Just over two weeks ago, I dropped my very first full-length album.
In the time since releasing “Dark. Light.” I have already begun to learn a few things that I didn’t know beforehand.
Here are my three biggest takeaways… so far.
Always start with singles
I released every song on “Dark. Light.” as a single before releasing a complete body of work.
Well, everything but the intro and the outro, for obvious reasons.
Releasing these songs individually allowed me to simultaneously build a fanbase around my music beforehand and helped me learn more about which songs were the winners in my catalog.
As it turns out, there were two of them: “Lions” and “Hero”.
Upon the release of my album, both of these songs have driven the numbers for everything else, much in the same way that they have fueled the growth of my fanbase on Spotify in general.
Yes, I could have kept a couple of songs exclusively for the album itself—and maybe next time I will—but I’m happy to have had the knowledge of these winning tracks leading up to this.
Releasing singles helped my debut album succeed.
Waterfall releasing is sort of meh
After releasing every song on my album as a single, I tested waterfall releasing them as two EPs over the past year—an A-side EP and a B-side EP.
Where the release of singles was a winning strategy for me, the waterfall release of these EPs was mostly a bust.
Now, the argument could be made that I didn’t have as much success with this because the songs had already been released previously, and that’s probably true; however, I still don’t think there is as much benefit in waterfall releasing singles and EPs as there once was (or at least not as much as I thought there was).
Most of these waterfall releases fell flat and failed to move the needle even a little bit, and even if they had had more success, I still don’t think it would have outweighed simply releasing each song as a single and moving on.
But I’m glad I did it. Now I know.
Moving forward, singles are the path for me.
An album is worth it
Let me just say, I am so glad I released a full-length album.
If you are an artist considering this, do it. Please do it.
I have never felt a form of accomplishment like I do as a result of having put out this complete body of work. Even if this record fell completely flat (all signs point to that not being the case so far), it would still be worth it.
To say I have a complete 10-track album that I wrote, recorded, produced, mixed, mastered, and designed the artwork for, all on my own, is an achievement unlike any other.
So again, if you’re considering making an album, do it!
But start with singles.
In my mind, knowing what I know now, the best strategy is to release a series of singles before releasing a full-length album.
Find as many winners as you can, and then let those do the work for you when you drop the record.
Spotify data stacks on an album in a different way than it does for waterfall releases or EPs. I’m still learning more about what this looks like, but, based on what I know so far (a whopping two weeks in), the singles-to-album strategy seems to be the right move on all fronts.
Release singles, then package them into an album.
Simple.
If you want a deeper look into how I structured my releases for this record, watch this video.
Just over two weeks ago, I dropped my very first full-length album.
In the time since releasing “Dark. Light.” I have already begun to learn a few things that I didn’t know beforehand.
Here are my three biggest takeaways… so far.
Always start with singles
I released every song on “Dark. Light.” as a single before releasing a complete body of work.
Well, everything but the intro and the outro, for obvious reasons.
Releasing these songs individually allowed me to simultaneously build a fanbase around my music beforehand and helped me learn more about which songs were the winners in my catalog.
As it turns out, there were two of them: “Lions” and “Hero”.
Upon the release of my album, both of these songs have driven the numbers for everything else, much in the same way that they have fueled the growth of my fanbase on Spotify in general.
Yes, I could have kept a couple of songs exclusively for the album itself—and maybe next time I will—but I’m happy to have had the knowledge of these winning tracks leading up to this.
Releasing singles helped my debut album succeed.
Waterfall releasing is sort of meh
After releasing every song on my album as a single, I tested waterfall releasing them as two EPs over the past year—an A-side EP and a B-side EP.
Where the release of singles was a winning strategy for me, the waterfall release of these EPs was mostly a bust.
Now, the argument could be made that I didn’t have as much success with this because the songs had already been released previously, and that’s probably true; however, I still don’t think there is as much benefit in waterfall releasing singles and EPs as there once was (or at least not as much as I thought there was).
Most of these waterfall releases fell flat and failed to move the needle even a little bit, and even if they had had more success, I still don’t think it would have outweighed simply releasing each song as a single and moving on.
But I’m glad I did it. Now I know.
Moving forward, singles are the path for me.
An album is worth it
Let me just say, I am so glad I released a full-length album.
If you are an artist considering this, do it. Please do it.
I have never felt a form of accomplishment like I do as a result of having put out this complete body of work. Even if this record fell completely flat (all signs point to that not being the case so far), it would still be worth it.
To say I have a complete 10-track album that I wrote, recorded, produced, mixed, mastered, and designed the artwork for, all on my own, is an achievement unlike any other.
So again, if you’re considering making an album, do it!
But start with singles.
In my mind, knowing what I know now, the best strategy is to release a series of singles before releasing a full-length album.
Find as many winners as you can, and then let those do the work for you when you drop the record.
Spotify data stacks on an album in a different way than it does for waterfall releases or EPs. I’m still learning more about what this looks like, but, based on what I know so far (a whopping two weeks in), the singles-to-album strategy seems to be the right move on all fronts.
Release singles, then package them into an album.
Simple.
If you want a deeper look into how I structured my releases for this record, watch this video.
Just over two weeks ago, I dropped my very first full-length album.
In the time since releasing “Dark. Light.” I have already begun to learn a few things that I didn’t know beforehand.
Here are my three biggest takeaways… so far.
Always start with singles
I released every song on “Dark. Light.” as a single before releasing a complete body of work.
Well, everything but the intro and the outro, for obvious reasons.
Releasing these songs individually allowed me to simultaneously build a fanbase around my music beforehand and helped me learn more about which songs were the winners in my catalog.
As it turns out, there were two of them: “Lions” and “Hero”.
Upon the release of my album, both of these songs have driven the numbers for everything else, much in the same way that they have fueled the growth of my fanbase on Spotify in general.
Yes, I could have kept a couple of songs exclusively for the album itself—and maybe next time I will—but I’m happy to have had the knowledge of these winning tracks leading up to this.
Releasing singles helped my debut album succeed.
Waterfall releasing is sort of meh
After releasing every song on my album as a single, I tested waterfall releasing them as two EPs over the past year—an A-side EP and a B-side EP.
Where the release of singles was a winning strategy for me, the waterfall release of these EPs was mostly a bust.
Now, the argument could be made that I didn’t have as much success with this because the songs had already been released previously, and that’s probably true; however, I still don’t think there is as much benefit in waterfall releasing singles and EPs as there once was (or at least not as much as I thought there was).
Most of these waterfall releases fell flat and failed to move the needle even a little bit, and even if they had had more success, I still don’t think it would have outweighed simply releasing each song as a single and moving on.
But I’m glad I did it. Now I know.
Moving forward, singles are the path for me.
An album is worth it
Let me just say, I am so glad I released a full-length album.
If you are an artist considering this, do it. Please do it.
I have never felt a form of accomplishment like I do as a result of having put out this complete body of work. Even if this record fell completely flat (all signs point to that not being the case so far), it would still be worth it.
To say I have a complete 10-track album that I wrote, recorded, produced, mixed, mastered, and designed the artwork for, all on my own, is an achievement unlike any other.
So again, if you’re considering making an album, do it!
But start with singles.
In my mind, knowing what I know now, the best strategy is to release a series of singles before releasing a full-length album.
Find as many winners as you can, and then let those do the work for you when you drop the record.
Spotify data stacks on an album in a different way than it does for waterfall releases or EPs. I’m still learning more about what this looks like, but, based on what I know so far (a whopping two weeks in), the singles-to-album strategy seems to be the right move on all fronts.
Release singles, then package them into an album.
Simple.
If you want a deeper look into how I structured my releases for this record, watch this video.
Whenever you're ready, there are four ways I can help you:
Subscribe to the Newsletter: Join our growing network of artists, creators, and entrepreneurs by receiving The One Thing directly to your inbox every week.
Book a Consultation: Schedule a one-on-one call with me to improve your marketing across paid advertising, social media, and more.
The Spotify Traffic Accelerator: Join the hundreds of artists who have successfully learned to automate their growth on Spotify using paid ads on Instagram.
Become a DuPree X Artist: Hire our team to manage your marketing across streaming platforms and social media so you can focus on what matters most—making music.
Whenever you're ready, there are four ways I can help you:
Subscribe to the Newsletter: Join our growing network of artists, creators, and entrepreneurs by receiving The One Thing directly to your inbox every week.
Book a Consultation: Schedule a one-on-one call with me to improve your marketing across paid advertising, social media, and more.
The Spotify Traffic Accelerator: Join the hundreds of artists who have successfully learned to automate their growth on Spotify using paid ads on Instagram.
Become a DuPree X Artist: Hire our team to manage your marketing across streaming platforms and social media so you can focus on what matters most—making music.
Whenever you're ready, there are four ways I can help you:
Subscribe to the Newsletter: Join our growing network of artists, creators, and entrepreneurs by receiving The One Thing directly to your inbox every week.
Book a Consultation: Schedule a one-on-one call with me to improve your marketing across paid advertising, social media, and more.
The Spotify Traffic Accelerator: Join the hundreds of artists who have successfully learned to automate their growth on Spotify using paid ads on Instagram.
Become a DuPree X Artist: Hire our team to manage your marketing across streaming platforms and social media so you can focus on what matters most—making music.