A 'waterfall’ release has become a popular release schedule for artists that involves releasing tracks one by one with each following release containing the previous tracks in addition to the new track.
In order to set up this type of release schedule correctly, you’ll need to first determine if you’d like to waterfall your full release or only specific tracks.
- Instructions for Waterfalling a full release
- Instructions for Waterfalling specific tracks from a release
- Waterfall Releases: Best Practices
Waterfalling Your Full Release
If you’re planning to waterfall your full release, we’ve outlined necessary steps below.
Important: Your artwork must match the metadata of the release it's associated to. This means you should not use the final album artwork for all preceding singles unless there isn’t any text on the artwork.
Please follow the steps below:
1. Upload your first track as a single release as you normally would with our 4 week lead time adhered to. You can find a guide to the AWAL Uploader here.
2. Once the first single is approved, you should upload another product that contains the existing single and also your second new track.
Add your first single to this product by using the 'Existing Tracks' feature in Step 2 of the Uploader. This feature allows you to add tracks from your existing AWAL catalogue, and ensures that the audio, metadata, and ISRCs are maintained so your stream counts link when all instances of the track are live.
Note: You’ll need to wait for the first single to be approved in our system before you upload your second product so you can utilize our Existing Tracks feature.
3. Once the second release has been approved, upload the third release that contains the previous two tracks, and a third new one. Again, use the Existing Tracks feature to add in the previous two tracks in order to maintain the stream counts and previous playlist placements.
4. Upload the fourth and all other releases the same way until your final product (album or EP) has been built and approved.
While not required, as each new release goes live, you can request a takedown of the previous release to prevent duplication on the digital services.
Note: With this type of waterfall schedule, we’d advise against taking down any of your products until the tracks from that specific product have been removed from any editorial playlists (particularly on Apple). You risk lost playlist placements otherwise.
Waterfalling Specific Tracks from a Release
As an alternative to the above, you may be planning to waterfall only a few tracks from your release, rather than all tracks. You may choose a plan like this as a way of collating all your ‘single’ releases so fans are encouraged to listen to them collectively or if you’d like to allow fans access to some tracks but still hold onto a few ‘surprise’ tracks that are only available on the full version of a product.
If you’re planning to waterfall only a few tracks from your full release you’ll actually need to set up two separate schedules to make the waterfall work properly. This is because one version will go live on Apple & Amazon and another will go live on all other services. This method of waterfalling requires the set up of Instant Gratification Tracks, so it’s important to keep in mind that you should not use this method if you’re planning to waterfall 50% or more of the tracks on your release.
Note: We advise setting up Instant Grats, primarily because some services, like Apple don't assign the same track ID to multiple instances of a track. This means that if your 'single' version track is placed on a playlist, but then you take down that single when the EP goes live, the playlisting would likely be lost. If you'd prefer to avoid doing Instant Grats, and only want separate single products on every service (see the instructions above), we can help with that however you should avoid issuing takedowns of any products until any playlisted tracks are removed from those playlists.
To set up a waterfall release for specific tracks from your product, you should proceed as follows:
1. Upload the full release (EP/album) first with a release date well in advance. A Guide to the Uploader can be found here.
You’ll need to select a release date farther away than four weeks for this product to provide time to release the preceding singles. You should set up a pre-order for your release (step 6 of the Uploader) and set up all the tracks you want to release as waterfalled tracks/singles as Instant Gratification tracks on this product. Make sure to request the IG tracks go live during the pre-order period on the same date the single products will be planned to go live.
2. Once the full release is approved, you should upload another product that contains the first single track. Add your track to this product by using the 'Existing Tracks' feature in Step 2 of the Uploader. This feature allows you to add tracks from your existing AWAL catalogue, and ensures that the audio, metadata, and ISRCs are maintained so your stream counts link when all instances of the track are live. Make sure to set the release date as the same ‘go live’ date as the first IG track (see step 1).
Important: Your artwork must match the metadata of the release it's associated to. This means you should not use the final album artwork for your single products unless there isn’t any text on the artwork.
3. Once that first single is approved, upload the third release that contains the first single as well as the second single (the new track). Again, use the Existing Tracks feature to add in both tracks in order to maintain the stream counts and previous playlist placements. Make sure the release date for this product matches the ‘go live’ date for the second IG track.
4. Upload the fourth product in the same way and all additional products until the EP/album release date is hit and your full product then goes live.
Note: As you’ll be setting up Instant Grat tracks, we’ll need to ensure the single products do not go live on Apple & Amazon to prevent duplication. This is one of the few exceptions to our normal store windowing policies. You should place the following note in your ‘Comments and T&Cs’ section for each product you upload except for the first (full product): “This is a waterfall release which has been set up as an Instant Grat track. Please exclude Apple & Amazon from distribution”.
While not required, as each new release goes live, you can request a takedown of the previous release to prevent duplication on the digital services.
Waterfall Releases: Best Practices
There are a few things to keep in mind when setting up a ‘waterfall’ release schedule:
- Your release’s metadata must match any text on the artwork and vice versa. Each product must be treated as an individual release which means you won't be able to use the final EP/album artwork across all releases if it contains text that does not match the metadata of each release.
- You’ll need to set a release date in accordance with our four week lead time for each release in order for your release date to be guaranteed. As these release schedules require multiple uploads, and sometimes even the utilization of Instant Grat tracks, it’s important to begin the upload process well in advance of your final release date.
- If you’re planning to use Spotify’s Playlist Tool, you must keep in mind that the tool only allows you to submit one unreleased track at a time for playlist consideration. This means you should submit your earliest release through the tool first and once that release is live, you can submit for your next release.
- You should definitely use smart links throughout your release schedule and consistently update the same link as each release rolls out so fans have one static place to keep up with your releases.