How Often Should Artists Release New Music (According To Math)

How often should you be releasing new music on streaming platforms such as Spotify? 

I know, that probably sounds like a lot, but in our day of short attention-spans and the insatiable craving for something "new", dropping a high quantity of quality music is key to growth.

In the words of Russ, an independent Hip Hop artist who absolutely blew up all on his own...

Of course, you don't have to go Platinum and bring in upwards of $100,000 a week from your music distributor alone to be successful.

In fact, you can be successful and make $100,000 a year with 1,000 true fans. 

If you want to see the blueprint for achieving this, then grab my free fan-funnel formula guide below.

Alright, now let's take a deeper dive into how often you should be releasing new music...

How often should You release New Music?

Release new music as often as you can. All of the experts say it's best to release at least 1 new single every 1-8 weeks. Maybe you can get away with once a quarter. Just how frequently you release new music depends on what is sustainable for you.

If you're not able to consistently release quality music every week, then opt for releasing a new single every other month. That's only 6 songs a year.

Alternatively, you could build up a stockpile of good songs before you start to release.

Russ, who I mentioned earlier, said that he had built up a backlog of 25 finished songs before he started releasing new music. That way, he had "half a year" worth of content according to his release plan. 

Additionally, it's not enough to just release new music. It's important to promote the release through various channels such as social media and streaming platforms to reach as many people as possible.

The Math: Why Releasing A LOT Of Music Makes The Most Sense

Let's say you wanted to make $1,000 a month from streaming. This is fairly reasonable goal for an indie artist, and with this number, you should be able to generate a decent amount of income from other means, such as merch, or a fanclub hosted with Patreon or Street Team. 

Here's how the math breaks down in terms of streams:

You need roughly 250,000 streams a month to make $1,000 a month

If you only had 20 songs published on Spotify, then you would need each song to generate 417 streams a day per song. That's a tall task. 

Now let's say you had 100 songs on Spotify, now you only need 83 streams a day per song. That's more manageable.

Now let's say you had 300 songs on Spotify. With that number, you'd only need 28 streams a day per song. Very manageable.  

To Earn $1,000 A Month From Spotify Streams

If you want to know how I'm getting these numbers, I'm basing them off of how much Spotify pays per stream. You can see this data in my article here.

It seems to be the sweet spot is right around 100 songs. 

If you can release 100 songs in a consistent fashion, and promote each song as you release it...provided your music is good, you should be in striking distance of a full-time income, if not better. 

This was about the case for Russ as well. He released free music for years, and had dropped around 100 songs before releasing his "debut" album for sale, which ended up going platinum. 

Not saying that will happen for you! But you should be able to generate a good $1,000 to $4,000 a month, minimum, provided you're also promoting your music, building an email list, and building out your offers (merch, fan club, etc.)

Again, if you want to learn more about this blueprint, grab my free guide below. 

There are several other benefits to regularly releasing new music...

Momentum: 

Releasing new music on a regular schedule helps to establish a consistent presence and momentum for an artist, which will increase your visibility and attract new fans.

Keeping the fanbase engaged:

Consistently releasing new music keeps the your existing fanbase engaged and invested in your music.

Fans are more likely to follow an artist who is actively releasing new content, and they're less likely to forget about you.

Staying relevant:

In today's fast-paced music industry, releasing new music regularly helps artists stay relevant and top-of-mind among fans and industry professionals.

Creativity:

Releasing music frequently can help you to stay creative, as you are forced to be prolific and come up with new ideas, concepts, and styles of music.

The FASTEST Way To Grow: "Russ" Method For Massive Growth

I've talked quite a bit about Russ so far, but that's because he is a wildly successful example of the power of posting both quality and quantity when it comes to music, consistently. 

Here's how he describes his strategy...

The Russ Strategy:

1. Release 1 quality song a week
2. Promote the song on social media with at lease one video (Reel, TikTok, YouTube short) of you singing along to the song
3. Repeat UNTIL success

Here's the thing, Russ didn't go viral. 

He built momentum with each new release. Each new release slowly but surely built his audience until he hit a tipping point. 

Don't aim for viral. Aim for consistent, predictable, growth. 

You don't have to release one song (a single) a week like Russ did, but you do want to commit to consistent publishing calendar, which is likely a little bit more accelerated than you're comfortable with. 

He also promoted his music be doing one selfie video a week of himself singing along to the song he just dropped. 

Very low production value, just a simple behind-the-scenes video, but helped to build a relationship with his fans.

Keep sticking with this strategy, keep experimenting, and you'll get better with time.

How Many Songs Should You Drop A Year?

With this in mind, how many songs should you drop a year? 6-50 songs per year. 6 is the bare minimum for growth, and 50 is about the maximum you can do without a team to help you promote. 

Remember, it's important to space out the release of the songs to keep the fans interested, excited, and momentum building. You'll train your fans to look forward to the upcoming releases.

Ultimately, the best number of songs to release in a year will vary depending on your goals and resources. It's important to find a balance that works for you and your fanbase.

Should You Release Albums Or Singles?

But what about albums? So far I've only talked about releasing singles. 

It's a good idea to release an album after you've built-up a sizable fanbase. Singles are for growing a fanbase, and albums are for monetizing that fanbase. 

This is because new listeners aren't likely to listen to full album from an artist they don't know. 

Fans, on the other hand, absolutely love albums. 

Albums are also far more monetizable, as you can make a bigger deal about their release.

It's easier to get media to promote your album release than a single, and you can more easily sell physical CDs, Vinyls, or even Tape Cassettes, as people aren't going to be buying singles in physical form.   

For my complete guide to whether you should be releasing singles or albums, check out my article here. 

Is it possible to release too much music?

Yes, it is possible to release too much music. While releasing new music regularly is a good strategy for keeping your fanbase engaged and growing, releasing too much music in a short period of time can have negative effects.

Releasing too much music too quickly can dilute the impact of individual releases and make it harder for fans to keep up. This can result in less interest in each release, and make it harder for fans to fully engage with and appreciate the music.

Also, releasing too much music can be overwhelming for you the artist, as you may not have enough time to properly promote each release, or keep up with your publishing schedule.

It's important for an artist to find the right balance between releasing enough music to keep the fanbase engaged and not overwhelming them with too many releases.

In conclusion, publish as frequently as you can consistently keep up with.

How To Trigger The Spotify Algorithm To Explode Your Streams

In order for Spotify to promote your music for you, the algorithm first wants to see that your music if performing well on its own.

One of the best indicators that your music is performing well is that is being added to playlists. 

So if you want to trigger the algorithm so that your music gets added to algorithmic and editorial playlists, then you need to get your music onto more user-created playlists first.

In fact, I've discovered a system that has helped me to get my songs on Spotify Playlists without having to spend a dime. 

By getting your music on user-created playlists on Spotify, you can start to rapidly grow your streams, and even trigger the Spotify algorithm so that Spotify itself starts to show your music to more people. 

If you want to learn my simple approach to getting your music on Spotify playlists for free...

Then just grab my free guide below!