When releasing my band’s new song, I didn’t want to do the standard routine of simply announcing, “We have a new song out, go listen to it.” I decided to try and find a way to build anticipation before the song came out.

See how I started the song in Episode 1 here: Building “Rain in Purple Frontiers” Ep. 1 | Hydrogen, Ardour & Ubuntu Studio

The Concept: The Album Wiki

My band, Lorenzo’s Music, documents our process as we write our songs. We created our own “album wiki,” which is essentially a Google Site where we write notes about every session of the songwriting process. By documenting the “how” and “why” behind each track, we create our own behind-the-scenes content I could use for video outlines.

The Strategy: A Product Launch Tactic

We treated the release like a classic product launch, using a “making of” documentary style to build momentum. Instead of waiting for the song to be finished, we began sharing the process while it was still being worked on. From the initial inspiration of a Twitch stream we did to the final mix. This strategy, however, also made me the music producer and videographer, which also created its own challenge. Now I’m recording music and capturing and editing the footage needed to tell the story.

The Results

But by sharing our process, we created a deeper look at what we do for our band’s viewers. We ended up seeing more listens and downloads than we had with any of our previous song releases.

Conclusion

By inviting people to “join us in figuring this out,” I liked that it turned a simple song release into a compelling, community-type event.

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