Should You Release Music Every Week? (Probably Not)

Should you release music every 1-2 weeks like Russ and Nic D? Or is 4-8 weeks better? Let's talk about!

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[PEERSEEMANN]

Making music quickly can catch the vibe of the moment, I think Rick Rubin says that in his book. Also many of us have relentless standards and procrastinate, for those Nic‘s method can help. I think it can work for hip hop artists, singer songwriters, electronic music artists, probably not for advanced pop and rock.

[joeleytrick]

i actually produced a song for nic recently. it’s easier to release more often when you outsource beats but man to make every part of the song and still release once a week would be crazy 😵‍💫

[HOTDANCEHITS]

great vid on the 'feud' glad to hear your views

[MacDeathMusic]

If I could I would, but I'd rather focus on quality and settle for once, and sometimes twice a month.

[yourbandisabusiness]

One of the issues is that hip-hop is so popular that a lot of its fans and artists apply their assumptions to other genres. They look at other genres and think that we don't want to increase the volume of releases because we're protecting our ego or not willing to put in the work. The issue is that while hip-hop is part of popular music it's almost a genre on to its self with its one rules and expectations. It's like comparing rock to jazz or classical. A jazz artist or an orchestra musician isn't expected to write their own material and a hip-hop artist doesn't suffer from buying beats. Imagine if the Foo Fighters said they were going to release a song a week, but that the songs are written and recorded by other musicians. It wouldn't fly! I know Nic D has some proteges that aren't hip-hop but as far as I can see they are all solo artists working in genres that allows songs to be written and recorded quickly. It doesn't mean artists from other genres can't learn from Nic D. Just understand what will work and what won't work in your genre.

[thorstennesch]

I release 1 song a week for 2, 5 years now - because I have fun doing it, and I wrote many songs prior without recording them. I 'll never "blow up" because that also depends on your music genre (mine is lofi experimental songwriter), who you are (I'm some old guy), how much u play live & how much time/$$$ u invest in social media (day job janitor). - don't do art for the money or fame, do it for fun and if you have to. (For 10 years I was a fulltime artist)

[pentomusic]

I really appreciate your content Andrew. Funnily enough, to me, the debate seems completely pointless once you state the fact "it depends on whether you have the time to do it and not sacrifice quality". That's the gist of it. You're absolutely right. But to me, the boatload of value you give here is about everyone blowing up differently. And it's so true and goes back to the fact that you just have to carve out your own lane and grab the opportunities that it gives you. Thank you for this video!!

[Musformation]

Great video Andrew appreciate the kind words and always love your videos. I appreciate that this was a thoughtful discussion of this.

[ariczair]

Saw Jessie's video. Saw Nic's video, saw your comment on it, saw this video. I agree with you that the reality is likely more in the middle... And that Jessie's take makes more sense for more people.

Nic's songs are really short and id say they "sound like 'content'" to me. The *quality* may be there, but it doesnt sound like there's much substance, not only in terms of the lyrics, but in terms of the songs themselves sounding like... well, half finished songs.

[johndoe_]

How can we stay competitive while thousands of non-musicians are starting to spam Spotify with AI-generated crap, thus increasing the price of ads?

[Prenticetherapper]

Yeah I think artists just needs to do what works for them. What works for me may not work for you and ect, I typically release music every 4 weeks so I drop one song once a month and that seems to work for me.

[yukeemusic]

thanks for sharing your thoughts on this! <3

[novarobotslofi]

Currently i make synthwave & lofi music all by myself (no samples lol) so Nic’s strategy is currently best for me. Buuuuttt, i’ve been in many original rock-type bands where i would definitely lean more on Jesse’s strategy instead. It really does come down to the type of music you’re making imo.

[sutitootimusic]

Believe it or not, your perspective actually aligns VERY closely with Nic's lol. Maybe it wasn't explicitly clear in his response, but

1) his advice is targeted those that want to make a LIVING out of music, not those that just want to be heard, and

2) he's always said in the past to consistently post high quality content with WHATEVER frequency you can manage.

For him, that's every week because he has a team and loads of music ready, but for some people, bi-weekly or monthly releases works better. Whatever consistent frequency allows you to make a LIVING out of music

His thought process is that if you get a song to go viral, you use that momentum to build your organic audience. Then you can create content for that audience, who will support and give even more algorithmic fuel to your content. Given his current audience size, it makes sense to just throw as many darts at the dartboard and see what the social media algorithms push. For a lot of us, the goal is NOT to make a living off music -- if you're just wanting to build an audience, using a 100% organic approach probably won't work that well unless the algorithm pushes you, which isn't random but may take some time to figure out. You're right in saying that the answer for MOST people falls somewhere in the middle -- IF you can manage weekly releases with high quality content, do it. LaRusell, Russ, Nic D, etc do it. If you can't, or don't want to (it's really this for most ppl but they don't want to admit it), release less frequently.

[anteoquintavalle]

I think you miss out on release radar if there is not 10 day + run. I have an album of out takes that am planning to release every 2 weeks, but otherwise for commercial material with potential of a strong algorithmic bump, 5 to 6 weeks.

[mavzygrx]

Great video Andrew! I think its important people know that what works for some people doesn't work for other people. I'm releasing every 2 weeks like Nick and its going well, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

[Doxkyn]

Love your work Andrew and this isn't directed at yourself or anyone in the comments. I've just finished reading Nic's book and thought there probably needs to be a little bit more context.

You need to understand this about Nic D - he's not your typical artist - he is an entrepreneur who wanted to make a living from music. If you don't hear the whole strategy behind the way he approached his career, the one song a week thing won't make sense. He was also well prepared to create content because he was a videographer prior to trying to build his career in music.

He produced so many songs so he had product to test in the market place. He was trying to find something his audience would like and stream which would then help him earn a living from the streaming. He was also using a numbers strategy to make more song do more of the lifting so that his stream revenue didn't rely upon 20 or less songs in his catalogue. In the end he was coming up with content ideas first and then writing the songs to fit them. That's not how most artists want to play the game.

So just keep that in mind, he's not a typical artist, he's not trying to find the kind of notoriety and success most musicians desire. He's more interested in discussing business than the art of his music. His strategy does work BUT it's not the only strategy and it's not for everyone.

[luma_fade]

it just depends on what you are doing and your pace and work flow. I finished 17 songs in 4 months. It seems like kinda crazy to space that out over a 17 months. Also, you can promote more than one song at once. I tired the one song a month approach, and I hate it. I have one LP that's 4 songs in a 12 month release schedule and I'm just over it. I'm already on the third album and this first album still has 8 months left to go. I don't even want to promote it anymore I'm so far past it.

[officialWWM]

My issue with Nic is that he appears to me to simply not care about the music. His music ages like bubble gum. It’s cookie cutter crap, so it’s easy for him to create that stuff quickly. I had been planning an album, so I have 14 songs in the can, ready to go. I have since had a rethink on my approach and decided not to release an album. I am going to release and promote a song on the first Friday of every month. So, I have 14 months of stock and by the time I run out, I’ll have another 5 or six ready to go. Will it work? Who knows 😂

[JACKSONPRYORBENNETT]

I release every week and have been doing so again for a while. I did a 5 track beat tape every week in the past, so now doing one track a week is easy. Scheduling the tunes way in advance also has made it a lot easier, but I am doing mostly lofi so I'm not especially worried about quality of recordings, just looking for a vibe. Gonna be pairing it with a ton of content soon.