Why you should release more music quickly

By andy On November 20, 2012 · 4 Comments

Most of the time you hear about artists taking forever to write and release new music. But today I want to tell you why I think it’s to your benefit to release more music quickly, especially when you’re just starting out.

I find that I learn my musical lessons in chunks. When I record and release an album or EP, I collect little lessons along the way that I can’t really apply until the next release. This might be songwriting ideas, mixing tweaks, or even promotional ideas. So the more music you release, the more lessons you will learn and your process will continually get better as a result. At the end of a release, you’ll have a decent list of things that you’ll want to change or do better next time.

I am of the opinion that it’s better for you to go through this process quickly rather than spending time being a perfectionist about the songs and stalling a release. I think you’ll learn more and become a better artist by doing the best you can in a defined window of time, finishing it, and then moving on to the next thing as opposed to spending all your time obsessing, tweaking and worrying about the songs you have.

Finish the songs.

Release them.

Note the things you want to do better.

Repeat.

The other obvious beneficiary of this process is your listeners. If you are consistently writing and releasing new music your fans will stay engaged, and they will most likely be excited by the continual increase in quality of your music as you learn and grow. If you are obsessing over and delaying your music in the name of perfectionism, you will have a harder time keeping fans engaged and your learning process will likely be slowed.

The final aspect of all this is mistakes. With this process you will absolutely make mistakes, and that’s ok. This is exactly why I encourage you to move quickly in writing and releasing new music. You have the opportunity to make those mistakes, realize them, and then quickly move on to something new where you won’t make those mistakes because of what you’ve learned. For those just starting out with all this, it’s actually to your benefit to make these mistakes early while your fan base is relatively small. Get them out of the way and learn those lessons early so you aren’t making those mistakes for a larger number of people.

It’s a great feeling knowing that your music is getting better and better, so do all you can to make it happen faster!

Question: What are some lessons you’ve learned throughout this process?

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http://twitter.com/AuroraStatic ¡ℳર∆₪ɸ §ȶᎯᵵḮ₡

I’m definitely seeking to do this nowadays, it’s great to hear a proper musician like you reinforcing my motives! Thank you for the tips Andy, I really appreciate them, they’re a big help! P.S. Like my facebook page if you want to see my progress. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aurora-Static/352570978152516?fref=ts
http://twitter.com/jakebeamish Jake Beamish

This makes absolute sense – and it’s something I will definitely bear in mind from now on. Great writing as ever, Andy
Keep it up
http://www.facebook.com/marcandre.drolet.9 Marc-André Drolet

The biggest mistake we made as a band was to rent costly preamps, compressors and all kinds of gear to try and get the best sound with our crappy mics when we first recorded our songs 6 years ago. It was really not well spent money given what we knew about recording at that time and also how short of time we gave ourselves to work with to fit into the budget we had.
Anonymous

I think the strongest lesson I’ve learned through this process is actually to find a balance between obsessing too much and not working hard enough.

With my first couple releases, my friends and I were so excited about our newfound ability to record music that all we did was throw up a $20 mic and use virtual amps in GarageBand. I absolutely love the songs we wrote for those recordings, and the process was so fast-paced and straightforward that it was very invigorating and exciting, but the quality of the recordings themselves makes me cringe a bit in hindsight!

For my third release, though, I spent several months slaving over the recordings, rearranging parts, adding new parts, undoing and redoing different mixing actions… It became a huge mess, I lost sight of the big picture, and my session files ended up being so bloated that my computer could barely play back the songs without crashing! By the time I released the music, I felt the songs had lost a lot of the energy and immediacy that they had when I first recorded them.

So for me the big thing is to find a balance between these two extremes. I try to keep the recording process straightforward and functional and focused on the music, to capture the excitement of the songs rather than obscuring it with way too much mix tweaking. But I also make sure I take my time and put in the necessary work, from the very beginning of the process, to make sure I’m getting the sound I want. I can’t lose sight of the forest for the trees, but I don’t want to end up feeling embarrassed by the recordings a few months later because my excitement overshadowed my artistic vision, either.

One last note: Even though we all tend to strive to make our music as perfect as possible, I think that in a certain way imperfection can actually be a good thing, and not solely because we learn from our mistakes. In the right amount, it adds a human touch to your art, lets your personal flaws and human essence show through in a way that can make the art more relatable to the other humans who are your audience. I always think of the Regina Spektor lyric, “Good is better than perfect.” If you’re passionate, sincere, and hard-working during the creation of your art, the remaining imperfections will probably add personality and emotion, rather than take away credibility, as we all seem to fear it will.