![]() ![]() ![]() (For budgeting purposes, we’re also going to assume you already have the musical gear you need to play your music, but if you don’t, be sure to factor those costs into your budget.) Pre-production We’re going to break this category into three steps. Let’s assume you’ve written your batch of songs for the album. We’ll go over the estimated costs of each step along the way so you can properly plan your budget. It is important to understand the costs to create a budget and stick to it. Many beginning artists don’t understand the costs of all the steps to producing, manufacturing, and distributing a new album, and they often blow through their budget before they get to the most important step: promotion. While you’re working on writing your songs, you should also plan your budget. But the songs you plan to promote as singles should be in that 3:30–4:00 minute range.) Create a budget (In fact, it’s a good idea to vary the length of your songs to keep your album from getting stale. Of course, some songs will be longer than others, so this is just an average. Plus, if you want to release your album on vinyl, you’ll be set.Īs for how many songs to include: If you’re creating pop music (as opposed to jazz, classical, prog, etc.), you’re going to want your songs to clock in between 3:30 and 4:00 minutes each, so plan on including about 12–14 songs on your album. And while albums can be much longer than that today, thanks to CDs and streaming, 40-45 minutes is still a pretty good target. (By the way, if you’re looking for songwriting tips, we’ve got you covered with a host of great articles.) How many songs should you include on your album?Īlbum lengths used to be restricted by the physical limitations of vinyl records: about 45 minutes in total. Set aside songs that don’t fit to put on your next album or EP. Play each song and see which ones go together as part of your chosen album name and theme. It can be blatant or subtle, and you’ll want variety from song to song (songs that use different tempos, keys, arrangements, structures, etc.). So, as you write songs for your album, try to find a unifying theme. But it should hang together, either thematically, like In The Wee Small Hours by Frank Sinatra or Murder Ballads by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have a unified sound, like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon or take your music off into new direction, like Lil Yachty’s Let’s Start Here. This doesn’t have to be a grand concept album with a story like Tommy by The Who or Good Kid/MA.A.d City by Kendrick Lamar. What you really want to do is make a cohesive statement. ![]() When you set out to make an album, you’re not looking to throw together a collection of songs. It’s something you can get started on today. And by the end of this article, you’ll realize that making an album isn’t a Herculean task. We’re here to help guide you through the process, step by step. Writing the songs, recording the music, mixing, mastering, creating the album cover, making CDs, streaming your songs, publishing your music, collecting royalties … whew! It’s a lot to digest.īut it’s OK. But for many first-timers, making a debut album may seem daunting. Every up-and-coming musician dreams of releasing an album during their music career. Albums - collections of songs released on CD, vinyl, or via digital distribution - are still the dominant form of musical expression by artists. ![]()
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