Pre-release music promotion: how to promote a song before it's out

Most of what happens to a song on release day is decided before it. The editors who build playlists listen ahead. Fans who pre-save it have it waiting in their library. The people who saw the teasers already know the chorus. A song that goes out with all of that in place has people waiting for it on the day.

This guide walks through what pre-release promotion holds: the story, the teasers, the pre-save, the pitch, the Canvas and press. It is part of our guide to how to promote your music, which covers the release from start to finish.

What the weeks before release are for

Pre-release promotion does two jobs. It gets the song in front of the people who decide what plays (playlist editors, radio, writers) while they can still act on it. And it builds a group of listeners who know the date and are waiting for it.

Both take time. Editors plan ahead and need the music before it's out. Fans need to hear about a song more than once before they act on it. That's why the work starts weeks before release, and why the date you pick shapes everything else.

Set a date that leaves room

The release date is the anchor for every other move. Pick it with time to spare, so the files reach the stores early, the pitch goes in while the song is unreleased and nothing has to be rushed if a store asks for a fix.

Spotify's own rule gives the minimum. On its page about pitching to playlist editors, Spotify says that if you pitch an unreleased song at least 7 days before release, it adds the song to your followers' Release Radar playlists. It also asks for the music to be delivered at least 7 days ahead so editors have time to listen. More time than that gives the editors longer with your song. Our guide on how early to send your music goes into the delivery side.

The story, then the teasers

Before you post, decide what the song is about in a sentence or two you'd say to a friend. Where it was written, who it's for, the line that started it, the sound you were chasing. That story becomes the material for every teaser, every caption and the pitch to editors, and it keeps them sounding like one release.

Teasers are short previews that make people want the full song. They work best when each one shows something different:

• a few seconds of the hook or the chorus, over a clip from the session or a moment from your day;
• the cover art, revealed with the title and the date;
• the story behind the song, told to camera or as text over a photo;
• a lyric line that stands on its own;
• the room, the instruments, the people who played on it.

Short vertical video is where most new listeners will meet the song, so record clips with that in mind. For ideas by platform, see our guides to Instagram, TikTok and post ideas for musicians.

The pre-save

A pre-save lets a fan save your song before it's out, so it lands in their library on release day. It's the clearest way to turn someone's interest in a teaser into a listen on the day. Every teaser is a chance to share the link, and it belongs in your bio, your email to fans and anywhere else people find you. Our guide to the Spotify pre-save covers how pre-save links work across the stores.

The pitch to the editors

Spotify for Artists lets you pitch one upcoming, unreleased song to Spotify's editorial team. Spotify notes that more detail gives your song a better chance, so describe the genre, the mood, the instruments and the story you settled on earlier. Once the song goes live, it can no longer be pitched, which is another reason this happens well before the day.

Spotify is one of several stores with editorial teams. Our guide to the Spotify editorial playlist pitch walks through the form, and how Release Radar works explains what the pitch does for your followers.

The Canvas and the cover

The cover art is the face of every teaser, so it needs to be final early. Stores ask for a square image, and a 3000 × 3000 px JPG is the size most distributors use.

A Canvas is the short looping video that plays behind your song in Spotify's Now Playing view. Spotify's Canvas guidelines ask for a clip 3–8 seconds long, in a vertical 9:16 ratio, between 720 px and 1080 px tall, as an MP4 or JPG. Spotify suggests footage without singing or rapping, since the loop won't sync with the lyrics, and leaving the song and artist name off it, since the app already shows them. Have it ready so it's in place when the first listeners press play. Our guide on how to make a Spotify Canvas goes further, and the Canvas checker checks a file against the spec.

Press, radio and the people who write about music

Blogs, playlist curators, radio hosts and local press plan ahead too. Send them the song before release with a short note: who you are, what the song is, the date, and a private link to listen. A clear bio and a few good photos make it easy to write about you. See our guides to the electronic press kit, the artist bio and getting your music on the radio.

How Audora runs the weeks before your release

On Audora, each release gets a promotion campaign planned around its date. Every post is written in your voice about the song, with its caption, hashtags and the picture or video it needs. You go through them, change what you like and approve each one. Approved posts go out as planned.

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TikTok, YouTube, Instagram (Stories included) and Facebook Pages post automatically, and nothing goes out until you approve it. Stories carry no link sticker, so your release link goes in your bio.

Audora dates your release to give the editors time, and every release goes out with a pitch for the people who market it to the stores, written from your answers about the song. The moves that are yours to make (your pitch in Spotify for Artists, the pre-save, the Canvas) come up on the release's calendar on the day they matter. Cover art, a bio in three lengths, a Canvas and a logo are made to the stores' spec, and you have full commercial rights to all of it. A private listen link lets press and radio hear the record before it's out.

The exact steps for your release, dated to your release day, are in your Audora account. Audora keeps refining them, adding, dropping and retiming steps as it learns what works best for its artists. What every track gets lists the rest of what goes out with each release.