How To Release Your Own Music
Get inspired and find out how to release your own music with my quick guide, checklist and interview with Hailey Beavis and Faith Eliot, Founders of DIY Record Label OK PAL Records.
What you need to get started:
- A record, artwork, promo photos
- Single/s (if it's an EP, just one single will be fine. If it's an album, then choose two)
- Video/s (ideally one for each single)
- An up-to-date social media presence & website
- A short bio
- Promo materials
Upload your pomo materials to dropbox. Make a folder with the mastered tracks, a folder for promo photos, press releases, artwork, etc.
Make a private link for downloads.
Upload the record to soundcloud privately so you can share a streaming link.
Promo Materials
A press mailing list - this tends to be something that you build up over time, but it's goo to get going with it early. Look at publications, blogs, DJs, etc. that cover music you like. Local is good. Check to see if there's an email address on their website for submissions, or email them to ask if they wouldn't mind receiving your press mail-outs.
A fans mailing list - leave a sign up sheet on the door at gigs! Tell people about it on social media! If you're using mail chimp you can also get an embed form for your website.
- A record, artwork, promo photos
- Single/s (if it's an EP, just one single will be fine. If it's an album, then choose two)
- Video/s (ideally one for each single)
- An up-to-date social media presence & website
- A short bio
- Promo materials
Upload your pomo materials to dropbox. Make a folder with the mastered tracks, a folder for promo photos, press releases, artwork, etc.
Make a private link for downloads.
Upload the record to soundcloud privately so you can share a streaming link.
Promo Materials
A press mailing list - this tends to be something that you build up over time, but it's goo to get going with it early. Look at publications, blogs, DJs, etc. that cover music you like. Local is good. Check to see if there's an email address on their website for submissions, or email them to ask if they wouldn't mind receiving your press mail-outs.
A fans mailing list - leave a sign up sheet on the door at gigs! Tell people about it on social media! If you're using mail chimp you can also get an embed form for your website.
Interview With Faith Eliott and Hailey Beavis, Founders of DIY Record Label @okpalrecords
Ahead of the launch of Grrrl In Print Issue 4, Grrrl Zine Fair founder chats to Hailey Beavis @haileybeavis and Faith Eliott @faith.eliott, founders of OK PAL Records.
When putting together Grrrl Zine Fair's festival line ups, I always think about the young girls and LGBTQ+ teens who are still looking to see someone like themselves up on stage. From running gigs, creating zines, releasing records and making session videos, Hailey and Faith use their label as a platform to voice various forms of creativity. I chat to them about starting their own DIY label, taking up space and having control over your creative output.
When putting together Grrrl Zine Fair's festival line ups, I always think about the young girls and LGBTQ+ teens who are still looking to see someone like themselves up on stage. From running gigs, creating zines, releasing records and making session videos, Hailey and Faith use their label as a platform to voice various forms of creativity. I chat to them about starting their own DIY label, taking up space and having control over your creative output.
Lu: There is definitely a need for more labels run by our community! How did you first set up OK PAL and what were your reasons for self releasing rather than release through another label?
Hailey: Well, we’ve been best friends for over a decade and have lived together for six years. Before we began OK Pal records in 2018, we had both been gigging, recording and releasing music for a number of years. Some experiences were positive but some were quite damaging, but it’s all been really useful in getting us to the stage of having a clear idea about the kind of platform we want to create. We definitely have moments where we think “Why did it take us so long to do this?”, and I think being socialised female, you just don’t see it as your role to run a label. So it took awhile for us to realise that we didn’t actually need permission to do something like that.
Faith: I had a really good experience releasing my first EP with Song, By Toad Records, and had actually planned to put out my first album with them too, but in 2018 they had to close up shop quite abruptly for family reasons. I was flapping about trying to figure out the best way forward, and asked Hailey to start a label with me on a whim. As soon as we started talking about it, it just made total sense. Like a majestic pony emerging from a murky fog.
I’ve found that some of the male-dominated DIY communities, especially in recent years, have been making an honest effort to be more inclusive. This is really important. But even then, there’s a risk that non-male artists will feel tokenised. As much as it’s necessary for existing facilitators to endeavour to be more balanced, it’s even more important for marginalised groups to run their own show. For us, supporting women and queer artists feels totally natural and easy. These are the voices that we hear loudest because they speak to our experience of the world!
How is it working with your best friend?
Hailey: Working with your best pal is a great privilege! For us, it has meant that there’s this shared pool of ideas and dreams that has been built up over many years. We’re finally making stuff happen that we started talking about a decade ago! Zines, posters, backdrops, visuals. Generally putting on the kind of shows we’ve been needing to see for so long, in order to feel a connection with the scene around us.
Faith: It’s the greatest. When we have video call meetings, we usually spend the first half hour talking about our feelings. Then once we’ve done some good processing and feel ready to take on the world, we crack on with the admin. I genuinely think it’s really efficient.
Do you have any tips for finding your perfect collaborator?
Faith: I suppose like any relationship, you need some compatibility to begin with, but also an openness to let things evolve organically. The specifics of our roles have sort of distilled over time… I tend to do more of the admin around releases, writing press releases and such. Hailey usually takes on the outward facing side of things like social media or comparing at gigs. We’ve learned to delegate, which is something that didn’t come naturally. We’re also extremely lucky to have an incredible group of friends who help fill the gaps in our skill sets.
I think you can figure out a lot of the nuts and bolts along the way, but it’s really important to start with some shared values. For us that’s stuff like inclusivity and community. Putting out records that we believe in and working with people we love.
Hailey: Having a good collaborator is key to surviving the bullsh★t. It gives you the opportunity to talk about it each time you feel dismissed, patronised, or diminished in some way. We go over stuff together a lot in order to regroup and figure out the strongest response. We help each other see all the angles more clearly, and I think this has helped us to stop apologising for ourselves in the way we used to as individuals.
For example, if your sound engineer is telling you that your on-stage sound is a bit too bassy and distorted, but you know what your on-stage sound is supposed to be like that, then firstly you need to be able to say that out loud. If you have your collaborator in the audience listening to your sound check, and they can tell you that yep, it sounds good out here, then that’s a team right there.
A load of festivals seem to find it hard to even meet a 50/50 split on line ups (not that gender is that binary anyway!) and it's still the norm to have cisgender, white, male CEOs making all the decisions. What tips do you have for navigating the music industry as a women / trans / non-binary person?
Faith: Aye, it can be totally infuriating! Weirdly, I find some of the blatant misogyny easier to cope with. It totally sucks but you are usually quicker to react and process it, and people around you tend to have your back right away. I think the real toxic river of slime lies deep out of sight. The gas lighting and planting of seeds of doubt. The imposter syndrome that the whole system is designed to make you feel. The deep rooted sense that this is not your place. You are not entitled to this role of artist/guitar player/festival organiser, whatever it might be.
People will often try and make out like this kind of work is oh-so-complicated. That it’s a dark art. That you need years of experience and a deep and nuanced understanding of the music industry. You don’t. It’s not that hard. It’s a ton of work, time and energy. But you can listen to your intuition and trust yourself. It’s fine. I promise.
What would you say the benefits are to self releasing?
Hailey: Control is probably the biggest advantage of self-releasing. A massive driving force behind OK Pal is the agency it affords us. If you have made a body of work, it can be essential to get it out there on your own terms. Perhaps even paramount to you moving on to the next artistic endeavour. Self-releasing ensures that you have the reigns!
What would you say are some of the challenges you've faced?
Faith: Money can be a real challenge. We have had to get quite inventive in ways to generate funds. I would say it’s best to start small in all things - venues, releases, merch etc, and build something solid from the ground up. This will instil trust in your community and you’re more likely to get the support you need further down the line.
What plans have you got for OK PAL in the future?
Hailey: We’re currently working with a couple of Brighton based acts, because we like long train rides! We have just released a double A-side by queer-pop duo Kissing, called Nautilus/Ammonite. Lucy Feliz is the other special human soon to release with us. Her album Last Of The Sun will be out on vinyl 28/08/20.
Plans for a second summer all-dayer have understandably been shelved for the moment. BUT - we are eager guinea pigs, ready to be let out of our pen and frolic in a musicy way once more when the time is right!
Until such a time, we have been using quarantine as an excuse to cajole some musician pals into writing an album in a weekend. Something beautiful will no doubt come of that. We’re also hard at work on a free ‘How To’ guide for our website. We want to share everything we are learning with you in an accessible and easy to understand way.
Faith: I’m always getting fixated on ambitious long-term dreams… I would love to get a horse box, decorate the hell out of it and take it on tour. Starting a venue comes up a lot too. Ideally an OK Pal theme park staffed by guinea pigs. We would release music as log chute rides based on the albums we put out. Giant automated versions of the bands playing their songs. Something terrifyingly immersive… I guess we'll see what comes to fruition!
Hailey: Well, we’ve been best friends for over a decade and have lived together for six years. Before we began OK Pal records in 2018, we had both been gigging, recording and releasing music for a number of years. Some experiences were positive but some were quite damaging, but it’s all been really useful in getting us to the stage of having a clear idea about the kind of platform we want to create. We definitely have moments where we think “Why did it take us so long to do this?”, and I think being socialised female, you just don’t see it as your role to run a label. So it took awhile for us to realise that we didn’t actually need permission to do something like that.
Faith: I had a really good experience releasing my first EP with Song, By Toad Records, and had actually planned to put out my first album with them too, but in 2018 they had to close up shop quite abruptly for family reasons. I was flapping about trying to figure out the best way forward, and asked Hailey to start a label with me on a whim. As soon as we started talking about it, it just made total sense. Like a majestic pony emerging from a murky fog.
I’ve found that some of the male-dominated DIY communities, especially in recent years, have been making an honest effort to be more inclusive. This is really important. But even then, there’s a risk that non-male artists will feel tokenised. As much as it’s necessary for existing facilitators to endeavour to be more balanced, it’s even more important for marginalised groups to run their own show. For us, supporting women and queer artists feels totally natural and easy. These are the voices that we hear loudest because they speak to our experience of the world!
How is it working with your best friend?
Hailey: Working with your best pal is a great privilege! For us, it has meant that there’s this shared pool of ideas and dreams that has been built up over many years. We’re finally making stuff happen that we started talking about a decade ago! Zines, posters, backdrops, visuals. Generally putting on the kind of shows we’ve been needing to see for so long, in order to feel a connection with the scene around us.
Faith: It’s the greatest. When we have video call meetings, we usually spend the first half hour talking about our feelings. Then once we’ve done some good processing and feel ready to take on the world, we crack on with the admin. I genuinely think it’s really efficient.
Do you have any tips for finding your perfect collaborator?
Faith: I suppose like any relationship, you need some compatibility to begin with, but also an openness to let things evolve organically. The specifics of our roles have sort of distilled over time… I tend to do more of the admin around releases, writing press releases and such. Hailey usually takes on the outward facing side of things like social media or comparing at gigs. We’ve learned to delegate, which is something that didn’t come naturally. We’re also extremely lucky to have an incredible group of friends who help fill the gaps in our skill sets.
I think you can figure out a lot of the nuts and bolts along the way, but it’s really important to start with some shared values. For us that’s stuff like inclusivity and community. Putting out records that we believe in and working with people we love.
Hailey: Having a good collaborator is key to surviving the bullsh★t. It gives you the opportunity to talk about it each time you feel dismissed, patronised, or diminished in some way. We go over stuff together a lot in order to regroup and figure out the strongest response. We help each other see all the angles more clearly, and I think this has helped us to stop apologising for ourselves in the way we used to as individuals.
For example, if your sound engineer is telling you that your on-stage sound is a bit too bassy and distorted, but you know what your on-stage sound is supposed to be like that, then firstly you need to be able to say that out loud. If you have your collaborator in the audience listening to your sound check, and they can tell you that yep, it sounds good out here, then that’s a team right there.
A load of festivals seem to find it hard to even meet a 50/50 split on line ups (not that gender is that binary anyway!) and it's still the norm to have cisgender, white, male CEOs making all the decisions. What tips do you have for navigating the music industry as a women / trans / non-binary person?
Faith: Aye, it can be totally infuriating! Weirdly, I find some of the blatant misogyny easier to cope with. It totally sucks but you are usually quicker to react and process it, and people around you tend to have your back right away. I think the real toxic river of slime lies deep out of sight. The gas lighting and planting of seeds of doubt. The imposter syndrome that the whole system is designed to make you feel. The deep rooted sense that this is not your place. You are not entitled to this role of artist/guitar player/festival organiser, whatever it might be.
People will often try and make out like this kind of work is oh-so-complicated. That it’s a dark art. That you need years of experience and a deep and nuanced understanding of the music industry. You don’t. It’s not that hard. It’s a ton of work, time and energy. But you can listen to your intuition and trust yourself. It’s fine. I promise.
What would you say the benefits are to self releasing?
Hailey: Control is probably the biggest advantage of self-releasing. A massive driving force behind OK Pal is the agency it affords us. If you have made a body of work, it can be essential to get it out there on your own terms. Perhaps even paramount to you moving on to the next artistic endeavour. Self-releasing ensures that you have the reigns!
What would you say are some of the challenges you've faced?
Faith: Money can be a real challenge. We have had to get quite inventive in ways to generate funds. I would say it’s best to start small in all things - venues, releases, merch etc, and build something solid from the ground up. This will instil trust in your community and you’re more likely to get the support you need further down the line.
What plans have you got for OK PAL in the future?
Hailey: We’re currently working with a couple of Brighton based acts, because we like long train rides! We have just released a double A-side by queer-pop duo Kissing, called Nautilus/Ammonite. Lucy Feliz is the other special human soon to release with us. Her album Last Of The Sun will be out on vinyl 28/08/20.
Plans for a second summer all-dayer have understandably been shelved for the moment. BUT - we are eager guinea pigs, ready to be let out of our pen and frolic in a musicy way once more when the time is right!
Until such a time, we have been using quarantine as an excuse to cajole some musician pals into writing an album in a weekend. Something beautiful will no doubt come of that. We’re also hard at work on a free ‘How To’ guide for our website. We want to share everything we are learning with you in an accessible and easy to understand way.
Faith: I’m always getting fixated on ambitious long-term dreams… I would love to get a horse box, decorate the hell out of it and take it on tour. Starting a venue comes up a lot too. Ideally an OK Pal theme park staffed by guinea pigs. We would release music as log chute rides based on the albums we put out. Giant automated versions of the bands playing their songs. Something terrifyingly immersive… I guess we'll see what comes to fruition!
Interview from Grrrl Zine Fair Issue 4. Pre-order Grrrl In Print here.