I then reached the stage of my project where the songs were completed and needed to work on the promotion process. I decided to release my EP under the alias ‘gannnet’ which I had already released a single under. Therefore, I already had a small audience and social media platforms to work with.
I reached out to an artist called Isma Gul Hasan through Instagram. I loved her work and the way she explored environmental issues and gender in her art. She listened to my songs and heard my ideas and said she would love to work on a project with me. From there, we liaised via zoom and Whatsapp, sharing ideas. I shared the vision of the EP, and the style of hers’ that I thought would fit the EP. She then sent me several first drafts which I gave feedback on, and after that she sent a few second draft options, and I picked my favourite one. It was so fun to work with an artist and to collaborate and share creative ideas about portraying environmental issues in art.
First drafts
Second drafts
Final chosen piece:
I then had to choose a release date. I ended up choosing the 21st May, as it gave me a good few weeks after I had finished the masters to sort out the artwork and contact blogs and promoters. For my own promotion process, I created a calendar to keep myself on track with online promotion to make sure I continued to remind people about the EP and make sure they would hear it when it came out.
As you can see above, this process took quite a lot of regular posting in order to remind people about it. I also wanted to share a short taster of each song with people so they could see what kind of thing the EP is. Since it’s quite different to my debut single, which was very acoustic, I wanted people to be aware of the style of this EP so they wouldn’t get such a shock when they listened to it. Over the 12th to the 16th May, I posted a taster of each song on Instagram and Facebook, accompanied by a video that aesthetically matched the song. Each video had a border that was the same every time to link all the videos and songs together, and so it would become recognisable to people scrolling past.
Screenshots from each taster video
The videos can be watched on the gannnet Instagram page here
In the middle of posting these tasters, a week before the EP release date, I decided to allow people to purchase the EP as downloads on Bandcamp. This meant people who were really excited to hear it or wanted to support me could purchase it early for £4, instead of waiting for it to come out for free. This was very successful, up to the 25th May, I have sold 12 copies of the EP for download specifically.
From the start of the song tasters, I encouraged people to ‘presave’ the EP. Presaving is the streaming era solution to pre-orders; it means the release will be saved straight into your music library on your chosen streaming platform as soon as it is released. It also shows how many people are waiting for and looking forward to your release. As of the day before my release, I had 17 presaves.
As well as my own promotional outlets, I wanted to reach further to other promoters, blogs and radio stations to promote my song. I decided for this I must create an EPK (Electronic Press Kit), to make it easy for music promoters to access all information about gannnet and my release. With the help of a music journalist friend, we created an EPK presenting information and quotes about my EP, and a bio about gannnet and music making. In the EPK folder I included images they can use, the information document, and an unlisted Soundcloud link so promoters could listen before it was released.
As of 25th May, the songs on the EP have reached a total of 493 streams on Spotify and 24 online streams on Bandcamp. The songs feature on several curated playlists, Female Rising Stars, Female Voices and Dark Side of Lights.
I have received several offers of radio play - Use Me Once was played on BBC Radio Sheffield's 'Upload' show, and they also interviewed me about the EP. This will air on Wednesday 2nd June 2021 at 9pm. Treesong will be played on Sheffield Live on Wednesday 26th May on the 1pm show, and will also feature on their playlist. One of the EP songs will feature on Micro Music radio (date TBC). The EP is also to be reviewed by Sheffield alternative music promoter, Buds and Spawn.
Since the EP release, I have also been offered a gig at the Pink Wafer Stage at Peddler market in July.
Feedback I have received on the EP:
"I've listened to this so many times and it's so good [...] this and Vancouver are legit some of my fave music of the year"
"Makes me feel so many things"
"Stupidly good"
Overall, I am really happy with the feedback I have received so far and am looking forward to hearing the response to it on radio and when played live.
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