Creators: How do you choose what to release? 🔊

[Pandora]

From first draft to final mix, what guides your decision to move a song forward?

[TOOLIE634]

Its just the energy from the putting the project together like if the flow
feels right to which single is the lead and which is the finisher. Its like
moving chess pieces. I see all my pieces as valuable pieces a pond can
become a queen but once your king cant move CHECK MATE.

[heety44]

I simply listen to my playlist and pay attention to the arrangements that
people are young adults are vibing and write to therefore when I release
that’s what pay attention to hope that helps

Best Regards
Gerald Harris c/o Gerald Harris Music

[Maxywaxywell]

Honestly, I just fool around with covers most before entering an album process, that way I have **ahem** out of my system.

Maxwell Williams (He/Him)

mod edit: removed personal information + 3rd party link

[NowPlaying_JDM]

Honestly if a track makes it past the initial idea stage for me and the arrangement is working, I'm finishing it with the intent to release it. You never know what's going to resonate with listeners, so I think the focus just has to be making the best music you can rather than trying to write hits. Consider how many classic songs have been described by artists as basically throw-away tracks that almost didn't make the album.

[ChrisPandora]

SO true @NowPlaying_JDM - it's nearly impossible to predict how a song is going to connect with an audience. Why not just release it and see what happens? 

I enjoy writing music in a variety of styles/genres so I often release music that "works together" in the sequence. Maybe one release has a few more songs that sounds like a live band and a different release is more electronic. Of course, I'm not really strict on that but it does what I put out.

[NowPlaying_JDM]

Chris I think you're right in terms of releasing complementary songs that work in sequence and general tone/style. However, I'm starting to lean more towards releasing singles or 2-3 song EPs as opposed to full albums. I just don't think in this streaming era that there is as much intentional listening (let alone re-listening) to full albums. And artists have become incentivized to get new music out more often, so unless you are a big name artist, it seems like keeping your releases more streamlined and frequent makes more sense these days.

[TheGuitarTwins]

Totally agree with you two. You never know what song might find its audience, what song might be picked up in a playlist, how the algorithm will like it, etc. We were lucky to have two tracks featured on the Relaxing Guitar playlist, it led to a nice numbers of streams (around 100k) for the 1st one, not so much for the 2nd one. 

As for the releasing strategy, we adopted a mixed approach, with 3 relatively short albums (7-10 tracks). The first one had very different songs, with a wide range of atmospheres. The second one was centered around iconic US roads, it was both a tribute to these amazing places and a nice soundtrack to drive on these roads. Finally, for our third album, we chose several tracks we made this past year that we felt had kind of a summer vibe. 

These last two albums didn't get the success we were hoping for, so I guess we'll have to change something, but that's part of the game, and we're happy to keep on experimenting and trying new things ! 

[ChrisPandora]

@NowPlaying_JDM - This is a keen observation! I have also been struggling on whether to go the full-length route vs EPs vs a steady stream of Singles.

I am admittedly a purist and love to hear an album from front-to-back and be immersed in an artist's vision but I recognize that most people today do not consume music that way. I also want each song to have it's moment but getting buried at track 9 does not always do it justice...

Maybe EPs releases are the way to go? With some Singles sprinkled in along the way?

I am not sure if you're familiar with the band Beach House but their album "Once Twice Melody" was releases in four batches (basically EPs...) over the span of a few months before it was released as a full-length. I always thought it was an interesting roll-out approach and gave each of the 18 tracks more time to shine.

@TheGuitarTwins - Ooo I love a conceptual album so centering a release on iconic US roads is very interesting! It's hard to predict what is going to connect but I think it's more important to stay true to your own vision then to try to chase trends and anticipate what the public wants. It's a fool's errand and, personally, I find the pursuit of creating art to be more of a personal journey rather then a commercial venture. With that said, a little recognition is always appreciated 😉