Singles were once regarded solely as promotion for albums however digital downloads, streaming and YouTube have given singles a whole new lease of life, independent from the albums from whence they came.  That said, singles still work as promotional items for albums and nothing works better (especially on radio) than a single which heralds the release of an album.  It’s classic music marketing.

I’m going to use a “gifted track” for pre-orders rather than a traditional single to promote this album.

Compared to our album sales, we don’t sell a lot of singles.  We know from experience that our fans aren’t that bothered about them, they want the full package and that is fine by us.  What we’re therefore doing for this album is getting fans to pre-order the album and they will be instantly ‘gifted’ a track.  This should encourage fans to pre-order, they have the single, the album is on its way and everyone is happy.

I’ll be creating a lyric video which will only be released to coincide with the pre-sales going online.  At this stage, it makes sense only to advertise something when fans can go out and get hold of it.  For me, it’s about not letting people get bored of it.  Here’s a video, you can pre-order this album now and get a free track.  Instant gratification.

This is roughly the timeline we’re going for

Pre-sales online – Lyric video uploaded (YouTube first then Facebook)
then

Pre-sales continue – Official promo uploaded (YouTube first then Facebook)

then

Album release

Got any questions about this post or how you can better market yourself?

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