Putting the last touch to my upcoming first EP - A lot more will come after this one, but for now, I’m just dipping my toe in the online musical ocean...
Most people wouldn’t believe the amount of work that goes into releasing music. I mean it’s not enough to just write the songs, record, arrange/produce, mix them… In my case these songs were done at different times, so it is also a matter of selecting a collection that makes sense, then remix them to match the mood and sound, then master them to a similar loudness and balance to make them fit together as a coherent unit, also make sure all the metadata are updated.
Then you also need to work on the visuals, then work on the promotion, banners, ads, update all your social medias, prepare newsletters announcements, work on some videos.
And of course if you work with external resources, you also have to coordinate them, make sure everything is ready before the release date, and that everyone is on the same page, and work for the same end goal.
And then you put it out, and then the promotion work is the biggest part. Because having music out there doesn’t mean a thing nowadays, you also have to put it in front of the right crowd, and it’s harder than ever.
Sometimes you can question all the efforts (and money!), when you will never get compensated: most streaming network pay so little that you’d be lucky if you can get a beer out of millions of plays at the end of the year, CD is basically dead, vinyl is a niche market for snobs or utterly nostalgic, and downloads is also moribund because most people stream their music and listen on their phones…
So why bother? Is it because of the thrill of having someone, somewhere, discovering your work and genuinely tripping over it the way you might have with your favorite artists?
Yeah, I’d say this is it. So next time you hear a new indie record, whether you like it or not, think about it. The world need some crazy people to go that far for a chance to reach someone, somewhere… it could be you?