‘Promised Land’ Release

Creating a Digital StoryTelling Experience

Independent singer-songwriter Evan Bartels is known for his poignant and personal brand of storytelling. He strives to create meaningful songs that tell truthful narratives and connect with the human experience. His second studio release, Promised Land EP, is a collection of five songs that reflect on his personal journey of self-discovery.

As with any album release, the primary goal is to sell copies and increase listenership. For many independent — and sometimes even major — label artists, this often simply involves a basic campaign: social media and email to promote pre-orders and pre-saves. We wanted to do more than that. So, we decided to create a digital experience that not only promoted album sales, but also shed light onto the making of the album and stories behind the songs.

One of the more difficult things to do when managing a multi-week pre-order campaign for an album release is to keep content fresh. Quite often, the same images and song previews run their course too quickly, and one is left with a disengaged audience. With this in mind, we immediately structured a content calendar that scheduled unseen and unheard content on a weekly basis.

Leading up to the official release, the Promised Land landing page was updated weekly with comprehensive new song previews consisting of handwritten lyrics, first-person commentary of the song from Evan, and motion graphic video previews. Social media posts and branded emails spread the word that new content was available each week, all while promoting pre-order.

In addition to weekly song previews, the ‘Promised Land’ page told about the making of the album in the studio and linked to the primary sources for purchasing the album. This content was consistent throughout the life of the entire pre-order campaign, with music store links being updated as they became available.

Well, how was the release?! After a six-week pre-order campaign, the results were overwhelmingly positive: a sold-out theatre release show and sale numbers that led to Promised Land debuting at #9 on both the iTunes singer-songwriter charts and the regional Billboard WNC Heatseekers chart.