Album or Single

[sdoggingsworth]

I am currently working on an album. It's sort of a concept album, each track being a different stage or event in Luna's life.

I have faith in the project, and I'm really proud of the tracks I have done so far, but I know nothing about promoting my own work, and frankly, I'm terrible at it. I've never packaged anything together as an "album" before, certainly not a concept album. Would it be better to release it all at once (when I'm finished) at some point at the end of the year, or release them one at a time as I complete them?

-Sprocket

[soup2504]

Either way works. What I'm currently doing with my little EP thingy is uploaded about 2-3 full songs, and uploading teasers for the rest.

[senntenial]

Completely up to you.
Singles might raise more popularity, but an Album might make more sense.
Usually my way of going about things is uploading a few songs at a time.

[colortwelve]

I definitely like the idea of a concept album, and I don't think I'm the only one who's irritated by the Celldweller style of releasing tracks (2 at a time, for years, but somehow part of the same album). You might do what pretty much every signed commercial act does, and release a single or two (choose wisely so as to actually grab the attention singles are meant to have) while you're finishing up the mixing and mastering on the whole album.

[Rainbowdutch]

It is a pretty bad idea to throw an album out there without being known in the brony community. It is way easier to listen to a single song instead of going through a full album. So there will be less people interested in your music and you as an artist, unless your album stands out a lot from the rest (quality, originality etc.).

I would suggest doing it the way jackle app did: release most (if not all) of the songs on YouTube to get your name out there and release the hq album after you have releases the last one.

Just a p.s. I as a prelistener cringe at the idea of a Luna album, but I will see if you can pull it of.

[sdoggingsworth]

@Rainbow Dutch: You're probably right. I do tend to work slowly though, and my concern was that the songs would probably come out months apart.

As for Luna, I know. I know. I know. There is more Luna music out there than just about any other kind of pony music.

It's just that I realized I had two really hot Luna tracks and decided to expand. It's sort of a history of Equestria sort of thing (with an emphasis on Luna), so Discord gets his own track, the Equestrian National Anthem, which I wrote almost a year ago, could get lumped in there for Celestia and Luna's coronation, I could take Rebuilding Our City which was on the Smile album and for clarity's sake, imply a bit more directly that it's about the founding of Canterlot (once a bit more time has passed), then I can round it off with my two really really Lunar tracks. So it won't really be an album where every single song is about Luna and Luna alone. It's sort of a way to frame some of the work I already have, and experiment with blending songs into one another.

As far as promotion goes, I do have an animator interested in making a short film PMV around one of the songs, and I'm kind of counting on that to help get the word out there about the music, but he's very busy, he's doing it on the side, and animation takes months, so for all I know his involvement will fall through completely. I was kind of hoping to time the album around the release of the toon once it was a bit more definite that it was going to happen.

Anyway, thanks for the advice.

-Sprocket