How Long Should You Promote an Album?

How Long Should You Promote an Album?
My name is Kelvin, the R&B singer and I have been promoting music for about twelve years. I promoted myself right into getting noticed by a prominent indie label by the name of KBJ Records. I like to think that I have learned a little about perseverance, when it comes to promotion. I do not pretend to know all of the answers, but I will say that I have seen many independent musicians make big mistakes in regards to how long they should promote an album. A major label will sometimes spend as much as six months vigorously promoting an album or single before that album even touches the shelves of any store. So an independent artist should promote an album for at least a year.
Why Should You Promote Twice as Long?
Well, it is all about the numbers. Major labels usually expose their singles and albums through the use of mass radio, and TV mediums. This allows them to expose their music to millions of people all at one time. When your music is exposed to such a large portion of people at one time, your music will get old to all of those people at roughly the same time. They must strike while the iron is hot. An independent artist may not have the same budget or connections. Instead of releasing his or her music to thirty million listeners at once, they may only have the ability to release their music to a couple of hundred or a thousand people at once. It will take an independent musician longer to reach thirty million listeners and therefore increasing the length of his or her promotion cycle. I have found that most independent musicians give up to quickly and stop vigorously promoting an album or single after about two or three months.
Why Do Independent Musicians Give Up so Soon?
Independent Musicians usually give up early because the music simply gets old to them. When your music gets old to you, it is natural to feel like you do not want to promote it anymore. You just don't want to hear those songs anymore. It is hard to go out and convince other people to listen to a song that you don't want to listen to. You have to resist the urge to stop promoting. You have to remember that although your music may be old to you, there are still millions of people in the world that are yet to hear your music.
So What Should I Do?
Promote your music without stopping. Resist the urge to stop promoting. Keep in mind that your music is only old to a small portion of people. When an album or single gets old to a small group of people, just give them a new song or two, but don't stop vigorously promoting your older tunes. One trick you can use is to not listen to your music so much. Take breaks from listening to your songs so that you do not tire of listening to them so quickly. And please get your music mastered by a professional CD or audio mastering engineer. Your music will sound better I promise you. And the better your music sounds, the longer people will want to listen. Why do people still love Michael Jackson's songs after all these years? It is because they sound great. They sound great because they were recorded well, and mastered professionally.
Crumbs!
"By Kelvin Butler" 

 Kelvin Butler is the author of this blog. He also is part owner of KBJ Records.com, a website that caters to the working class musician by offering affordable services in cd duplication, cd mastering, graphic design and more. Learn about his very affordable cd duplication offers at http://KBJrecords.com/cd_duplication_2.html 

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