Music Release Plan: 90, 60 And 30 Days Out

Week by week music release plans for however much runway you have left. What to do at 90, 60 and 30 days out, the deadlines you cannot miss, and what you lose on a short timeline.

90 Days Out: The full rollout

Everything is available to you: editorial playlist consideration, long-lead press, a proper announce moment, and coverage that is already live and searchable before release day.

Best for: Album, EP, or a single you are actually investing behind.

Day 90 to 75: Lock the date and finish the record

• Pick the release date and stop moving it. Every deadline below counts backward from it.
• Final masters delivered. No more revisions after this point.
• Register the songs with your PRO and publisher.
• Artwork finished at 3000 x 3000, plus a version that reads at thumbnail size.
• Clear every sample and feature in writing.

Day 75 to 60: Build the press kit

• Artist bio in three lengths: one line, 100 words, 300 words.
• Three high-res press photos you actually own the rights to.
• One-sheet: who you are, what the release is, why now, where to listen.
• A quote about the record from you. Every writer will ask for one.
• Canvas, visualizer, or video assets started now, not in release week.

Day 60 to 45: Deliver to the distributor and pitch

• Upload to your distributor. This generates your ISRC and UPC codes.
• Pitch to Spotify editorial through Spotify for Artists. Four weeks out is the real window, not the seven-day minimum.
• Pre-save link live and in every bio.
• Announce the date publicly. The announce is its own content moment.

Permanent guest post, $100. Book it now so the article is published and live weeks before release day. When people search your name during release week, there is already something there that is not just a streaming link.

Day 45 to 30: Press and coverage

• Send the one-sheet to every writer, blog, and playlist curator on your list.
• Confirm which coverage is locked, and stop chasing the ones that are not.
• Line up features, interviews, and any podcast appearances.
• Start teasing: snippets, studio footage, artwork reveal.

Music feature, $500. If the release deserves an anchor moment, this is where you schedule it. Music and film releases only.

Day 30 to 14: Ramp

• Content every few days. Do not go quiet between the announce and the drop.
• Push pre-saves hard. Pre-saves are the strongest day-one signal you control.
• Second wave to anyone who did not reply the first time.
• Confirm every piece of release-week coverage has your assets and the correct date.

Day 14 to release: Release week

• Schedule the press release so its window covers release day, not the day after.
• Everything cued and scheduled by the day before. Release day is not for building assets.
• Ask every feature and collaborator to post on release day.

30-day press release feature, $50, plus newsletter blast, $125. The feature is a launch-window slot, so time it to the drop. The newsletter goes to the AllHipHop Releases list in release week.

Release day to day 30 after: Sustain

• Do not stop the day after. Most artists do, and that is why the numbers fall off a cliff.
• Second visual, remix, live take, or behind-the-scenes at day 7 and day 21.
• Pitch to playlists that only consider tracks already released.
• Pull your numbers at day 30 and write down what actually worked.

60 Days Out: Compressed, still complete

You keep editorial playlist consideration and most press, but the announce and the pre-save window get shorter. The record needs to be finished now.

Best for: A single with a fixed date you cannot move.

Day 60 to 50: Everything at once

• Masters final and artwork done. If either is not ready, move the date instead of compressing further.
• Upload to the distributor immediately. Nothing else can start before the codes exist.
• Bio, three press photos, and the one-sheet in the same week.
• Register with your PRO.

Day 50 to 40: Pitch and announce

• Pitch Spotify editorial. You are inside the useful window but not comfortably.
• Pre-save live, announce the date, and put the link everywhere.
• Send the one-sheet to press the same week you announce.

Permanent guest post, $100. Book it in this window so it publishes with weeks to spare. Turnaround is 24 to 48 hours from payment, so the constraint is when you send the article, not us.

Day 40 to 21: Coverage and content

• Lock press. Chase once, then move on.
• Teaser content on a fixed schedule rather than whenever you remember.
• Confirm coverage dates and make sure everyone has the right release date.

Day 21 to release: Release week

• Schedule the press release so its window covers release day.
• Pre-save push in the final ten days, which is when most of them land anyway.
• Everything scheduled the day before.

30-day press release feature, $50, plus newsletter blast, $125. Same as the 90-day plan. The launch window is the point, so time it to the drop.

Release day to day 30 after: Sustain

• One follow-up asset at day 7 and one at day 21.
• Pitch post-release playlists.
• Pull the numbers at day 30.

30 Days Out: Tight, and you will lose things

Be honest about what is gone. Editorial playlist consideration is realistically off the table and long-lead press will not respond in time. What still works is anything with a guaranteed date.

Best for: A date you cannot move, a feature that just cleared, or a moment you have to react to.

Day 30 to 25: Upload today

• Distributor upload today. Not this week, today. Everything else waits on the codes.
• Pitch Spotify editorial the moment the track is in the system.
• Bio, one photo, one-sheet. Good enough beats not existing.
• Pre-save live within 48 hours.

Day 25 to 14: Buy the certainty

• Stop pitching outlets that might say yes in six weeks. Book coverage that has a date.
• Announce and start teasing at the same time.
• Ask features and collaborators now so they have time to schedule.

Permanent guest post, $100, ordered now. Published within 24 to 48 hours of payment, so it is live and stays live. On a 30-day runway this is the difference between having press and having none. You can also pay to reserve the placement and send the article once it is written.

Day 14 to release: Release week

• Press release scheduled so its window covers release day.
• Daily content in the final week. You do not have the runway to be quiet.
• Everything scheduled the day before.

30-day press release feature, $50, plus homepage feature, $350. The homepage feature buys visibility on release day itself, which matters more when there was no build-up to carry you into it.

Release day to day 30 after: Sustain, and this time it matters more

• The post-release window is now doing the work the pre-release window normally does.
• Second asset at day 7. Third at day 21.
• Pitch every playlist that takes released tracks.
• Start the next release at 90 days out. This is the lesson, not the plan.

When to release, and when not to

Friday is the default

Friday is the industry default because the streaming week and the editorial playlist refresh both run on it. It is also the most crowded day of the week by a distance.

Tuesday is the contrarian option

Analyses of distributor data put Tuesday close behind Friday for streaming activity with far less competition. If you are a small artist who would be buried in the Friday pile, the trade is worth considering.

Windows across the year

• March to May (good): Streaming climbs out of the winter dip, festival season builds, and editorial curators are actively programming. One of the two best windows for an independent release.
• June to August (mixed): Summer favours upbeat records and suffers for everything else. Good for a track built for the season, poor for anything that needs attention rather than volume.
• September to October (good): Post-summer attention returns and the holiday push has not started. The other strong window, and the one most independent artists overlook.
• November to early January (avoid): Holiday listening starts spiking around November 1 and holds until roughly January 2, and the majors stack their biggest releases into the same weeks. A non-holiday independent release here is competing for attention that is already committed. Distributors also queue up: this is exactly when CD Baby asks for six weeks instead of the usual guidance.

The pitch window

Three to four weeks before release day is the window blog and playlist pitching actually lands in. Earlier and there is nothing to listen to yet, later and editorial calendars are full.

Twenty to forty outlets that cover your genre at your level beats a hundred generic sends, and a pitch under 200 words with one streaming link and one real credential beats a three-paragraph press release. The most common reason a good record gets no coverage is a long, unfocused email sent to everyone.

Release planning questions

How far in advance should I plan a music release?

Ninety days if you want editorial playlist consideration and long-lead press. Sixty is workable and keeps most of it. Thirty means dropping the things that need lead time and leaning on coverage with a guaranteed publication date.

What is the hard deadline I cannot miss?

The distributor upload. It generates your ISRC and UPC codes, and nothing downstream, including the Spotify editorial pitch, can happen before it exists. Spotify states seven days as the minimum for pitching, but four weeks is what gets real consideration.

When should I book press coverage?

Book a permanent article 30 to 45 days out so it is live well before release day, and time a press release feature so its window covers the drop. Our turnaround is 24 to 48 hours from payment, so the real constraint is when your article is written, not when we publish it.

Can I still do something with two weeks?

Yes, but only the parts with a guaranteed date. Pitching outlets that might respond in six weeks is not a plan when you have two. Order coverage that publishes on a schedule, put everything into release week and the 30 days after, and start the next one earlier.

Do I need a publicist for this?

For a campaign across dozens of outlets, a publicist earns their fee. For getting a specific story onto a specific publication on a specific date, you are paying a retainer for something you can book directly.

Will this get my song on playlists or ranked in Google?

No, and be careful with anyone who says otherwise. Editorial playlists are Spotify's decision and search results are Google's. What a placement guarantees is publication: a real article, on a real publication, on a date you can plan around.

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