"It's finally here!"

"It has arrived!"

"Go check it out guys and buy!"

"Go share and support it!"

These are many of the phrases that me and so many artists like me have said in releasing their brand new song. To us, it is the culmination of the hours of writing, re-writing, recording, editing, mixing and mastering finally complied into one finished track. To others, it's just another song that they may or may not like. As an artist that has been writing and releasing music over the past few years, I have now developed an understanding of how much the music industry and market has changed.

The industry is now driven by corporate CEOs and teams that promote, release and brand the artists they have usually resulting in owning the content, saying who the artist can work with or not with and making them adhere to a certain genre or type of music alone. This has resulted in many artists becoming independent once again to keep their rights to their music. (Ex. Boyce Avenue, Emery, Lecrae) And in turn, the music market has now shifted to a streaming and download-driven demographic instead of buying full albums from record stores or digital media outlets. Most Millennials and young adults now own a smart phone and are streaming through their music streaming service of choice. If not that, they pick and choose which songs they like most from their artists and load them onto their respective phones. That is if they buy it all since file sharing and ripping music illegally has become very popular too and dwindled music sales for years. The reason I have always bought music from iTunes or Amazon is because I understand as an artist that we have worked hard to create this music and in turn want to see our investment returned and multiplied tenfold. With that being said, here are ten steps that an artist can take in successfully releasing a music single and growing that fan base that we all so desperately want.

1. Brainstorm

So many of us may skip this initial step as artists because we can get so caught up in releasing new content. The truth is that we have to have a solid idea before it becomes concrete and something of substance. Think up instances of your past, what you've been through personally or what you what to say to people. That is what is going to make more ideas start flowing and result in something that will stand out and draw in listeners.

2. JAM!

This should be understood with most bands but again can be skipped especially if you under time constraints. Jamming as a solo artist or band is going to be what makes the musical aspect of your music come out. You will experiment with what sounds good and what well honestly sucks and falls short. Through jamming you can develop unique licks that are particular to your song and make it come alive. For a band too, this can allow the musicians to get into a "groove" and start to feed off and become more familiar with each other. It creates the musical chemistry that we all seek to have as artists.

3. Write

Once you have wrote down some ideas and jammed a good bit, now comes sometimes the most crucial and important part: writing the song. Pull from some of your ideas and begin to write out lyrics that correlate with one another to create a complete thought. There are so many different song forms because of the nature that songs have taken since modern songwriting began. Have one of your musicians or you play a riff and sing one of your lyrics to music. If it works great! If not then simply try another riff or lyric that might feel better. Find a hook that will make listeners remember your music! As artists, it is so crucial to admit when something works and when it doesn't. That is going to be what makes us stand out or be forgotten honestly. Make it a point to record your first take with an iPhone or recorder to acknowledge the work you have already done and go from there.

4. Play the First Take

This can be a frustrating step for us as artists because it requires admitting that our songs need work. Once you have played through the song a few times, it is best to walk away and come back to it. Maybe show the song to a friend and get their feedback. Make sure that the person that listen will give you an honest but beneficial opinion. Someone that is not your mom or best friend. They won't always be the ones to say what they feel because they love you.

5. Rewrite

This requires taking the song that has now been exposed back to the drawing board. Constructive criticism is another crucial step in taking your song from just good to great. Maybe some of the words need to be changed or the riff in the bridge just doesn't work. Maybe the song is just really weak and needs an overhaul of re-writing in general. Don't be afraid to admit when something is weak because you can only get better over time. Sometimes a song needs to be rewritten just once while others it may take a few different sessions to get it where you want it. Once this step is complete, you will have grown as a writer, artist and person in general.

6. Practice

This is the step to where you take what you have written and master it as a musician. Bands will sometimes jam a certain song for hours in order to get it where they are at least satisfied with how it sounds. Solo musicians will do the same and make sure that their vocals and playing are aligned and flows well together into one cohesive piece. This is crucial for a song because it makes the artist become most familiar and satisfied with it to in turn release it the world.

7. Mixing/Record

Now is the time to take what you've written, rewritten and practiced into a studio and get it tracked. You can either do this yourself in a home studio or take it to a professional one if you have the funds set aside. Different studios have different rates and can charge by song or hour. Doing it at home is nice because you work on your own time table and without spending in any extra money. The thing that you will want to consider is if you have the skills and software necessary to record it yourself. Mixing an artist or band can take a few short minutes if the audio engineer is good and the rest is up to you as artists to deliver the music. For bands, recording can take a few hours to get all the instruments tracked and recorded. For single artists, it can sometimes only take one hour.

8. Mastering

This is the step that takes what you have spent hours of writing and recording over into a polished and final product. Mastering takes the ear of a professional to get the track ready for radio and to distribute to the world. You must determine what levels must come up and come down, requires editing in order to have the track at the best quality. This will ensure that the listener will stay engaged instead of leaving and going onto to another track. This is the part as artists to where we want to be seen as "professional" and that we "know what we are doing."

9. Promote

Now the track has been written, recorded, mixed and mastered and is ready for release! But before this happens, people have to know about it. The luxury of being a signed artist is that the record labels take care of that for you and will spend thousands of dollars to do it. But if you're like me, you don't have that luxury. Sometimes it requires sharing on Facebook or other social media sites that you are releasing new content. You can also utilize Youtube to share a "sneak peek" or do an exclusive acoustic version of your song for promotion. You can also use your own websites to create articles that share about the upcoming content. Honestly the sky is the limit into what you can do but you have to be the one to do it. Promote, promote promote! Let the world know!

10. Release

This is the step that we all wait for as artists: the release of our singles. All the hours of blood, sweat and tears has finally paid off and our music is now out there for the world to hear. You can utilize different distributors like Tunecore, CD Baby or Reverbnation if you are independent or trust your label to get it out there. Now you just have to trust that you have done the work and the funds will start coming in. Be ready for whatever people will say, take it in, share the song and change the world of music as we know it.