Music Release & Marketing Guide
By Marvin Kuijs · marvinkuijs.com
Marvin Kuijs · marvinkuijs.com
The Step-by-Step Guide That Teaches You the Entire Music Release and Marketing Process in 20 Minutes
Cut all the bullshit. Only the priorities. All done in 8 simple steps.
28 Years of Music Industry Experience, Distilled Into One Simple Course
I created this course based on 28 years of experience in the music industry. I started my first record label when I was 18. It was distributed by EMI and later BMG. Back then there were no simple courses like this, no clear step-by-step plan. I had to figure everything out myself through mistakes and trial and error.
I often think back and wish I had a course like this when I was young. It would have saved me years.
This is why I built this course to be simple. Extremely simple. A clear, step-by-step method you can follow in the right sequence without getting overwhelmed. No complicated theory, just the exact actions to take.
Important
Start at Page 1 and move in order. Do not skip pages. Don't jump ahead. Follow the steps exactly, page by page. If you do this, your release will be set up correctly, your registrations and metadata will be clean, and your royalties will come in a structured way and on time.
A good strategy
Do one task per day. Maximum 1 hour a day. If you follow this rhythm, you will not feel overwhelmed and you will have a fully prepared, major label standard release and artist branding in just 8 days.
My goal is to help you release music professionally and efficiently, without wasting money on useless or scammy services, so you can focus on what matters most: making great music.
Questions? Email: ar@marvinkuijs.com
Prepare Your Cover Artwork: Your First Impression Matters
Cover artwork is one of the most underrated parts of a music release. I still see many artists take a random holiday picture or a selfie from their garden, put their name on it and think that is cover artwork. That is not how it works.
Your cover artwork is one of the most important elements of your release because it's the very first thing people see before they even hear your song. Music buyers, streamers, playlist curators, music directors and industry people judge visually first. It is called "Artwork" for a reason. It represents your branding, your identity and the perceived value of your music.
Poor cover artwork instantly damages the presentation of your release. Professional artwork immediately increases the perceived value of your music. Take this step very seriously.
If You Can't Do It Yourself
- Use AI to help you create strong artwork concepts (not recommended, but it's a free alternative)
- Use a professional service like CoverArtFactory if you want a high-quality, industry-standard look
Industry Standards You Must Follow
- Your artist name and song title MUST be clearly visible on the artwork
- Industry-standard cover size is 3000 x 3000 pixels
- Artwork must be a perfect square
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Master Your Release: The Final Professional Polish
Mastering is essential because it gives your music its final professional polish. It balances your track, controls loudness, fixes frequency issues, and makes sure your song translates well everywhere: phone, car, club, radio, Spotify, playlists etc.
Very important: Do not master your own song. Mastering is a specific profession. A real mastering engineer works in calibrated rooms, uses specialized gear, and has a trained ear to make objective decisions you simply cannot make on your own music anymore.
Why LANDR?
A great and affordable online mastering tool is LANDR. I have used them for years and they are amazing. You get mastering for a fraction of the price of a studio and still get a very competitive, release-ready sound in minutes.
Important note: LANDR also offers music distribution, but in this course you will not use LANDR for distribution. They are included here only for mastering, because later in the course I will give you a better distribution option with more advantages.
Mastering Rules You Must Follow
- Always upload your song as a WAV file, never MP3. MP3 is compressed and lower quality
- After the mastering is done, always download your master as a WAV file, not MP3, to keep the highest possible audio quality
Mastering done right will instantly increase the quality and impact of your release.
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Email: Your Most Valuable Fan Connection
It is extremely important for artists to collect email addresses directly from their fans. Social media is not stable, platforms change, algorithms change, trends change, and some even disappear completely.
Years ago, I had a DJ signed to my label who had over 4 million followers on MySpace. When MySpace died, his entire career collapsed overnight. If he would have collected even 400,000 email addresses, he would still have had direct access to his audience.
Email is the only channel you fully own and control. When you have direct email contact with your fans, nobody can take that away. You can promote your new release, tickets, merch, anything, at any moment.
Start Simple: Linktree
If you cannot build a full website yet, use a Linktree page. This is a great free way to start. On Linktree you can link your socials, Spotify, YouTube, and you can also collect email addresses directly from your fans.
Level Up: Noiseyard
If you want to present yourself as a serious artist with real branding, build your own website. Noiseyard is a website builder created specifically for independent musicians. It includes newsletter tools, your own domain name, music store, merch options, fan sign up forms, and much more. Starts at around €6 a month.
Distribute Your Music: Choose the Right Distributor
It's very important for artists to choose the right music distribution company. Some distributors take a percentage of your sales, for example 10%. These platforms look "free", but you are always paying 10% of your income forever. Other distributors work with a fixed yearly fee, like DistroKid (around €24 per year), and you can release unlimited music under your own artist name.
The Math Is Simple
If you sell €10,000 in music in one year, a 10% royalty distributor takes €1,000 from you. With DistroKid you only pay around €24 per year, and you keep 100% of your royalties and full ownership of your music.
DistroKid Benefits
- Provides an ISRC code and barcode
- Built-in royalty split tools for producers/co-writers
- Distributes to all major platforms worldwide
- You keep 100% of your income
From my experience, I really recommend DistroKid because it keeps your income in your own hands, you stay independent, and you don't lose money unnecessarily.
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Publishing & Rights Royalties: The Money Most Artists Forget
Critical: Publishing & neighbouring rights royalties are NOT the same as sales royalties. Sales royalties (income from streams + downloads) are paid out by your distributor like DistroKid. Publishing royalties and rights royalties are collected through another system.
After your music is distributed, you must immediately register your songs to collect publishing and neighbouring rights royalties. Every time your music is played on radio, TV, commercials, Netflix series, bars, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, etc. OR when you perform your own music live, you earn royalties.
Performing Rights Organization: They collect publishing royalties for the composers and songwriters.
Neighbouring Rights Organization: They collect neighbouring rights royalties for the performers/musicians on the recording and the master owner (usually the one who paid the studio costs).
The Solution: Sentric Music
Every country has different PRO's and NRO's. Because your music will be available and played worldwide, it's impossible to register your music manually with every organisation worldwide. Registering only in your home country is not enough anymore.
Sentric Music takes care of all global royalty administration for you.
- Register your songs in 200+ territories worldwide
- Collect publishing + neighbouring rights royalties globally
- Offer sync placement opportunities (TV/Film/Ads)
- Transparent contracts and you keep 100% of your copyrights
- Online dashboard to track income and manage your songs
You only need to upload and register your songs once, Sentric does all the work worldwide. You can join for free and they only take 20% of what they collect for you.
FREE TO JOIN
Promoting Your Music the Right Way: No Bots, No Fake Streams
Now that your release is distributed and set up to earn royalties, the next step is promotion. Your music will not sell or stream by itself, people need to discover it.
STOP!! 99% of "Spotify promotion companies" online who promise guaranteed streams are fake. They use bots, click farms, fake playlists and artificial streaming networks. Using these services is a waste of money and extremely risky. Spotify can detect fake streams and you can get fines, your music can be removed, and your artist account can even be blocked permanently.
The Only Safe and Proven Tool: Intellijend
Launch
They start ads that follow the "Jend Strategy", a way of spending more at the beginning to quickly boost Spotify's algorithm.
Optimize
Every day, the system checks your ads. Bad ads get stopped automatically. Good ads get more budget so you grow faster.
Scale
They track important Spotify data that most artists never see. This shows you exactly when Spotify starts pushing your music through playlists like Discover Weekly, Radio, and Autoplay.
The Science Behind It
Intellijend studied a full year of Spotify data from thousands of artists. They discovered:
- Most streams come from algorithmic sources like Radio, Autoplay, and Discover Weekly
- Spotify boosts songs that grow quickly (stream velocity), not just songs with many streams
- Spending more in the first days creates the "spike" Spotify reacts to
- Releasing music every 28 days helps your growth multiply over time
Basically, it's like having your own digital marketing expert, but automated. No confusing setup, no agencies, no guesswork, just plug in your track, set your budget, and the system does the rest.
It's built for independent artists who want better results from their promotions, more REAL Spotify streams, and more fans, while saving a ton of time.
You can join them for as little as $24.99 a month.
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The Next Important Step: Radio Promotion
Why iPluggers for your global radio promotion?
Even in the streaming era, radio is still one of the most powerful music discovery channels in the world. Radio reaches listeners who don't follow you yet and aren't searching for you. Radio airplay builds credibility, creates new fans worldwide and drives extra streams across all platforms. And every radio play also earns you royalties (which will be collected via Sentric Music from step 5).
Established in 2010, iPluggers is considered the founder of digital radio promotion. They use their own dedicated digital promotion platform that serves over 35,000 radio stations worldwide with quality new music.
Very important: They not just email blast random radio stations. Radio stations have signed up for an account with them, indicating which genres of music they want to receive. So your release is promoted efficiently and purposefully to music directors, music programmers and DJs that want to receive your release!
100% Guarantee on Results
They stand behind their work with a full guarantee on promotional results.
Real-Time Download Reports
See which radio station in which country downloaded your release as it happens.
Feedback & Interview Requests
Receive direct radio feedback and interview requests from stations worldwide.
Forever Available
Your release stays available for airplay forever with your own label and artist profile.
A 4-week promotion campaign for a single starts at €499. If you want global exposure outside your social bubble and want your music heard by real listeners worldwide, professional radio promotion with iPluggers is the most effective and reliable way to grow.
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Compilation Placements Without Losing Your Rights
Being placed on compilation albums is extremely valuable because your music gets bundled together with other great artists, which exposes you to new fanbases, new markets and new listeners you normally would never reach. Compilation albums also generate royalties (just like normal releases), so you earn income every time the compilation sells or streams.
Why Compigram?
Fills "Appears On" Section
These releases start filling the "Appears On" section on your Spotify artist profile, increasing visibility, credibility and discoverability inside Spotify's ecosystem.
Long-Term Performance
Compilation placements perform better long-term than playlists because compilation albums stay online forever, get re-sold and continue getting traffic for years.
Keep 100% Rights
Compigram is the only company that offers compilation album placements without taking your rights. You stay 100% owner of your music at all times.
Compigram creates and releases compilation albums in every thinkable genre, sub-genre and mood: EDM, Rock, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Classical, World, Holiday, Kids, Blues, Pop, Latin and many more.
Features
- Get compiled with other great artists
- Get noticed in new worldwide markets
- Receive royalties
- Grow your fanbase
- Non-exclusive (you stay in full control)
- Works even if your music is already distributed via DistroKid
- Free to join for your first song
FREE TO JOIN
You Don't Have To Do This Alone
You've laid the foundation for releasing your music professionally, promoting it, earning royalties, and keeping full ownership of your rights. Now, if you're seeking personal guidance, feedback, or a seasoned industry eye on your journey, I'm here as your A&R.
Your Music
Get expert advice on your new songs before release, covering production, arrangement, mix direction, and commercial strength.
Your Brand
Refine your branding and artist positioning, along with a strategic release and growth plan to elevate your presence.
Your Success
Ensure you've executed all steps correctly and receive guidance to expand further when you're ready to scale your career.
Book a 1-on-1 Consultancy Session
As a student of this course, you receive an exclusive 10% discount on my Music Growth Audit. Transform your investment from 199 Euro to just 179 Euro.
You're not doing this alone; you have me as a real human, ready to guide, advise, and support you.
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