I got this idea from Amelia Hruby’s amazing resource: 100 ways to share your work and life off social media. Amelia’s podcast and writing have been so helpful to me in getting off social media, and I hope you will check her out!

1. Announce your release on your email newsletter (start your email newsletter!!!)

2. Leave a few postcards or business cards at your local café(s)

3. Put up posters all over town

4. Send posters to friends in other places and ask them to put up posters all over THEIR towns

5. Do an interview at your campus or community radio station

6. Put an ad in a local publication

7. Text an advance listen of a single to a new person every day for a month (don’t do this if you’re signed to a label that cares about leaks)

8. Write a series of personal essays about each song on the album and publish them on your website

9. Put a QR code directing people to website on intriguing posters around town

10. Reach out to blogs, zines, and other DIY publications to collaborate/place ads

11. Pitch yourself for podcast interviews

12. Pitch for CBC interviews

13. Host a listening party at your house, or online

14. Plan a release show

15. Rent a billboard

16. Tour your release regionally

17. Organize a workshop or hang-out relevant to your release (e.g. beach cleanup! nature sound walk! yoga class! dance party!)

18. Sell merchandise (stickers, shirts, totes, matchbooks, chapstick, socks!)

19. Make collaborative playlists

20. Make actual physical mixtapes

21. Make a scavenger hunt around town with clues leading to a special merch bundle

22. Write guest posts on other artists’ blogs/email newsletters

23. Partner with local shops for events or products

24. Print download cards and put them in random copies of aligned books in bookstores

25. Set up a table at markets or events

26. Create multi-media guides to your record, like different kinds of liner notes. Zines, videos, podcasts, whatever!

27. Offer a lyric book with merch purchases

28. Use online platforms like Bandcamp to promote your release

29. Add a link to your email signature

30. Share in relevant Discord servers where self-promotion is encouraged

31. Start a Patreon

32. Pitch to playlist curators

33. Mail handwritten letters or postcards to supporters with a personal note and a link or QR code

34. Trade features with another artist in your newsletter (you promote theirs, they promote yours)

35. Offer behind-the-scenes content to your email list

36. Collaborate with a visual artist or dancer to make work inspired by the release

37. Collaborate with artists to remix your songs

38. Collaborate with artists to cover your songs

39. Submit your work for awards and residencies

40. Launch a phone hotline that people can call to hear a song

41. Partner with a local brewery or cafe for a pop-up listening booth

42. Draw a map of places that are relevant to the album’s creation

43. Reach out to local businesses to ask them to add your music to their in-store playlists

44. Create an “album advent calendar” — 1 email or letter per song with stories, lyrics, or art

45. Host a fundraising show for mutual aid

46. Make stickers and put them up all over

47. Put a sign in your yard (this is from Amelia’s list- love it)

48. Commission a mural

49. Teach a class

50. Mail handwritten cards to anyone who pre-orders your songs (I did this once, it was really nice)