Fall Releases: If you have any releases planned for the Fall, you should err on the side of an earlier release to avoid running into holiday season. You don’t want to be competing for people’s attention when the internet is saturated with holiday messaging, not to mention the increase in advertising costs. Conversely, ad costs in September and October (before Black Friday advertising) are some of the lowest all year.

Holidays: If you’re planning on releasing any physicals or new merch for the holidays, get started early! Global delays in production (especially for vinyl and other physical formats) have eased up, but are still ongoing. Build up your email lists and remarketing audiences now with ads and social media content, so that you can market your merch effectively when the time comes.

Timelining: This goes without saying, but make sure you methodically plan out your next few months, accounting for the time it takes to get content created, and all the other behind-the-scenes efforts required to launch new music. The end of the year (and the dreaded holiday season) will come sooner than you realize; all too often, we hear about fall releases being pushed to the following year due to scheduling issues.

Grammys: It may feel early to start FYC ads now, but targeted advertising can help increase familiarity and awareness of your project amongst tastemakers before ad costs balloon as we enter awards season. If you want to put out a remix or other content to remind voters of your release from earlier in the year, you’ll also need to start planning now.