Beyond the music: an artist's road to release

Abstract

True artists are able to show who they are and what they stand for in every aspect of their process — not just when they are writing songs. In 2019, artists must do so much more than create music in order for it to be ready for release. This paper provides the necessary steps an artist must take to release their music on a semi-professional or professional level. Discussed topics include copyright law and how to file a claim for a work, definitions of image and brand and the best way an artist can communicate it to the world, and the importance of social media skills. I provide a Release Awareness Plan that artists can use as a roadmap to create engaging, targeted social media content that builds up listener’s hype for a release. This plan can be followed as given, but the greatest benefit comes from personal refinements made from trial and error. Finally, this paper explains distribution deals and aggregators that artists can use to upload music to streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify.