One of the cornerstones of being a musician or an artist, in general, is having your work exposed to as many people as possible. This, at its core, is the ultimate dream of any artist and what drives us to do what we do. We have an innate desire to communicate the messages that are in our hearts and soul through the medium of music. Radio represents a way for us to do that. Unfortunately, with the increased market share taken by mainstream music, radio airplay has become a much more difficult milestone for independent musicians. There is always a way around the gatekeepers, but you have to know where to look and how to present yourself in the best light. In this article, we will cover best practices for submitting your music to radio stations and how to find the right contacts in order to get maximum exposure for your music.
Want to submit your music to lots of radio stations? We’ve got tons of stations you can search through to save you time and frustration. All of our stations accept submissions from independent artists. Use our Online Radio Directory to quickly find contact info and submission requirements by clicking here.
Gather Your Promo Materials
The first thing you need is the promo! Take inventory of all of your promotional materials. Look at your bio, pictures, your electronic press kit, and all of your social media links. Make sure everything is up to date. Make sure everything showcases you and your work in the best light possible. Here’s a short list of essential promo materials you’ll need in order to compete for proper attention…
- Basic Information (Artist Name, Genre, Homebase)
- Bio
- Great Promo pictures
- Music Clips
- Video
- Contact Information
Optionally, you can also include…
- Reviews
- List of notable stations that have you on their rotations
- Press
- Extra Perks for DJs
Don’t forget to include the basics about you or your band, and your sound. We tend to forget that people like DJs and other radio professionals coming to our website or opening our mailer for the first time may not have a clue who we are. Therefore, basic information is needed to give them a starting point and help them dive into your story. They’ll need to know your act name, what genre you play, and where you’re from. Follow that up with a captivating bio. To get the attention of program directors, managers, and DJs at radio stations, your bio has to be captivating. You have to use descriptive language to illustrate your sound in a way that makes it sound like you’re doing something new and cutting edge. Radio professionals are looking for new and innovative music to share with their audiences. Identify what’s new about your music. Even if it’s as simple as adding an instrument not typically used in your genre to your song. Look for anything that’s unique about your brand of music and highlight it
Next, you’ll need to show off your exquisite looks! Promo pictures give your audience a way to identify with you on a more human level. Promo pictures give you an opportunity to communicate your message beyond the music. It also gives people an idea of what to expect from you as an artist. For this reason, your promo pictures should accurately reflect the style and vibe of your music. Evaluate your current promo pictures and if they don’t depict you in the best light or if they don’t visually portray the feeling your music evokes, make new ones.
You’ll also need good music clips. Choose your best singles and place them prominently in your packaging or on your electronic press kit. If you’re creating an online version of your press kit, you’ll need to decide if you want these to be downloadable or if you want to host song downloads elsewhere. Whatever music your radio contact ends up with, it needs to be professionally prepared. We’ll go into more detail on that below.
Including video is also recommended because if done well, videos testify to your credibility as an artist. Videos can show a lot more of your personal style and depth of artistry while showcasing your music which can go a long way in capturing the attention of a DJ.
Lastly, don’t forget to include your contact information just in case they need to reach out for questions. You can include all of this on your website in the form of a landing page, or you can create a physical version of this and mail it. Believe it or not, lots of stations are still accepting physical mailings. However, you can cover a lot more ground by hosting an electronic press kit on your website.
+Related: The Secret Weapon to Creating a Killer Electronic Press Kit
In fact, we recommend creating a landing page just for radio contacts. That way you can centralize the information and cater it specifically for that audience. The page should include most of the elements from your standard press kit, except this particular content should be geared toward radio staff. For example, for reviews, do you have any reviews from DJs that you can include on this page? Instead of a standard show calendar, you may want to include what stations have played your music and when. The way your content is laid out may be different too. Instead of including your bio first, you may want to lead with an auto-playing sound clip or video along with information about that content. This way you can engage visual and auditory attention first. You may also want to highlight that you are available for interviews or that you’re willing to host/sponsor a giveaway for their listeners, an album and a free t-shirt for example. These are special perks for DJs that would give them incentives for featuring you. The key is to create a specific experience for the visitor and guide them to the next step in their decision process.
Prepare Your Music
Another thing you’ll need to do in order to get radio airplay is to prepare your music. Music supplied to radio DJs and Program Managers for airplay should be professionally mastered. The sound of your tracks should match the quality of what you would typically hear on the radio. Providing low-quality audio tracks is a huge turnoff for DJs. Spend the money to have your songs professionally mastered. It’s worth it. You’ll also need to properly title your work. Some stations have titling requirements and in that case, follow their instructions. Typically, you’ll want to title your music files as follows…
Title_of_song_Artist_Name.mp3
You’ll also want to include all necessary metadata inside of the audio file such as album artwork, genre, the title of the song, artist name, composers, etc. This is extremely important for many reasons. One, songs tagged with this data are more easily trackable and will help you get paid if you’re signed up with a performing rights organization. Two, your music can end up renamed, refiled, or with anyone once you send it out. Therefore, having this information automatically tagged in the data of your music file will help you keep authorship and identifying information of the song intact. Need help tagging your music? Check out this Metadata Guide for Musicians.
Related: Basic Equipment You’ll Need for a Decent Home Studio
The other thing to consider is the file type. AAC/WAV files are the most robust and highest quality music files available and a lot of stations prefer this file type. However, these files can be extremely huge and tend to consume a lot of space. Therefore, most stations opt for the lighter MP3 versions in order to save space. Check with the station and find out which file type they prefer if it’s not already specified. When in doubt, go with the MP3 version and offer to send the AAC/WAV version if needed. However, we don’t recommend sending any files via email unless specifically requested. It takes up way too much space on email servers and these days, it’s not considered polite to send unsolicited files. The better option would be to host downloadable files somewhere else such as Dropbox or Bandcamp and email the corresponding links to the appropriate people.
Carefully select which songs you’d like to send to each station and why. Your music should match the overall sound and vibe that the radio station plays. If your music is aligned with the style and branding of the station, you’ll have a better chance of getting airplay. It also helps to include a small write up of each song that further explains this to the DJ to give them a better idea of how your music can be a great fit for their programming.
Create a Pitch
A pitch is what you send out as a musician to get people to accept you, hire you, or feature you. In this case, you’ll need a specific pitch directed to radio station DJs, program directors, or managers if you’d like to get your music played. Basically, a radio pitch is a quick introduction of yourself and your music and a clear request for airplay. It doesn’t have to be long nor does it need to go into too much detail about your music and all of your accomplishments. You’ll rely on your electronic press kit to do that once you’ve piqued their interest. The one thing you should seriously consider including in your pitch is what makes you and your music stand out. How is your music different or unique? End your pitch with a question. For example, you can ask, “What’s the best way to get airplay on your platform?”
Want to see a sample Radio Pitch? Check out our template here. Also, we recommend including a ONE SHEET flyer along with your email that provides all of your information at a glance, like this one in a PDF format.
Create a Personal Contact Database
Once you’ve put your materials together and created a winning pitch, it’s time to make contact. We recommend keeping track of all of your contacts in a spreadsheet. You can include the station name, contact name and title, their phone number and email address, genres they play as well as any submission requirements they might have. You can also use this spreadsheet to keep track of who you contacted and when. This can be very valuable when you’ve reached out to tons of stations. It can be hard to remember who you contacted and the status of each call or inquiry. Therefore having a spreadsheet that can do that for you will make your job a lot easier.
Next, you’ll need to get contacts. If you’re planning on doing this yourself, there is a large time investment involved. You’ll have to research various databases and comb through radio directories and then find out which of those actually accept music submissions from independent artists. Alternatively, you can purchase a database of contacts that will allow you to launch your airplay campaign much faster. We have developed a database of contacts of radio stations from all over the planet who feature and accept music from independent musicians. Our database includes hundreds of radio stations representing most major genres including college radio, online radio, as well as traditional radio formats. It is easy to use and will help you send pitches out in a fraction of the time. For more information or to access our Radio Station Database, click here.
Also, if you’re worried that you don’t have enough time to invest, consider hiring a virtual assistant. They can actually be quite affordable. In fact, you can hire one for as little as $5 on Fiverr. Click here to see a list of highly recommended Virtual Assistants.
Now, you have everything you need to send pitches to radio stations and get your music played on the radio! If you spend as little as 30 minutes a day working on this, you can make a significant impact on the amount of exposure you’ll get for your music. Exposure isn’t the only benefit of getting radio airplay. Here are several reasons to submit your music for radio airplay. Radio airplay increases your opportunities and broadens your landscape as a musician. With the right tools and know-how, you can make yourself stand out to DJs and make radio airplay a strong foundation to your music career.
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