The Thermal Playbook

How we launch a release.

Most release plans are a list of things to post. This one is a set of dates, each with the copy it uses, the fact it stands on, and the one person who decides whether it goes out: you. Thermal builds it from your kit on the campaign desk. It works the same on paper.

Eight weeks out · two weeks

Lock the file

Nothing is pitched until the file is final.

  • Lock the final master and the clean edit.
  • Lock ISRC, UPC and the split sheet.
  • Size the art set: a 3000 by 3000 cover, a 9:16 Canvas loop of 3 to 8 seconds, a 2660 by 1140 artist header. The loop is cut in whole bars at your measured tempo.

Six weeks out · two weeks

Deliver

Get it into the system early. Editorial can only be pitched once the release shows in Spotify for Artists.

  • Deliver the release to your distributor with the date set.
  • Confirm it shows in Spotify for Artists, then fill the pitch form field by field.
  • Make the pre-save link and put it in every bio.

Four weeks out

Set the story

The kit becomes public. Everything after borrows from it.

  • Publish the press page and put the link in every bio.
  • Lock ISRC, UPC and the split sheet before anything is pitched.
  • Submit the editorial pitch. Editorial needs seven or more days before release.
  • Build the ten-name list from the lead queue.

Three weeks out

Open the door

Turn early listeners into people you can reach again.

  • Post the pre-save line and pin it.
  • Load the welcome email into your list tool.
  • Send the playlist pitches to every send-now lead.
  • Send the blog pitch, story first.

Two weeks out

Make the noise

Content week. The briefs are written; you film them.

  • Film the first two briefs on the measured hook window.
  • Post the first clip.
  • Follow up on every week one pitch with the day-five note.
  • Send the radio pitch to college and community stations.
  • If you are spending money, run the paid test: three clips, one tracked link each.

Release week · day by day

Ship it

Then turn around while it is warm. Eight days to release day, three moves a day at most, and an open day stays open.

  • Verify every link resolves: tracked links, the audio link.
  • Release day: post the story card and the listen link.
  • DM every warm contact the listen link.
  • Text the close circle.

The week after

Follow through

Log what came back. Replies, not opens, are the signal.

  • Log every reply and placement with evidence.
  • Follow up on release week pitches.
  • Send the nurture leads a second look now there is a release out.
  • Read the seven-day debrief and the variance report.

Two weeks after · press and booking goals

Next rooms

Use what moved as proof for the next ask.

  • Pitch the next three rooms with the release as proof.
  • Send the sync one-liner to supervisors who take this lane.
  • Re-read the kit two weeks after release and update what moved.

The rules under it

Five rules, none of them optional.

Receipts

Every claim in the plan points at one of four things: a number your device measured from the recording, a fact you typed, a page the scout actually found, or an event that was recorded. Nothing else counts, and a claim with no receipt is dropped before it is shown.

Gates

Anything that leaves Thermal, a pitch, a post, a form, waits for you. Approve it and it is yours to send from your own account. Decline it and it stays on the plan, unsent. Thermal does not send email, post, or submit anything on your behalf.

Replies, not opens

The plan is judged on what came back. Sent, replied, placed, verified with evidence. Opens are counted and shown, and never rounded up to a reply. A pitch pair is decided after six sends each, on replies.

It learns from you

Build the plan again after a release and the routes that answered move to the front of their week and say so. The routes you worked that drew nothing say that too. No guesses, only your own recorded sends and replies.

Money follows a rule

A paid test is up to three short clips cut from the measured hook, each on its own tracked link, at an even split for three days. Thermal counts the clicks through its links and divides the spend you type. When each clip has thirty clicks, the next dollar goes to the lowest cost per click. Thermal does not buy, run, or see ads, and a click is not a stream.

What the playbook is not: a schedule Thermal runs for you, a promise about placements, or a ranking of you against anyone. The measurement stays on your device. Export everything, delete anything.

Open the campaign desk See what one reading writes