Stop posting, start releasing: The 2025 Creative Playbook

In December, an artist on Metalabel sold out an entire collection of NYC garbage — literal trash from the streets of NYC packaged in glass cubes for $100 each — in under an hour. No viral TikTok. No paid ads. Just by following a different way of releasing creative work.

The internet wants you to post. Post faster, post more, post everything you're thinking. Like a toddler demanding snacks, the feed is never satisfied. When all we do is post, there is no satisfaction. The feed is anti-satisfaction. The feed is perpetual hunger and anxiety for more.

But there's another way: RELEASE.

The differences between releasing and posting are subtle but significant.

The numbers back up the power of releasing. In their Metalabel release, NYC Garbage:

• Generated nearly 200 waitlist signups from a single free release
• Sold out their full collection in under 60 minutes
• Built direct relationships with collectors instead of getting anonymous likes
• Maintained full control over the story and pricing of their work

This is a model I also use for my creative work. Last year:

• I released an essay as a limited edition zip file to express the gravity of the work in my eyes
• The piece generated more than $1,000 from collectors in a week
• More than a hundred collectors wrote long responses that were incredibly meaningful
• The essay continues to have a strong online shelf life almost a year later

At least some of this response was because of how I chose to release the essay. How you as a creator treat your work shapes how your audience does too.

The 2025 Creative Playbook

This is a playbook you can follow too. The steps aren’t complicated:

1. Establish your creative home. Create a space where people can directly support your work. You can build your own site, use a paid service like Squarespace, or join Metalabel for free with built-in features for splits and treasury management. Start your free Metalabel page here.
   
2. Select what you want to release. Digital? Physical? An event? An idea? All of the above? A release can be whatever you want it to be.
   
3. Present with context and story. A post is pixels thin, but a release is as deep as you make it. Tell the story of the work the way you see it.
   
4. Set up automatic splits. Before the release, decide how funds will flow. Are you splitting with collaborators? Saving some in a treasury for future projects? On Metalabel, this happens automatically.
   
5. Offer to collectors. Free, fixed price, or pay what you want — each collector shares their email and starts a direct relationship with you.
   
6. Drive strategic attention. Use social media to point to your release, but remember: platforms deprioritize posts with external links. Your collector relationships become your most valuable promotional channel.
   
7. Build your community. Thank collectors, encourage them to share their experience, and involve them in your creative journey. Each supporter makes you less dependent on the feed and more empowered to release again.

This is what NYC Garbage put into action:

1. Made a Metalabel page to catalogue their work
2. Announced a new season of their decade-old project
3. Posted their free waitlist drop on Instagram (getting almost 200 of their followers to signup and establish a direct relationship)
4. Dropped the release to the waitlist first (leading to the quick sellout)
5. Shared the sellout story on social to drive FOMO for future releases
6. Built community by having collectors share photos and stories

A simple series of actions, none difficult on their own, but that together unlock real value for creators and collectors. Not by fighting algorithms or chasing likes. By doing something truly meaningful: building connections with people who value your work.

This new path is what Metalabel exists to build. What our squad is dedicated to helping creative people do even more successfully in 2025. Want to be part of this story together? Get started releasing with Metalabel right now. (Literally. Right now!)

Thinking of our friends in Los Angeles

A final note that’s painfully inadequate for the awful circumstances. Like everyone, we’ve been focused on the fires in LA this past week, checking in on friends, family, squadmates, and members of our community in Los Angeles. The devastation to so many lives is unimaginable and carries a sense of unease and pain we can’t shake.

See this list of places where you can help.