Single or EP?
Artists are always creating, and after a while they build a collection of songs ready to be released. The dilemma that new independent artists face is how to package that music, whether to release it as a project or as singles. That decision should always be based on the momentum of the artist at the time. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you don’t have the momentum that you desire; so the quick answer is always release a single. By the end of this article, you’ll have three reasons why the single is better for newer underground artists and how to maximize a project if you do take that route.
The first reason it is better to release music as a single for new artists is lack of momentum. As a new artist, you don’t have the caché to make people invest more than three minutes into your art. The logic that more music equates to a greater chance to be heard only applies to artists that carry enough influence that people already want to hear their music. As a new artist you don’t fit into this category, and even popular mainstream artists use singles as a roll out for their projects. Also, it is easier to focus marketing on one song than multiple songs, and if the marketing for a single works, you can replicate the same campaigns for every song on your project.
The second reason to release a single builds on the first, the song can serve as the focal point for marketing campaigns. Basically, if you’re marketing a project, you’d start with a single as well, but what if your song doesn’t perform the way it should? Then you lose traction on your whole project, because as I mentioned earlier, it’s hard to get someone to invest more than three minutes in your music, especially if the song doesn’t perform well. As an independent artist, you don’t have the resources or time to market multiple songs.
The final reason, which is the most important, is that music is consumed differently than the days of CD’s and vinyl’s. People find new music in curated playlists and they curate their own personal playlists or pick the songs in which they want to listen. They aren’t listening to full projects, especially if they don’t know or are fans of you, the attention span of consumers these days is too short. Bodies of work still have their place in the industry, but only once the artist builds integrity with their fans.
I understand that an album, EP, or mixtape still have the same reverence with artists. For superficial reasons, having a successful project carries more weight than a single. With that being said, I think the best way to market a project is to release almost every song as a single, two weeks to a month apart. This allows time to push each song, with the goal of building momentum for your project. It also gives time to see what works, so that when it is time to release the full project, you’ll know exactly how you want to market.
Another benefit of this strategy is that with each release, you bring more attention to the other songs you’ve released. With the release of your project, you’ll bring attention back to the singles you’ve released as well as to the new songs on the project. Of course, it all depends on how you market your music, but the project is the last bullet in your chamber, if you don’t market the right way, then you’ve lost the potential success for the project without having a back up plan. If one single doesn’t do well, you can learn from it, and do better with the next single. I hope this article was helpful!
