Release week content plan: what to post, day by day
A song doesn’t come out on one day — it comes out over a month. Here is a concrete, piece-by-piece plan for the two weeks before and the two weeks after release day.
Plenty of releases fade for the same reason: the song comes out, there’s one “out now” post, and the next day there’s nothing left to show. On TikTok, Reels and Shorts a single post rarely carries a song — showing up often does. And people usually need to run into a song several times, in different formats, before they actually press play.
The good news: you don’t need a design team or a video crew to keep a month of content going. You need a plan and the pieces ready before release day. This is the plan we use as a starting point.
What to have ready
Before your first announcement, put these in one folder:
- The final audio (master) and the cover art in high resolution. No cover yet? Make one with the AI album cover generator in TONTRIA Motion Studio.
- The release date, confirmed with your distributor.
- The song link. If your distributor gives you a pre-save link, use it until release day, then swap it for the Spotify or YouTube link.
- At least one long video: the music video, a live session, a filmed rehearsal or an interview where you talk about the song. That’s where the clips for the following weeks come from.
- The lyrics, proofread.
If you’re pitching the song to editorial playlists through Spotify for Artists, do it early — Spotify asks for the pitch ahead of the release date. Check the current deadline inside Spotify for Artists.
This plan covers the content. For the rest of the release — delivery to your distributor, credits, splits and pitch dates — use the release planning checklist on tontria.com. No distributor yet? Read how to distribute your music. And for the link you share before release day, see what a pre-save is.
Two weeks out: the announcement
The goal here is simple: people should know something is coming, and when.
- A “coming soon” piece: the cover (or a detail of it) with the song title. Post it to your feed and your stories.
- A release date piece: the same design, now with the date. Pin this post to your profile.
- A video teaser: 10–20 seconds of the song. The chorus from a rehearsal, a studio moment, a shot from the music video. Don’t give everything away — save something for release day.
- The story behind the song: a short video where you explain where it came from. It’s the kind of content that makes someone care about a song they haven’t heard yet.
The week before: the countdown
Now the pace picks up. One piece a day is a reasonable rhythm that won’t wear people out.
- 3 days left: countdown piece + a clip with a different part of the song.
- 2 days left: countdown piece + a behind-the-scenes video (recording, rehearsal, photo shoot).
- Tomorrow: “tomorrow” piece + a short, unscripted message to camera asking people to listen.
Which video to post each day
Change the type of video so you’re not reposting the same snippet: the chorus one day, the opening line the next, a spoken moment after that. If you have a live session, it alone can give you several different clips — how to turn a live session into 10 viral shorts lists the moments worth looking for.
Release day
This is the busiest posting day of the month. Get everything ready the night before.
- A “today” piece first thing in the morning, in stories.
- An “out now” piece on your feed and in stories, with the link in your bio and in your stories.
- “Out now” with the video: the same piece with a snippet of the music video and the song’s audio. It does better than a still image on Reels and TikTok.
- Your first vertical clip from the music video or the live session, with captions.
Have the Canvas and lyric video ready
Two pieces worth having live from minute one:
- Your Spotify Canvas: the short vertical loop that plays behind the song in the Spotify app. Upload it in Spotify for Artists so it’s there when listeners arrive. If you’ve never made one, read what a Spotify Canvas is and how to create one.
- A lyric video: if there’s no music video yet, a lyric video gives the song a home on YouTube on day one. If there is a music video, the lyric video can follow a few days later as a second piece. The walkthrough is in how to make a lyric video with AI from a Spotify link.
The two weeks after
This is where most artists stop — and where there’s the most to gain. The song is out; now the job is getting people to see it again and again.
- One clip a day, or every other day: the chorus, the opening line, the peak moment, an acoustic take, the story told in 45 seconds.
- Vertical lyric snippets: 15–30 seconds of the chorus with the lyrics on screen, for Reels and TikTok.
- Reactions: share what listeners post (with their permission), and reply to comments with video where the platform allows it.
- “Out now” again halfway through the second week, for everyone who missed it.
- Re-cut what worked: if one clip clearly outperformed the rest, make another version of the same moment with a new hook or a different caption style.
The full plan, day by day
A template to copy and adjust (R = release day):
- R-14: “coming soon” (feed + stories).
- R-10: release date (pinned post + stories) and the story behind the song on video.
- R-7: a 10–20 second teaser.
- R-3: “3 days left” + a clip.
- R-2: “2 days left” + behind the scenes.
- R-1: “tomorrow” + message to camera. Canvas uploaded, lyric video scheduled.
- R: “today”, “out now”, “out now” with the video, and your first vertical clip.
- R+1 to R+7: one clip a day (chorus, opening line, peak, story, acoustic) plus a vertical lyric snippet.
- R+8 to R+14: clips every other day, reactions, “out now” again, and new versions of your best clip.
Releasing an EP or an album? Run the same plan around the focus track, then add a clip for each of the other songs over the following weeks.
Tip: write every caption on the same day you prepare the pieces. Once release week starts, there’s no time to write each one from scratch.
How to prepare every piece in one afternoon
All of that sounds like a lot of work, but almost everything comes from two things you already have: the song link and one long video.
- Release assets: with TONTRIA release assets you paste the Spotify or YouTube link (or upload the cover and audio if the song isn’t out yet) and get “coming soon”, release date, the countdown, “tomorrow”, “today”, “out now” and “out now” with the video — in story, post and square formats, as images or as animated videos with the song’s audio. The vertical loop for your Spotify Canvas comes out of the same step.
- Lyric video: with Video Lyrics you make the horizontal version for YouTube and the vertical one for Reels and TikTok from the same link.
- Clips: with AI Clips you upload the music video, session or interview. The AI suggests the best 30–90 second moments, reframes them to vertical following whoever sings or talks, and adds animated captions. It also drafts the hook, titles, description and hashtags for you to copy.
That covers the month before it even starts. If you release your own music, TONTRIA for artists sums up everything you can prepare; if you work with several artists, see how the same workflow runs in TONTRIA for labels.
Got a release coming up? Create a free account and build your pieces from your song’s link.