Understanding the c*mplex art of music releasing
Music is an art with many facets. The dates and hours about when a song should be released are always well marked. GRACE WACHIRA talks to industry players to find out the showbiz strategies artistes employ and consider before putting out their songs to the market
On February 18, this year, Tanzanian singer Diamond Platnumz and his Kenyan baby mama Tanasha Donna released their collabo project titled Gere. Barely 48 hours later, Diamond released a solo single dubbed Jeje.
His collabo with his now ex-girlfriend had just started getting the fans’ attention, but that was rudely interrupted by Diamond’s decision to release his single.
The art of releasing music lies in the strategy employed; there is no such thing as perfect timing.
Gospel rapper Stonee Jiwe, who released a solo single soon after dropping a collabo, notes that in music, it’s all but just business, where no personal feelings play part. How one artiste feels solely lies on them.
“Artistes usually have their own schedules and release dates and so, if it coincides with a release of a collabo, it can’t stop me from releasing my single.
It’s about keeping in touch with my audience and they can choose to look at it positively or negate the fact that there is hype around two jams and take advantage of it,” the Thitima hit singer told Spice.
Philip Tuju aka Filah of the Redfourth Chorus notes that when artistes come together for a project, they need to have discussed it properly.
“Proper communication gives structure to how they release the song and even how best to support it, but that said, it really depends on a team’s strategy. 
One of the objectives of collabos is for each artiste to tap into the other’s market to gain mileage,” he says.
Timely themes
For a few years, Jiwe took a hiatus. He did not release any music, but that didn’t mean he was not in studio.
“As an artiste, having content is key and even though I wasn’t releasing songs, I have them lined up,” he says, pointing that a song he wrote two years ago is one he thinks is fit for release this year because the theme is timely.
Filah echoes his sentiments, noting that sometimes, songs are released in line with the current societal trend.
“Some songs are written and held back by the respective artiste until a certain season.
For instance, issues such as love, relationships and corruption are thematic and are released when those seasons are at their peak,” he says.
Terazo New Media co-founder and lead publicist Agnes Nonsizi says thematic songs are released according to the season.
“An artiste will release such a a few weeks or days to the targeted season. Just as long as the audios and videos are well colour-graded, mixed and mastered, they are ready for release,” she says. 
Organisational modalities
Filah points to the fact that there is now an upward surge influenced by technology. “Every artiste puts in the work and they know when to release a song.
I have observed musicians such as Sauti Sol, who normally release their songs on Fridays and Mondays. It’s very strategic.
Creatives even narrow it down to the hour. Days towards the end of the week are more laid back and people are a bit more online than any other days of the week,” says Filah.
“Planning is important for artistes. When we sit down to strategise on when to get a song out, we go the whole circle including marketing and ‘pushing’ it with the necessary posters ready and booked media interviews,” intimates Nonsizi, who is also an artiste manager.
She adds that some projects require more pushing than others and that is why artiste management teams hold long closed-door meetings to find out just how to go about with the releases.
“To be honest, prior planning is something I take seriously. When we talk about strategies, we sit down and align even our media tours with the songs.
When this happens, the tunes are dropped on Mondays, which strategically gives them enough traction throughout the week then we take on the media tours on the weekend when people are laid back and are familiar with the song,” she reveals.
She adss: “A lot of synergy and synchrony is employed, especially if the collabos involves artistes from across the borders. Time zones differ and all of these facets have to be harmonised.”
