You have been tweaking the same song for seven months: one more vocal take, one more snare, one more mix. Then the version you finally upload is an MP3 your engineer forwarded on WhatsApp, and on a phone speaker, your vocal almost disappears.
A song is creatively finished when more changes would make it different, not better. To break the loop, step away for a few days, play it to two or three honest people, and test the master everywhere your fans listen: a phone speaker, cheap earphones, a car, a Bluetooth speaker, even a matatu or trotro if you can. Don't master it as loud as possible either, because platforms such as Spotify turn loud songs down to a set level, so you only lose punch. Always deliver a high-quality WAV file, never an MP3 or anything sent through WhatsApp.
When you sign off, ask your engineer for every version at once: clean and explicit, instrumental, a cappella and stems. DJs, radio stations and remixers will ask for them, often when you least expect it. From Finished Song to Release shows you how to take a song from final mix to a release with a plan behind it. Take the course on Crux Global Academy: cruxmusic.global/academycrux.
