What are the best Pre-Save platforms for musicians?

Once you have created your music, the next stage is to launch it. But before launching it, you will have to create hype around it so that it becomes anticipated and even popular before its actual release!

Promoting your music album before its release is one way in which you can create excitement around it leading to more streams and shares in the digital world. This is very important in today's world of advertisement and social media.

Pre-save is one way in which you can prepare your audience or followers before the launch of your music album.

What is a Pre-Save?

Pre-save is a preorder of a music album on a streaming site such as Apple Music or Spotify. It is a way in which the fan can place an order of the music before its release.

The objective of a Pre-Save

With the help of the Pre-save, the fan adds the forthcoming music release to his library automatically, as soon as it is released. He can add both single music and an entire album.

Importance of a Pre-Save

• A Pre-save is important because it helps the artists to promote the music before the actual music release.

• It creates a favorable buzz for the music even before it is released or launched.

• Helps the artist reach more people.

• It aids in creating momentum on Spotify. If a large number of people Pre-save their release on Spotify, then on the release date, the algorithms will detect an interest in your release. If that happens, then it will help the release to get added to Spotify's algorithmic playlists such as Release Radar, Discover Weekly playlists, etc.

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How does a Pre-save campaign work?

A Pre-save campaign is essential to promote the music before its actual launch or release and ensure that people lap up to it the moment it is released.

To ensure that the music sells well and reaches its fans, a Pre-save campaign is planned.

• Release Radar: Spotify has a special feature called the Release Radar which is a customized playlist for each of its users. It is updated weekly, i.e. every Friday, and includes the newly released music that the fans have listened to or have followed on Spotify. This helps in the generation of a lot of streams for the artists and any artist, this is a huge help. Having a number of your fans streaming your song is a sure way to boost the popularity and sale of your song.

• Discover Weekly: Spotify also provides a personalized playlist of 30 songs to its over 200 million users. These songs are new and have never been heard by any of the fans but are listed in their playlist based on the knowledge of their previous tastes. Getting your new song in Discover Weekly on Spotify is a great way to get noticed and introduce your new song to millions of Spotify users.

• Spotify’s other playlists: ‘Songs to sing in the car’, and the ‘Indie List’ are some of the other playlists of Spotify. If your song gets listed in any of these playlists, then there is a good chance that it will become a hit!

• Apple’s Music Playlists: Chill Mix, New Music Mix, Friends Mix, Get Up! Mix and Favorite Mix are some of the algorithmic playlists that Apple Music has got. Getting your music in these playlists is also a great boost for your music.

• Entering the charts: Once your song enters the chart, you can be assured that it is bound to get more exposure and popularity.

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How to create a Pre-save campaign?

To use Spotify's Pre-save tool to the maximum, it is necessary to create a Pre-save campaign.

Here are the steps required to create the Pre-save campaign:

1. Release date: You will have to choose the release date very carefully before you enter it on the distributor's website. To release music, remember that you will also need a distributor. Always remember to keep sufficient time/days in hand before release, so that you can promote your song effectively. A Friday is always preferred for the release! So you can choose the date accordingly. Then you need to submit the song files to the distributor who will in turn send them to Spotify. Usually, Spotify receives the song file 7 days after uploading from the distributor.

2. Email intimation: If you have signed up for Spotify for the artist, then you will receive an email from them, once Spotify receives your song mail from your distributor. Your distribution will also communicate with you via email and inform you that your song has been sent to other stores also. This signals you to initiate your Pre-save campaign.

3. Releese Pre-Saves: From your Releese Dashboard, you can create a Marketing Link, select Pre-Save as a link type and set your links, release date, images and SEO options. Once your single or album is released, the pre-save page will automatically be converted to a Smart Link.

4. Other Distributors: If you are using another distributor, then you need to acquire your Spotify URI. This is required for the release of your song.

5. Pre-Save on other Streaming Platforms/mediums: such as Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, and Google Play is sure to increase your fan base.

6. Smartlink: Creating a Smartlink is a simple URL by which your fans can easily stream your song. If you are signed up for Releese, these are created automatically.

Creating a Pre-save option for your fans is a must and it creates perfect business sense, however, the flip part is that you cannot do it on your own. You have to take the help of a third-party service for this. Naturally, they will charge you for their services, but it is still worth it.

Several companies offer Pre-save platforms for music and the challenge is to find out which is the best one for us. It should be noted that some Pre-save platforms are free while others are paid.

The best Pre-save platforms for music

Some of the popular platforms offering these services are

Also, the services that each Pre-save platform offers vary so one should consider all the pros and cons before picking a Pre-save platform.

Let us look at some of the best Pre-Save platforms along with their pros and cons.

Releese

The most premium option for Pre-saves is Releese and offers some of the most in-depth analytics. The best part is that Releese makes it easy to share analytics with your collaborators by integrating as many links as you want in your projects. Releese also offers Pre-save subscriptions to gain fans faster. Once your release is live, the link will automatically convert to a smart link so you don't need to worry about editing your page. Releese also offers industry-leading tools such as task management, distribution, publishing and neighboring rights collection, and cloud storage for music.

Pros

- Pre-saves subscriptions, the next generation of fan engagement

- Can choose a domain name, subdomain and URL, or bring your own domain

- Offers in-depth real-time analytics, such as device use, city, country and browser.

- Provides custom SEO options

- Blazing-fast for fans

- Share analytics with collaborators for free

- Can change background image with artwork

Cons

- Not available on the Free Plan after 14-day trial

- Starts at $19 / month

PUSH.fm

This is one of the best Pre-save platforms and they offer both free as well as premium service with some amazing features. The best part is that both the free and the premium services offer almost the same quality, so this is one huge advantage. RouteNote is their distributor. They also have Pre-saves, fan links and content unlocks features.

Pros

- The free service is completely free while the premium is just 5$. Both have access to unlimited links, however with the Premium plan you have access to added features such as custom backgrounds and competitions.

-  The artist can choose his URL for release.

- Provides analytics so that you can analyze your music.

- Free for all users

Cons

- Only 1GB storage on the free plan.

- Background images are generated from your main image on the free plan. To upload a completely custom background, you need to upgrade.

Feature.fm

This platform also has the option of free and premium services. They also provide separate plans for artists and businesses.

Pros

- They provide statistics as well as analytics of your music.

- With the help of the premium service, the artist can collect emails and build his mailing list.

- Different paid plans provide different options.

Cons

- Premium is expensive.

- They have an annual bill which is costly.

- Spotify is possible only for a free Pre-save.

- The free plan gives only 7 days of statics for analysis.

Linkfire

This is another popular Pre-save platform that offers services like reward links, Pre-saves among its digital link service. They too have different plans for creative artists and businesses in terms of price. They offer 'creative services' for artists and 'Team plans' for labels.

Pros

- Customization of links is possible and this helps your fans to locate you easily.

- Statistics include a break-up of the click-through rate and bounce rate that is useful.

- Provides access to webinars and this is mighty helpful.

Cons

- There is no free plans.

- They do not provide Pre-saves on the $10 plan.

- The data that they provide is very basic and minimum.

Toneden

This is a an industry leading music marketing platform that offer advertising and landing pages. They specialize in advertising and offer fan-data collection from many platforms.

Pros

- Aggregates fan-data into custom audiences

- Offers the most types of links (Show, stream, music, download, short link, pre-saves)

- Offers advanced advertising tools.

Cons

- Limiting pree plan

- Interface is not the most intuitive.

- Pre-saves occasionally do not work

Presave.io

This is a popular Pre-save link provider that helps you in creating links before your release day. It offers monthly as well as annual multiple payment packages as per the customer's needs.

Pros

- Provide reports that contain data as well as statics, so useful for making analysis.

- It releases emails daily so that is very helpful.

- It has all the major sites- Apple, Deezer, and Spotify for both the annual as well as monthly plans.

Cons

- Does not provide any free option but has only paid options.

- Frequently asked questions link does not work.

- Pre-saves are unlimited only on a corporate plan which costs 100 pounds per month.

- Does not provide smart links.

Thus, in this article, we have seen why a Pre-save platform is essential for promoting music, how to create a Pre-save platform, and which the best Pre-save platforms available for music are at present along wi