What is a Presave?
A presave is a feature on streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify that allows fans to be notified when an artist’s upcoming release drops. It essentially serves as a pre-order system for digital music releases.
When an artist sets up a presave campaign through a service like Linkfire, fans can click the presave link and add the upcoming release to their library ahead of time. This automatically adds the album, EP or single to the fan’s Spotify or Apple Music library when it is officially released.1
Presaving is beneficial for both artists and fans. For artists, it helps build hype and awareness of a new release. For fans, it provides a notification so they can listen right away when new music drops from artists they love.
In summary, a presave allows fans to “pre-order” an upcoming digital release so it’s automatically added to their streaming library upon release. It’s a way for artists to promote new music and for fans to stay up-to-date.
Presaves on Apple Music
The presave feature on Apple Music allows users to save upcoming album releases to their library before the album is officially released. When a user presaves an album, it gets added to their Apple Music library and downloads automatically when it is officially released.
Presaves on Apple Music work similarly to preorders, but without requiring any payment upfront. It allows users to easily save and remember albums they are excited for, ensuring they can listen as soon as it drops without needing to search for it.
For artists, presaves offer a way to build excitement and guarantee engagement when new music releases. Fans who presave essentially signal their intent to listen on day one. Presave campaigns can help artists chart higher when the album is officially out.
Apple Music introduced presaves in 2019 as an evolution of the preorder model. While iTunes previously allowed album preorders, presaves operate differently. With a preorder, you pay upfront and download on release. With presaves, no payment is required until the album is out.
Presaves represent a win-win for streaming services, artists, and fans. For services like Apple Music, presaves help drive day one streaming numbers. For artists, it builds loyal listeners. For fans, it’s an easy way to support artists and never miss new releases.
Artist Presave Set Up
Artists can set up presaves for their upcoming releases on Apple Music through their Apple Music for Artists account. According to Apple’s artist support page, “With just a tap, Apple Music pre-adds allow fans and listeners to add music from an upcoming release to their library or playlists without missing a beat” (Source).
To set up a presave campaign on Apple Music, artists need to first deliver their pre-release content using a supported distributor like Distrokid or TuneCore. Once the pre-release content is live in Apple’s systems, artists can access their Apple Music for Artists account and enable the presave option. This allows fans to pre-add the upcoming release to their Apple Music library.
According to Apple’s pre-release guidelines, artists should deliver content for presave campaigns at least 1 week prior to the official release date. This gives Apple time to process the content and make it available for presaving. The presave option will remain active right up until the official release goes live for fans.
Fan Presave Process
Here are the steps fans take to presave a release on Apple Music:
- Go to the artist’s page on Apple Music or find the announcement post about the upcoming release. There will be a button that says “Pre-Add” or “Presave”.
- Click on the “Pre-Add” or “Presave” button. This will open a prompt to confirm adding it to your library.
- Confirm that you want to add it to your library. This will presave the album to your Apple Music library.
- Once the release date arrives, the presaved album will automatically be added to your Apple Music library without any additional action needed.
Fans can presave upcoming releases in the Apple Music app on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PC. The presave button allows fans to easily add upcoming releases to their library so they can access them as soon as they are available without having to search or remember the release date. According to Tunesolo, the presave feature helps artists build excitement and engagement with fans ahead of a release.
Presave Notification
When a fan presaves an upcoming album on Apple Music, they will receive a notification on release day letting them know the album is now available to stream. The notification will appear on the device where the fan has the Apple Music app installed, such as their iPhone. It will say “[Album name] is now available” and give the name of the artist. Tapping on the notification will open the Apple Music app and take the fan directly to the album page to start listening. The album will also be automatically added to the fan’s Apple Music library since they had presaved it.
This instant notification when a presaved album is released allows fans to be among the very first listeners. As soon as the album goes live at midnight on release day, fans who presaved will be notified and can start streaming right away. This creates a surge of streams for the artist right at release, helping boost numbers and momentum. It’s an advantage over fans who didn’t presave and have to manually search for the album when it drops. Presaving lets the most eager listeners get instant access.
Presaved Albums in Library
When a fan presaves an album on Apple Music, it does not immediately appear in their library. Presaving simply acts as a reminder and notification system for when the album is officially released. Once the release date arrives, the presaved album will automatically be added to the fan’s Apple Music library if they have an active subscription.
The user does not need to take any additional action for the album to pop into their library on release day. It will seamlessly appear alongside their other saved music, ready to be streamed and downloaded. The album artwork, songs, and metadata will automatically populate just as if they had manually added it themselves.
Having presaved an album makes it easy for fans to start enjoying it right away on day one. They can go straight to listening without needing to search for the album or worry about missing the release. It’s an automated and streamlined process that enables fans to stay up to date with their favorite artists.
Presave vs Preorder
A presave allows fans to add an upcoming song or album to their Apple Music library before it is released. This automatically downloads the release to their library when it becomes available. A preorder allows fans to pay for an upcoming album in advance and have it download to their library upon release.
The key difference is that a presave does not involve any financial transaction – it is simply a way for fans to register interest and get new music the moment it drops. A preorder is a commercial transaction where money changes hands prior to an album’s release date.
Preorders used to be more common when fans needed to purchase physical albums at retail stores before release day. Now presaves better suit the streaming landscape. They allow artists to boost engagement and build anticipation around a release. Fans can discover and register interest in new music easier than ever.
While a preorder guarantees an artist immediate sales, a presave boosts visibility, helps with analytics and algorithms, and leads to day one streams. However, artists should use both tactics if possible to maximize exposure. Offer fans the convenience of presaving along with the option to preorder if they want an early digital download or physical product.
In summary, presaving is promotional while preordering is commercial. Presaves boost discovery and streaming numbers, while preorders drive early sales. Using both gives artists the best chance of charting successfully when the release drops.
Artist Presave Benefits
There are several key benefits for artists having fans presave their albums on Apple Music:
Presaves help generate buzz and excitement around a new release. The more fans that presave an album, the more awareness there is when it drops. This can lead to more streams on release day as presavers are notified and prompted to listen (Linkfire).
Presaves provide artists with crucial data and metrics. Artists can view presave numbers in real time to gauge interest and track growth leading up to release. High presave counts signal an engaged fanbase eager to hear the new music.
Presaving enables targeted marketing. Artists can retarget fans who have presaved an album with additional promo materials and messages in the critical window between presave and release. This keeps fans engaged during the lead-up.
Presaves help boost chart placement. A flood of streams from presavers right when an album drops can drive it up the charts. The higher the presave count, the better chance an album has of a high debut (Reddit).
Overall, presaves allow artists to leverage fan excitement into tangible results. By getting fans to presave new releases, artists can expand reach, analyze data, hone marketing, and maximize streams for a successful debut.
Fan Presave Benefits
There are several key benefits for fans who presave upcoming releases on Apple Music:
Get notified when the album is released. Presaving an album will send you a notification when it becomes available on Apple Music so you can listen right away without having to remember to check back.
AddToLibrary. Presaving also automatically adds the album to your Apple Music library when it’s released, so you don’t have to search for it.
Show support for artists. Letting artists know you are excited for their release by presaving helps build momentum and shows your support.
Gain access to exclusives. Some artists offer exclusives like early song snippets or special content only for fans who presave their release.
Get in early. Being one of the first to hear a new release, especially from your favorite artists, is exciting for fans.
Contribute to charts. Presaves help signal potential interest to Apple Music’s algorithms which can contribute to better chart placement upon release.
Presaves and Streaming
Presaves can have a significant impact on an album’s streaming numbers right after release. When fans presave an album, it gets added to their Apple Music library as soon as it drops. This means that all of those fans start streaming the new album immediately on release day.
According to Apple, albums with over 10,000 presaves have seen up to 4 times more streams on release day compared to albums without a presave campaign. The more fans that presave an album, the higher its release day streams are likely to be.
Presaves also help generate buzz and word of mouth leading up to an album release. The more fans that are notified when an album drops, the more listeners the album will likely attract on release day. Presaves get more people ready and excited to stream the album as soon as it’s available.
In today’s streaming-focused music industry, release day streaming numbers are hugely important for chart placement. A successful presave campaign can drive enough release day streams for an album to chart much higher right out of the gate.
In summary, presaves directly translate to a spike in release day streams and attention. The higher the presave numbers, the bigger the boost when the album finally drops. Presaves are a key streaming strategy for every artist’s release campaign.