How do I prep for a release on BC

[AndonHH]

I want to release an album on BC and would hate to do it for crickets.
What prep work would you guys do before uploading the tracks on there?
Who do I find and contact in order to get some attention before the album is available?
What are good forums to post release snipets and teasers?
I am sure I am missing a lot of important questions here, but this will be my first release for which I am actually ready to do the work in order to not get crickets in my BC account, so if you can give extra info, that would really be appreciated! The best answers will get a digital drawing by me

[jancivil]

get a live act together and generate interest in the actual world. The internet is a dry gulch.

[pljones]

Reverse engineering how I find bands of interest: you need to network. Get yourself / -selves "part of the scene" as musicians so fans know you and want more. Then your release will start coming up in searches. I've bought many a back catalogue that way... Sometimes "fan recommendations" or Bandcamp Daily, do trigger my interest, too - but that still needs kick starting somewhere.

Nothing you "just post into the void" will get picked up if there's no one looking for it.

[SampleScience]

Make sure your artwork is 1400 px in size and looks good.

Tag your release using the genre paths found in Discovery (the bandcamp system to find new music on their website) so people can find you there. For instance:

Electronic -> Downtempo

And not:

Electronica -> Chillcore

I have found that releasing a nice looking cassette helps sales. In general, selling merch helps draw attention to your music.

Promoting in online forums, Facebook/Reddit groups and on Twitter helps, but it's useless to overdo it. If it's good, people will promote your music for you just because they like it.

Usually, if you have at least one release with a label known in your music genre it helps a lot gathering a fan base. I know an artist who does occasional releases on labels just as a way to promote himself (Milieu). Here's a recent example from him:

https://touched.bandcamp.com/album/sunb ... a-volume-1

Contacting small blogs and YouTube channels can help, but in my case, it didn't make any difference.

Soundcloud can generate a bit of traffic, it's way more efficient than its competitors, except maybe YouTube (with the right tags).

In my experience, it's not really worth it to over-promote, even if it's just to get listens. The only exception would be if you have the money to advertise your music on Facebook. From what I've seen, it works pretty well.

[ATS]

I want to release an album on BC and would hate to do it for crickets.
What prep work would you guys do before uploading the tracks on there?
Who do I find and contact in order to get some attention before the album is available?
What are good forums to post release snipets and teasers?
I am sure I am missing a lot of important questions here, but this will be my first release for which I am actually ready to do the work in order to not get crickets in my BC account, so if you can give extra info, that would really be appreciated! The best answers will get a digital drawing by me

why din't you post a song?

[AndonHH]

get a live act together and generate interest in the actual world. The internet is a dry gulch.

Oh, I don't know if I have the guts to do that yet. Just thinking about it makes me sweat. If I do it, then it will be a bog step for me, but till then I will be in my cage thank you:)

[AndonHH]

Reverse engineering how I find bands of interest: you need to network. Get yourself / -selves "part of the scene" as musicians so fans know you and want more. Then your release will start coming up in searches. I've bought many a back catalogue that way... Sometimes "fan recommendations" or Bandcamp Daily, do trigger my interest, too - but that still needs kick starting somewhere.

Nothing you "just post into the void" will get picked up if there's no one looking for it.

This is exactly what I am learning about right now. Just made my IGram and FB artist pages and figuring out what to post on there as a begining of this journey. Will look in to the fan recommendations"" thing tonight. Thank you!

[AndonHH]

Make sure your artwork is 1400 px in size and looks good.

Tag your release using the genre paths found in Discovery (the bandcamp system to find new music on their website) so people can find you there. For instance:

Electronic -> Downtempo

And not:

Electronica -> Chillcore

I have found that releasing a nice looking cassette helps sales. In general, selling merch helps draw attention to your music.

Promoting in online forums, Facebook/Reddit groups and on Twitter helps, but it's useless to overdo it. If it's good, people will promote your music for you just because they like it.

Usually, if you have at least one release with a label known in your music genre it helps a lot gathering a fan base. I know an artist who does occasional releases on labels just as a way to promote himself (Milieu). Here's a recent example from him:

https://touched.bandcamp.com/album/sunb ... a-volume-1

Contacting small blogs and YouTube channels can help, but in my case, it didn't make any difference.

Soundcloud can generate a bit of traffic, it's way more efficient than its competitors, except maybe YouTube (with the right tags).

In my experience, it's not really worth it to over-promote, even if it's just to get listens. The only exception would be if you have the money to advertise your music on Facebook. From what I've seen, it works pretty well.

Hello and thank you! Yes, I looked up on how to be friends with the BC algorithms and the tagging came up as one of the top ways. I make electronic music and idm, acid, ambient stuff so the tags used are main genre Electronic then IDM (is it a good idea to tag each release with extra words such as acid, aphex, warp?)

I love the cassettes too, they look awesome, and do plan to have a few of them made, will see if the budget allows it at this point.

Finding people will be tough too as I am just starting off, I really dont understand what to post on Twitter or Reddit (will read about them more), Im OK-ish with FB and Insta atleast. I also really hate to spam people so will keep my posting to minimum.

Oh, touched music label and Milieu are favs of mine too <3 Man if I get to a level good ennough to release with Touched I will fly away with a rainbow coming off the back end:) ) I did release
https://bludclotrecordings.bandcamp.com ... al-sadness
with Blubcloth once and that was it. How can this help me?

I will try to find people with blogs and YT to help me out Thanks!
Soundcloud is like a sketch book for me, I post only wip and early mix versions of tracks to be mastered.

Me and my wife we have been using FB ads to promote our online store, but since they changed the algorith it never gives good results now. My goal at this point with this first release will be to gather a small fan base of listeners, who will follow me on Bcamp, SC, FB, Insta and will share my posts. If someone pays for a track or two even better, but for now I care to find my people Thank you so much for this awesome repply! It got me thinking about so many new things I never knew about.

[htcnext2]

too much science for that simple plot

[vurt]

join similar groups on fb, spam it. everyone else is
becoming part of a scene is more difficult these days, as there doesnt seem to be many "local scenes" outside of the big citys, but sharing among friends, getting friends to share and so on, you may pick up a few listeners along the way.

most of all, try to enjoy making the music, because the rest is hard work, and may take a while to pay off.
but if you keep enjoying it, at least theres that!

[htcnext2]

I am sorry vurt, if you think this is spam, what I posted. I know what is 'spam' on Facebook, the only reason, why I left that platform years ago for good. KVR entirely seems to incorporate the same strategies of bullying people, at least some members seem to do so, so I must consider leaving these forums. The benefits of web 2.0 in no case outweigh the downsides of social media, especially here on this channel.

[vurt]

I am sorry vurt, if you think this is spam, what I posted. I know what is 'spam' on Facebook, the only reason, why I left that platform years ago for good. KVR entirely seems to incorporate the same strategies of bullying people, at least some members seem to do so, so I must consider leaving these forums. The benefits of web 2.0 in no case outweigh the downsides of social media, especially here on this channel.

i didn't say you had spammed?
i was telling the op, that those groups on fb, not all but many of them are just people posting links, no one commenting or very few people.
now, maybe people are listening and it's just not a reviewing platform, but joining those and adding them to your place to put links wont hurt you. it may not add anything, on the other hand you may find plenty of listeners.

my point was, if everyone else is spamming a particular group, join in.
but avoid spamming more community minded places as it will deter listeners.

i wasnt saying you or anyone else had dome anything

[vurt]

and id certainly hope you dont leave on my account

[vurt]

get a live act together and generate interest in the actual world. The internet is a dry gulch.

Oh, I don't know if I have the guts to do that yet. Just thinking about it makes me sweat. If I do it, then it will be a bog step for me, but till then I will be in my cage thank you:)

for a live edm/idm act, look at people like deadmau5, daft punk, early aphex.
hide behind/inside a costume

i once played a gig at an art exhibition, i was a little self conscious so hid in a cupboard at the side of the stage.
another time i put up two projection screens at the front and played behind them.

[AndonHH]

get a live act together and generate interest in the actual world. The internet is a dry gulch.

Oh, I don't know if I have the guts to do that yet. Just thinking about it makes me sweat. If I do it, then it will be a bog step for me, but till then I will be in my cage thank you:)

for a live edm/idm act, look at people like deadmau5, daft punk, early aphex.
hide behind/inside a costume

i once played a gig at an art exhibition, i was a little self conscious so hid in a cupboard at the side of the stage.
another time i put up two projection screens at the front and played behind them.

You know this might do the trick, if I wear all black and a black mask then it will be like I am not even there, which will help avoiding eye contact. Thanks!