Should I release singles first or the whole EP at once?

For most indie artists, singles first, then the EP. Spotify gives each release its own pitch and Release Radar slot, and a full EP only gets one.

Spotify’s pitching page says you can pitch one unreleased song at a time, and once it’s live you can pitch the next. A song that’s already out can’t be pitched at all. Drop five songs on one day and four of them never reach an editor.

Release Radar works the same way. Spotify’s Release Radar page says each listener gets one song per artist per week, for up to 4 weeks. Pitch at least 7 days before release and you choose which song that is.

Our usual advice is two or three singles about four weeks apart, then the EP with those singles on it. Keep one song unreleased so the EP has something new to pitch. Our release checklist has the four-week countdown for each drop.

Reuse each single’s ISRC on the EP so the plays stay together, as our FAQ on singles merging with the EP version explains. On DistroKid’s yearly plan, extra singles cost nothing more, while CD Baby charges $9.99 per single and $14.99 per album.

Release it all at once when the songs only make sense together, or you can’t promote three separate drops. That’s fair. It just gets one pitch.