I keep a keen eye on artists and bands in my area to see how well they market themselves and their music.  A recent music release by such a band has left me a little shocked to say the least. By the looks of things the marketing activities around the release of a single seem to have been as follows:

• Upload promo video for single to YouTube
• Post on Facebook & Twitter linking to the YouTube video

Then

• Release music on iTunes
• Post on Facebook & Twitter linking to iTunes.

Ans that’s the lot!

There’s very little to build anticipation and awareness before the release and nothing afterwards to take advantage of the momentum and awareness that has been generated.  Put simply, the example above is not a marketing campaign.  A campaign is a coordinated series of steps over a period of time which often involve different mediums (online, radio, print etc).

Ok then, what marketing activities SHOULD we be thinking about when releasing an album or single?  We’ll make a bit of a list tomorrow.