It’s easy to scroll past a single post about a new EP or album, so prepare multiple posts using a variety of media to push people towards your new tracks.
Avoid text only or link-only posts as these are easy to miss. Use different photos of the band or artist with a link to the release to keep the imagery fresh.
It normally takes a couple of plays for a song to start to ‘grow’ on people, but you don’t want to be putting out the exact same post 5 times, or they'll probably just scroll past it! So how can you make them listen to your new track over and over again without getting bored?
Here are a few video ideas to help get the song stuck in their heads:
Teaser videos—Create short videos (15–30 seconds long) with concise messaging to build anticipation for your new music, and use a snippet from your track as the audio. Think Coming Soon, Coming May 1st], [X] Days Until, etc. Because they’re so short, it’s fast and easy to make a bunch with slightly different looks, so that you can post them lots in the run up to your release without your social feeds looking crazy repetitive.
Promo videos—Just like teasers, but to promote your music once it’s publicly available so that fans know where and how to get it—Out Now, New From, Listen On, Download, Buy Now
Official Audio art tracks—These are the fastest way to make music videos when you launch new music, so they should be the first music videos you release. All you need is your track and an image (usually your album cover). Make one for every track and you can have an Official Audio playlist of your entire album up on YouTube on day one. They’re also useful for which tracks to make music and lyric videos for. Which are getting the most plays?
Music Videos—Everyone knows to make official music videos for every release, but remember to treat its release just like your music release. Hype it up with teaser videos in the run up to its premier. Teasers might show behind-the-scenes at the shoot, a sneak-peek clip from the music video itself, a freeze-frame from the video, or just be a date countdown. You can also release unofficial music videos with a different creative/thematic vibe to it and separate music videos for remixes.
Lyric Video—Fans who love to sing along to music will play these videos over and over to learn them—so lyric videos are perfect for giving them a way to connect to your music on a deeper level AND driving up your YouTube channel’s view count.
Acoustic Rendition
A great way to keep spamming your fans with your new melody without boring them is to do an acoustic or stripped-back rendition. It'll carry on getting that tune stuck in their heads while offering a whole new angle on the song.
Behind the Scenes / the making of
More than ever before, fans want artists to “let them in”. This can take many forms: you could let them see into your creative process, watch the band having fun together during rehearsal, or observe how you pass the time while travelling or backstage. Let your personality shine through!
Lyric breakdowns and Interviews
Share the meaning behind some of your lyrics or try putting together a Vlog or short interview for your fans. You could even get them to send in their questions in advance!
We hope that's given you a bit of inspiration!
Remember to prepare as much as you can in advance, and plan when each piece of content is going to come out, either before, during or after release day.
If you're looking for other content ideas, check out this blog.
For fast, affordable, easy-to-make videos on a budget, we recommend checking out Rotor Videos. All of the examples in this article were made in the Rotor app. Prices start at $6/video and you don’t need to be a video editing expert to get pro-quality results. You control the look and feel, and the app automatically handles the complicated editing bits.