Re: What does it mean to you, to "release a record"?

["Per Boysen" <perboysen@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Dec 29, 2008 at 6:39 AM, George Ludwig <sfmissionman@yahoo.com> 
wrote:
> In the digital age, what is your standard procedure, as an independent 
>artist, to "release an album"? Where do you send it for review? What kind 
>of promo kit do you put together? Do you bother having it physically 
>duplicated? Etc?
>
> -George


Digital promo kit (zip archive):
- mp3 excerpts from the songs,
- short description of the artist and he music (may include qoutes;
"what others say...")
- artist biography
- short video clip, if avaiabel
- pictures, resolution high enough for paper priniting

Research all players of the media that are active in the relevant
musical field - magazines, fm radio stations, internet radio stations,
free lance journalists, even producers etc etc. Email them and offer
them to request your digital promotion package. Send back the zip file
to those who want it. Wait - do not spam them. Do not deal with
players that are not active in a relevant musical field, you will only
waste their time and piss them off. Doing that will make them file you
into the n00b category. Go for quality and be persistent! Keep track
of everything. Analyze responses statistically.

IMHO this digital age also means that you should be even more careful,
than in the old days, to only release the top quality of your work.
The reason for this view is that with digital distribution there is no
limited issue that will sell out at some point in the future, as with
physical media like CD, vinyl and DVDs. Digital releases will stay
available for ever. A smaller quantity of music is just as easy to
find in search- and recommendation engines as a huge artist catalog.
This also may makes it more relevant to talk about "launching" than
"releasing".

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
www.looproom.com (international)
www.ubetoo.com/Artist.taf?_ArtistId=6550