I finished recording some music earlier this year, and self-released it as an EP. You’ve no doubt heard it, having seen the poster campaign, been flooded with emails and had your social media accounts wallpapered in adverts.

No?

Oh. Err… here it is anyway…

Yeah… so the thing is I probably didn’t make a great job of promoting the release. Having sorted the music, I looked for a guide to releasing it, and didn’t find one that was quite relevant. I suppose that shouldn’t be a massive surprise – the way music’s consumed has changed so much and so quickly. And the way you release and promote music made by a youthful gigging indie band, a bedroom-based grime artist, and an alternative lo-fi doom metal act are probably very different.

But one thing that’s definitely been on the increase in recent years (decades, possibly) is people making music from home. With advances in software, it’s possible to make something very decent-sounding on your home PC or Mac. And the best – or most passionate – of these music-makers are likely to want to let others hear what they’ve done. So I thought I’d have a go at creating my own guide, for just those types of music-maker*.

A work in progress ‘master tracker’ is shown below. Give it a click.

It covers (what I’d consider) the main ‘streams’ of activity you need to consider:

1) Finishing the music (and mastering)

2) Creating a product through design and artworking

3) Promotion – online & social media, press & industry, and airplay

4) Protection of your music (though I got lost during this bit)

…and it shows these activities spread over a series of weeks on build-up to launch date (which you arbitrarily set yourself), and for a few weeks thereafter. All in all, it’s about 4 months worth of effort – though of course how intensive you make it depends on your time available, your budget, your passion… and how thick your skin is.

When it’s finished (it’ll never be finished) I plan to divide it up into one or two-week chunks to make it legible and more user-friendly.

Any feedback – particularly relating to the protection bit – gratefully received. Target rich@richwrites.co.uk with your ‘why haven’t you?’s and ‘I hate purple’s.

Ta.

* i.e. you: make music at home, are unsigned, have a relatively small budget, don’t perform live regularly, are unwilling to hire a plugger, have realistic ambitions but unrealistic dreams