I have been fortunate enough to have a few singles on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube, TikTok, Deezer and Tidal, have had relative success in the UK Songwriting Contest and have even had a track played on radio. I have never previously considered releasing an album; but with a number of tracks already out there and one or two ready to go, I thought it was about time.

Since my latest track is called “Aestas” (Latin for summer) and since we are in the middle of our so-called summer, I thought that “Aestas” should be the album title. Provided you have a distributor for releasing your music, putting together an album for digital release seems fairly simple on paper. Also, you might feel the need to release a physical product such as a CD. This is what I decided to do and it turned into a major commitment.

If you ever need to follow in my footsteps, I highly recommend that you first read “The Guidebook to Self-Releasing Your Music” by Matthew Whiteside. At first I thought that it might be more relevant to the USA than the UK; however, Matthew lives in Glasgow and the book was highly relevant to everything I wanted to do. Since I wanted to release a CD, I found the website of CD Unity, also based in Glasgow, and this has loads of advice on getting your music out there especially in a physical format.

The story is not a simple one. As I was visiting Glasgow with my wife, Roberta, I tried to contact CD Unity saying that we would come to their office. As they were not answering the phone, I had to send an email. Despite not receiving a reply in time, we went to their address to find a labyrinth of floors, pathways and offices belonging to different companies. Eventually, I tracked down their office, only to find it closed. At around the same time, I received a reply from CD Unity saying that its staff were working remotely that day and to get in touch again. Eventually, I spoke with the company boss on the phone and he answered my questions. I decided to proceed and, apart from a problem with Roberta’s cover artwork, which was our fault, things seem to be progressing.

The next problem was with licensing. Apparently, making a physical product like a CD is more problematic than releasing a digital download. You have to get it licensed even if you own the composition and master rights for the entire album. It should not cost anything but there is a certain amount of administration involved and this has now commenced.

The third problem was with my distributor, Songtradr, where maintenance of some of their facilities is currently in progress. This made it difficult to alter the afore-mentioned artwork and may even delay the release date of the digital download.

Maybe I have just been unlucky but the release of an album does not appear to be a straightforward process. I will let you know how I get on.