Socially Sound intern Alex breaks down how salute released his Shield EP on Ninja Tune.
How did it all start?
The marketing for salute's Sheild EP started nearly a year ago. salute premiered two unreleased tracks for the first time in his Boiler Room set from Melbourne on November 26, 2022.
Boiler Room is one of electronic music's biggest platforms. There is no bigger stage to start teasing fans with unreleased music. We have seen artists like Fred again.. use this strategy in the past. More on this in the Deep End, so stay with me for more insights.
How salute shared his Boiler Room
salute shared 10 clips from his Boiler Room set on the 8th of December. The IDs of the releases were revealed in the caption. This was the first time the IDs for 'Wait For It' and 'Peach' were revealed. This sparked an organic buzz, starting the building blocks for a forthcoming release.
Nearly a month after the ID reveal in the Melbourne Boiler Room, salute posted a video captioning with a vague and tantalising "new music soon", to further dangle the carrot of the upcoming release.
salute announced Wait For It as the first single in January. The release came out on February 6th.
The first single - Wait For It
The day before the release, salute posted that BBC Radio 1 presenter Clara Amfo had selected 'Wait For It' as her Hottest Record of the Week. salute let his audience know they could stream or purchase the record as soon as the show was over at 6 pm.
The second single - Peach w/ Sammy Virji
The next instalment to the forthcoming EP with 'Peach', came nearly six weeks after the release of 'Wait For It'. The record was a collaboration with Sammy Virji, a rising star in the new wave of Garage-inspired artists.
By working together, they merged their audiences on Spotify to create credibility amongst each other's fanbases. This helped salute gain even more of a following in the UK by piggybacking on Sammy Virji's fans (and vice versa).
Collaboration is key to helping artists grow their audience.
The Tour + EP Launch
Throughout the marketing campaign for the Shield EP, salute was touring the U.K. After Peach was released, salute confirmed the final two tracks off the EP would be released in May.
To express his gratitude for the support of the EP, salute also announced two further tour dates in Manchester and London to celebrate the launch of the EP.
Both of these parties were free and in secret locations. His audience had to sign up via a website link to receive a ticket link. This helped salute grow more depth with his audience and his database.
Sammy Virgi DJ Mag Set
The beauty of this journey has been how the whole EP has developed. From a single tune to a four-track EP with remixes and VIP edits. The hype of the release didn't seem to disappear with Sammy Virji's electric DJ Mag set reigniting the buzz for the EP once again.
The Remix and Vinyl Release
Following the release of the full EP in May, the final piece of the release strategy is the remix.
Thys is one-third of the trio Noisia. Thys remix was released in September 2023, 10 months after the premiere of the original on Boiler Room.
But that's not all. The full EP was released on vinyl last month in October.
The Deep End
Are you still with me?
The release strategy for salute's Shield EP has gone on for almost 12 months. The three individual release dates for the singles were all perfectly planned off the back of the hype of salute's Boiler Room.
This is why Andrew's Framework in the Academy focuses so much on key dates and gold moments. Boiler Room is the ultimate key moment. By staggering these releases throughout the year, salute can intertwine his tours, merchandise, remixes and edits between every instalment of the EP launch.
I learned a lot digging through this and it's opened my eyes to how the music industry really works. I hope you learned something too.
If you made it this far, you can follow me on Instagram @ruse_muse
I'll be back soon.
Alex at Socially Sound 😁
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