Timing the Pre-Release Marketing of Your Record

A few years ago I took an online course from Berklee called ‘Digital Music Marketing” and it was taught by Mike King. He’s a genius! This is an excerpt from his wonderful book titled “Music Marketing - Press, Promotion, Distribution, and Retail" available through Berklee Press:

"...pulling off an effective marketing campaign is all about timing. Artists should always be thinking about marketing, whether they have a new release on the horizon or not. Community-building activities such as adding to your e-mail list, optimizing your web site, and performing live events are essential to the well-being of a band at every stage of its career. All of these efforts build on the successful execution of the previous effort, so you can quickly see how labels and independent musicians that are disorganized can fall behind. But if you stay on top of a defined timeline, it's not difficult to pull off a record release with the proper marketing support on the date that you originally planned. The more planning that goes into a project, the more successful that project is going to be. 

Susan Busse

All pre-release efforts are based around the street date:

20 weeks out - hire liner notes writers

19 weeks out - set up publicity photo shoot

18 weeks out - gather credits and liner notes from the band

17 weeks out - assemble package copy text for the designer

16 weeks out - research segment-specific marketing outlets

15 weeks out - complete final marketing plan

14 weeks out - work on design concepts for posters and other merch

13 weeks out - begin your online marketing campaign

12 weeks out - long lead press mailing

11 weeks out - determine manufacturing quantities

10 weeks out - ship art files to the manufacturer for full-length CD

9 weeks out - advertIsing schedule complete

8 weeks out - consider press event for release

7 weeks out - ship consumer print ads

6 weeks out - confirm radio tracker/promoter

5 weeks out - send advance CD mailing to radio

4 weeks out - ship trade ads

2 weeks out - CD mailing for non-long lead press"

Please note that many significant core marketing actions are put into place 15-20 weeks (i.e. 4-5 months) before release! So...please contact me (or any publicist you plan to work with) at least 6 months before your release and tour.