Put out a new song every two to three weeks for seven to nine weeks before the album, and sell the record in your own store with a deadline fans have to beat. Here are the real schedules behind it.
Start the rollout seven to nine weeks before street date. Put out a new song every two to three weeks. Sell the record itself in your own store, with a date fans have to beat.
The rhythm is old. The mechanics changed. From 2013 to 2021 we ran it as an iTunes price ladder for Todd Snider, Hard Working Americans, The Band of Heathens and KIMOCK. Each new song was a reason to email fans and run a fresh ad. Today the same rhythm runs on streaming and in the artist's store.
In this post:
- The two-lane rollout: waterfall singles for streamers, a store pre-order for buyers
- The week-by-week ladders we ran for Eastside Bulldog (2016) and Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3 (2019)
- A seven-step schedule you can copy
- How to split release day so fans hear about the record more than once
What does an album rollout look like now?
Run two lanes on one calendar.
- Streamers get a waterfall. Each single goes out as its own release, and each new release carries the songs before it, so the album builds in public. Reuse the same ISRCs so the earlier streams carry over. CD Baby's waterfall release guide walks through the setup. Point fans at a pre-save, a Spotify Countdown Page for an album or EP, or an Apple Music pre-add.
- Buyers get the pre-order in your own store: vinyl, CDs and bundles, with a price or bonus that ends on a date you name.
My contrarian take: a pre-save is not a sale. It pays you nothing until people press play. The store pre-order is where the money is, and it is yours: the buyer's email, the margin, the next sale.
The store backs that up. On the 2024 Hayes & The Heathens album, more than half of the store revenue came in before street date, not in the two years after.
Where did the rhythm come from?
Here are two Todd Snider digital rollouts from my notes, week by week: Eastside Bulldog in 2016 and Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3 in 2019.
For Eastside Bulldog, the first single, "Hey Pretty Boy," went out ten weeks out. The iTunes pre-order opened seven weeks out, at a lower price, with two instant tracks, "Hey Pretty Boy" and "Funky Tomato." "Ways and Means" followed five weeks out and "Enough Is Enough" three weeks out. A week after street date the price went back up.
Store bundles opened ten days after the digital pre-order, so they were their own news. A sweepstakes ran with the fourth track. The last chance email went out the week before street date and announced the sweepstakes winner.
Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3 opened its pre-order nine weeks out, at the same lower price, with "Just Like Overnight." "Like a Force of Nature," with Jason Isbell, went out five weeks out. "Talking Reality Television Blues" went out two weeks out. Its three ad flights lined up with the songs.
We kept that shape for years. First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder (2021) ran songs seven, five and two weeks ahead of street date. KIMOCK's Satellite City (2017) did it in four weeks.
What to take from the ladders:
- A new song every two to four weeks gave fans a fresh reason to look.
- Bundles opened on their own date, not with the pre-order.
- The offer ended when we said it would.
How do you build your own rollout?
- Lock the street date and count back nine weeks if you have three songs to release first. With fewer songs, start closer.
- Space the singles two to three weeks apart. Land the last one about two weeks before street date.
- Set up the pre-save or Countdown Page before the first single.
- Open the store pre-order with the first or second single. Name the deadline: a lower price, a signed copy, or arrival by release day.
- Give every song its own email and its own ad flight, starting the day it goes out.
- Send a last chance message two to four days before street date.
- End the offer on the date you said.
Before step one, get fans onto the list with a comment-to-subscribe teaser. For step six, read why the last chance email is your biggest sales day.
What should happen on release day?
Don't put the single, the album details, the pre-order and the merch in one post. Each one is news. Split them across the day and the next morning so a fan who follows you in three places hears about the record more than once.
Then work the list. Change every "pre-save" to "out now" on your site, pin the out-now post, swap in new ad creative, and click every link yourself before the fans do. Release day breaks links.
What can't the notes tell you?
My notes record the schedules, not sales by song, so I can't tell you which single moved the most pre-orders. Give each song's email and ads their own tracked link and you'll know on your next release.
See how we ran Todd's releases in the Todd Snider story and the 2014 Hard Working Americans launch in the Hard Working Americans story.
Questions musicians ask
How far ahead should an album rollout start?
Seven to nine weeks if you have three songs to release first. Eastside Bulldog's first single went out ten weeks out, and Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3 opened its pre-order nine weeks out.
How far apart should singles be?
Two to three weeks. On Eastside Bulldog the tracks landed seven, five and three weeks out, two weeks apart.
Is a pre-save enough on its own?
No. A pre-save pays nothing until people stream. The store pre-order is where the money and the buyer's email come from.
What should you do this week?
- Run two lanes: waterfall singles for streamers, a store pre-order for buyers.
- A new song every two to three weeks, each with its own email and ad flight.
- Name a deadline and keep it.
Put your street date on a calendar, count back nine weeks, and write which song goes out on each date. That calendar is what keeps fans hearing about the record until they buy it.
