10 Tips for Throwing a Successful Album Release Party
You've put in the hours, endured sleepless nights, and put your heart and soul into your now complete creative accomplishment—your next album, a pivotal moment in your music career.
Releasing new music is a colossal achievement deserving celebration and attention. One of the best and most effective ways to celebrate your hard work, gravitate ears toward your new release, and generate buzz for your new album is through a good old-fashioned release party, turning it into a night to remember.
Learn how you can grow fan engagement and build anticipation for your upcoming music releases through our ten tips for throwing a successful release party and making your album release night a huge success.
Determine Your Budget
What's a successful party without throwing some coins to the cause? Sitting down and determining your budget is step number one to planning your album release party. Depending on how much money you're working with, you can go two routes: charging admission at the door or keeping attendance free. Ideally, you'll want to keep entry free. This is a launch party after all, not a concert or show. By not instituting a charge, you're also guaranteeing more fans (or potential fans) come through the door.
With that being said, you'll likely be looking at the following charges to your wallet (unless you get an event sponsor, which we'll touch on later):
- Venue fee and/or bar minimum
- Posters and traditional advertising
- Digital advertising (sponsored or paid posts)
- Merch Production
These are the bare essentials. If you've got these three expenses covered, then you can certainly make do. And, of course, using your established connections in your city can help lower the cost too. Friendly with a bar owner? Hit them up. Know people within the live music industry? See which local venue owners they know. If your event is sure to bring in business or foot traction (i.e., bigger talent, free drinks, etc.), you may be able to strike a deal.
Get an Event Sponsor
Festivals, events, and conferences heavily depend on sponsors to help absorb costs and donate free products for the event (hello drink and beverage companies). Landing the right sponsor can also help promote your event and build brand awareness, so it's important to be strategic about this. We recommend designing a sponsorship deck before your outreach so you can vocalize your goals and funding needs professionally. Sponseasy is a great platform to help you create a professional online sponsorship proposal in minutes.
As for actually FINDING a sponsor, there are several digital tools that can help make the sponsorship search process seamless and easy.
Here are a few we recommend:
SponsorPark - Best for events under the arts, festivals, entertainment, and special causes.
SponsorMyEvent - The ultimate marketplace for event sponsorships. All you have to do is create a profile, submit your event, and communicate with interested sponsors directly through the platform. Sponsorship transactions happen securely through the platform, so both parties are protected.
Pro Tip: For an album release party, we urge you to look for beverage and food sponsors. Drink and appetizer costs rack up, and getting your sponsor to donate products could save a lot of money.
Determine Your Party's WOW Factor
Adding a WOW factor to your party is a great way to get people talking and attendance up. The cool thing here is the world is truly your oyster…as long as you adhere to your venue's policies.
We've seen some pretty unique and successful party additions like:
- Flash Tattoos
- Raffling off private concerts
- Free Drinks (see ‘Event Sponsors' tip)
- Special Guest Appearances
- Free Vinyl/Merchandise to the first 50 people in attendance
- Photo Booths
Have fun with it. The idea is to give the press something to write about and generate post-event hype.
Promote Your Album Release Party
This should go without saying, but we'll say it anyway. The way you promote this event is one of the MAJOR keys to how your turnout will be. As mentioned in tip #1, it's essential to set aside a budget for digital and physical advertising to help spread the word about your event and your songs.
Here are some ideas you can implement in your promotional strategy:
Digital Advertising:
Post about your album release party on ALL social channels - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, etc. Be sure to mention your party's ‘WOW' factor (see tip #3) to build anticipation, and don't forget to geotag your posts.
Put ad spend behind your social posts. A little can go a long way, so if you have a smaller budget, consider putting even just $5 behind your post. Make sure you're targeting a local audience or followers of friends.
Create a Facebook event with your party's date, time, address, the night's line-up schedule, and a brief ‘About' mentioning what you're celebrating. Once you send out your invites to your friends, get them to confirm ‘Going' as soon as possible. Higher numbers of people going and invited will spark interest amongst people that may not be familiar with your music (yet).
Physical Advertising:
Hit up local bars, coffee shops, restaurants, or even light posts to tape or drop off your event fliers. Be sure to include your party's date, time, address, line-up, and your party's WOW factor to generate buzz and excitement around the event and your new music.
Design + Order Exclusive Merchandise
Designing and printing special t-shirts, stickers, hats, vinyl, and posters is great for encouraging attendance, marketing your music, and ultimately paying off launch party costs. If you're looking for a cheaper and efficient way to produce your merchandise, we recommend Bands on a Budget or Printify.
If you're well connected within the local art scene (or have talented designer friends), consider collaborating with them on merchandise designs. Teaming up with an established artist or designer can help increase your sales, increase your merch's value, and drive curious followers of that artist to your music. It's a win-win for everyone involved.
Carefully Curate Your Guest List
Don't get us wrong - your release party should be open to everyone. However, it goes a long way to curate a priority guest list to extend personal invites to. This list should align with media outlets, press, industry professionals, local influencers, and other musicians.
Big wigs aside, make sure you're also putting your friends and family on this list. They deserve roses too.
With this list, you should send out personalized invites and consider doing something above-and-beyond for these people. That can look like:
- Priority entrance
- Free drink tickets
- Free merch
- Free tickets to future shows
- Earlier entrance
The idea is to get in good graces with these guests and network network network. Building these relationships will help set the stage for future events.
Find Opening Bands that Set the Mood
Inviting local bands or fellow musicians that align with your band or client's sound is a great way to encourage more attendance and build excitement for the album's play-through. Find openers that bring the energy and set the mood so your audience is warmed up and ready once your band takes the stage.
Make sure you're also encouraging the openers to promote the event on their social channels and include them in your advertising.
Distribute Your Album in Advance
No brainer here - what's an album release party if there isn't a released album? Don't get so carried away planning your release party that you forget to actually release your music! With Venice Music's distribution tools, you can “set it and forget it” by scheduling and distributing your releases in advance.
Utilize Co-Manager for Personalized Album Release Party Planning
With Venice's Co-Manager, you can take your album release party to the next level. This tool helps you plan every detail, from selecting the perfect venue to coordinating with vendors and creating a guest list. Co-Manager provides personalized recommendations based on your preferences and budget, ensuring that your release party is a memorable event that generates buzz and excitement around your new album. Utilize Co-Manager to help you create a detailed checklist and come up with creative concepts, making your release party unique and engaging.
Learn more about Co-Manager here.
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