Reverbnation but after this I had already put everything out and had nothing to follow up with...

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This is something I've been pondering too. I understand the concept of releasing a single or two, building suspense, then releasing an album. The question is, how do you get people to hear the single?

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This is something I've been pondering too. I understand the concept of releasing a single or two, building suspense, then releasing an album. The question is, how do you get people to hear the single?

That's the next challenge, I guess. Definitely time to start exploring the marketing side of things.

If I can't get people to listen to my single, it's probably going to be difficult to get them to listen to my album. So starting with a single will be a good way to learn what works and what doesn't.

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I'm planning on putting together a course on internet music marketing, and maybe do one based on the real world at some point.

That aside I will happily help with suggestions and answer questions on the boards (better that than my PM because then others will see the conversation. :)

Getting people to hear it, as I am sure you guessed, is not a simple, single thing. It is planning and coordination, followed up by good execution. It covers radio play, interviews, features, advertising and lots of guerilla promotion activities (free).

Planning is so important... because that sets out the timing, and so much depends on all the timing coming together!

The number one thing I would suggest is... building your fan list. Ie the number of fan email addresses that you have. Your fans are to an extent an extension of your promo team, they are also customers, and the best advocates you can have.

Building fans is an artform in itself, but there are lots of things you can do to get them, and to keep them happy.

Do you think there is an appetite for a product all about internet music marketing? Something that shows you what to do and why, and the best way to do it.

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That's the next challenge, I guess. Definitely time to start exploring the marketing side of things.

If I can't get people to listen to my single, it's probably going to be difficult to get them to listen to my album. So starting with a single will be a good way to learn what works and what doesn't.

That's what I was thinking!

John, I think the idea of your Internet Marketing course is a brilliant idea. Most new artists understand that having a web presence is key to success in today's industry, but many don't know how to go about attaining that presence. Sign me up!

One of the main things I would think to suggest in building your web presence is to start an official website. This is the central place where people will go to find out what's going on. Social media is huge and ever-changing so I think it's important to have that constant where people will always be able to visit to get the latest on you.

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Excellent! :)

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john ,

yes ,yes ,yes , did I say yes ? people are always asking for more info , how ,where , when , what ? and the thing is , none of it is really simple , I have some people in radio , which for me (us) it helps a lot , getting to know free gigs and stuff before they hit the radio live , but for the most part , people run around blind with visions and dreams that never get any where, no direction ! Some dont even know the simple tatics of guerilla promotion activities. Not to mention just building a good fan base .

I am by no means well groomed in these matters and I too would like to learn more and grow , so yes , yes yes , to internet marketing , as I am in internet marketing already , with my biz(selling products), so feel I may be a few steps ahead already . , BRAVO !!

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