Not wanting to neglect my music making, I tied it into my youtube schedule and made little 3D/synth videos for a bit of fun. Earlier this year, this one music video really stuck with me and I wanted to explore this style further, very reminiscent of Mr Oizo “Flat Beat”.

Now boring project management methodologies and creative funtime music producing is like oil and water right? 

Well music is a business and you want to create music that people enjoy. Project management comes with the idea of rigid structure and cold sterile offices, however it’s there to support the project to completion. There are a variety of methodologies to choose from, however Agile was created to support the ever changing needs of software development. An issue I see when I make music. The Agile Manifesto is a big read;

That’s it. The manifesto gives a mindset on focusing on building the most important features with the customer, and the project is complete when the customer needs are met. Now here is my interpretation for music production.

Now I know it could get a little heated on the internet about DAW selection and music equipment. I get it, however this should not stop you from creating your idea. You have a unique set of skills and your exploration of gear should inspire you. When you collaborate, you trust the person to bring a unique aspect to the music you both create.

If you made a cool sound or a powerful riff, focus on how you can get into a complete song. Now sound design sessions are important, however exhaust any avenue to get that idea into a track instead of saving it with all your other unfinished musical babies.

Listening to your song over and over is going to give you ear fatigue, so get some fresh ones to listen to it. Both people that like and dislike the genre, they will always have a point of view that can help.

Don’t be so precious with a plan, responding to what people are saying with no fixed quota is going to be a better album than trying to meet numbers and content with fluff.

Usually you hear Scrum alongside Agile to provide structure to a project. You have a backlog of tasks that get organised into time based sprints to create working software. There are a lot of assets you need to create for an album besides the multiple tracks to listen to, so keep this in mind when reading below.

This is work, you need a workspace. I like creative space but you get the idea.

Not everyone has access to a fancy studio with fancy gear, everyone is in a different circumstance. I find that this is not a big deal for your creativity, its when a poorly setup space that kills the vibe and stops you being creative.

Now how you make music has its own needs. I make a lot of electronic music so I have a lot of synthesizers and keep them plugged in via patchbays and anyone is on hand. Also I can play with headphones so not too much noise late at night. A drummer will see this and it wouldn’t be useful.

You have different needs, however I feel these points cover aspects of a good creative space.

Whether you are just starting out or a veteran producer. You need to value it like money… because it is. 

For this album, It kinda is a passion project because it had $0 budget. Ok I lied, I spent $60 bucks to get Distrokid to put it on Spotify. However my skill and time is valuable and I treat it as if I was budgeting client work.

How much do you think it would cost you for someone with years of visualisation experience to create a photography/3D rendered cover art with 2 revisions and a 2 day turnaround?

You need to respect your time and skill. Working for free doesn’t mean you get infinite time to make an album. Think about how you feel if you paid someone to do something and spent all the time and didn’t complete anything?

Now how do you stay inspired to make an album? How do you direct your focus? This is where you need to define your why. Your why is the most important as it’s what you dig into for motivation for the project. This is a small one to two sentence story why it’s important for you and your audience. Get a notepad and pen and jot it down. 

I want to create more dance tracks with the Polyend Tracker to play live, something that makes the crowd bounce and makes me smile.  

Now the focus, this could be a musical rift, a completed track, a music style that you want to explore. You want to hone into something specific. Write this down too. 

This track using Gameboy Samples, that bass line really hit me. Very reminiscent to one of my favourite tracks, flat beat by Mr Oizo.

Having a scope like this will direct your focus by adding constraints to what you are going to achieve. Sounds counter intuitive, however removing choice allows you to focus on what is the most important and drive your creative juices to find interesting ideas as you explore.

Now following your scope blindly could lead you in the wrong direction, so how can we course change during the creative process? I was told this early in my career and it stuck with me with everything I do.

Little dark, however there is a point. Now this isn’t throwing everything you know to the curb and starting from scratch. This is something you heard on the radio you want to try out, or a different music scale. This is where you explore new ideas, and it’s ok to fail and something doesn’t work out. It’s a learning experience. 

You might like it and continue to do it, if not you can move on. In the end, you now have a new thing to use in your tool kit and overtime it becomes your style 

When you have a track to listen too (and you should). Get others to listen to it, watch them listen to it. You will see how they react. Ask them how they found it? What did they enjoy? What parts could be improved? Ask why? You will get constructive feedback which will support the creative process.

Now with this in mind, don’t fixate on the initial idea. Use your why to guide the direction and collect feedback to make the changes. Also feel free to go back and make changes to build collection of tracks that work well together.

This is one of the hardest things when working solo and it takes a lot of discipline to keep yourself accountable. So why do it if you don’t have to.

You want to get your tracks out in a timely manner and stay dedicated over a long time frame. Now you have your own situation, you could show your music to close friends and family, Have a manager that keeps you accountable or set up a collective from your community with signed NDAs to listen to your music. 

For me, I am a part of another community project called Weekly Beats. It’s a challenge where every week, you have to release a track. Now for some, this might be scary to show your work. However, having people there to listen and comment really helped the direction of this album. Some of my tracks have gone through major changes from Weekly Beats to the album.

It’s important to set up a commitment to release a track by a fixed date. In the Agile Scrum mindset, you work to sprints to complete a piece of working software for the customer. It forces you to focus on the big picture of the track, instead of getting sucked into the pitfall of tweaking ideas for weeks.

For yourself, you need to set this with your time commitments. I know people that can make tracks daily or monthly depending on their circumstance. But the thing is holding yourself to this commitment. Or if circumstances change, adjust to keep releasing tracks.

Now this one is a concept from Game Development. You work for ages to get an idea into a polished game. Standing on the peak of the mountain of work you have just done, about to be released to the world. You see another mountain that you need to climb so your release is a success.

Alongside your tracks, you will need the song titles, lyrics, press release, cover art and whatever the publisher needs to showcase your album. Also in this social media saturated world. You need a way to promote your music to the masses. This means press kits, supporting artwork and social media posts. Making this material is the same effort, if not more that making the tracks for the album.

Its good to keep this in mind as you are working towards your album, because there are ways to get this content created to help your album succeed.

In today’s world, everyone wears many hats. By hats I mean roles. Just taking an average YouTuber for example, there’s video production, lighting, script writing, research, public speaking, image editing, SEO optimisation and storytelling to point out a few contrasting skills. 

I know I have a broad skill set because of my skills creating immersive technology experiences and I did use skills I am very comfortable with to make the album. Listen to your music, you will get or probably have a theme in your mind and a mental image of what the cover art is going to be. 

Now you are probably thinking that you don’t have the know-how to create the idea. Executing on your idea doesn’t need you to paint the Mona lisa (it might do). It’s more important to capture the idea with what you have available to you have than be hung up for weeks waiting for perfect technical execution. Create a mood board of other cover art or images that resembles your idea and save it.

In 2022, software focusing on the user experience has lowered the technology barrier to create, and you are one quick google search away to a whole bunch of tutorials so you can do it. 

Now there is a specific community that is hyper focused on technical execution, and only the best technology can get the best results. Don’t let this blind you as the devices around you. Modern phones take excellent images and there are apps to get a majority of the image editing done. Here is a photo I took on a morning run with my phone and saving for a future project.

The technology should support your idea, and focus on keeping your cover art simple. As a minimal viable idea is easier to create than complex one and which can come out not put together.

If you are still in the mindset “I have no artistic bone in your body”. There is no shame, still try to create something to show because it’s useful in the next part. This is where a lot of managers use the magical word of

This is the art of getting someone else to do it. You have identified what you need to get done. Ask the community around you to help, see if they can support your vision. Also you have access to the online communities too like Fiverr and a bunch of others. Get in contact and explain/ show what you are looking for, there will be someone out there that you will be able to work with. 

Remember, respect their time and skill. Support your artists like you would like to be supported.

Now that everything is together for the album release, you want to double check your work for any grammar, spelling, visual or auditory issues. You need to iron them out for the final release. Get fresh eyes and ears to go over this, as people will spot them and think your work is less professional.  

Some platforms it is hard to go in and update content so you want to fix it now, and when this is done you have your final copy ready for release. A big achievement.

Now you have your album. Plan to publish it 4 weeks or more in the future. This is pretty usual for platforms to verify and maybe highlight it like spotify. If you are doing physical copies you want to check their turnaround time. Get your album up and plan a release date after this.

Also keep an eye out for any way to get your release highlighted, I got caught out as I didn’t check spotify after it was uploaded on distrokid. Missed the playlist highlight opportunity. 

Now it’s the fun process of…

Leading up to the release date, you will be spending time spreading the word. your circumstance will control what you can or can’t do, however it’s as important as creating your album. In this social media content driven world, your work will likely get drowned out. 

There are a lot of marketing people that drive the point to try and go viral, get a lot of ears on your music and get fame. Not going to blast it and say this doesn’t work, It does. However I feel this is more like winning the lottery by praising the almighty algorithm than a strategy to bring value to your listeners.

Now I have only been on YouTube for a couple of years focusing on my music and tutorials to support others on their journey. I am a tiny channel and recent to social media, though I feel like the odd one out as I focus on building a good supportive community and a strong growth bassline over trying to make something go viral. Content spikes are nice but they are not forever.

My thought process behind this is my nature, I am not a one trick pony. My body of work is a collection of music, art, programming and design to achieve something more. I enjoy music and am free to create content with it because it doesn’t conflict with my daytime career (though sound is a vital aspect to it). As I continue to grow and discuss other ideas on social media, it may not resonate with people and could hit or miss. When focusing on value over viral content, it will always be valuable and show you new ideas, and maybe that’s something you want to tag along on this journey.

I am grateful that another larger YouTuber pointed this out. It is worth a watch. Now for you, you need to decide on your value and building your following around it. It’s a hard process, however in my experience it is rewarding. 

Here are some ideas you could try

Congratulations. It’s time to celebrate.

Its key to celebrating your successes, An album is a massive undertaking and putting out your work for the world to see. It may do well, It may not, however you created something that didn’t exist before and that’s a win. However before you start your next album, it’s good to reflect on what went well, what can be improved and how it could be done better next time.

Looking back on this when I made that Gameboy wiggle animation, I knew this was something worth exploring. However, having a guide to take any creative idea to a real tangible album that people can enjoy is always worth having a look at. 

I use agile in various projects besides software, The focus of scalability and customer collaboration always improves the output. Seeing it work well with my music production, I am definitely going to use on the next album.

Thank you for reading, and if you found a part of this useful. Share so it can help others.

Also go check out my channel over on YouTube for more of this type of information.