Here are our tips for contacting radio stations and getting your music heard. Have you had your music played on the radio? That relationship is what leads to further connections with the audience you’re seeking to grow towards. Whether I’ve put them on a notebook, my computer case, or elsewhere, it will be seen. Listen to top radio stations, music, news, podcasts, sports, talk, and comedy shows. How to Make Your Mixes Louder (the Right Way).
#WeMakeEvents is an international movement to highlight that the live events sector urgently needs support from loc… https://t.co/jnRJDqPgjv. What better way to do that than to include a few pieces of swag in your mailing. Include a short bio, a little write up explaining the songwriting and recording process of the record, and state where else the album or single has received coverage. Independent Radio Promotion Guide: How to Contact Radio Stations, treat this connection like you would a garden, How Your Existing Fanbase Can Help Build Your Future Fanbase, 6 Ways to Cut Through the Noise with Your New Release, Your Fans Want to Hear Your Narrative: Crafting a Story for Your Music Career, Add Lyrics to Your Instagram Stories Today, How to Earn New Organic Engagement on Instagram. I sometimes receive stickers, buttons, posters, and other little pieces of band promo stuff in the mail, and that’s a nice touch. Sending an electronic press kit, press release or one-sheet including links to 1-3 of your best tracks is the most common way to approach radio stations, as well as press publications and blogs. Instead include links to your songs. Ask them to analyze things like songwriting, arrangement, composition, production and mastering. You never know, this might work out well for the studio and your band mutually. Now, let’s dive into one big aspect of reaching music and culture influencers to get your music out to their audiences, so that those music fans can become your fans. Images help to bridge a digital gap and make any connection more personal. Have you found the contact details of the decision-makers at the stations you’re targeting, but there’s no clear information on how you can submit tracks? As a musician, there’s a lot of stuff to keep organized when it comes to marketing your music — social media, promotion, contacting press, and building your network are all a part of this process. Sign up for our On the Fly newsletter below to receive exclusive discounts on current and forthcoming courses! If they tell you to send them physical media, keep the following in mind: Make sure your album is professionally produced and is packaged in the same way you’d sell it in a store.
For example, BBC Introducing requires you to make an artist profile before you upload your tracks to their system. Hit them up on email with a casual follow up, update them on any progress from your artist project (signings, live shows, press coverage etc) and let them know you’ll be in touch with new music again soon. The first step to take is identifying your target audience and the indie stations they are consuming new music. Some stations will only accept submissions from certain sources or in a specific formats, so do some research to make sure you're doing things the right way before sending anything. iHeartRadio lets you access the world of music and radio in one simple platform. You need to do the same. Radio Promotion Guide: How To Contact Radio Stations. Write a personal note to that person and include it with the rest of your materials. That means that when the host or station manager loads your disc into their computer it registers as a normal CD. Contacting genre-specific stations is also an effective way to get airplay. Radio pluggers act as a mediator between you and the radio stations and usually have a long list of contacts they acquired over many years in the industry. Generally, DJs and stations receive the majority of their submissions and demos in digital format. Relationship building matters, every step of the way.
Join 22k other artists following us on Facebook, Trusted by over 100,000 artists & labels across the world. It the whole reason you’ve mailed the music curator. Start by searching for potential stations that are specialised in your music genre. Millions of $ in royalties paid out to artists just like you. However, if you treat this connection like you would a garden, tending it one seed at a time and thinking about the health of the seed in the long term, you’ll be able to harvest some real growth and support for your music project for years to come. Ultimately, the most effective (but also most difficult) way to get radio airplay is to create hype around your music organically, develop a loyal fan base, and force the radio stations to take notice. So let me break down what to include and what to leave out, and you can fill in the details yourself! No station professional has the time to manually enter the info for your music into their system.
Not only is this incredibly unprofessional, it makes you look like someone who doesn’t take your music very seriously. True growth and success comes from cultivating real relationships with people who have influence in the music industry.
Contact Us Get in touch with our team! Look on the station’s website or social media to get the contact details you need, or alternatively just give them a call and ask for the producer’s info (they may or may not give it to you - but it's worth a try!). You’re better off sending a download code or Dropbox link to some tracks, along with a PDF of press info. A different sort of music school for today's musicians. His work as The Audience Growth Farmer is also the subject of his blog and debut book The DIY Musician's Radio Handbook. Unless the curator, music host, or station manager has specifically instructed you to include a long write up, save the paper and your time. You work hard for your music income.
You definitely shouldn’t send a ton of promo material and increase your shipping fees just for the sake of airplay. If the music host or station manager really enjoys your music, you stand to gain them as a fan as well. When it comes to approaching radio stations, you need to know who to contact. Get your tracks professionally critiqued (by another musician, DJ, music curator or radio professional) for feedback. If you’re sending a CD, I recommend that you attempt to make a connection with the station or program host before you put a package together, and pony up the $3-$7 to mail something physical out. That’s absolutely going to represent you better if you don’t yet have a professionally released album. When sending a CD, make sure that the metadata for the track names, artist name, and album are on the disc. Get music news and tips delivered to your inbox once a week. In this case, consider rewriting your letter to include a request to perform in the studio, or do a live interview. Let us know in the comments below and share this info with your friends. If you don’t have stickers or buttons or posters, that’s okay. An EPK should include links to your music, imagery, touring history, audience data and your social statistics.
+Radio Airplay 101 - Which Stations to Choose +Radio Promo Exec, Dale Connone, Talks Finding Radio Promotion for Indie Artists! Company No: 03976764. Getting your songs played on the radio isn’t easy. Get out there and make a name for yourself!
Before you start submitting music, you need to make sure that your artist project has a good foundation in place with two key steps: getting your music critiqued and creating a press kit. Aside from music, Smith loves anything involving Batman and craft beer. When it comes to approaching radio stations, you need to know who to contact. Discover the best music, sports and news talk radio stations. Download our free 48-page Digital Career Guide. Research details on the station’s website or social media until you get a hold of their email contact. Express your thanks to the radio host for considering your music, and let them know how excited you are to be included in their programming. Your album or EP is the most important thing. However, not every radio show or station does in-studio interviews when a band is on tour and swings by. They’re just nice touches. Airplay is tricky to secure, so be patient, make sure your tracks are water-tight and don’t be too discouraged if you don’t the results you want immediately. I’m not saying you have to have these things or that you need to suck up to a music curator in sending it. We’re not telling you to be spammy, but staying top-of-mind is important. So, it’s been a week, your release date is looming and you haven’t heard back. On the same note, sending a full five-page band biography, recounting the entire history of your band, is also unwise.
Yes, please subscribe me to: It helps to recall that early connection so that you can build on that in the future. If you’re an emerging rapper, send your track to a hip-hop broadcaster, or if you play thrash metal, make sure you’re contacting a station that regularly plays your style of music. It’s actually the main thing most experts say to focus on in most of your promotional efforts. The key is to make your email or press pack stand out and grab their attention.
These industry professionals will have an existing relationship with radio tastemakers, giving them more influence and sway when it comes to radio stations, DJs and decision makers. Think about it, you want these folks to become advocates for your music. Relationship building and networking are his strengths, which he works with artists in coaching, training, and speaking to improve. Some people prefer to send or receive physical copies of their music to radio stations, but this is becoming less and less prevalent. Got any tips on securing airplay? If you’re not doing a show in the area, it’s still okay to send a promo package, but just remember that the whole point of sending a CD to a music curator or radio program is to deepen the relationship you started with them. Weekly digest of new Flypaper articles. If you wish to contact a programme or presenter directly, request a song, or send a general enquiry about a station please select the station from the list below: You can get started submitting music to BBC Introducing via the Introducing Uploader. Think about it. What exactly should you put in the package when you’re contacting a radio station or program host? Remember the conversation you had with the radio professional that led to you putting your album in the mail? These smaller stations won’t be as inundated with submissions either, so you’ll stand a much better chance of getting played early in your career. Don’t expect to get your track played on a huge national station right away. Whethe… Play your favorite AM & FM station's live broadcast instantly on RADIO.COM. The next step is finding the music curator from the station you want to submit music to. If you’re targeting larger radio stations, you should find the contact details of whoever decides which tracks get played. VAT Number: GB107076729. I’ve got stickers from artists that have sent in music, and I find that every now and then, just looking at the sticker reminds me to play their music again! Any time you can get your band name in front of a cultural tastemaker, whether they play your music or not, it’s a great investment.If you get a station’s mailing address and decide to send a package ou… Occasional course announcements and special offers You work hard for your music income. Different curators like different ways of pitching, but it’s always safe to send a short, sharp and concise email with a good dose of personality. This could be a specific DJ, or the station’s producer, program director or music director.