creative deconstruction

Is Your Release Strategy Driving Fan Engagement – Or Preventing it?

Posted on 28. Sep, 2009 by refe in STRATEGY

Modest Mouse recently released an album comprised of 7 previously released singles

The way listeners enjoy music has changed drastically in the past ten years. Technology has completely reshaped the marketplace through file sharing, single track downloads, online music streaming, etc. Yet, the way that music is compiled, released and marketed has remained largely the same.

Most artists still spend months and years producing full albums, pouring the majority of whatever marketing budget they have into a single event – the album’s release date. Despite this, most listeners will only download two or three songs. After that, they have another two years to wait for new material.

In an increasingly competitive market where fan engagement is at a premium, artists can’t afford to continue following this model. Modern music marketing is about the artist-fan relationship. Along with live performances, new music releases should be considered the backbone of this relationship, not simply a product to drive revenue or attendance.

In a recent report on the music industry by the Forrester Research Group, author Mark Mulligan argues that to spend the time and resources releasing full-length albums only serves to “put speed bumps in the continual artist-fan relationship.” Instead, he encourages artists to “think outside of the confines of the album and maintain steady, continual streams of creative output.” The report has a lot more to say about releasing music, some that I agree with and some I don’t. I cover the full report here. But I think that Mulligan is spot on in what he says here. It’s what fans want, and it can pay big dividends for the artist.

Releasing smaller amounts of music more frequently will keep fans engaged with an artist much more effectively than larger batches every year or two. Not only will that artist’s music stay in listeners’ playlists longer, it also gives those listeners a reason to check in more often to see what’s new. That’s huge from a marketing perspective – it’s a lot more effective to promote your products and services to a customer that seeks you out than one that you go out and find yourself.

This “continual stream of creative output” doesn’t have to be limited to new music, although I do believe that music should remain the primary source of content. Music videos and merchandise are obvious options, but other content could include behind the scenes footage, individual files track files for remixing, interviews, mobile apps, even games. Allow fans to submit their own content and handpick the best for official release. Anything that you can think of to give fans new ways of interacting with your music is fair game.

Adopting this type of release strategy doesn’t mean you have to toss out the album format entirely. For all the ‘Album is Dead!’ headlines there is still quite a bit of life left in the full-length as a creative construct.

Still, there are many non-traditional ways to put together an album. Once you’ve released seven or eight individual tracks, there’s no reason why you can’t compile them along with a few unreleased songs and put it out as an album. Design special-edition packaging and market it as a collector’s edition. We’ve already been seeing a move in this direction from bands like Modest Mouse who recently released seven vinyl singles before gathering them into a larger full length album. Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins just anounced plans to take that much further.

The main takeaway here should be never to allow what has ‘always been done’ to prevent you as an artist from doing something better. The changing market has opened up incredible opportunities to increase listener engagement. Take a hard look at your current release strategy – does it serve that goal? If it doesn’t it’s likely time to rethink your approach.

Originally published at Audiolife.com.

Tags: bands, marketing, modest mouse, music, release strategies