The Release Rollout Cheat Sheet: 4 Weeks Before to 30 Days After

The whole system in one line

Tease at 4 weeks. Announce at 2 weeks. Post daily during release week. Keep posting for 30 days after. Every successful rollout we run follows this arc; everything below is the detail.

The timeline

• Setup + soft tease (T-28 to T-21, 1-2 posts): get assets ready. Post vague snippets. No title, no date. Just curiosity.
• First tease (T-21 to T-14, 3 posts minimum): find the 5-10 second section people replay. Hook clips, studio clips, 'this sounds like' posts.
• Announcement (T-14 to T-7, 4-5 posts): artwork, title, date, presave link. Make it official.
• Countdown (T-7 to T-1, daily if possible): daily reminders. DSP pitch on Tuesday of release week.
• Release day (day 0, everywhere): Reel + TikTok + Short + Stories all day. Impossible to miss.
• Week 1 (T+1 to T+7, 4-5 posts): drop clips, BTS, flexes. Turn 'new drop' into a repeated moment.
• Weeks 2-4 (T+8 to T+30, 2-4 posts per week): same drop, new visuals. Flex any traction. The song isn't dead until day 30.

Asset checklist (done before teasing starts)

• Final master (WAV + MP3, properly tagged, explicit and clean versions if relevant)
• Artwork in 1:1, 4:5, and 9:16 variants, plus thumbnails and canvas/visualizer
• Presave / Laylo link, UTM-tagged so you can see what drives clicks
• Vertical clips + a looping visualizer
• BTS and studio footage
• 3-5 caption ideas
• Mini press kit: logline, 1-paragraph bio, highlights, key links
• Reporting sheet with daily columns: views, likes, saves, CTR, spend, cost per goal
• Date and collabs confirmed
• Distributor upload done
• Content folder organized (Audio / Artwork / Video / Press in one cloud link)

The day-by-day spine (what happens when)

• Day 30: confirm the release date and upload final masters with at least 21 days of lead time, that window is what keeps editorial pitching open. Verify metadata: credits, splits, ISRC, UPC.
• Day 25: submit the Spotify for Artists pitch (one song, 4-5 sentences, name specific playlists) and the Apple Music pitch. Build the smartlink and a pre-save that captures follows.
• Day 21: cut the content stockpile, 8-12 vertical assets plus 3-5 horizontal, and upload the Spotify canvas.
• Day 14: send the song privately to 10-30 DJs and creators, brief UGC partners, lock playlisting run dates, and build ad campaigns in draft so release day is a switch-flip.
• Day 7: first hook teaser goes live, Laylo or SMS broadcast announces the date, email list gets the pre-save as the only ask.
• Day 0: launch content first thing local time, ads on small ($30-50/day) and learning for 48 hours before scaling, reply to every comment in the first 6 hours.
• Days 1-7: post daily from the stockpile, scale winning ad creatives, and watch the Spotify for Artists 'Source of streams' tab to see what's actually driving saves.

Release day minimum

1. 01IG Reel with the main clip.
2. 02TikTok with the best hook.
3. 03YouTube Short with the best hook.
4. 04Stories all day: out now + link, then best clip, tag collabs, repost shares, and ask what part hits hardest.

The 5 rules you can't break

1. 01Tease before you announce. Mood first, details later.
2. 02DSP pitch on Tuesday of release week (for a Friday drop).
3. 03Release week is your heaviest posting week. Near-daily.
4. 0430 days minimum post-release. Same drop, new worlds.
5. 05Every Monday: review best clip, best caption, best world, best platform. Repeat winners, kill losers.

Run it like a board

Track every piece of content through these statuses: Idea, Needs Asset, Ready to Edit, Ready to Post, Scheduled, Posted, Repurpose, Winner. Winners get repeated. This turns a rollout from vibes into a pipeline you can actually manage.

When you want firepower behind the rollout

• Turn this into a dated plan: the free Release Rollout Planner
• What to actually post: the 10 post types to rotate forever
• Layer a campaign on top: start with a custom plan