How to Release Your Music as an Independent Musician

One of the first decisions you'll need to make is when to release your music. While there is no universally perfect time to release music, certain periods of the year may offer unique opportunities depending on your goals, genre, and audience. Rather than following a fixed formula, think about how your release fits into seasonal listening habits, industry cycles, and your overall promotional strategy.

The period after Christmas is usually considered the least competitive time of the year, making it a particularly low season for more prominent artists. For that reason, January and February might present the perfect opportunity for new, emerging DIY artists to release their music and introduce themselves to the industry.

This might be further amplified by the celebration of the new calendar year, a period usually associated with new beginnings. People are often met with a new wave of motivation and energy – they are hungry to get things moving. That’s why industry professionals may actively look for new talent during this time.

Every April, thousands of fans, artists, and independent record stores worldwide come together to celebrate Record Store Day (usually held on the third Saturday of the month). It is to commemorate every individual who has contributed to the existence of independently owned record stores, from owners and staff to artists and customers.

April may therefore be an ideal month to collaborate with your local record shops and other artists to release a record and run an accompanying campaign.

Summer festivals traditionally kick off in June, with the festival season running till late August. If your new music is rather energetic, enthusiastic, and full of summer excitement, releasing it in May, June, or July might be a great idea!

Additionally, the season opens up an ideal opportunity for touring and performing, particularly at outdoor venues and events. If you’re releasing music during this time, try to coincide it with booking some gigs. You can promote your new music while expanding your fanbase and generating some additional revenue.

This can be a strong period for new releases, as audiences return to their routines and industry activity picks up after the summer months. If you've spent the summer preparing your campaign, September and October can offer a timely opportunity to reconnect with listeners and industry professionals alike.

It's been a while now since Friday was named the best day to release new music for independent artists. The tradition goes back to Billboard charts, which in 2015 set their weekly cycle to run again from Friday to Thursday. Releases that go out on the first day of the cycle have a better chance of reaching the top of the charts. In July of that year, Friday officially became Global Release Day, effective in more than 45 major recorded music markets worldwide.

Hoje, plataformas de streaming como Deezer e Spotify atualizam suas playlists às sextas-feiras, incluindo a New Music Friday e a Release Radar. Quem lança música nova nesse dia tem mais chance de entrar nessas playlists.

It's also important to note that during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019, Bandcamp launched a campaign called Bandcamp Fridays. On the first Friday of every month, Bandcamp would waive its revenue share to support artists on the platform, allowing them tokeep 100% of their revenue.

However, while Friday remains the industry standard and offers benefits such as playlist updates and full tracking-week eligibility, some independent artists choose alternative release days to avoid competing with larger releases and generate momentum before the weekend. Essentially, the best release day is the one that aligns with your promotional plan and gives you enough time to build momentum around your music.

Now that you have a better idea of when to release your music, we can move forward with preparations for that special day. The following are the key activities to consider before you actually put out your new release.

Mastering is an essential part of the audio post-production process. Its purpose is to make your entire recording sound more cohesive, elevate the sonic elements of the stereo mix, and optimize the sound and quality of the release across all media formats. In other words, mastering is the final quality control for the recording, ensuring that your fans can enjoy your release in high quality on all devices.

In recent years, mastering your own music has become more accessible to independent musicians and producers, who can now edit it from anywhere. This is primarily due to the wide range of plug-ins and digital audio workstations (DAWs) now available to anyone, offering all kinds of tools and features to help you reach the level of quality that is standard in the industry.

At iMusician, we offer our own high-quality online mastering option that delivers the sound you and your fans crave, without requiring any prior mastering experience. Our Instant Mastering tool replicates the same processes and sounds used by studio mastering engineers to optimize and elevate the sound quality of your tracks.

Whether you choose our Instant Mastering or another tool, be sure to include mastering in your release plan. The time required to master your music varies from person to person, depending on the specific tool, the quality of your mix, the genre, and your level of experience. For a professional audio engineer, mastering an average track can take approximately 30-90 minutes.

Once your release is ready to be heard, the next step is choosing a digital music distributor. This decision is particularly important, as your distributor is responsible for delivering your music to streaming and download platforms, making it available to listeners around the world.

When comparing distributors, it's easy to focus on pricing and features alone. However, there are several other factors that can have a significant impact on your release strategy and long-term career as an independent artist. For example: Will your music remain online permanently, or do you need to pay recurring fees? How quickly can your release be delivered to platforms? What level of flexibility and support does the distributor offer? Are there any hidden costs you should be aware of?

Before making your decision, use the following checklist to evaluate your options.

The answers to these questions will help you find a distributor that aligns with your goals, budget, and release strategy.

At iMusician, we've built our distribution services with independent artists in mind. Unlike many distributors, we don't charge annual fees to keep your music online, regardless of whether you choose a subscription plan or pay-per-release option. There are no hidden fees or withholding taxes, and you can switch between plans as your needs evolve without affecting your existing releases.

In addition to distribution, iMusician offers a range of tools designed to support your release campaign, including playlist pitching, pre-save campaigns, smartlinks, mastering services, and artist promotion tools. Your music can be delivered to a wide range of streaming and download platforms, including specialized stores for genres such as classical and electronic music.

Em média, os lançamentos chegam às plataformas em até um mês. Se você tiver uma data específica a cumprir, a iMusician também oferece entrega prioritária e expressa.

A successful release starts long before release day. The more time you give yourself to prepare, the more opportunities you'll have to build momentum, pitch your music, and reach new listeners.

As a general rule, we recommend starting preparations at least 1–2 months before releasing a single. For larger projects such as EPs, albums, or compilations, a timeline of 3–6 months is often more realistic.

Before moving forward, make sure you have a clear plan for your budget, release strategy, and promotional activities.

Prepare Your Budget

Even relatively simple releases come with costs. Depending on your goals, you may need to budget for mastering, distribution, artwork, music videos, playlist pitching, advertising, promotional tools, or merchandise.

Creating a budget early on helps you understand what is realistically achievable and prevents unexpected expenses from disrupting your plans later. It also allows you to prioritize the activities that are most likely to support your release goals.

Choose a Release Strategy

Not every release needs to follow the same approach. Your strategy should reflect your audience, resources, and long-term goals as an artist.

For example, many independent musicians have adopted the waterfall strategy, which involves releasing singles one by one before eventually compiling them into an EP or album. This approach can help maintain momentum over a longer period and create multiple opportunities for playlist placements, audience engagement, and discovery.

Whatever strategy you choose, make sure it supports your broader objectives rather than simply following current trends.

Plan Your Promotion

One of the biggest mistakes artists make is waiting until release day to start promoting their music. In reality, promotion should begin weeks before your release goes live.

Think about which channels you want to use to reach your audience. These might include social media, email marketing, playlist pitching, media outreach, artist websites, pre-save campaigns, or collaborations with other artists and creators.

The goal isn't to be everywhere at once. Instead, focus on the platforms and promotional activities that are most relevant to your audience and that you can realistically manage.

A simple release plan outlining your timeline, budget, content schedule, and promotional activities can go a long way toward keeping your campaign organized and effective.

Visuals make a great companion to your music – from your cover art to your official pictures to the additional artwork and images you use for social media. These visuals enhance your release and your overall artist brand, helping your fans and audience form an image of who you are as an artist and what your music represents.

Take enough time to think about the artwork for your release – what it should showcase and represent. Whether you design your cover art yourself or have someone else do it, creating the visuals for your music will take time.

Make sure that you take these activities into account when creating your timeline (and budget, too). We would generally suggest taking at least 2 weeks to design and complete your artwork.

Are you interested in some unusual and cool tools for your artwork design? Feel free to check out our article about AI artwork generators!

Pre-save campaigns have become a valuable tool for independent artists looking to build momentum before a release. They allow fans to save your upcoming music to their streaming libraries before it goes live and automatically access it the moment it's released.

Pre-saves are important for multiple reasons. First, they let you promote your music way ahead of your release date while allowing you to start collecting your fans’ saves from day zero. This helps create awareness of your upcoming music and ignite excitement among your fandom. They also allow you to begin collecting fan engagement from day one, rather than waiting until the release is already available.

Additionally, pre-save campaigns are widely supported by major streaming services such as Spotify and Deezer, as well as by their algorithms. And that's for one clear reason: they often contribute to a strong release-day performance. Fans who have already saved your music are more likely to listen to it as soon as it's available, helping generate an initial spike in streams. This accumulation of streams on the first day can signal to platform algorithms that your music is gaining traction, potentially increasing its chances of appearing in algorithmic playlists such as Release Radar. To learn more about the benefits of pre-save campaigns, check out our article on how to use pre-save Spotify to promote your music.

There are many smartlink tools available that let you create your own pre-save campaign. At iMusician, we offer a pre-save feature as a part of our Release Pages. With this feature, you can create a pre-save page that automatically turns into a music smartlink on the release day. You only need to set it up once, and the link remains the same throughout the entire campaign. From there, you can easily share it across social media, through email marketing, or with media outlets and influencers

Having your music featured on playlists is one of the most effective ways to reach new listeners and grow your audience. Generally speaking, there are three types of playlists: editorial playlists, curator playlists, and algorithmic playlists. While algorithmic playlists are generated by streaming platforms based on listener behavior, editorial playlists are curated by the platforms' in-house teams and can offer significant exposure for independent artists.

To be considered for editorial playlists, you'll typically need to pitch your music before it's released. Most major streaming platforms provide their own submission tools. For example, Spotify allows artists to submit unreleased tracks through Spotify for Artists, while other services, such as Amazon Music, offer similar opportunities.

The challenge is that editorial playlist placement is highly competitive. Thousands of tracks are submitted every day, making it difficult to stand out. Additionally, pitching through a platform's native tool only allows you to reach that platform's editorial team.

This is where specialized playlist pitching services can be valuable. For example, iMusician's Editorial Playlist Pitching allows artists to submit their music for consideration across multiple streaming platforms simultaneously. Backed by more than 20 years of combined playlist experience, our team reviews and optimizes every pitch to help ensure it is curator-ready and positioned for the best possible chance of success.

For editorial playlists, you have to submit your track well before your release goes live. This gives the teams at both the pitching service and the streaming platform sufficient time to review individual pitches and listen to all submitted tracks. Some sources report that Spotify playlist editors alone receive about 20,000 song suggestions every day. It's also important to note that you can submit only one unreleased song per release, and if your track is not selected for playlist placement, you can't resubmit it (as it will already be released at that point).

However, after your track is out, you have a chance to land a spot in curators' playlists. You can either pitch directly to curators (you can discover some in our article on 10 Free Spotify Curators' Playlists) or choose among a variety of trusted submission platforms, through which you can pitch your track to multiple playlists at the same time. These include DailyPlaylists (submit to playlists on both Spotify and Deezer), Groover, Soundplate, Indie Shuffle, and SubmitHub. However, you generally have to be extra careful with paid playlist submission services, as you can't always know who is behind them or whether they are legitimate. If a service offers, or worse, guarantees streams through playlisting, it's a con! Remember that there are no legitimate ways to increase streams, so these services are actually committing fraud.

Finally, you can also submit your tracks to our very own iMusician Spotify playlists, curated by an internal team of curators. From Emo Pop Punk to i’M Electronic to Power To The Pop, we’ve got playlists for everyone. Just select the one(s) that best fit you, and submit your music anytime.

A new release is more than just a chance to share new music – it's an opportunity to introduce yourself to new listeners and reconnect with existing fans. When people discover your release, they'll likely explore your artist profiles, social media accounts, and website to learn more about you. That's why it's essential to make sure your online presence is current, consistent, and aligned with your artist identity.

Start by reviewing your artist profiles on major streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and Amazon Music. Make sure your artist name is displayed correctly, your biography reflects your latest achievements and creative direction, and your profile images accurately represent your current brand. Don't forget to include links to your active social media channels so listeners can easily connect with you beyond streaming platforms.

If you haven't already, consider claiming your artist profiles. Verified artist accounts give you greater control over your presence on streaming services and unlock access to valuable audience and performance insights. The verification process varies between platforms, but the benefits are well worth the effort.

The same principles apply to your social media channels. Review your profiles across platforms and make sure that your visuals, descriptions, links, and messaging are consistent. A cohesive online presence helps listeners immediately understand who you are as an artist and what your music represents.

Your Electronic Press Kit (EPK) should also be updated ahead of your release. Journalists, bloggers, playlist curators, and industry professionals rely on accurate information when considering your music. Include details about your upcoming release, your current artistic direction, updated artist photos, cover artwork, and any relevant achievements or press highlights. Make sure your EPK also contains working streaming and download links, as well as contact information for media inquiries.

Speaking of social media and EPK, it’s about time to talk about the promotion of your release, which, as we outlined before, can have a significant impact on the success of your music. One thing you should strive for with your promotional efforts is to set your release apart from the rest.

One way to stand out is to identify a clear hook for your release. A hook is the story, concept, or unique angle that gives people a reason to pay attention. It can be connected to the music itself, the creative process behind it, your personal story, or the visuals surrounding the release.

For example, in 2021, American singer Halsey released an album called If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power. As an alternative rock and grunge-pop record with strong industrial influence, the album represents a marked departure from the singer’s previous, mostly pop and electro-pop albums. What’s even more surprising is that Halsey wrote that album while being pregnant, and the record largely mirrors the topics of giving birth and becoming a mother, both in positive and negative ways.

The seemingly happy concept of planned pregnancy, intertwined with the heavy, dark album (and accompanied by a horror movie), creates a powerful, shocking contrast that draws the audience's attention and makes it difficult to overlook.

Once you define your hook, it’s important that you put it at the center of your promotion. You can highlight it in your music videos or visual assets, describe it in your press release and the track’s bio, or portray it in your merch. You can simply play with it however you want to create an exciting release campaign.

Social media remains one of the most effective ways for independent artists to promote new music. The key is not to be active everywhere, but to focus on the platforms where your audience spends their time.

TikTok has enjoyed a global boom in recent years. Built around short-form video content, the platform has played a significant role in helping artists gain exposure, with countless songs finding success through trends, challenges, and user-generated content.

Short-form content has also become a dominant format on other platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Whether it's Reels, Stories, or Shorts, these formats offer artists an effective way to share snippets of new music, behind-the-scenes content, creative processes, and release updates.

Whatever social media platforms you choose, make sure the content you create is authentic, engaging, and aligned with your overall promotional goals. Social media is not just a broadcasting tool – it's also a place to build relationships with fans and connect with other artists. Use your content to start conversations, encourage participation, and invite your audience to become part of your journey.

Would you like to learn more about promoting your music across various social media platforms? Check out our articles about Twitter (now X) and Pinterest, or our guides about promotion on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.

Previously, we talked about keeping your EPK up to date; now it’s about how to use it. Sending your EPK or just a press release may sound a bit outdated. However, it’s still the norm among media outlets, a common way to get in touch with journalists and bloggers, and to generate editorial and online media coverage.

An important thing to know about pitching your EPK and media relations is that it’s largely about building relationships with outlets. Being a journalist or a PR professional can be demanding and time-consuming. Media outlets simply can't feature every single artist in their coverage, which is why they often prefer those they know over those they don’t.

This doesn't mean you should be discouraged. It’s still worth compiling your press release and sending it to various music bloggers, editors, and magazines, along with your perfectly crafted EPK. Just be prepared that not everyone will pick up on your story, and that’s absolutely okay!

Once you get in touch with a journalist and eventually have your press release published, be sure to nurture the relationship you have with the journalist moving forward. Show them your appreciation for their work and your gratitude for being featured in the outlet. Next time you have a release out, they may remember you and feature you again – you simply never know! Plus, being polite and genuinely grateful can never hurt.

These activities are considered additional. They are not mandatory, but can be beneficial for you, especially as part of your promotion, both for your release and your artist brand.

A music video can be a perfect companion to your music, elaborating further on your release’s subject matter. As suggested above, it’s also a great asset to highlight and visualize your personal hook! As a result, a video can help you create a somewhat deeper connection between your audience and your body of art.

While it's ideal to have a music video ready around release day, it isn't always necessary. Many artists release videos weeks or even months after the music itself as a way to reignite interest in the release. Either way, it's important to plan and budget for video production early, as creating a quality video often takes longer than expected.

Merch can also be a great tool for engaging with your audience, especially your die-hard fans. It’s a wonderful feeling for a fan to wear or own something connected to their favorite musician or to a music release they strongly relate to.

The issue with merch is that it may be relatively costly, not only to produce but also to store. Be sure that making your own merch is something you can afford and your fans really want. Investing money into something that you won’t profit from can seriously harm you financially and even hinder your career long-term. Remember that if you don’t produce merch now, there may always be another opportunity in the future!