Five (5) Things To Do Before Dropping Your Debut EP

Forum 2 years ago

Five (5) Things To Do Before Dropping Your Debut EP

Releasing an extended play is gradually becoming a norm in the Nigerian music space as record labels and indie artists tend to use it to test the waters and evaluate how the market receives their sounds.

Currently, It has become even more difficult to produce a critically acclaimed project or song. Suddenly, more is needed to record a hit song. It's not all about the money, the structure, or the talent.

Here are five things you need to do before releasing your next extended play to ensure you make the best out of it.

1. Create a plan

Surely you need an achievable plan to scale through. You need a defined and realistic plan that identifies your target audience and the strategy of reaching out and marketing yourself to them. I'll advise you to have a lead single prior to the release of the project. This helps you get a foundation in the game. It'll open up the market for you to identify who your main audience is judging from the data gotten from the single, you can channel your energy to these markets when marketing your EP.

2. Pick a distribution company

There are so many distribution companies in the game now. Most of them are offering the same service while a few are peculiar. Choose your distro carefully. Take a look at their brochure and identify their strengths and weaknesses. I'll advise, choose a distro that offers marketing services as well. This will surely help you as an indie artist.

3. Develop a marketing strategy

Music is business as I'll always say. Thus, you need to develop a feasible strategy to market your sound and brand in the saturated music sphere. You can either do this yourself or reach out to a marketing firm to help you out.

4. Register your works

Make no mistake about it. Your works are not yours until you have registered them. This will help you collect publishing and performance royalties. Ensure your projects are properly registered before you release them.

5. Choose a date

Personally, I'll advise a Wednesday. Fridays have become a popular release day for most people in the game and it'll surely be tough to get into some New Music Daily playlists as an indie artist if you drop the same day with so many big stars in your region or genre. Hence picking a date should be thought through as well.

What do you think about these tips? Please react below...