The Spotify approved Waterfall Release method
Then vs Now
Releasing music has changed dramatically over the years. In fact, there are so many changes that it's almost unrecognizable when compared to how things were done in past decades! Here is a brief history on releasing your own record with some tips for up-and coming musicians who want make their mark on this world while not being afraid of failure or rejection.
In order to release music in the past, you needed to sign with a record label. Once you did that, the label would pay for everything from studio time to marketing and promotion. In return, they would take a large percentage of the profits. This system worked well for established artists who already had a built-in fan base, but it was very difficult for newcomers to break into the business.
Thanks to advances in technology, it's now possible for anyone with a computer and an internet connection to release their own music. There are dozens of online platforms that will allow you to do this, and many of them are completely free. This has levelled the playing field somewhat and made it easier for independent artists to get their music out there.
What Is It
The Waterfall release method is simple but powerful way of accumulating fans/listens through individual releases that accumulate into an EP or album or both. The idea is to carry over the listens from one release to another and repeating the process until you release the full EP or album.
The effect of this is it carries all the listens from the previous releases and collects them so that when you release the album/EP you release it with listens attached. All the listens from the previous releases are not lost. Example Song 1 gets released 5x, Song 2 gets released 4x, Song 3 gets released 3x etc as opposed to 1 release and the listens are lost or trapped in that release alone.
"They will put out singles month after month, eventually bundling them into an EP or an album. Every time a new single is put out, it gives a boost to the other ones released before it."
How Is It Done
Distrokid does this best in our opinion Using the same ISRC code, same title and same artist it carries over the numbers to the next release. This is sanctioned and approved by Spotify.
Remember the key to this is to know that on streaming networks releases and song are separate items. For example release #2 can be a single with 2 songs, Song #1 (from the previous single) along with Song #2. Single #1 has 5000 listens and that is carried over to release #2, so when someone goes to release #2 there is already 5000 listens on the first track.
Spotify sees the carried over song as the exact same song from release #1. The next step is delete the first release from your feed, you don't have to but it keeps things clean. and you just continue this method until you want to release a full album or EP.
Very important in order to do this on Distrokid you must have their Musicians plus or higher account.
In Conclusion
Our subscription based design packages go very well with the Waterfall release method. Don't stress over design when you should be releasing music every 4 to 6 weeks (according to Spotify and other streaming networks).Get high quality design that will help you stand out from the competition. Relax and let us handle the design heavy work so you can get back to doing what you do best....Music!