It\u2019s still technically winter-time at the time of writing this post, but before you know it, it\u2019s going to be spring and there\u2019s a good chance that you\u2019re thinking of releasing a new album. I\u2019ve read at least a dozen articles with people who make sweeping claims like \u201cDon\u2019t release in January\u201d that quite honestly don\u2019t have any idea what the hell they\u2019re talking about. When you should release your album depends on A LOT of factors and there\u2019s no simple reason why you should pick one month over another. It all has to do with what your plans are AFTER the release. Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n
In the last few years there has been a big push to get major label artists to release their music in January. For years, January was considered a\u00a0dead zone<\/strong>\u00a0in the industry because holiday sales were low and the chances of a record making it big and staying in people\u2019s minds between January and the next big push of holiday sales was almost zero.<\/p>\n Having said that though, that opened up a new market for artists with staying power. Adele and a few other major names (Lana Del Rey, Arctic Monkeys, The Maccabees) knew that they had some clout and would be able to capitalize on the \u201clack\u201d of new music in the January season to make marketing easier and cheaper to do.<\/p>\n Indie Advice:\u00a0<\/strong>January is a pretty good month for indie music because music bloggers are fresh off the high that was \u201cThe best of the previous year\u201d articles that they spent all of December posting and are looking for something new to talk about. Since bands don\u2019t send them much right\u00a0after the holidays<\/strong>, you\u2019ll have a pretty good chance at getting placements. Having said that though, if your goal is to ride the Christmas-buying wave and you don\u2019t have a STRONG following, releasing in January means you\u2019ll be irrelevant by March and come year end, no one will even know your name.<\/p>\n <\/strong>Here\u2019s where things start getting hairy. Spring is\u00a0PRIME\u00a0<\/strong>album release time for \u201cindie\u201d bands. I use the term \u201cindie\u201d loosely because here I\u2019m referring to bands who are most likely to be playing festivals. Obviously, Adele doesn\u2019t play festival gigs and is more of a mainstream artist than someone running the festival string. I digress.<\/p>\n Spring time is horrendous for competition. It\u2019s when the new year is in \u201cfull swing\u201d and bands are looking to get their records out so that they have something to push through spring and summer tours, as well as to help keep a band relevant to land festival gigs.<\/p>\n Indie Advice:\u00a0<\/strong>If you\u2019re thinking of releasing in this time period, you better be damn sure that you\u2019ve got some money to break through the noise with. Blog advertising costs go up around February to May because big name artists are also going to be fighting for the same space as you. You\u2019ve also got to worry about people\u2019s listening span. With so many new records to listen to from big name acts, bloggers and fans will be a bit tough to sway to listen to your own stuff.\u00a0Avoid Spring\u00a0<\/strong>if at all possible. Release a single or a new video, but don\u2019t let your whole record out just yet. Play some shows, sell your old CDs, build hype, etc.<\/p>\n <\/strong>Things start to calm down in the summer months (or winter if you\u2019re in upside-down land. Aka Australia). But that still doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s optimal time to put your record out. If blog coverage is your goal, there\u2019s a good chance you won\u2019t get a whole lot of love. Summer is festival season and blogs will be quite busy covering their favorite acts at big festival dates. Obviously, festivals don\u2019t run the entire 3 months, but the bigger taste-makers tend to favor posting about bands who will be performing at festivals (because that\u2019s the \u201cnews\u201d of the stories and press releases that are sent to them).<\/p>\n Although, despite it being festival season, smaller blogs tend to have a harder time getting new content to write about. Although submissions still come in, because the bands that \u201cmatter\u201d have already sent in their new album information, blogs are struggling for content if they can\u2019t make it to Bonnaroo or CMJ in New York City.<\/p>\n Indie Advice:\u00a0<\/strong>Summer is a solid time to release. Don\u2019t expect to get a lot of placement on ForkPitch, but smaller blogs will be all-ears as usual. You can get away with releasing in the summer if you have the time to promote heavily. It\u2019ll take a bit of extra attention to grab the ears of college students and young people who will be attending festivals. New music doesn\u2019t stick very well in this time period because of how music-heavy the summer is to begin with, but you won\u2019t be competing with bigger name acts for promotional space as much.<\/p>\n Finally, the winter season. As I mentioned earlier in the article, the winter months are generally best for major label artists trying to ride the\u00a0holiday wave.\u00a0<\/strong>Obviously, as an\u00a0independent\u00a0artist you\u2019re probably not very worried about how well your album sells during a specific time of the year, but rather if it sells at all. September-December is ignored largely by\u00a0independent\u00a0artists because there\u2019s no summer-touring involved, nor is there a winter tour they\u2019ll be supporting either. Going out on the road when there\u2019s snow on the road is generally a no-go for anyone, which is why September-December is the quietest period in the year for album releases.<\/p>\n Indie Advice:\u00a0<\/strong>If possible, release your record in this period of time. Obviously, you won\u2019t be able to go out on tour in support of the album, but because you\u2019ll have your album broadcasting to open ears, you may be able to follow up with a single\/EP release in the early part of the following year to tour behind. When you\u2019re an indie, exposure is what counts the most in the beginning, so having a solid footing to build off of when you\u2019re trying to compete for more\/cheaper advertising space on social media sites is crucial. If this is your first or second album release, use the safety of\u00a0September-December\u00a0<\/strong>to build a repertoire with blogs about your music.<\/p>\n <\/strong>A lot of what is mentioned above is based around one thing: touring. If you\u2019re an indie that\u2019s looking to tour after the release of an album, then there\u2019s a good chance your press release will contain tour information about what you\u2019ll be doing following the release of your album. If your goal is to get more exposure for your tour, and in turn get blog readers interested in coming out to your show in town, then you should make your decision about when to send out your new-album press releases in regards to how good of a chance it has of being written about.<\/p>\n If you have\u00a0no plans of touring\u00a0<\/strong>then just about any of the above time slots will work. Obviously, take into account the fact that festivals and other factors will affect a blogger\u2019s decision to cover you, but generally speaking, smaller bloggers (not the huge tastemaker ones likes Pitchfork, NPR, Paste, Obscure Sound etc) won\u2019t have as much to cover during high-traffic music months.<\/p>\n Comments, as always, are welcomed and encouraged. If you have experience with success\/failure during album releases, please let me know.<\/p>\nFebruary \u2013 May<\/h1>\n
June \u2013 August<\/h1>\n
September-December<\/h1>\n
Touring Plans?<\/h1>\n