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Think of the five pillars as creating a foundation left to right, and the six phases moving top to bottom through a campaign or project release. By approaching releases through these phases the artist get’s the opportunity to keep their mindset focused on priorities without losing the spark that brought them to their craft in the first place. Phase work is important in a world of content creation that demands we be “always on” which is unrealistic and leads to burn out. Even if the artist is in the middle of a release, it is beneficial to mentally go back through each of these phases and identify which phase the release currently resides.

1. Discovery

   Every project and career benefits from a deep and intrusive discovery period. Asking questions like “why are we doing this” and “what are the goals we have” will focus every step of the campaign. Discovery work will serve you time and again for each release or campaign because it allows the opportunity to celebrate small wins when reflecting on goals previous achieved, and to get really realistic about what to expect in the next release.

2. Setup

   The setup period is often rushed and not nearly as thorough as it should be. Slow down and remember that slow and steady wins the race. But remember, setup doesn’t just include the completion of the music and content. During setup all the research and pitch plans should be completely dialed. This will enable quick decision making if/when an emerging moment happens and things start rolling fast.

3. Activation

   This phase is the most exciting. It’s like keeping a secret. You’ve completed all the art and content and now you’re distributing and pitching it to potential partners and teams while building the connection to the audience all with big anticipation for the actual release. When activation is done properly your release will accelerate. If it’s rushed or fumbled you can expect the same from your release.

4. Release

   The phase where music is actively being releases ideally will be fairly long. But it can’t go on forever. What’s most important is that you finish with a bang. Make sure that all the releases are building to something exciting that will feel like putting a bow on the project. This type of approach gets the most engagement from fans and partners.

5. Cycle

   Even though we wrapped up the release phase in a very concrete way, you can still be strategic about reminding fans and partners about the release, especially if it has seen good results. Artists most often want to jump to the next project so it’s vital that team members such as managers help create a robust cycle strategy that will eventually move to an autopilot situation until the next campaign.

6. Vacation

   The call for artists to be “content creators” and “always-on” is unrealistic and leads to burn out. If you plan a period of time to refresh and reboot the inspiration it will prevent everything crumbling to pieces. Vacation might be the most important phase because it’s where the spark for the next release will often grow into a flame. But it needs to be planned and executed just like any other phase and most importantly, have an end date.

Are you ready to work with a team?

If you have been working hard on your development and your ready to bring on your first team member, you can schedule a free strategy session with one of our artists managers and discuss opportunities to work together!