Release strategy

Music marketing and release strategy.

Advertising, content, release planning and design, run by the artist and label services team. Artists and labels on either plan can apply.

Apply now See what's included
One campaign, in sequence Hover a milestone
Release day
Digital advertising

Paid reach on the platforms fans already use.

Meta, TikTok, Spotify and YouTube, planned around a release date rather than run as a standing spend.

Audience targeting

Campaigns built around who the record is for, so the budget reaches listeners with a reason to press play.

MetaTikTok

Fan acquisition

Ads pointed at the moments a listener becomes a follower, then a saver, then someone who turns up for the next release.

SpotifyYouTube
See the self-serve promotion tools
Content

Content that carries the record.

Discovery happens in clips now. The in-house team makes the visuals a release needs across Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok and YouTube.

16:9
9:16
1:1

Video and visualisers

Music videos, visualisers and lyric videos, made in house and cut to the shape each platform actually rewards.

Music videoVisualiserLyric video

Short-form

Vertical clips built from the same shoot, so there is something to post either side of release day instead of one asset on the day itself.

VerticalClips
See video promotion
Release planning

A plan the release runs on.

Guidance from a label services team with decades of combined marketing experience, for artists early on and for labels working a roster.

Release day

Sequencing

What goes out, in what order and how far apart, worked backwards from release day rather than decided the week before.

SinglesAlbum

Timing the beats

Announce, pre-save, single, release day. Each moment placed where it does the most for the one after it.

Pre-saveRelease day
Apply for artist and label services
Design packages

The site, the store and the merch on one look.

Branding that holds from the logo to the shirt, with somewhere for fans to buy it between releases.

Branding and website

Logo, artwork direction and a site that looks like the record instead of sitting next to it.

LogoWebsite

Store and merch

An online storefront and a merch line, set up as somewhere fans come back to between releases.

StorefrontMerch
See design in artist and label services
Common questions

What artists and labels ask before applying.

The honest answers on who this is for, what distribution costs, and what the team actually does.

Who are label and artist services for?

Artists with more than one release planned, and labels working a roster. Services are offered by application rather than switched on with a plan, and you can apply from either Grow or Pro. The team looks at the project before the plan you happen to be on.

How much does music distribution cost?

Distribution runs on an annual plan. Grow is $19.99 a year and Pro is $34.99 a year, and both keep 100% of your royalties. Marketing and release strategy sit outside that, scoped to the project once an application is accepted.

See distribution pricing

What can you do for my music?

Advertising across Meta, TikTok, Spotify and YouTube. Video, visualisers and short-form content made in house. A release plan the campaign runs on. Design covering the website, the store and the merch. Most projects use more than one of those.

Why partner with Unchained?

The marketing sits next to the distribution, the mastering and the physical release, under one team that can see the whole record. Applications are reviewed by the A&R team, and each deal is scoped to your project or roster rather than sold as a package.

Apply

Tell us what you are releasing.

Applications go to the artist and label services team. If it fits, they come back with a plan for the release rather than a pitch.

Apply now Not ready? Start with the self-serve tools