9 Ways You Are DESTROYING Your Music Release (How To Fix)

I see so many artists making easy, simple mistakes that are hindering your music instead of helping you build streams and build your socials and Spotify.
In this video I take you through 10 ways you are destroying your music releases and more importantly, how you can fix them so you can hit your goals, get your music heard, release your singles and albums successfully and build a genuine, authentic fanbase.
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Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
00:23 - Stop Pushing Your Song
01:35 - Give Your Release Enough Leadtime
03:49 - Micro-Content
05:16 - DK Music Business Academy
05:35 - The Four Box Strategy
07:23 - Providing Value
08:37 - High Quality Content
10:06 - This Is NOT All About The Music
11:14 - The 1 Second World
12:12 - Planning Your Content
14:04 - Releasing Music Like It's 2020
15:05 - Outro
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Serious? Let’s go.
👉 The No1 Music Business Academy Worldwide: www.dk-mba.com
📈 FREE 23 Day Plan For Your Next Music Release: training.dk-mba.com/23dayplan
THE INFO:
📲 Instagram: @damiankeyes1
📲 TikTok: @damiankeyes
🌎 1-1 Consultations: damiankeyes.com/consultation
🔥 My Agency damiankeyes.com/theagency
✉️ Email: [e-mail]
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📚 MY BOOKS:
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👇 ABOUT ME:
Hey! I'm Damian Keyes and I've worked with musicians every day of my life for the past 20 years. The internet is deeply untrusting understandably and here is my background so you can have the full picture.
When I was 18, I was signed to a major label (dropped 6 months later) and at 23 I co-founded a Music University in Europe called BIMM (valued at $300M). I’m also a bass player, I’ve played for a number of artists including Eric Clapton, Alanis Morrisette and Billy Cobham. I initially retired at 30, but realised that life gets boring if you’re not building!
I have always been in-between the music industry and education which is how I ended up building my KZbin channel - I’ve been teaching artists how to release music long before it was a ‘niche’! I now educate artists around the world with my Academy, KZbin channel and I work directly with labels internationally alongside owning a live agency and management company.
It’s great to meet you and looking forward to working together on your music!

[@DamianKeyes]

Scroll up and smash that like button for my particularly dashing shirt today!

[@NeoluxMusic]

10/10 make a module in DKMBA about how to have enough confidence to wear shirts like yours.

[@DamianKeyes]

Hahah it’s coming

[@FraserAnderson]

Thank you Damien. Hugely helpful video.

[@eremiymeek6439]

@Damian Keyes I have a question, I have a TikTok page with 200k followers but I didn’t not grow it based on my personality or my music, and anytime I post anything outside the niche to which I’ve grown it, the TikTok algorithm does a good job of not letting content reach a good audience … How do I make them engage with my music / personality

[@ArnoldVeeman]

Explained again in a great way. Thank you for your inspiring stuff. For I am really struggling with this for my taste of music is possibly too specific... some folks say. People tell me "ah you've got to do more appealing stuff, write English songs, write simpler chords, simpler harmonies..." You know? But I don't want to do all that... I want to do what I want, because it's giving me the strength and inspiration to go on in life; hopefully inspiring others to live their dream live too, which occasionally happens. I have to check the niches of the niches - I suppose - to create micro marketing videos? At least having to consider it, yet I am a little anxious to do it because of what you've stated yourself. Something like: before you know it, it's a different time. I am a 49 years old, completely dedicated music composer/orchestrator and songwriter (probably more in the realms of Paolo Conte, John Williams (the composer not the guitarist) and Leonard Cohen). There lies my focus. Never did I feel the urge to appeal to a young audience and screaming girls; on the contrary. So how can I apply your information as effective as possible in this context? Really something I need to consider.

[@samsanchez8997]

I hear you. I am releasing a first song this Friday but I will tell you my house party is lame to nonexistent. It is very hard to build everything you say I should do in a short amount of time. So at some point I had to just decide to start moving forward with a release and continue to build as I go. If I didn’t, I’d never get anything released.

[@DamianKeyes]

Yeah definitely release and build at the same time! 😊😊

[@davidtguitar]

I can relate too well :)

[@kairu5607]

Relatable! Thanks for sharing and congratulations on your release!!

[@samsanchez8997]

@@DamianKeyes thank you for the feedback and all of the invaluable information you provide! The song was written and recorded back in 2005 and because of YOUR work I’m deciding to present it to more than just the folks at my local church! Thank you for the encouraging videos.

[@samsanchez8997]

@@kairu5607 thank you for the encouragement. I enjoyed your four songs on your channel. What language are the two new ones going into from time to time?

[@minamideguchi]

I always love your videos Damian, it's really helped me consider more about my releases and building an audience. Thanks as usual!

[@laurenblainebamartistmgt]

I appreciate you, Damian. You are always so sincerely trying to help us stubborn old hard headed creators out here. Lol! Seriously, your content is really good. I trust you and your information. Dropping an Effron White single on June 12. Hoping I can get all my ducks in a row to make it go viral.

[@bodydouble7287]

Helpful as always! I have a release coming up in a month and this is great to hear!

[@MelodyleeHayden1]

Thank you I may have just made some all of those mistakes time for a change -love what you do as always Love Melody Lee

[@SavvyTurtle]

Great job thank you for taking time out your valuable day! DKMBA 4 Life!

[@sirvictormusic]

Brilliant tips as always. You're a hero Damian !

[@greensleeves32]

Just discovered your videos, thank you for so much valuable content! Makes me want to join your course for sure. Keep up the great work

[@TheGourmetRabbit]

Amazing, thank you man for all that you do. The music world owes you a huge thanks!

[@tolunayofficial]

Very very very good video. Thanks for the giving the effort to inform musicians and all the people about the music marketing strategies and making it in an honest way. This video actualy made me realise some crucial parts of how things might work. Good job!

[@ConfydeMusic]

Fantastic video as always Damo!!

[@SmokeeWhine]

You always provide really valuable information. I've gotten better since I subscribed to your channel. Thanks for doing this, sincerely bro!

[@jakelindseymusic]

Thanks for all you do Damo!

[@markpalmar70]

Totally into it, cheers Damian.

[@joebobgrizzler9963]

Great advice... my band (Joe Bob & the Grizzlers, also known as "the Grizzlers".. ) will be dropping our fourth EP very soon. That's THE GRIZZLERS. You can listen to our diversity of music here on KZbin .. and other streaming services. Once again... that's The Grizzlers !

[@simongreyson3477]

This is so good, i am definately guilty of a few of these! The 1 second bit made me think, thanks Damo

[@DamianKeyes]

So glad to help bro!

[@PattyRichardson1]

You are amazing!!!! 💙

[@tochybrown8022]

This is the best KZbin tutorial I have watched on this app Thanks allot sir I really learnt a lot

[@karenmbellamy5642]

Thank you so much Damian. Very educational.

[@automationtraveler]

Great content on this channel.

[@tips777]

Love this creativity is the key, being different thinking outside the box and dedicating time to the game and you will get the results. Thanks Damien got a release out on the 7th and I'm gonna do some major brainstorming in regards to Tik tok videos and ideas thank you brother I'm in the community too any ideas for a rap artist? ❤️💯

[@kimberlycain-music]

ALWAYS valuable, Damian! Thank you for all the time you put into teaching.

[@DamianKeyes]

So glad to help! 💪💪

[@pilipemo]

I actually released my first single on April 1st. I actually didn't know a lot til now. But I mainly did it because I got the most basic plan from Distrokid which only releases the song nearly instantly. Now i'm planning on getting the musician plus plan to set a specific release date.

[@Barreid]

Love this!

[@Fossan93]

Always so wise! Thank you.

[@daveystrange]

Love the car analogy!

[@Pumbothegreat]

Thanks Damian! Needed this

[@DamianKeyes]

So glad to help!

[@clb3664]

I'm stubborn and thickheaded and this got thru to me, thanks!

[@sergiosantosrosa4776]

DEFINITELY INSIGHTFUL. THANK YOU

[@samjrmusic]

The reason I quit music last month. I was doing music for a full time for about a year, but after I saw my numbers just dwindle, and nobody really supported the music. I decided to quit. I made my own videos produce my own songs, did all the daily marketing,. People just didn't care. That is why I quit music.

[@MarshaMarlonMusic]

Soon releasing my first own song. Thanks for the usefull information :) will keep annoying ppl with it till they WANT to listen :P

[@suzerain]

Damian always dropping gems! 💎💎💎

[@Cashnova_will_be_a_goat]

nice shirt bro , thank you for the content

[@dontrilla-royalty-5836]

So on point👍🏾

[@PKestonia]

always brilliant content

[@Daniloofficialmusic]

I never leave with out learning minimum 5 New things from all your videos!

[@DamianKeyes]

Ahh thank you 🙏😊

[@ned316]

This video is life changing

[@mrfleamino9350]

Thank you

[@Zitalightofficial]

I love this advice

[@rualalai9860]

Really love your videos Damian! I found you in 2020 when I knew I wanted to get serious about music, and I've continued to find all of your insight valuable till now. Also I understand what I need to post or do on my social media by observing what I like or what makes me engage with other people's social media/brands etc. I don't want to see some random person playing their instrument all the time. I want their unique stories, I want something new or something fun to watch, I want a vibrant party. So why would I post myself singing or playing my instrument all the time?

[@i-milityhighmilitance268]

Ok so I’m a upcoming artist who wants to start releasing my own music under my label *high militance entertainment* I’ve already signed up with cd baby, what’s the next move or thing I should do before going a head to release?

[@laikhel1388]

Any micro-content suggestions for music prerelease/promotion?

[@markpalmar70]

Hi Damian, how do we push people over to spotify? I saw the lad there with his great song Stuck In The Middle, he just told them to go there. ? ... I told royalty you are a genius in your field recently btw.

[@lyudmilaworrall295]

Supper

[@samsanchez8997]

I realize this is a little off topic, but when I release a song with Distrokid, how do I put the song on my KZbin account? Right now it shows ”Various Artists”.

[@414FinesseKing]

What do we do with the songs we dropped already should we take em down and redrop them?

[@eremiymeek6439]

@Damian Keyes I have a question, I have a TikTok page with 200k followers but I didn’t not grow it based on my personality or my music, and anytime I post anything outside the niche to which I’ve grown it, the TikTok algorithm does a good job of not letting content reach a good audience … How do I make them engage with my music / personality ? Thanks for reply 🙏🏽

[@DamianKeyes]

Can you start using your music as a sound underneath the other videos? I totally get that when you do something different the audience you have may not be into it and so the watch time reflects it and then doesn’t get pushed out. So I’d recommend trying to slowly add new things in and seeing how that goes rather than adding in something different

[@twodeepupyours508]

😬Im NOT being negative but.... 🤔🤔Guess what people🤔....You still need to make music to have a career as a music artist AND📢 it cannot 😁suck. Your MUSIC career still STARTS with you releasing MUSIC, then more MUSIC 📢that doesn't 😁suck👌then EVERYTHING that Mr Keyes says to do will absolutely work, and you will be successful, and then you owe him many pints👏

[@i-milityhighmilitance268]

You’re wearing a particularly dashing shirt eh lol not bad though.. respect

[@mirascream]

I would never have imagined that in the 21st century my release would be destroyed by a war.

[@methodofkolishin]

I have to disagree with micro-content over music video perspective... IMO The music videos are for the long-term. The micro-content is for the short-term. And I don't see why one should go "all in" on gimmicky micro-content if it won't even last in the first place? From my experience, the conversion winds up being pretty low there, since people are typically onto the next piece of content almost instantly. I understand short-form micro content it's a popular, money-free and attractive way of potentially "getting numbers". But there's a difference between being seen and being heard... And I can't help but think people would have a better outcome using paid targeted ads and optimizing from there. At least that way, you maintain and control who/what your audience is. Otherwise, you're in algorithm hell, at the mercy of whatever platforms method of organic reach, trying to do every hashtag or challenge in the book just to stay relevant. I appreciate the video though!

[@luddeskutt]

So what am I going to do now that my music is ready for release that takes 1,5 months?? I have set up fb page and instagram, that only took 1 day. I am shopping around waiting for an answer from Frontiers but got DistroKid to be prepared. Where can I shop good rock music? What else can I do for 30+ days? -Pete Roxx

[@VARVIS_]

Hey your Dk business program link is broken! Great content btw

[@DamianKeyes]

Hey! That’s strange I’ll double check as it should be ok. Head to www.dk-mba.com 🤟😊

[@vxe1392]

well it's been 1 year what's the consensus on the value of micro content now?

[@timcondor3569]

Am I the only person who thinks more people will know Coldplay than have heard yellow now? And even then using Coldplay as the one hit wonder band example is savage 😄

[@DamianKeyes]

The worst part is I love Coldplay, I just find it funny because they are so hated amongst many musicians when they are an incredible band.. but I can’t tell people that it’s a secret 😊

[@JamesKoanIII]

I'm starting to wonder if Damian Keyes secretly likes Coldplay. 😆 I've heard him mention Coldplay more than his love for Rage against the Machine.

[@DamianKeyes]

Lol I do like Coldplay!

[@mufu725]

I’m a raver by heart but stick on some Coldplay I’m game!

[@NagoyaHouseHead]

This guy is amazing but also giving me anxiety. Like how do I do all of this while holding down a 50 hour a week day job ?

[@simon_patterson]

Do it in the other 118 available hours in the week. Simple! 😄

[@NagoyaHouseHead]

@@simon_patterson Why didn't I think of that. Cheers bother !

[@diegoalvarez9651]

You need to be very very organized. And to have a strong content strategy. I recomend you to learn how to create and organize a marketing campaing. I think this is the path. First plan the strategy and them execute it.

[@NagoyaHouseHead]

@@diegoalvarez9651 Thank you Diego

[@saulmedrano4869]

So fuckin useful!!!

[@mindymild]

There’s a fine line between desperation and interesting on social media

[@DamianKeyes]

Agreed! The word is value 😊

[@JulienKozak]

Were you implying that the two music video snippets at 9:58 and 10:00 not good enough in the sense of standing out? Cause if not, I gotta stop wasting my money on such music videos.

[@cole.alexander]

do i actually have to release my music for people to hear it? ohhhh...

[@TimidMC]

You get the pint whenever I see you for the DMX inclusion.

[@DamianKeyes]

Done 💪💪

[@jesse_cole]

This video reminds me of a post I saw by James Hetfield this morning... he said, "Advice for younger artists? Start with the MUSIC. If the songs aren't there, and you can't drive around enjoying the music, people aren't going to care about the other things you do." And I thought... NOPE, James Hetfield is now completely out of touch with the "music" industry. Today, the way to "success" is to pour paint on your drums in the hopes that people will pay attention to you while you play a beat for 3 seconds. They don't want a "song." That's almost completely irrelevant now. The "game," as Damien put it, is to beg for zoomer attention like a thirsty whore in whatever weakass fashion you can think of. If a band today could write an album as good as "Master of Puppets" (and they can't), 13 seconds of it would be more worth your time than everything on Tik Tok combined. But that's flipped on its head, because if that same band released its entire CATALOG it wouldn't get as many instant likes as a picture of some girl's fat ass in booty shorts in a mirror selfie. So kids, if you want to be in the "music" industry, don't worry about the music. Damien keeps brining up examples like Coldplay and Foo Fighters because those bands actually started their bands back when you _could_ write songs and get noticed for them. No, no... YOUR JOB is to work hard every day to keep up with "meme culture" and feed as much thirsty sewage into the internet abyss as your broadband's upload speeds will allow. Then BEG. BEG for them to look at it. Because if you get really lucky, and you stay vigilant on the latest memes, you'll get a fairly steady stream of likes and comments on your disposable content, and everyone will let you know that it's "fire fire fire 100 100 100."

[@Quatrapuntal]

That's depressing as hell, but accurate sadly. The level of saturation is just overwhelming. There is so much quality music that is not getting heard or given a chance because it is drowned in a sea of meaningless 'content'. I think trying to keep up with all this and pressurising yourself to constantly come up with stuff (and then the inevitable disappointment of it not getting as much attention as you wanted or it deserved) just makes you start to hate something which you are supposed to love. I have come to the conclusion that I will post things when I want to, it doesn't actually seem to affect algorithms that much if you don't post all the time in my experience, contrary to what many say.

[@zazenbo]

this is a very accurate comment

[@chumdm3]

How does he know me so well?

[@Cashnova_will_be_a_goat]

i got a pint ready lad...... what do you like to drink?

[@twodeepupyours508]

The world doesn't expect you to be able to do everything, the world does expect you to do everything you can though.

[@MrIantodd]

If following your tips gets me 10 new fans, I will buy you 2 pints! Tbf, I probably owe you a crate

[@22dubzclipz47]

Notepad every time

[@victorgrauer5834]

What's up guys? Really????

[@SeemoreDunkan]

Damian are your eyes green again??? Damien.......

[@YariBeatsMedia]

You lose a lot of life on this one.

[@queeezfrmusic8350]

I need help with my music promotion & get engagement followers on my instagram account

[@DamianKeyes]

That’s what I’m here for! But let’s not say people are engagement followers, you want to build fans and for that you need to care about them too 👊👊