The whole process of putting a release together is exciting, confronting, and daunting in a lot of ways. Whether you’ve got a killer EP or a full album, there is something special about releasing something you have spent so long creating with love (and probably blood, sweat, and tears).

So you’ve gone through the whole creative process – everything is composed and produced. Your stuff has been mixed and mastered. Now it’s just sitting there, waiting for the green light to be released into the world.

The key to a good release is timing. The timing is dependent on how much you build it up beforehand.

Think of it as charging up a battery. If you release something when you’ve only charged it up halfway, you’re not going to get as much life out of it. If you charge it up to 100%, well, you’re probably going to see some amazing results. It all comes down to hype.

Here are 5 tips on building hype before a release.

Making your music available on streaming platforms is becoming less and less of a choice in today’s music industry. And while the way Spotify, Apple Music, and other major streaming companies compensate artists is hugely complex resulting in payments rarely substantial enough to take care of musicians’ bills, artists still have a lot to be excited about when it comes to the world of streaming platforms and playlists.

In this industry it can be easy to get overwhelmed with all the information being blasted at us 24/7. Do this, don’t do that. This works, that doesn’t. It can be tough to know which advice to follow, and which to stay far away from.

As someone who has been in the industry for the last 10 years as a writer for my own and several other publications, a music publicist, an occasional booker of local shows, and an all around observer, there are a few myths that I see bands still living by, despite any proof they actually work—most of them end up actually being detrimental. Here they are:

We’ve all been wowed by crowdfunding campaigns that have surpassed their goals by thousands, and we’ve all been bummed for the folks whose effort raised drastically less than what they hoped for. The thing is, crowdfunding—the hit-your-goal-and-then-some type, at least—is really difficult.

Loads of work goes into running a successful campaign, from strategizing and launching to constant upkeep throughout. The way you present your project and the motivations behind it truly matter; in crowdfunding, those factors are almost as important as the music itself.

Read on for seven tips that’ll help you lay the best possible foundation for your campaign and guide you through making the most of it while it’s running.